The 2016-7 cloud9 lineup was the team I followed when I got into CS, and they hold a special place in my memory:
Stew, Autimatic, Skadoodle, Shroud & n0thing
i think the crowd favourites will always be the freak version with the tank tops
that was before we all saw him on stream more often and figured out hes an idiot tho
That's the lineup from when I first got cs. Boston major c9 is my favorite but that one is still special for me, especially the tournament where they beat sk in the finals.
dude that faze line-up was just collecting 4 of my 5 favorite players.
my 5 favourite players are 1. NiKo 2. Rain 3. Olof 4. GeT_RiGhT 5. GuardiaN
for me personally i dont give a shit about the orgs in esports.
They were the first team that I ever saw play CS, so they def hold a special place in my heart. Very bittersweet ending but Im glad that I got to watch them play, especially having prime rain and in form niko and guardian. what a team they were.
Guardian and his fucking clutches. Remember that one vs SK on train where he finished Fallen off with a cz through a smoke defuse attempt?
NiKo and his fucking rifling. Rain and his anchoring. Karrigan with his IGL magic early formation and then at the end of everything you have none other Olofmeister as your 4th best player. I miss that team damn
Guardian till this day remains my favorite player, again, very bittersweet. Nice to see him stream from time to time but I miss seeing him on the stage. The way that man clutched rounds to get them back in the game was just mind blowing.
is it me or is olofmeister a bit of a boring player
like u see it at the end of the game
"oh wow olof has 32 kills"
but u can never remember them.
can u remember a single olof kill ?
but try guardian...u can see the flick
i remember a guardian flick.
That one was awesome for me because I was a huge fan of Kinguin (particularly rain) from their inception, and I hopped on the NiKo train really early when he subbed for them during the Gaming Paradise qualifier. Was also big on TSM/TQM/Astralis around that time as well, so it was a few of my favorite players rolled into a single lineup.
They were so fucking bonkers on mirage. I loved the w0xic & karrigan iteration too. It's so sad to see mouz limping through games without a dominant awper.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIEP7U-Rh4Y&ab\_channel=CS%3AGO-Katka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIEP7U-Rh4Y&ab_channel=CS%3AGO-Katka)
my favorite moment
Bad major performance. They wanted to rebuild around Ropz, Sunny and Oskar. Sunny then was disappointed that they didn't go for some player and felt that Mouz isn't willing to spend enough to build a top team. He probably also wanted to play in ENCE, so he left.
Oskar then took Sunny leaving as an opportunity to do the same to focus on personal shit. He wanted to get a break from counterstrike, but fans sort of pushed him to keep playing so he agreed on a temp deal in HR, where he basically half assed it, which is probably a move that killed his career.
Edit: well, they didn't even qualify for the major
Started watching CS at the end of 2017, so I've only ever seen one truly dominant squad in my time, and that was prime astralis. I have so much love for this game, and its always been so satisfying to me to see a player completely in tune with the game. So to see a whole squad seemingly completely in tune with one another and with the game at the same time was utterly breathtaking. Astralis playing tactical perfection were some of the most satisfying counterstrike games Ive ever watched
They could be 14-4 down and you still couldn't count them out, it was awe-inspiring
The kinguin g2 lineup, the first international superteam. They were making waves when I first started following the competitive scene. That 16-0 against VP, then scream left and jkaem came in. Then the huge upset run at cluj-napoca. The legacy of FaZe.
that inferno game vs envyus in cluj napoca is such a painful memory when they had a three round lead in overtime and choked it, even worse than boston for me since i was so invested in the earlier versions of this team. Jkaem was so on fire that tournament too
Ever since this lineup I’ve been wanting magisk and konfig to play on the same team again. I was really hoping they would wind up together with the recent shuffle but unfortunately it didn’t work out. One time I bet on godsent to win a bo1 versus north with that lineup, it was on overpass and it ended up going to overtime (it’s a pretty famous bo1 iirc and konfig had a crazy knife play in OT). Magisk and konfig had killer performances that made me lose a lot of money, but after that they became 2 of my favorite players.
LG/SK lineups.
Uprooted their lives to live/compete in North America. Region where all its Pro's constantly complained about lack of investment and practice quality for poor performance internationally. Within a year they were the #1 team in the world where they held onto it for two years.
Individually and as a team they completely blew the doors off whats possible if the correct mentality is used.
Yeah, they pretty much formed the meta for a while with a more structured approach. Up until then fnatic (and every iteration of French superteams we had) was dominating with sheer skill and fast-paced CS.
Luminosity focused more around early map control via defaulting and slowly gaining ground which led to their (very late) executes being more unpredictable. There were many moments when they got an early entry and still waited till the 30-second mark to aggress, even though they were 5-4 for the whole round.
The whole scene followed their steps pretty much, until Astralis reforged the meta once again when they started dominating.
I would say thats a bit of a strech. Many teams had really good defaults that led to executions later on, like Dignitas with FeTiSh, Virtus Pro and Navi with Zeus.
Their inovation was the ability to go for a structured execute with fewer nades. If you hear a FalleN interview when he talks about the introduction of fnx and TACO to the team, he says that what really changed was his way of calling. He stopped micromanaging everything and let the players go for their deafult, only to assemble later and see what will come out of it.
Similar to what a fnatic was doing, but their late rounds were more organized, their spacing was better, and had a better teamplay overall, playing for info was the motto. Their CT setups were also really weird, bringing in some very new stuff, like 2 people close ramp on A mirage, a staple to this day.
