The final semester of competitive CS:GO has come and gone, during which teams assessed their options and prepared for the last events until CS2’s release this fall.
While a few of the best teams in the world didn’t touch their rosters, several organizations overhauled their lineups during the offseason. The previous player break, plus a smattering of tournaments that followed, saw a final rush as squads sorted themselves out ahead of the long-awaited Counter-Strike sequel.
Dot Esports has been keeping track of the roster changes leading up to CS2’s launch, and now that it’s finally arrived, it’s the perfect time to try to guess how the best teams in the world are looking on paper.
Here’s how we see the Counter-Strike pro scene leading into IEM Sydney—the first official CS2 tournament.
Dot Esports’ CS2 tier list
S-tier teams
ENCE
The pure consistency of ENCE over the past few months has seen them nab a coveted top spot in our tier list. After an underwhelming BLAST Paris Major run, the European squad have taken their performances to the next level and haven’t looked back.
SunPayus (1.22 HLTV rating) and NertZ (1.15 HLTV rating) have settled in perfectly, and they proved their mettle with multiple deep playoff runs. Let’s see if they can hold this form with CS2’s opener this week.
G2 Esports
G2 is having its best year in Counter-Strike esports since the organization joined the scene in 2015. The international team, headlined by NiKo and m0NESY, started the year strong with the IEM Katowice title in February, and although G2 failed to reach the playoffs of the BLAST Paris Major in May, they made up for it by winning the IEM Cologne trophy in August.
They are one of the few teams on this tier list that didn’t make any changes for CS2 whatsoever—and, honestly, they didn’t necessarily need any. Let’s see if they can begin CS2 with a bang in Sydney.
Vitality
Vitality’s rise to the top of the HLTV rankings came off the back of stellar performances from almost every player on the team. Whether it’s excellent calling from Dan “apEX” Madesclaire or one of the star-studded cast of top-tier aimers tearing heads, Vitality is in good shape for CS2.
The only glaring issue is Danny “zonic” Sørensen’s departure to Team Falcons. I doubt they’ll be able to maintain their top spot without him, and I predict they’ll become streaky as a result, even with the return of a familiar face in the form of XTQZZZ.
Expect a trophy, but not many in the interim.
A-tier teams
FaZe Clan
To call FaZe Clan weak would be straight-up incorrect as even on their worst days, the PGL Antwerp Major champions are a force to be reckoned with. But it hasn’t been a stellar back half of 2023 for karrigan’s crew.
The team failed to crack the top eight at any of the past three top-tier tournaments, with losses at ESL Pro League, Gamers8, and IEM Cologne leaving quite a stain on FaZe’s calendar year.
The major factor that makes us still believe in FaZe was their decision to forego roster changes, keeping the same five players now for over 20 months. CS2 may halt their slide down the list, but if not, B-tier beckons.
MOUZ
Young IGL Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek returned to MOUZ in June after a successful Cinderella run with GamerLegion at the BLAST Paris Major, and he’s already proved the organization made the right choice in bringing him back.
Nobody expected MOUZ to have such a different outlook under siuhy’s leadership already at ESL Pro League season 18 in September, but they surprised just about everybody and won the final big CS:GO event in a dominant fashion, losing only three maps out of 22 throughout the competition.
Coming into CS2, MOUZ has everything to be a title contender, but they have to reach more finals to be put next to the likes of Vitality, G2, and ENCE.
NAVI
While at first, it was a scary couple of events for Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and crew, their performance at ESL Pro League Season 18 showed signs of improvement.
If you take a look at the teams they beat to come in second, however, it’s not really something to brag about. Their biggest win was a 2-0 against FaZe, but Finn “karrigan” Andersen and the gang haven’t been their Grand Slam winning-selves for quite some time.
With someone like Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev potentially approaching the final years of his GOAT form, NAVI needs wins now. Maybe the beginning of CS2 is their time to get them, but at least, for now, they can say there’s a solid improvement in form as we switch titles.
B-tier teams
Astralis
Astralis have two game-changers in the form of Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz and Benjamin “blameF” Bremer. It’s their supporting cast that fails to provide any assistance whatsoever, barring off-and-on solid performances from Christian “Buzz” Andersen.
Since Heroic’s roster is currently in shambles, it’s time for Astralis to start signing bigger names like TeSeS, jabbi, stavn, or sjuush—hell, even get cadiaN. Otherwise, they’ll go elsewhere and make Astralis’ life difficult. Put them back in the oven; this roster’s not done yet.
Complexity
Complexity was mediocre at best throughout the beginning of 2023, but the signing of NA superstar EliGE and Liquid’s brutal fall from grace after a move across the Atlantic has seen the org claim the top spot in North America.
To those who weren’t convinced of their pedigree, the squad easily won the recent American qualifiers for IEM Sydney, the Thunderpick World Championship, and BLAST Premier’s NA Showdown. Can Complexity convert this form to the world stage? An impressive run in the Pro League has us leaning toward yes—with a little more time.
Fnatic
Fnatic is inconsistent, in a word. But for what is a new team, what more can we expect? This new version featuring Aussie legend dexter and French sniper afro sees the entire dynamic of the squad shift, and new coach Keita has his hands full preparing them for the road ahead.
Mezii is in fine form, however, and despite a tough group at IEM Sydney ahead, we’re quietly confident dexter has something cooking up at his home tournament. They just have to get through the likes of ENCE, Cloud9, and G2 first—no biggie.
