The Blix team invites all players to look back at the game’s history and its best players. Legends have written their names into this history since the game’s release in 2012, but what separates them is whether they did it with a rifle in their hands or with an AWP.
Previously, we compiled a list of the greatest riflers in history, which you can find here. This time, we focus on players who have excelled with a sniper. Welcome to the TOP players who have made a significant impact on CS2 history.
Contents
Highlights
- Information on the best snipers in Counter-Strike history since 2012
- Interesting facts about awards, biographies, and ranking of cyber athletes
- An expanded version of the TOP best snipers in history
The List of Best Snipers in CS2 History
Explore the top snipers in the history of CS2 who have excelled in the game through remarkable aim, precision, and game awareness. Featuring legendary clutch plays and unparalleled consistency, these players have established the benchmark in competitive gaming:
- Mathieu ‘ZywOo‘ Herbaut
- Oleksandr ‘s1mple‘ Kostyljev
- Ilya ‘m0NESY‘ Osipov
- Nicolai ‘dev1ce‘ Reedtz
- Jesper ‘JW‘ Wecksell
- Dmitriy ‘sh1ro‘ Sokolov
- Ladislav ‘GuardiaN‘ Kovács
- Kenny ‘kennyS‘ Schrub
- Gabriel ‘FalleN‘ Toledo
- Tyler ‘Skadoodle‘ Latham
ZywOo
- Name: Mathieu Herbaut
- Age: 24 years
- Country: France
- Current team: Vitality
- Previous teams: dizLown, nevermind, E-Corp Bumpers, WySix Team, against All authority
Undoubtedly, he is one of the best players to ever touch this game. He was awarded the best player of the year twice in a row in 2019 and 2020, then the second best player two years in a row in 2021 and 2022, and in 2023, he became the best player of the world for the third time. Last year, he was awarded 3rd place, all according to the HLTV top 20.
Just a few weeks ago, he earned his 21st MVP, and now, together with ‘s1mple’, he has the most MVPs. But since ‘ZywOo’ is still playing, he will get more and get ahead; there is no doubt about it.
He was the main reason Vitality won BLAST.tv Paris Major at his home turf, and he had a rating of 1.54 to his name in the Grand Final.
s1mple
- Name: Oleksandr Kostyljev
- Age: 27 years
- Country: Ukraine
- Current team: Natus Vincere
- Previous teams: LAN DODGERS, Courage Gaming, Hashtag, Amazing Gaming, HellRaisers, dAT Team, Flipsid3 Tactics, Team Liquid
Like ‘ZywOo’, he is one of the greatest players ever to touch this game. According to HLTV’s Top 20, he was ranked as the best player of the year three times in 2018, 2021, and 2022. He also has many awards, such as Esports PC Player of the Year by Esports Awards and even more from other organizations.
He took a break from competitive play in 2023, even though he played on loan for the Falcons for some time after that.
Even though he was awarded the Best Player of the Year in 2018, he couldn’t win his first major tournament until PGL Major Stockholm 2021, where he did it with Natus Vincere. He was the best player in the Grand Final, with a rating of 1.51, and he wrote his name in the history of Counter-Strike once again.
He has 21 MVP titles to his name, which makes him even with ‘ZywOo’, and he is the second player with the most MVP titles.
m0NESY
- Name: Ilya Osipov
- Age: 19 years
- Country: Russia
- Current team: G2
- Previous teams: NewBALLS, S-Gaming, Natus Vincere Junior
He is still a young star whose professional career started with the Natus Vincere Junior project in 2020 before G2 bought him in 2022. That’s where he started to shine and write his name in history. He has been in the top 20 players of the year three times in a row since 2022, and in 2024, he got his best ranking as the second-best player in the world, according to HLTV Top 20.
In his first year with G2, he won the first MVP of the tournament at the BLAST Premier World Final in 2022. Later, in 2024, he won three more MVPs.
He is known to be one of the fastest players, just as another legendary sniper, ‘kennyS’, was in his old days. As a sniper, he pays out really well and makes it hell for any rifles who play against him.
dev1ce
- Name: Nicolai Reedtz
- Age: 29 years
- Country: Denmark
- Current team: Astralis
- Previous teams: Copenhagen Wolves, uber G33KZ, Team Dignitas, Team SoloMid, ?, NInjas in Pyjamas
He was one of the key players of the Astralis era, and he is undoubtedly one of the legendary players who is still active and keeps playing. Since 2014, which was his third year as a pro player, he has been in the top 20 players eight times, which means he missed only two years. His best ranking was second in 2018, according to the HLTV top 20.
He is known for being one of the most consistent players.
‘dev1ce’ is third on the list of the players with the most MVP titles, which is 19 MVPs for him, right behind ‘ZywOo’ and ‘s1mple’.