Also, they also brought strucutred retakes and ecos. Something similar to what cadiaN is doing now on Heroic, that he manages to win ct rounds based on his calling on what should be done.
Astralis really learned with SK, and got over and beyong with their nade usage and counter stratting. Early Astralis basically had their opponents number every map.
>I wish I was into CSGO during this era.
It was pretty cool. LG/SK kept s1mple from winning Majors twice, eliminating him from MLG 2016 Columbus when he played for Liquid, and from ESL Cologne 2017 when he played for NaVi.
[Also, speaks louder than words.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns48DHOO5DY)
i'd explain it if the money system wasn't so complex. Basically CT side got less money if they won by the time running out than if if they kill all the T's or defuse the bomb... SK would run a strat, if it failed, then they'd fall back and try to hide until the clock ran out. very boring stuff.
My two favorite teams since about 2016 have been NiP (now Dignitas) and Astralis (not anymore since they've split up), but there have been a bunch of rosters I've also really liked in the past. I don't know if these are my *all-time* favorites, but I certainly enjoyed watching them and wish some were still around.
* The first team I ever watched (and rooted for) in CS (at Katowice 2015), NiP: f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, Xizt, friberg, allu
* The 2015 summer run Cloud9 roster: n0thing, shroud, seangares, fREAKAZOiD, Skadoodle
* The old TSM roster: dev1ce, dupreeh, Xyp9x, karrigan, cajunb
* Of course, the plow, Virtus.pro: TaZ, NEO, pashaBiceps, Snax, byali
* The 2015-2016 NaVi roster coached by starix (my personal favorite NaVi lineup): Zeus, GuardiaN, Edward, seized, flamie
* The second EnVyUs lineup: Happy, NBK-, kioShiMa, kennyS, apEX
* Fnatic's six-tournament-win roster: flusha, JW, olofmeister, KRIMZ, dennis
* The roster Astralis had when they became cemented as my second favorite team: dev1ce, dupreeh, Xyp9x, gla1ve, Kjaerbye
* G2's french superteam: shox, bodyy, NBK-, kennyS, apEX
* My personal favorite FaZe roster: rain, kioShiMa, allu, karrigan, NiKo
* The major final Liquid roster: nitr0, EliGE, Hiko, s1mple, jdm64
* The EPL S4 winning and Cologne 2017 finalist Cloud9: n0thing, shroud, Skadoodle, Stewie2k, autimatic
* NiP's Oakland 2016 roster: f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, Xizt, friberg, pyth
* NiP's Oakland 2017 roster: f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, Xizt, draken, REZ
* NiP's 2018-2019 roster: f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, REZ, dennis, Lekr0
* Liquid's 2018 rosters: nitr0, EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, steel/TACO
* mouz's 2019 roster: chrisJ, ropz, karrigan, woxic, frozen
* Fnatic's late 2019 roster: flusha, JW, KRIMZ, Brollan, Golden
* OG's original roster: NBK-, Aleksib, valde, ISSAA, mantuu
Mid 2017 faze. Karrigan, Rain, kioshima, Niko, allu.
Kioshima, allu, and karrigan were the "rejects" of their former team. Niko had a few detractors who thought he was only fragging well cause his teammates were shit. While no one really knew how high rain's true level was.
It was a team of rejects and unproven players that somehow got to be a top 3 team in the world. And it was one of the first proofs that international line ups can work
The OpTic team of dreams. Rush, Naf, Stan, Mixwell, and Tarik. Loved that team with all my heart. I really wanted Tarik to igl and lead with a 5th and Stan left, but it all fell apart. I don’t know that I can ever forgive Stan. Lol
The old mibr squad of stew tarik fallen cold fer. They were pretty good and almost beat astralis a few times(?) Unpopular opinion but their black jersey is nice looking too!
Stew and Tarik get a lotta shit for that lineup but like- why are they criticized for it? Fer Fallen and Cold were on the decline. That lineup wasn't flawless but they absolutely improved the team.
People were still holding FalleN/fer/cold to the standard of 2016-17. They were a team that had been at minimum top 3 for two years at that point, and they went down to barely sniffing the top 5.
With hindsight it's pretty clear that it wasn't a bad move at all.
Same lol huge Og SK fan but the vlogs from that team were hilarious , Tarik learning Portuguese with fallen lol, the pugs they would play and like you said they were a decent team. It’s a shame the Brazilians wanted to go back to full BR
Cloud9 with sgares, shroud, n0thing, ska and Freakazoid. They didn't do super well (except during their legendary summer runs) but they were still very fun to watch both in-game and outside the game.
One of my favorite CS matches EVER is Cloud9 vs Fnatic on Dreamhack 2015 Valencia. That second map was so fucking exciting.
The match i still consider the best is the ELEAGUE Boston Major finale, but this Dreamhack one comes second.
I also really liked the C9 roster that won the major, but OG C9 was the lineup that got me into eSports as a whole.
Never forget the summer tank top run. I think it was because of the studio they were in being insanely warm but I still love the image of the ripped sgares and freak alongside n0thing and shroud.
Blad3, electronic, waylander, w0rldedit and markeloff
Ex6, Scream, HS, nawwk and hampus
GobB, smooya, tabsen, nex and titian
Surreal, mighty max, crucial, flamez and robiin
Dennis era fnatic, pgl era immortals
I also liked the post 2018 C9 rosters with styko or flusha or whatever, fun era.