Heroic
Well, this is certainly low for arguably the most consistent squad at the end of CS:GO. The number of grand finals the Heroic boys played in over the past year is remarkable, and no matter what tournament they showed up at, you’d be foolish to think they wouldn’t crack the playoffs.
Then, they got demolished at the Pro League and benched star AWPer and long-term captain cadiaN. Heroic have the parts to compete with the world’s best, but without cadiaN, who will they turn to now? Fortunately, they won’t be at IEM Sydney, so they’ll have some time to sort out their fifth, but we can’t imagine a world where Heroic just drops off the list entirely. Maybe it’s just our imagination, though.
Monte
Monte’s Paris Major performance appears to be more than a flash in the pan. The international roster managed to place top four in ESL Pro League Season 18, taking down Vitality, Heroic, and an on-the-rise Complexity to get there.
A selection of young guns heading into CS2 is a promising sign for Monte. There are no veterans who could struggle to make the leap like in the shift from Source to CS:GO. I’m confident that at least some of this roster will remain relevant in CS2. Whether they keep everyone, though, is the biggest question.
C-tier teams
BIG
BIG have managed to stay on the same path they were previously on. The addition of Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski was meant to patch the hole that Florian “syrsoN” Rische left upon his departure in June.
But has it really? To an extent, yes, but this roster won’t be winning trophies anytime soon. They’ve managed to stay on the edge of the top 20 in HLTV’s rankings, but I don’t believe they’ll push beyond the top 10.
I do believe that sporting the fairly young trio of Karim “Krimbo” Moussa, David “prosus” Hesse, and Elias “s1n” Stein is the right move, but the possibility of them blossoming into a powerhouse trio is unlikely.
Cloud9
C9 was dubbed a superteam—rightfully so—after the arrivals of electroNic and Perfecto in July, but the NAVI-C9 mesh is yet to bear any fruits. The team hasn’t even come close to winning any titles so far and, most notably, failed to reach the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 18 despite being drawn into one of the easiest groups.
It’s clear they have some role clashes, and the IGL workload dulls electroNic’s potential. They’ll have to grind a lot to do better in CS2, and the rumor is C9 could pick up Boombl4 to replace HObbit and clear electroNic from leadership duties, but there’s nothing set in stone yet.
Eternal Fire
XANTARES and w0xic haven’t accomplished much under Eternal Fire since they created the organization in August 2021. They lacked good results in big events until their surprising quarterfinal run at ESL Pro League season 18 in August, where they defeated 9INE, C9, Liquid, Astralis, and BIG.
It seems Turkey has a new hope in the form of the 18-year-old Ali “Wicadia” Haydar Yalçın, who came out of nowhere and made a much-needed impact on the squad. Eternal Fire fans sure hope they can build off that Pro League performance and deliver better results in CS2.
FURIA
Brazilian fans were happy after FURIA replaced Rafael “saffee” Costa and André “drop” Abreu with none other than the country’s own esports godfather, FalleN, and Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes in July. FURIA, however, remains a team full of flaws on both sides of the game, and the main question is if FalleN has what it takes to deal with another Counter-Strike transition.
We’ll know more when they play their first CS2 events, but so far, the experiment has gone far from well based on the team’s disappointing results across multiple CS:GO tournaments.
NIP
Try to find a bit of consistency with this NIP lineup; I bet you can’t. This squad is an amalgamation of solid players who could flourish under the right leadership. But together, something isn’t working.
Heading into CS2, this roster doesn’t look promising. I believe either removing several players or going back to an entirely Swedish lineup are the best solutions.
Either way, NiP has to change more than one player to become relevant once again.
Virtus Pro
VP’s win at the IEM Rio Major (then as Outsiders) in November 2022 seems like an era ago now. Their failure to qualify for the BLAST Paris Major is a negative stain on their legacy, especially given their decision to bench KaiR0N- midway through the RMR in a last-ditch attempt to qualify.
Sure, on a good day, Jame’s tactics are still capable of guiding VP to beat the world’s best, but these days have become rarer. We don’t see VP reaching more than some quarterfinals unless they bring one or two new players on at the beginning of the CS2 cycle.
D-tier teams
GamerLegion
This team has been stripped of its best players and left with a core that hasn’t been able to replicate its Paris triumph. The addition of Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski is a head-scratcher.
While Snax was imperative to Virtus Pro’s success years ago, the Polish rifler hasn’t played anyone noteworthy apart from 9INE, Monte, Fnatic, and Apeks throughout the entirety of 2023.
Whether he can turn back the clock is a large question mark looming over an already struggling roster plummeting down the rankings. I’m not hopeful, to say the least.
Liquid
The Rainwaker experiment at Liquid is over after just four months, and it leaves the squad in a truly terrible spot. In the interim, they’re sticking by coach daps, who will fill the gap until a suitable fifth is determined. But until then, it’s looking ugly for the former NA legends.
Their status as NA’s top dog was wrenched away from them by Complexity, who utterly dumpstered them at the BLAST Fall American Showdown last week. And sure, you might say we’re reading a lot into the last CS:GO event.
But it’s been a dismal year for Liquid, and we don’t see it improving anytime soon.
OG
Who would imagine that losing Shahar “flameZ” Shushan and degster would cause OG to fall off a cliff? Well, nearly everyone in the community, except the organization, it seems. Their replacements haven’t been good enough thus far and OG is almost an irrelevant team nowadays.
There isn’t much that nexa can take away from their final months in CS:GO and replicate in CS2, so unless they somehow create a bunch of new tactics, get some new players, or something literally magical happens, this OG team could keep failing at the beginning of CS2.
