History
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is the fourth game in the much-loved Counter-Strike series which began back in 1999. Developed by Valve, the first-person shooter franchise sees teams of terrorists and counter-terrorists battle it out in a series of rounds, attempting to secure objectives or eliminate the opposition. CS:GO was released in 2012 and continues the tradition while expanding further into eSports.
Team Stats
Team EnVyUs
ELEAGUE Group F Winners (9-1)
Nationality: French
Players: Vincent ‘Happy’ Cervoni, Nathan ‘NBK-‘ Schmitt, Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub, Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire, Timothée ‘DEVIL’ Démolon (captain)
ELEAGUE Map Score: 160-109 (+51)
Best Major Result: Winners of DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015
Key Stat: EnVyUs is the most recent team remaining in ELEAGUE to have won a Valve major but struggled in the most recent major, ESL One: Cologne 2016.
Renegades
ELEAGUE Group A Third Place (3-5)
Nationality: Australian
Players: Aaron ‘AZR’ Ward, Justin ‘jks’ Savage, Yaman ‘yam’ Ergenekon, Karlo ‘USTILO’ Pivac, (fifth player unknown as of publication).
ELEAGUE Map Score: 86-118 (-32)
Best Major Result: 9th-12th at ESL One: Cologne 2015
Key Stat: This Australian squad lives and plays at the Downtown Grand hotel in Las Vegas. Its captain, Chad ‘SPUNJ’ Burchill, retired last month requiring a replacement to be found at short notice for the Last Chance Qualifier.
Fnatic
ELEAGUE Group D Winners (9-2)
Nationality: Swedish
Players: Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell, Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist (captain), Freddy ‘KRiMZ’ Johannson, Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer, Dennis ‘dennis’ Edman
ELEAGUE Map Score: 152-93 (+59)
Best Major Result: Winners of ESL One: Cologne 2015, ESL One: Katowice 2015, DreamHack Winter 2013
Key Stat: Of the nine Valve-sponsored majors in CS:GO history, Fnatic has won three. No other squad has won more than one.
Astralis
ELEAGUE Group C Winners (9-2)
Nationality: Danish
Players: Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen (captain), Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth, Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz, Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen, Markus ‘kjaerbye’ Kjærbye
ELEAGUE Map Score: 169-123 (+46)
Best Major Result: 3rd/4th Place at MLG Major Championship: Columbus
Key Stat: This squad has finished in the top eight in every major in the last two years under two names, Astralis and Team SoloMid, but has only broken into the top four at a major event once.
Natus Vincere (Na’Vi)
ELEAGUE Group E Winners (8-2)
Nationality: Ukrainian/Russian/Slovakian
Players: Daniil ‘Zeus’ Teslenko, Denis ‘seized’ Kostin, Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovács, Ioann ‘Edward’ Sukhariev, Egor ‘flamie’ Vasilyev
ELEAGUE Map Score: 145-86 (+59)
Best Major Result: 2nd at MLG Major Championship: Columbus and DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015
Key Stat: Better known as Na’Vi (which originates from Latin and be translated as “born to win”), this team finished as runner-up in two of the last three majors.
Ninjas in Pyjamas
ELEAGUE Group B Winners (8-3)
Nationality: Swedish
Players: Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg, Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund (captain), Adam ‘friberg’ Friberg, Richard ‘Xizt’ Landström, Jacob ‘pyth’ Mourujärvi
ELEAGUE Map Score: 152-111 (+41)
Best Major Result: Winners of ESL One: Cologne 2014
Key Stat: This much-loved team made the finals of the first five CS:GO majors before falling off, leading them to change their squad leading into 2016.
Cloud9
LEAGUE Group A Runners-Up (5-4)
Nationality: American/Canadian
Players: Jordan ‘n0thing’ Gilbert (captain), Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek, Tyler ‘Skadoodle’ Latham, Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip, Alec ‘Slemmy’ White.
ELEAGUE Map Score: 149-28 (+21)
Best Major Result: 5th-8th at ESL One: Cologne 2014
Key Stat: This American squad originally finished second in its group but when Group A winners Luminosity were disqualified, they were awarded their spot in the top eight.