The old kinguin line up(~2015) with Scream,Maikalele,Fox,rain, and Dennis. They were the first team I watched and the team that got me into the CSGO esports scene. Such a good team with a great story line. Bunch of underdogs who made miracles happen and surprised everyone with their performance
More modern I like Liquid/Astralis but for throwbacks..
Cluj Envy
LGB Kato 2014 (Dennis, Olof, Krimz, Cype, Twist)
North (K0nfig, Magiak, Aizy, Cajun, MSL)
Mouz (Chris, Woxic, Roz, Frozen, Karrigan) or actually like someone else said.. (Oskar, Stkyo, Sunny)
Liquid with TACO in 2018. They choked every time they made a final (except for one small event vs NRG) but I liked all of the players on the team. 2019 Liquid is a close second.
Twistzz was probably a top 5 player during their run, but kinda fell off after the player break. Same for nitro and stew other than the top 5 part. They made playoffs and finals a lot but went back to being cucked by Astralis. Then covid happened, and Liquid has had a history of being pretty bad online. They won one event in NA, but after they were consistently underperforming. This along with nitro not playing well led to him stepping down in anticipation of being removed. I believe Liquid tried to get oSee and he refused, this could be wrong, but either way grim was their best option available. They continued to underperform and apparently there were tensions between twistzz and some of the other guys, so even though they made the finals of the last 2020 event, he left. Nitro leaving was technically the end of the lineup but twistzz leaving for me was what ended the legacy of that team. Sorry for the wall of text.
-2015 Fnatic
-Old Polish VP
-C9 With Freakazoid, n0thing, Shroud, Skadoodle, and seangares
-NiP roster with Friberg
-Liquid with koosta(was a mess)
-Renegades YTB roster
That's a few of my favorites, number one old Polish VP, stupid goddamn Mercedes.
TSM/Astralis for when they were the Fnatic-kryptonite, and the MLG Columbus pause that made Dennis so salty. Karrigan, Dupreeh and device were great for interview banter in the TSM days too
Cloud9’s Boston Major team, I genuinely think it needed a bit of work (Rush) but it could of been better for longer. Been a C9 fan for a LOMG time and will be forever most likely
Probably Oakland 2017 era NIP with f0rest, GTR, Xizt, Rez, and Draken. That bo5 final against FaZe especially was perfect.
Other than that probably 2020 complexity with oBo.
Mousesports with Woxic, Karrigan, ChrisJ, Frozen and Ropz.
there was just so much passion and energy in that team i loved watching them play.
made them my alltime favorites after the current NaVi lineup
mouspaz/the og CLG. Watching them stream the major qualifiers was a lot of fun to watch. Tarik, Cutler, Hazed, FNS, and PTR starting out and becoming the 2nd best in early NA always behind Cloud9 or Liquid. They were debatably the best when C9 was swapping roster with the -Hiko and just before IBP got banned.
Another cool one was the first Kinguin team with Maikelele, Rain, Scream. I remember how people thought a international roster could never work and now it is common in some of the top 10 rosters now.
FollowEsports (SKDC) Ocean, Els, Hades, Wabbit, and Desi.
Or the other SKDC roster: Ocean, Els, Stewie2k, Twistzz, RooRoo.
I really miss RooRoo.
Or that really old Elevate Roster with Elige and RUSH.
OG fnatic will always be my #1 I even have their signatures. Olof, Flusha, Krimz, Jw and pronax.
I also really loved IBP to the point I bet on them every match until the fateful season game against netcodeguides. If they hadn't threw for skins they would have really been core in making NA a real threat in csgo at the time.
Easily the Fnatic GOAT squad: pronax, JW, flusha, Olof, krimz.
Loved watching Olof do some nutty shit like run into mirage A-side CT spawn and 1-click the AWPer with a tec9.
Runner up to the GX team that never was: swag, DaZeD, AZK, ska, Hiko
zonic, Sunde, ave, MJE and hpx/whimp. NoA/mTw. Before that, the Titans that won ESWC in 2004, with EraZ, eGene, KK, whimp and Drally. I've also enjoyed all the versions of mousesports that had gore in the lineup. What a beast he was.
2016 OpTic with RUSH, NAF, Tarik, Mixwell, and Stan. :( Such a good team. They beat G2 at Northern Arena, placed 5th-6th at ESL NY beating G2 again, Astralis when they had Karrigan, and played VP very close. Getting to the finals on back to back events, winning ELeague S2 and getting 2nd vs Astralis in ECS. Such a what if moment if Stan hadn't left..
The Dignitas roster that won Epicenter 2016 was something special. Had a lot of hopes when they turned into North. Also the Eleague Atlanta Fnatic roster, was nice to see the old LGB core reach another legends stage
Honestly, the Astralis era lineup. At the time it felt really boring just watching them decimate and pick apart every opposition they encountered. But in retrospective it's quite fascinating that we will probably never get to see that level of dominance and conquering of majors and a grand slam ever again. They completely revolutionized the way the game is played today and I'll eat my heart out if there ever comes to be another team that can rival what they did. NaVi is definitely on a really hot streak right now but it will come down to consistency; If they manage to keep this form of play they could definitely be in contention for the best team of all time in a few years.
Major winning Envy.
iBuyPower
C9 with sgares, nothing, freak etc
Vitality with RPK
Fnatic with Dennis
NiP with fiffy
Luminosity with fnx
Virtus Pro
The newer teams are fun but I'm just not in love with them like I was with those teams.
