Best CSGO Players Right Now and Coming Into the Rest of 2022

CS:GO

March 30, 2022

Mario Juric

2022 is promising to return the entire competitive scene to normal and we are about to witness a shift in power in the Counter-Strike professional scene. That’s why we are revamping our top 5 list of the best CSGO players in 2022 thus far.

We are seeing a return to LAN, and with that, the onliners were exposed. Some of those who were top players during the online era were tested on LAN for the first time. Some surprised us while others crumbled. Now having seen several LAN tournaments in 2022, including an upcoming Major, we have a better understanding of who stands at the top. This allows us to make a list of the best players of 2022.

Best CS:GO Players in 2022

Since online and LAN both played a role in 2021, results for both will be included. LAN performances will be valued more but online cannot be ignored. Here is a list of who we think are the best players of 2022. This year top 5 seem much more obvious than the last couple of years. The runners-up may be a tighter race, as there were many impressive players.

Quick List

Player	Current Team
B1t	NaVi
sh1ro	Cloud9
NiKo	G2
m0NESY	G2
S1mple	NaVi

5. B1t

B1t has maintained a super consistent pace across 2021. Obviously overshadowed at times by incredible performances from his teammates, he is quickly becoming the new star of the team. He held a 1.27 HLTV rating at the PGL Major Stockholm 2021. That is the most pressure you can be put under in this game. Performing like that at the Major while still holding incredible performances throughout the year is a special feat. He is the second most coveted rifler in the game, behind the player in the #3 slot. Without b1t, who knows where Na’Vi would be.

Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi

4. sh1ro

sh1ro was the breakout star of the online era. With an incredibly entertaining and aggressive AWP style, he was playing out of his mind. For a long time he was the most fun player to watch. Once LAN came back, his play was less impressive, but still phenomenal. A less impressive performance at the major was still a +49 +/- in kills and a 1.21 rating on HLTV. An incredible feat for his first professional LAN. Now that they have had a few LANs to get comfortable, he is starting to find the form he had online. His sheer dominance online is impossible to ignore, and thus earns himself a spot in the top 5 players.

Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov

3. NiKo

There were plenty of question marks surrounding the infamous NiKo coming into 2021. With his checkered past from his time on FaZe following him, he was written off as having strayed down the wrong path. Now, he has proven that he is willing to follow his leader and play his role. He is the most talented aimer to ever grace the game. Years from now, when Counter Strike is dead and gone, they’ll talk about his flicks. He is so good, in fact, that he carried his team to the Major final when they shouldn’t have been anywhere near it on paper. His influence on any given map is almost unparalleled. Not only because of his aim, but his game sense. After years of mastering his aim, he has now been playing long enough to have an incredible understanding of the game. He is simply incredible to watch and has an almost unmatched impact on the server. If he can sustain his aim now we may see an incredible clash of the titans in 2022.

Nikola “NiKo” Kovač

2. m0NESY

The new rising superstar for G2 comes in second. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov joined G2 at the start of 2022 and elevated the teams performance by 35%. With him, G2 placed as runner-ups at IEM Katowice and are looking solid for the upcoming PGL Major Antwerp. Ilya already sports a rating of 1.25 and impact 1.19 with 82.8 ADR. He is currently the best performer in G2 and is still growing as player. Keep a very close eye on him during 2022.

Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov

1. S1mple

Who would have thought that s1mple would have been number one on the list: an absolute shoe-in as the best player in the world. A fact that is inarguable if everyone is being honest. A rating of 1.36, ADR 87.0, impact 1.41 just to name a few of his stats this year. At the last Major, he held the highest player rating ever at an event with 1.47. When this man is on fire there is nobody in the world who can beat him. He is the greatest of all time. We will never see another player as dominant as he has been in this game.

aleksandr-s1mple-kostyliev-best-csgo-player-2019

Runners-up

Having a Top 5 CSGO players list is simply not enough. There is plenty of talent in the scene, and we simply cannot go without highlighting some of the best players in the scene right now. Let’s consider them runner-ups.

electronic

Having already broken earnings records in his first year in tier one Counter Strike, b1t is for sure the breakout player of the year. Not only is he incredible for a 19 year old, he is just incredible. It is rare to see the ice this man has in his veins. When you couple that with the fact that he stands out on a team with two players in the top five, it really is a magnificent feat.

