Author: Sam "AN1MO" McKenzie

When you talk about elite teams in Counter-Strike, who are you referring to? Is it the top ten? The top 5? Or the teams you consider to be the favourites for every event they attend? If it’s the third option, then who does that list extend to? For us, it’s Spirit, Vitality, and NAVI. 2024’s team of the year, NAVI exceeded all expectations in the first year of CS2 as they won a Major, three other events, and made the final of many more, but three months into 2025, they now seem to be lagging behind their two closest competitors.…

MOUZ have done the one thing they couldn’t do with siuhy – they’ve won an arena event. Not just that, but xertioN played well in arena games. That might be an even bigger success. However, impressive as that win may have been, in the grand scheme of things. We’re not actually sure it meant that much, and here’s why: A weak field PGL Cluj-Napoca was far from a stacked event. In fact, it looked more like a glorified ESL Challenger LAN than an event with a $1,250,000 prize pool. MOUZ with siuhy would have undoubtedly been the favourites for the…

Rostermania has now been and gone, and yet, s1mple is without a team. The undisputed GOAT of Counter-Strike, the fact he is still without a team a year into CS2 once would have been unimaginable, but it is now a reality we have gotten very used to. Despite that, s1mple still seems keen to return to the server, but only when the right opportunity comes to him. So, with that said, what will that opportunity be? Option A: Taking back the throne Of course, the first option has always been NAVI. And we’re also sure that it’s the option s1mple…

So, Virtus.pro kicked Jame, and for some reason, everyone seems to be happy about it. Look, we get it, it’s always easy to blame the IGL or the coach. It’s something that happens time and time again. They’re meant to be the brains behind the system, the people who go out there and make sure the guns are facing in the right direction, so if they’re not doing so, how can it not be their fault? It’s an easy assumption to make, and it’s likely why fans, experts, and players themselves all make the decision, but this time it’s a…

With the Perfect World CS2 Major now underway, we await the arrival of the big boys in the Elimination Stage. One of those teams, G2, have already labelled this event as their “last dance”, with star rifler NiKo set to depart for Falcons when the Major is over. The loss of NiKo will leave a gaping hole in G2, one that is almost impossible to fill. They may already have malbsMd as his long-term successor, but one man alone can not replace NiKo, so where do they turn to complete their team? Another aggressor Given that G2 have seen success…

It’s RMR season in Counter-Strike 2 and we’re fast approaching the final RMR for the Perfect World Shanghai Major. A group that looks ripe for giving tier two teams their best ever opportunity and making a Major, let’s take a look at the, the favorites, the teams you should be concerned for, and those you should consider as the biggest dark horses to get their stickers in the game. The favorites Without a doubt, the two favorites for this RMR are G2 and Spirit. G2 have won two of the last three tier one events, while Spirit remain one of…

Ever since their inception, the Major RMRs have been a hotbed of underdog victories and major upsets that have seen some big organisations miss out on spaces in Majors. In recent years we’ve seen Astralis, Cloud9, G2, and Liquid all fail to make Majors as a result of poor RMR runs, and given the seeding coming into the RMRs for the Perfect World Shanghai Major, we’re likely to see that trend of upsets continue. The result of those upsets is always that some surprising teams end up making the Major, so let’s take a look at the teams who could…

Like it or not, CS:GO is now gone, but that doesn’™t mean we have to stop talking about it.Global Offensive was a huge part of our lives for the best part of eleven years, and in that time we saw history be written as heroes rose and fell before our very eyes. There have been countless great players, but if we take metas and eras out of the equation, which five would fit together to make the greatest team of all time?Let’™s try to answer that question.In-Game LeaderKicking it off with the IGL, we should establish that we won’™t be…

fnatic has recently decided to do yet another rebuild of their one-time successful CS team, and it’™s safe to say we’™re not impressed.That’™s not to say we dislike all the pieces of the team, because that isn’™t true, but the team could have been so, so much more. But before we get into that, who are the new pieces? And are there at least some positives to be found in the new roster?fnatic rebuild’¦ againFollowing the benching of Christopher “dexter” Nong, the departures of Fredrik “roeJ” Christensen to Preasy and William “mezii” Merriman to Vitality, fnatic needed three new players.…

Sebastian “volt” Malos began the year as part of a fnatic Rising team that had recently become the first team outside of MOUZ NXT to win a WePlay Academy League. Following the disbanding of that team he moved to Into the Breach, where the Brit made history as one of a few players to make top eight at his first Major ‘“ the BLAST.tv Paris Major.Now a key component of GamerLegion as they continue to threaten tier-one teams and their partner slots, volt has been pretty candid about his struggles in the team. We caught up with volt to discuss…