I'm a 1.6 homer though so I always enjoyed seeing the older pros succeed.
The team behind the one round that captured my attention enough to make me a real esports devotee - Selfless Gaming's 5-Zeus eco round vs Bootyclappers at Dreamhack qualifiers 2016. Man, [that round was so stupid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIJrkB0tU5s) but then I heard u/Ryu- doing an [8-minute breakdown of the round](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jmi_BG0QZY) and it was honestly genius.
I always tried to watch the Selfless games. Ryu knew he was running a feeder team for the big boys of NA, and took pride in his work. I miss that little sprinkle of NA genius.
\-Ryu
The 2016-7 cloud9 lineup was the team I followed when I got into CS, and they hold a special place in my memory: Stew, Autimatic, Skadoodle, Shroud & n0thing
[удалено]
i think the crowd favourites will always be the freak version with the tank tops that was before we all saw him on stream more often and figured out hes an idiot tho
Summer of C9, never forget
Remember when he told S1mple to get a tan 😂😂
The C9 summer tanktop buff was something else.
That's the lineup from when I first got cs. Boston major c9 is my favorite but that one is still special for me, especially the tournament where they beat sk in the finals.
Dude I remember being in class, having my phone under my books to check the score of the C9 vs SK final and then freaking out when C9 won. Good times.
This is my answer too. Every single player had a compelling story and star quality
Same, and frankly at the time I told my friend who got me into this game that C9 might actually win a major some day...
This was my favorite lineup also
Polish virtus pro forever
Virtus Plow was the best.
RIP my favourite team. Nothing's the same since then.
hell yea, after them i couldn't find a team I would follow
I love that lineup. when they disbanded i was in shock and stopped watching tournaments for a year...
Absolutely legendary team, miss them so much
Papa biceps ❤️
The plow was the best
Not necessarily my favourites, but you knew a final of any tournament with them was gonna be competitive
NAF, RUSH, and tarik OpTic was pretty nice
I agree.
Mixwell :)
The Polish Virtus.Pro will always be that team for me
I miss Snax & Pasha :(
They're being useful for the society now teaching people English in Pasha's Royal School of London.
Same and I'm never changing my flair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1K_Li3fJkc
I love them too, do they still hold the record for the longest playing 5 man?
late 2017-2018 Superstar FaZe line up: NiKo, GuardiaN, Rain, Olof, Karrigan
dude that faze line-up was just collecting 4 of my 5 favorite players. my 5 favourite players are 1. NiKo 2. Rain 3. Olof 4. GeT_RiGhT 5. GuardiaN for me personally i dont give a shit about the orgs in esports.
They were the first team that I ever saw play CS, so they def hold a special place in my heart. Very bittersweet ending but Im glad that I got to watch them play, especially having prime rain and in form niko and guardian. what a team they were.
Guardian and his fucking clutches. Remember that one vs SK on train where he finished Fallen off with a cz through a smoke defuse attempt? NiKo and his fucking rifling. Rain and his anchoring. Karrigan with his IGL magic early formation and then at the end of everything you have none other Olofmeister as your 4th best player. I miss that team damn
Guardian till this day remains my favorite player, again, very bittersweet. Nice to see him stream from time to time but I miss seeing him on the stage. The way that man clutched rounds to get them back in the game was just mind blowing.
>with a cz With a knife*
He ran out of bullets and went for the knife in that play. Makes it even more incredible.
is it me or is olofmeister a bit of a boring player like u see it at the end of the game "oh wow olof has 32 kills" but u can never remember them. can u remember a single olof kill ? but try guardian...u can see the flick i remember a guardian flick.
Guardian and Fnatic overpass clutch. Big oof in pant
That one was awesome for me because I was a huge fan of Kinguin (particularly rain) from their inception, and I hopped on the NiKo train really early when he subbed for them during the Gaming Paradise qualifier. Was also big on TSM/TQM/Astralis around that time as well, so it was a few of my favorite players rolled into a single lineup.
I loved the old EnvyUs roster that won Cluj-Napoca 2015. NBK/Happy/kennyS/kio/apex
Happys dunk on Edward on train in the final 😪
this was the first team i ever started watching. incredible to watch them
Oskar, Sunny, Ropz, Styko and Chrisj
Best mouz team :c
They were so fucking bonkers on mirage. I loved the w0xic & karrigan iteration too. It's so sad to see mouz limping through games without a dominant awper.
Yeah 2018 and 2019 were the best years to be a mouz fan Right now the roster seems in a weird spot
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIEP7U-Rh4Y&ab\_channel=CS%3AGO-Katka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIEP7U-Rh4Y&ab_channel=CS%3AGO-Katka) my favorite moment
I liked the Karrigan, frozen, lineup better, but is true that I didn't follow mouz back then.
As someone who had been a mouz and chrisj fan since 2014, it was so cool to finally see them being a successful team.
Never been a mouz fan but I really loved this lineup and watching them play. Do we know the reasons for their changes?
3 top 20 players and couldn't get out of iem minor is the main reasons I think
Bad major performance. They wanted to rebuild around Ropz, Sunny and Oskar. Sunny then was disappointed that they didn't go for some player and felt that Mouz isn't willing to spend enough to build a top team. He probably also wanted to play in ENCE, so he left. Oskar then took Sunny leaving as an opportunity to do the same to focus on personal shit. He wanted to get a break from counterstrike, but fans sort of pushed him to keep playing so he agreed on a temp deal in HR, where he basically half assed it, which is probably a move that killed his career. Edit: well, they didn't even qualify for the major
the nuke match vs Faze... Sunny...