HObbit

At 27, HObbit has really defied the odds. Having already had a storied career before his resurgence in the online era, he continues to add to his legacy. Considered an old man in esports years, he is a pillar on this Gambit squad with the firepower he brings. He is to Gambit what electroNic is to Na’Vi. Often forgotten due to the dominance of the others.

Broky

Broky’s team did not perform well this year. FaZe did not adapt well to the online era. In most ways, it was not a good year for them. However, there were a few positives. For example, Broky surprised everybody when he finally figured it out this year. His impact on FaZe is very promising when you take into account Ropz will be replacing Olof. They are set up for success and this is large in part due to Broky finding his form.

Ax1Le

It is hard to keep Ax1Le off of this list. Even though there are already two Gambit players in the top 10, you can’t forget about Ax1Le. Gambit was number 1 in the world for 14 weeks in 2021 and there is a reason why. Ax1Le is absolutely a big deal and he showed as much through his dominance.He had 5 aces, 54 4 kill rounds and 300 3 kill rounds. His impact was massive and he is a big reason Gambit have performed as well as they have.

Who were the best CSGO players in 2021?

We have barely seen any LANs in 2020 and 2021 and the online environment has shifted team’s playstyles. Thus far, this season has exceeded all expectations when it comes to upsets and player expectations. The contest for who will win the best CSGO player award in 2021 is wide open with plenty players vying for the trophy.

Here’s our breakdown of the best five players in 2021 thus far.

1. Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev

There is no denying that s1mple is a huge talent and definitely one of the best CSGO players in history. Even though Aleksandr had an excellent 2019 and 2020, he fell short to ZywOo, at least by HLTV rankings. s1mple has been on a mission in 2021 and this is why stands alone at the top 5 CSGO players for 2021.

You simply cannot argue with his deadly aim and aggressive playstyle. Even though his movements are transparent there still won’t be much you could do about it. If s1mple gets rolling, there is no stopping him.

However, Natus Vincere will have to step up their game for the remainder of 2021. After their big win at Dreamhack Masters Spring 2021, they cooled off a little. They have been unable to find the form they had at that tournament. S1mple, however, has stayed hot. He, without a doubt, has the most impact on his team and makes NaVi the main chose to bet on CSGO.

2. Robin “ropz” Kool

After Karrigans departure from Mousesports, everyone wrote them off and predicted they would fall apart. However, they did not expect ropz to step up to the plate and deliver. He is the heart and the soul of this team, carrying them and himself onto the top 5 csgo players list.

Holding his sites, getting opening kils and making aggressive plays has been the main reason for Mousesports’ success. The ultimate thing about ropz that has propelled him so high in the eyes of the community is how he performs under pressure. Game in and game out he knows he has to perform if he wants to win. He has ice in his veins, winning a lot of clutches in key moments of games.

Without ropz, everyone continues to write off Mousesports. With ropz, he makes MouseSports an undeniable foe who can beat anyone in the world.

Robin “ropz” Kool

3. Dmitry “sh1ro Sokolov

Gambit has been the biggest and best performer overall in 2021. This is largely due to their star AWPer, sh1ro. Sh1ro was completely unknown before Gambits rise, and he has bested the best players in the world on his rise to the top. He has constantly gone up against the best AWPers in the world and performed well. Dev1ce, S1mplie, Cadian, ZywOo and Jame to name a few.

His style is fun and explosive, creating many highlight clips in the last few months. His style is very hard to deal with. This is proven by his opening kill statistics.

Total opening kills-359
Total opening deaths-164
Opening kill ratio-2.19
Team win percent after first kill-78.0%

This shows how much impact he is having on the team. It is unbelievable how he is so consistently able to get the opening picks like he does. In the current meta, holding on to the AWP from round to round is extremely important. This is another thing sh1ro has excelled at and is now considered the best csgo player 2021 has to offer.

4. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut

From our point of view, it makes no sense to create a list of the best CSGO players right now without mentioning the French prodigy. The only reason why Vitality is ranked where they are despite their slump is because of this guy. When he gets going, no one is able to stop him. Despite Vitality’s poor performances so far this year, ZywOo has continued to show his brilliance.

