CSGO: The best players of 2019

CSGO never lacks talent. Every year, there are always new young talents. And in this 2019, specifically, players between the ages of 19 and 22 are dominating the sport.

Here are the players who shined the most at the biggest CSGO tournaments in 2019. Some metrics are referenced from HLTV.org, like 2.0 rating in major tournaments, influence (Impact) and average damage average per round (ADR).

7) Emil “Magisk” Reif – Astralis

• HLTV 2.0 rating: 1.16; Impact: 1.12; ADR: 80.8
• Notable Championships: IEM Katowice Major, BLAST Pro Series São Paulo, StarLadder Berlin Major, IEM Beijing, ECS season 8, and BLAST Pro Series Global Finals
• MVP Title: IEM Katowice Major

Bringing back Magisk is considered the most successful CSGO deal of 2018. After Astralis added him in February 2018, the Danish team then won 10 major tournaments.

Although they no longer have such dominance in 2019, Magisk is still an important key in Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander’s system. Magisk always plays in difficult positions, like bombsite B Inferno and has quite good stats. He is also famous for his ability to play mobile using AWP on CT side sometimes on Train map.

There are a few other players that also deserve to be on this list like Keith “NAF” Markovic of Team Liquid and Justin “jks” Savage of 100 Thieves. However, we can’t ignore Magisk’s CSGO Major MVP title – he won it in February 2019, the first Major of the year.

6) Robin “ropz” Kool – mousesports

• HLTV 2.0 rating: 1.19; Impact: 1.11; ADR: 79.3
• Notable Championships: CS:GO Asia Championships, ESL Pro League season 10, and cs_summit 5
• MVP title: EPL season 10

The 19-year-old Estonian is already a star at mousesports, but he has also shown his abilities under Finn “karrigan” Andersen since May.

At the end of the season, it seemed that mousesports would have another unremarkable year. But things slowly turned positive for this international roster as the team won the CS:GO Asia Championships, beating ENCE in the final.

Not stopping there, Mousesports did the unthinkable when winning one of the heaviest tournaments in 2019, EPL season 10 Finals. They couldn’t have done it without ropz, who won the first MVP of his fledgling career. He and Özgur “woxic” Eker are one of the most dangerous couples in CSGO today.

5) Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte – Evil Geniuses

• HLTV 2.0 rating: 1.14; Impact: 1.15; ADR: 79.7
• Notable Championships: ESL One New York and StarSeries i-League season 8
• MVP Title: ESL One New York

Brehze has slowly developed over the past three years since he joined NRG, the roster that was then acquired by EG in September. Finally, he shined this season.

The 21-year-old has been the most stable player in the EG roster for the past year. His hard work paid off when the team won their first major LAN, ESL One New York – which was also the first tournament to compete for EG.

Although Brehze and his teammates lost their heat in the last tournaments of the year, he still entered 2020 as one of the top CSGO shooters.

4) Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski – Team Liquid

• HLTV 2.0 rating: 1.21; Impact: 1.30; ADR: 85.7
• Notable Championships: IEM Sydney, DreamHack Masters Dallas, EPL season 9, ESL One Cologne, BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles, and IEM Chicago
• MVP titles: DreamHack Masters Dallas, EPL season nine, and IEM Chicago.

EliGE has long been a good player, but over the years, he lacked consistency and Team Liquid always missed out on championships. However, these two factors changed suddenly in 2019. Liquid found itself again and EliGE became the brightest star of the team.

The 22-year-old is excellent with all rifles, but he probably shoots best with a Krieg; and AUG before being nerfed. These two scopes suit him so much that EliGE has become an obsession with even the game’s best snipers.

After 2019, EliGE is considered the best North American player in CSGO, along with his teammate Jake “Stewie2K” Yip.

3) Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev – Natus Vincere

• HLTV 2.0 rating: 1.29; Impact: 1.32; ADR: 83.9
• Notable Championships: StarSeries i-League season 7
• MVP title: StarSeries i-League season seven

S1mple still shows the unbelievable numbers that he did in 2018. Unfortunately for him, this has not been Na`Vi’s best year in CSGO.

The organization has a few roster changes. The presence of Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács will determine whether s1mple can be the better rifler or whether he will continue to master the AWP despite the main rifle shooting.

The reason he is no longer the world No. 1 player is because s1mple doesn’t have many MVP titles left in 2019, when compared to 2018. In 2018, he won 6 titles, including Star Series i-League Season 4. and DreamHack Master Marseille – although Na`Vi was only runner-up at the tournament.

2) Nicolai “device” Reedtz – Astralis

• HLTV 2.0 rating: 1.23; Impact: 1.31; ADR: 81.8
• Notable Championships: IEM Katowice Major, BLAST Pro Series São Paulo, StarLadder Berlin Major, IEM Beijing, ECS season 8, and BLAST Pro Series Global Finals
• MVP titles: BLAST Pro Series São Paulo, StarLadder Berlin Major, and ECS season 8.

Why is device never the best player on the list? Maybe it’s because he’s not as flashy as other stars. However, the 24-year-old player is the “brainiest” AWPer in CSGO and has been continuously in the top players for the past 4 years.

Not to mention he is also good at shooting rifles, showing his flexibility when he doesn’t need to use AWP to make a breakthrough. Devices can read opponents and exploit their weaknesses.

He may not be remembered as the best CSGO player, but he certainly became the most successful.

1) Mathieu “Zywoo” Herbaut – Vitality

• HLTV 2.0 rating: 1.30; Impact: 1.39; ADR: 86.8
• Notable Championships: cs_summit 4 ECS season 7
• MVP titles: cs_summit 4, ECS season 7, ESL One Cologne, and DreamHack Masters Malmö

The 19-year-old started playing professionally last year, and is now the best player in the world. Why? Without ZywOo, Vitality is just an ordinary team.

ZywOo possesses a risky play style but has a clear system, so that Vitality can give him continuous kills. ZywOo can shine with any gun, whether pistol, SMG or rifle.

ZywOo always wins for himself the MVP title every time Vitality wins because he is the one who carries his team. And even when he finished second, like ESL One New York in July and DreamHack Masters Malmö in October, he was still considered the best player in the tournament. ZywOo is proof that young players are getting better and better, even better than some of the older names.

This is just the beginning of ZywOo’s career and he will surely make another breakthrough in 2020.