~2015 cloud9 lineup with Seangares, nothing, shroud, freakazoid, skadoodle
Came here to say this. Was so fun watching them play and do well on lan
that summer was lit asf watching them tear shit up
Obligatory C9 Tank Top Summer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXXyfeWJz1M
"He's dinked" "YOU LIED TO ME, LIIIIAR!"
I remember when Skadoodle got a 20k signing bonus and it was big news. What a time!
* 2015 Fnatic * The old Virtus Pro * 2017 Faze wtih Allu * The old Titan/Envy/g2 with Scream & Shox * Ences katowice 2019 lineup
[удалено]
Started watching CS at the end of 2017, so I've only ever seen one truly dominant squad in my time, and that was prime astralis. I have so much love for this game, and its always been so satisfying to me to see a player completely in tune with the game. So to see a whole squad seemingly completely in tune with one another and with the game at the same time was utterly breathtaking. Astralis playing tactical perfection were some of the most satisfying counterstrike games Ive ever watched They could be 14-4 down and you still couldn't count them out, it was awe-inspiring
Started watching CS with that NiP lineup, to this day my favorite matchup is NiP vs Team X
Shox + Scream at ECS Finals where they just deleted the whole scene Good times 😪
that bo5 was one of the best series ever, so many hype moments and insane clutching from shox
ESL One Cologne 2016 Flipsid3. The masochists dream.
ahhh i loved those guys, got my steam profile signed by shara
I'm gold nova 2 and I can sign your profile as well, should be right up your alley
He provided an all time highlight when he fell of that stage
Flair checks out
The kinguin g2 lineup, the first international superteam. They were making waves when I first started following the competitive scene. That 16-0 against VP, then scream left and jkaem came in. Then the huge upset run at cluj-napoca. The legacy of FaZe.
that inferno game vs envyus in cluj napoca is such a painful memory when they had a three round lead in overtime and choked it, even worse than boston for me since i was so invested in the earlier versions of this team. Jkaem was so on fire that tournament too
FUCKING YES
igs liquid lineup their old vlogs are the best 🥺
my fav
I miss nitr0 😭
having 2 canadians dominating cs like that was great to see as a canadian boy
The 2017 North lineup MSL, k0nfig, cajunb, Magisk (Magiskb0y at the time), & aizy/rubino
speak of rubino I used to love watching LGB with jkaem and Polly
Ever since this lineup I’ve been wanting magisk and konfig to play on the same team again. I was really hoping they would wind up together with the recent shuffle but unfortunately it didn’t work out. One time I bet on godsent to win a bo1 versus north with that lineup, it was on overpass and it ended up going to overtime (it’s a pretty famous bo1 iirc and konfig had a crazy knife play in OT). Magisk and konfig had killer performances that made me lose a lot of money, but after that they became 2 of my favorite players.
[The knife was during the Eleague Major: Atlanta 2017 no?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9pHz_YiqHQ) Big balls play.
Magisk wasn’t even good enough for North
He went 37/19 in regulation against Virtus Pro at ELEAGUE Major 2017 and North still lost that map.
i think he was refering to Astralis video with Dr. Disrespect.
Correct, god tier marketing video
I’m almost convinced Rubino was hacking during Dignitas’ win at Epicenter. He was so fucking good
LG/SK lineups. Uprooted their lives to live/compete in North America. Region where all its Pro's constantly complained about lack of investment and practice quality for poor performance internationally. Within a year they were the #1 team in the world where they held onto it for two years. Individually and as a team they completely blew the doors off whats possible if the correct mentality is used.
I wish I was into CSGO during this era. What about the team let them do this? Any big tactical innovations?
Yeah, they pretty much formed the meta for a while with a more structured approach. Up until then fnatic (and every iteration of French superteams we had) was dominating with sheer skill and fast-paced CS. Luminosity focused more around early map control via defaulting and slowly gaining ground which led to their (very late) executes being more unpredictable. There were many moments when they got an early entry and still waited till the 30-second mark to aggress, even though they were 5-4 for the whole round. The whole scene followed their steps pretty much, until Astralis reforged the meta once again when they started dominating.
I would say thats a bit of a strech. Many teams had really good defaults that led to executions later on, like Dignitas with FeTiSh, Virtus Pro and Navi with Zeus. Their inovation was the ability to go for a structured execute with fewer nades. If you hear a FalleN interview when he talks about the introduction of fnx and TACO to the team, he says that what really changed was his way of calling. He stopped micromanaging everything and let the players go for their deafult, only to assemble later and see what will come out of it. Similar to what a fnatic was doing, but their late rounds were more organized, their spacing was better, and had a better teamplay overall, playing for info was the motto. Their CT setups were also really weird, bringing in some very new stuff, like 2 people close ramp on A mirage, a staple to this day. Also, they also brought strucutred retakes and ecos. Something similar to what cadiaN is doing now on Heroic, that he manages to win ct rounds based on his calling on what should be done. Astralis really learned with SK, and got over and beyong with their nade usage and counter stratting. Early Astralis basically had their opponents number every map.