After being rated as the best CSGO player of 2019 by HLTV, Mathieu will want to propel Vitality towards more victories once games go back to LAN in 2021. ZywOo definitely deserves a spot on the list of the top 5 CSGO players in 2021 as he really is near the top of the food chain. When it comes to proficiency, this French prodigy can literally kill you with everything. For such a young player, he has an insane game sense and his raw aim is off the charts.

Though Vitality has not been performing well recently, their upset 2-0 against Gambit may be an indication that the boys are back in town.

5. Nikola “NiKo” Kovač

NiKo is one of the most mechanically gifted players of all time. He doesn’t have the flash of S1mple or the explosiveness of sh1ro, but his mechanics are near unmatched. G2 are coming together as a team recently, which has allowed NiKo to use the space he is given. JacKz has been a massive help in that area, allowing NiKo to focus on his game. Now that he has switched back to secondary AWPer,, his impact has been noticeable. Instead of having to learn the new role as AWPer, he can continue to bang heads as he has been doing his whole career.

With incredible clutch statistics, NiKo has proven that he is in control in 1vX situations. With +7 clutches won in 1v1 and 10 1v2 clutches won in the last 3 months, he has shown continuously that he has his confidence back.

Now that G2 are back in the running with the top teams in the world, they suddenly become favorite to bet on CSGO matches.

Read also: Which country has the best gamers?

Honorable Mentions

Several players can potentially make their way up into the top five if they have a good showing this upcoming Summer and Fall portion of the season.

Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov

Ax1Le has been the other part of Gambit’s winning formula next to our #3 rank Sh1ro. Combined these two are making Gambit seem like the best team in 2021 thus far. If they continue with a strong showing this season, we might see Ax1le join his teammates among the top five players this season.

Rating 2.0: 1.20

Total Kills: 2755

K/D Ratio: 1.23

Damage Per Round: 82.6

Martin “stavn” Lund

The young Danish prodigy is making Heroic look great this season. While his stats don’t reflect how impactful he is in the game, Martin has been instrumental for many clutches for the squad. Heroic works extremely well as a unit, which is why no player exceeds in individual stats. As a unit however, they have been dominating the competition entirely. Stavn is now someone to look forward to in terms of growth over the next two seasons.

Rating 2.0: 1.03

Total Kills: 1554

K/D Ratio: 1.03

Damage Per Round: 77.2

Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz

With his recent move to NiP, Nicolai is looking into a new environment to add to his tally of Majors Trophies and MVP awards. He is still hailed as one of the most dominant players in CSGO, but only time will tell if he can maintain his form coming into a new team. If the Ninjas click well together, expect dev1ce to jump back into the top 5 CSGO players with ease.

Rating 2.0: 1.15

Total Kills: 2035

K/D Ratio: 1.19

Damage Per Round: 77.5

Denis “electronic” Sharipov

Where S1mple fails, electronic delivers. The clutchiest and most inconsistent player on the NaVi roster makes his way into the honorable mentions. Honestly, it’s both easy and hard to forget how important electronic is to NaVi. He manages to clutch out impossible rounds, and yet manages to fail the simplest duels as well. His inconsistency is what makes his a wildcard, as players sometimes take him for granted when pushing his site.

Rating 2.0: 1.11

Total Kills: 1753

K/D Ratio: 1.07

Damage Per Round: 78.3

Previously Ranked Top CSGO Players in 2020

There were quite a few star players in 2020, but not all of them put up insane numbers such as the 5 we mention below. In this piece, you will be able to find the best CSGO players in 2020.

1. Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut

ZywOo has been among the top players globally for the past 3 years consecutively. At the moment, ZywOo is rated as the best player in 2020, after being second in 2019.

When it comes to weapons, ZywOo has found his rhythm with entire tool set. Once again we are presenting you with some incredible stats surrounding the French prodigy.

Rating 2.0: 1.28

Total Kills: 4043

K/D Ratio: 1.31

Damage Per Round: 85.2

2. Aleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev

As you could have probably guessed, s1mple is once again among the best CS:GO players in 2020. He has persisted in being a terror throughout this year, and his statistics are insane. Even though his team, Natus Vincere, was only able to win one big tournament this year, this did not stop s1mple from dominating everyone.