He is second with the most Major tournaments won, which is four throughout his career, and he did it together with two legendary riflers, ‘Magisk’ and ‘Dupreeh’.
JW
- Name: Jesper Wecksell
- Age: 29 years
- Country: Sweden
- Current team: EYEBALLERS
- Previous teams: Epsilon eSports, SY_b, Fnatic, GODSENT
One of the legendary Swedish snipers who was one of the key players in times of the Fnatic era together with a legendary rifler, ‘olofmeister’. He was in the top 20 players of the year three times in a row in 2013, 2014, and 2015, according to HLTV Top 20.
He was one of the most entertaining players in CS:GO to watch. Many times, he was accused of cheating by the public because of his insane ability to read a game and sometimes make unbelievable wall bangs while playing with an AWP, which is unusual.
He has three MVPs and was the first Swedish player in CS:GO to win a major MVP for DreamHack Winter 2013.
sh1ro
- Name: Dmitriy Sokolov
- Age: 23 years
- Country: Russia
- Current team: Spirit
- Previous teams: FLuffy Gangsters, Gambit Youngsters, Gambit Esports, Cloud9
He started to show what he was capable of when he joined Gambit Youngsters in 2019 and before the team was promoted to the main team in 2020. It was clear as day that this guy would be a tier-one player, which he successfully became. According to HLTV’s Top 20, he was on the list of top 20 players in the world four times in a row from 2021 to 2024.
‘sh1ro’ won his first major with his current team by the end of 2024, the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024.
He has four MVPs to his name. He is known as a consistent sniper who is also insanely good at clutch rounds, making him one of the best snipers this game has seen.
GuardiaN
- Name: Ladislav Kovács
- Age: 33 years
- Country: Slovakia
- Current team: BC.Game Esports
- Previous teams: nEophyte, Reason Gaming, myDGB, 3DMAX, TCM-Gaming, Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere, FaZe Clan, Team Singularity, Team Sampi
Legendary Slovakian sniper. One of the players who’s been playing professionally since CS 1.6 and then in CS:Source, he moved to CS:GO and CS2. Most of his glory came when he was playing for Natus Vincere, and this is where he spent most of his time in CS:GO.
According to HLTV’s top 20, he was among the top 20 players in the world six times in a row from 2013 to 2018. Throughout his career in CS:GO, he earned eight MVP titles, which puts him in eighth place among players with the most MVPs.
kennyS
- Name: Kenny Schrub
- Age: 29 years
- Country: France
- Current team: Falcons (Content Creator)
- Previous teams: VeryGames, Team LDLC.com, WE GOT GAME, Recursive eSports, Clan-Mystik, Titan, Team EnVyUs, G2
French legend ‘kennyS’ is known as one of the fastest players. His insane reaction time made him a legendary sniper. He moved from CS:Source to CS:GO in 2012 together with the famous French team VeryGames and instantly became one of the best teams.
According to HLTV’s top 20, he was in the top 20 players five years in a row from 2013 to 2017, with 6th place being his best.
He has 10 MVP titles to his name, which puts him in fifth place with the most MVPs.
He retired in 2023, but before that, he made sure his name was written in history as one of the legendary players.
FalleN
- Name: Gabriel Toledo
- Age: 33 years
- Country: Brazil
- Current team: FURIA
- Previous teams: playArt, Progaming.TD, KaBuM!, Games Academy, Keyd Stars, Luminosity Gaming, SK Gaming, MIBR, Team Liquid, Imperial Esports
“The Godfather” of Brazilian CS—‘FalleN’. He has played this game since 2015 and still plays it today, teaching young players. According to the HLTV Top 20, he was ranked as the second-best player in 2016.
In CS:GO, together with his team Luminosity Gaming, before they transferred to SK Gaming, he won two majors in 2016 and became one of the most dominant teams on the scene.
Skadoodle
- Name: Tyler Latham
- Age: 31 years
- Country: United States
- Current team: Undone
- Previous teams: Team Curse, Denial eSports, iBUYPOWER, GX, Cloud9
He was the only player who avoided a ban while being involved in a well-known ‘iBUYPOWER’ scandal about match-fixing, while four of his teammates got banned forever. He had to continue his career alone and find a new team.
According to HLTV’s Top 20, he was ranked the 20th-best player in the world in 2015.
He was one of the key players in Cloud9’s triumph in ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, the only major tournament won by a North American team.
Summary
There were many and still are other great, individually skilled snipers that we think we should have mentioned, such as ‘oskar’; if we talk about snipers from the past or some who are still playing and doing great, someone like ‘cadiaN’, ‘degster’, and ‘torszi’ and others, but we tried to make our list based on past legends together with current players with the best results.
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