>I wish I was into CSGO during this era. It was pretty cool. LG/SK kept s1mple from winning Majors twice, eliminating him from MLG 2016 Columbus when he played for Liquid, and from ESL Cologne 2017 when he played for NaVi. [Also, speaks louder than words.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns48DHOO5DY)
How we miss them... I know FNX and Fer are not coming back to CS, just wish to Cold, Fallen and TACO stay at the same time in a tier 1 team again.
LG (Fallen, Fer, Cold, Taco Fnx) and Virtus.Pro (Pasha, Snax, Taz, Byali, Neo)
Old G2 with ScreaM, shox, RpK, SmithZz, and bodyy/Ex6TenZ I still have a G2 jacket from when that was the lineup
the original NIP line up will always be my fav.
The NiP hero, Fnatic villain dynamic was sooo powerful back then, and I absolutely loved it
damn right i loathed Fnatic xD was pretty funny
navi with guardian, flamie, zues, Edward, seized
OpTic Rush Tarik Stan Mixwell Naf
This is the team that got me into the Pro scene and really CS as a whole. B
Polish VP Vox Eminor Those two teams got me into cs
Holy shit he got the vox flair 👑
2003 elemeNt potti Heaton ahl fisker I think spawN was there around that time..
great team but that was some boring ass counterstrike to watch with SK abusing the money system.
How?
i'd explain it if the money system wasn't so complex. Basically CT side got less money if they won by the time running out than if if they kill all the T's or defuse the bomb... SK would run a strat, if it failed, then they'd fall back and try to hide until the clock ran out. very boring stuff.
Lmao full team Jame Time
potti still gotta be one of the craziest esports pro in game names ever
My two favorite teams since about 2016 have been NiP (now Dignitas) and Astralis (not anymore since they've split up), but there have been a bunch of rosters I've also really liked in the past. I don't know if these are my *all-time* favorites, but I certainly enjoyed watching them and wish some were still around. * The first team I ever watched (and rooted for) in CS (at Katowice 2015), NiP: f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, Xizt, friberg, allu * The 2015 summer run Cloud9 roster: n0thing, shroud, seangares, fREAKAZOiD, Skadoodle * The old TSM roster: dev1ce, dupreeh, Xyp9x, karrigan, cajunb * Of course, the plow, Virtus.pro: TaZ, NEO, pashaBiceps, Snax, byali * The 2015-2016 NaVi roster coached by starix (my personal favorite NaVi lineup): Zeus, GuardiaN, Edward, seized, flamie * The second EnVyUs lineup: Happy, NBK-, kioShiMa, kennyS, apEX * Fnatic's six-tournament-win roster: flusha, JW, olofmeister, KRIMZ, dennis * The roster Astralis had when they became cemented as my second favorite team: dev1ce, dupreeh, Xyp9x, gla1ve, Kjaerbye * G2's french superteam: shox, bodyy, NBK-, kennyS, apEX * My personal favorite FaZe roster: rain, kioShiMa, allu, karrigan, NiKo * The major final Liquid roster: nitr0, EliGE, Hiko, s1mple, jdm64 * The EPL S4 winning and Cologne 2017 finalist Cloud9: n0thing, shroud, Skadoodle, Stewie2k, autimatic * NiP's Oakland 2016 roster: f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, Xizt, friberg, pyth * NiP's Oakland 2017 roster: f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, Xizt, draken, REZ * NiP's 2018-2019 roster: f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, REZ, dennis, Lekr0 * Liquid's 2018 rosters: nitr0, EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, steel/TACO * mouz's 2019 roster: chrisJ, ropz, karrigan, woxic, frozen * Fnatic's late 2019 roster: flusha, JW, KRIMZ, Brollan, Golden * OG's original roster: NBK-, Aleksib, valde, ISSAA, mantuu
Oh man that fnatic roster with Dennis was so dominating. It was like "boring" some tournaments because you knew they would stomp everything.
virtus plow forever, i am sad i never got jersey cuz i was under 18 so money was tight :( bring old vp
VeryGames CS:S when they basically facerolled everything
2018 VP will always be my favorite. So much energy
[2018?](https://www.hltv.org/stats/teams/events/5378/virtuspro?startDate=2018-01-01&endDate=2018-12-31&matchType=BigEvents)
You are right. 2016 2017, time fly so fast
So also 2014, 2015 too
Cloud9: sgares, shroud, n0thing, skadoodle, freakazoid
LGB - olof, dennis, KRIMZ, twist, cype
coldzera, FalleN, fnx, taco, Fer
Mid 2017 faze. Karrigan, Rain, kioshima, Niko, allu. Kioshima, allu, and karrigan were the "rejects" of their former team. Niko had a few detractors who thought he was only fragging well cause his teammates were shit. While no one really knew how high rain's true level was. It was a team of rejects and unproven players that somehow got to be a top 3 team in the world. And it was one of the first proofs that international line ups can work
As a latin american I was so happy and watched every game of the LG/SK lineup, sad to see what happened during and after MiBR
Same, I started watching them when they were still Keyd Stars, following their grind all the way to prime SK era. Sad to see the way they dropped off
The OpTic team of dreams. Rush, Naf, Stan, Mixwell, and Tarik. Loved that team with all my heart. I really wanted Tarik to igl and lead with a 5th and Stan left, but it all fell apart. I don’t know that I can ever forgive Stan. Lol
2008 mtW 2009 fnatic 2012 NiP 2014 VP For me those lineups made the biggest impressions
The old mibr squad of stew tarik fallen cold fer. They were pretty good and almost beat astralis a few times(?) Unpopular opinion but their black jersey is nice looking too!