In 2020, s1mple topped the charts with AWP kills(1810) and Rifle kills(1299). Fun fact, s1mple was able to either molly or knife thirty of his opponents this year. Below you will be able to find some of the statistics for the best CSGO player ever.

Rating 2.0: 1.29

Total Kills: 3937

K/D Ratio: 1.41

Damage Per Round: 84.6

3. Nicolai ‘device’ Reedtz

Almost as reflective as the predicted rankings for 2021, Device is trailing just behind s1mple and ZywOo. Nicolai played on 14 different CS:GO tournaments in 2020, and these are his stats for the year.

Rating 2.0: 1.20

Total Kills: 3658

K/D Ratio: 1.25

Damage Per Round: 80.9

4. Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač

An absolute monster on the scene, Niko is still putting out insane numbers in competitive matches. This now veteran has the 4th best CS:GO statistics as a player in 2020. In the previous year, Nikola participated in 17 tournaments with either FaZe Clan or G2. The bulk of his kills were while rifling (2521) which is over 70% of his total kills.

Rating 2.0: 1.18

Total Kills: 3585

K/D Ratio: 1.14

Damage Per Round: 86.7

5. Robin ‘ropz’ Kool

The last CS:GO player on our list is another youngster. At the moment, ropz is only 21 years old and the best performing player on mousesports. He played 15 events in total in 2020 and showcased an excellent performance considering how his team fared overall.

The Estonian super lurker dominated many of the top CS:GO teams in 2020. Below are his best statistics in 2020.

Rating 2.0: 1.16

Total Kills: 2956

K/D Ratio: 1.21

Damage Per Round: 81.1

Previously Ranked Best CSGO Players in 2019

In this piece, you will be able to find the best CSGO players in 2019.

1. Aleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev

As you could have probably guessed, s1mple was one the best CS:GO players in 2019. He has been on a terror throughout the year, and his statistics were insane. Even though his team, Natus Vincere, was only able to win one tournament in the year, this did not stop s1mple from dominating everyone.

In 2019, s1mple topped the charts with AWP kills(565) and AK-47 kills(331). Fun fact, s1mple was able to knife three of his opponents this year. Below you will be able to find some of the statistics for the best CSGO player ever.

Rating 2.0: 1.35

Total Kills: 1282

K/D Ratio: 1.51

Damage Per Round: 88.1

2. Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut

ZywOo was 18 back in 2019, and he already found his footing in the professional CS:GO scene. At that moment, ZywOo was rated as the second-best player in 2019, and he has kept improving since. Unlike s1mple, ZywOo participated in 11 different tournaments in 2019 and he had a positive K/D ratio in each of these events. Furthermore, Vitality was able to win three of those tournaments.

When it comes to weapons, ZywOo has found his rhythm with AWP(854 kills), AK-47(408 kills), and AUG(167 kills). Once again we are presenting you with some incredible stats surrounding the French prodigy.

Rating 2.0: 1.34

Total Kills: 2210

K/D Ratio: 1.43

Damage Per Round: 87.6

3. Ali ‘Jame’ Djami

Another youngster that found his way on our top 5 list. Jame has been dominating basically everyone in 2019, and it is sad that he is not surrounded by better teammates. This puts Russian AWPer in the third-place on our list.

Jame played on 14 different CS:GO tournaments in 2019, and these are his stats for this year.

Rating 2.0: 1.31

Total Kills: 2315

K/D Ratio: 1.56

Damage Per Round: 80.1

4. Vinicius ‘vsm’ Moreira

Even though this player is nowhere near a tier 1 team, statistics say that he is the 4th best CS:GO player in 2019. Vsm is 19 years old and at the moment, he is playing for DETONA.

In 2019, vsm participated in 19 tournaments with DETONA and in 17 of those, he had a positive K/D ratio. However, most of those tournaments were qualifiers, hence why some of the stats are unreal.

Rating 2.0: 1.28

Total Kills: 1543

K/D Ratio: 1.26

Damage Per Round: 88.7

5. Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo

The last CS:GO player on our list is still a minor. At the moment, TenZ is only 17 years old and he is a member of Bad News Bears. Even though he did not play in many tournaments, he still put in an excellent performance in some of those events.

Canadian talent dominated everyone in the ESEA MDL Season 30 North American and below you will be able to find some of his best statistics in 2019.