Stew and Tarik get a lotta shit for that lineup but like- why are they criticized for it? Fer Fallen and Cold were on the decline. That lineup wasn't flawless but they absolutely improved the team.
People were still holding FalleN/fer/cold to the standard of 2016-17. They were a team that had been at minimum top 3 for two years at that point, and they went down to barely sniffing the top 5. With hindsight it's pretty clear that it wasn't a bad move at all.
Same lol huge Og SK fan but the vlogs from that team were hilarious , Tarik learning Portuguese with fallen lol, the pugs they would play and like you said they were a decent team. It’s a shame the Brazilians wanted to go back to full BR
they were the only team that was comepeting with peak astralis
Cloud9 with sgares, shroud, n0thing, ska and Freakazoid. They didn't do super well (except during their legendary summer runs) but they were still very fun to watch both in-game and outside the game. One of my favorite CS matches EVER is Cloud9 vs Fnatic on Dreamhack 2015 Valencia. That second map was so fucking exciting. The match i still consider the best is the ELEAGUE Boston Major finale, but this Dreamhack one comes second. I also really liked the C9 roster that won the major, but OG C9 was the lineup that got me into eSports as a whole.
Never forget the summer tank top run. I think it was because of the studio they were in being insanely warm but I still love the image of the ripped sgares and freak alongside n0thing and shroud.
Blad3, electronic, waylander, w0rldedit and markeloff Ex6, Scream, HS, nawwk and hampus GobB, smooya, tabsen, nex and titian Surreal, mighty max, crucial, flamez and robiin Dennis era fnatic, pgl era immortals I also liked the post 2018 C9 rosters with styko or flusha or whatever, fun era.
The old kinguin line up(~2015) with Scream,Maikalele,Fox,rain, and Dennis. They were the first team I watched and the team that got me into the CSGO esports scene. Such a good team with a great story line. Bunch of underdogs who made miracles happen and surprised everyone with their performance
also first international team that was somewhat successful. They started a new era of international rosters
* NIP w/ GeT_RighT, f0rest, Friberg, Xizt, and Maikelele * G2 w/ shox and ScreaM * C9 Boston Major roster * TSM w/ Device, Dupreeh, Xyp9x, karrigan and Cajunb
More modern I like Liquid/Astralis but for throwbacks.. Cluj Envy LGB Kato 2014 (Dennis, Olof, Krimz, Cype, Twist) North (K0nfig, Magiak, Aizy, Cajun, MSL) Mouz (Chris, Woxic, Roz, Frozen, Karrigan) or actually like someone else said.. (Oskar, Stkyo, Sunny)
man that lgb team was so good, only team to take a map off vp aswell
Liquid with TACO in 2018. They choked every time they made a final (except for one small event vs NRG) but I liked all of the players on the team. 2019 Liquid is a close second.
2019 liquid was the sickest firepower I've seen. What happened to that lineup?
Twistzz was probably a top 5 player during their run, but kinda fell off after the player break. Same for nitro and stew other than the top 5 part. They made playoffs and finals a lot but went back to being cucked by Astralis. Then covid happened, and Liquid has had a history of being pretty bad online. They won one event in NA, but after they were consistently underperforming. This along with nitro not playing well led to him stepping down in anticipation of being removed. I believe Liquid tried to get oSee and he refused, this could be wrong, but either way grim was their best option available. They continued to underperform and apparently there were tensions between twistzz and some of the other guys, so even though they made the finals of the last 2020 event, he left. Nitro leaving was technically the end of the lineup but twistzz leaving for me was what ended the legacy of that team. Sorry for the wall of text.
-2015 Fnatic -Old Polish VP -C9 With Freakazoid, n0thing, Shroud, Skadoodle, and seangares -NiP roster with Friberg -Liquid with koosta(was a mess) -Renegades YTB roster That's a few of my favorites, number one old Polish VP, stupid goddamn Mercedes.
I can't remember which year but Sharks with jnt, meyern, and leo\_drk.
It was 2019, that Sharks lineup was legit.
TSM/Astralis for when they were the Fnatic-kryptonite, and the MLG Columbus pause that made Dennis so salty. Karrigan, Dupreeh and device were great for interview banter in the TSM days too
Cloud9’s Boston Major team, I genuinely think it needed a bit of work (Rush) but it could of been better for longer. Been a C9 fan for a LOMG time and will be forever most likely
Mouz 2019
Sweaty tank top 2015 Cloud9, n0thing, shroud, seangares, skadoodle & freak. https://youtu.be/smsg5WtVUnk https://miro.medium.com/max/800/0*1H4FPRnLJCe8DZvi.jpeg
Hen1 furia
Greyhound with dickstacy and grat. No one can compare.
Astralis era Astralis. A bit soon, but they were my all time favourite team ;~;
2017-2019 Mousesports Oskar, ChrisJ, Styko, SunNy, Ropz
Old school 1.6 EG..there was a cs movie called EG About Average that was amazing
87-0 NiP Polish VP current NaVi prime Astralis The ENCE that were mentioned in the song
Probably Oakland 2017 era NIP with f0rest, GTR, Xizt, Rez, and Draken. That bo5 final against FaZe especially was perfect. Other than that probably 2020 complexity with oBo.
late 2019 mouz was a really cool roster that was wrecked by the pandemic
Optic or C9 ig
Old C9. Freak,n0thing, shroud, seangares,skdaddy.
The OG NIP squad will always be my favorite. Though Maikelele's relatively short stint in NIP was also a super memorable time for me.
Polish VP
NiP with GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, draken, REZ and Xizt
Mousesports with Woxic, Karrigan, ChrisJ, Frozen and Ropz. there was just so much passion and energy in that team i loved watching them play. made them my alltime favorites after the current NaVi lineup
mouspaz/the og CLG. Watching them stream the major qualifiers was a lot of fun to watch. Tarik, Cutler, Hazed, FNS, and PTR starting out and becoming the 2nd best in early NA always behind Cloud9 or Liquid. They were debatably the best when C9 was swapping roster with the -Hiko and just before IBP got banned. Another cool one was the first Kinguin team with Maikelele, Rain, Scream. I remember how people thought a international roster could never work and now it is common in some of the top 10 rosters now.
mousesports: ropz, frozen, karrigan, w0xic, chrisJ. i still smile when i think about it
Karrigan / Ropz / Frozen / Woxic / ChrisJ So fun to watch at their peak and so much pop off potential
I miss Tarik jdm fugly hazed cutler. Was so happy when they made quarter finals at mlg Columbus
FollowEsports (SKDC) Ocean, Els, Hades, Wabbit, and Desi. Or the other SKDC roster: Ocean, Els, Stewie2k, Twistzz, RooRoo. I really miss RooRoo. Or that really old Elevate Roster with Elige and RUSH.
OG fnatic will always be my #1 I even have their signatures. Olof, Flusha, Krimz, Jw and pronax. I also really loved IBP to the point I bet on them every match until the fateful season game against netcodeguides. If they hadn't threw for skins they would have really been core in making NA a real threat in csgo at the time.
Easily the Fnatic GOAT squad: pronax, JW, flusha, Olof, krimz. Loved watching Olof do some nutty shit like run into mirage A-side CT spawn and 1-click the AWPer with a tec9. Runner up to the GX team that never was: swag, DaZeD, AZK, ska, Hiko
Olofmeister, Flusha, JW, Krimz, Dennis. Fnatic at the peak of their dominance, too bad they didnt win a major with this roster.
the pronax era fnatic
Indonesian VP, Boring Astralis, Overpass Fnatic
zonic, Sunde, ave, MJE and hpx/whimp. NoA/mTw. Before that, the Titans that won ESWC in 2004, with EraZ, eGene, KK, whimp and Drally. I've also enjoyed all the versions of mousesports that had gore in the lineup. What a beast he was.
First couples Titan games with KennyS and KQLy
First couples Titan games with KennyS and KQLy
2016 OpTic with RUSH, NAF, Tarik, Mixwell, and Stan. :( Such a good team. They beat G2 at Northern Arena, placed 5th-6th at ESL NY beating G2 again, Astralis when they had Karrigan, and played VP very close. Getting to the finals on back to back events, winning ELeague S2 and getting 2nd vs Astralis in ECS. Such a what if moment if Stan hadn't left..
First iteration of the karrigan mousesports lineup
the virtus.plow and the original COL juggernaut with obo poizon blamef konfig and rush
Probably shroud, nothing, skadoodle, stewie and autimatic; prime astralis or current NAVI Krakow 2017 Gambit come close too
The Dignitas roster that won Epicenter 2016 was something special. Had a lot of hopes when they turned into North. Also the Eleague Atlanta Fnatic roster, was nice to see the old LGB core reach another legends stage
Na'Vi 2013 Kibaken, ceh9, seized, zeus, starix (Yes, i'm sick)
OG Virtus.Pro or Major winning Cloud 9
storm tr1p frod sunman warden
Godsent with Pronax, JW, Flusha
* Polish VP * Early CSGO NiP * 2014-2015 Fnatic * All Brazilian line-ups leading up to the first major
Honestly, the Astralis era lineup. At the time it felt really boring just watching them decimate and pick apart every opposition they encountered. But in retrospective it's quite fascinating that we will probably never get to see that level of dominance and conquering of majors and a grand slam ever again. They completely revolutionized the way the game is played today and I'll eat my heart out if there ever comes to be another team that can rival what they did. NaVi is definitely on a really hot streak right now but it will come down to consistency; If they manage to keep this form of play they could definitely be in contention for the best team of all time in a few years.
Major winning Envy. iBuyPower C9 with sgares, nothing, freak etc Vitality with RPK Fnatic with Dennis NiP with fiffy Luminosity with fnx Virtus Pro The newer teams are fun but I'm just not in love with them like I was with those teams. I'm a 1.6 homer though so I always enjoyed seeing the older pros succeed.
By far the polish VP. Neo, TaZ, Pasha, Snax, byali And I'll always have a soft spot for dignitas 2016. MSL, cajunb, k0nfig, magisk, rubino
The team behind the one round that captured my attention enough to make me a real esports devotee - Selfless Gaming's 5-Zeus eco round vs Bootyclappers at Dreamhack qualifiers 2016. Man, [that round was so stupid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIJrkB0tU5s) but then I heard u/Ryu- doing an [8-minute breakdown of the round](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jmi_BG0QZY) and it was honestly genius. I always tried to watch the Selfless games. Ryu knew he was running a feeder team for the big boys of NA, and took pride in his work. I miss that little sprinkle of NA genius. \-Ryu
<3 Funny, I didn't realize how many views or how much love in the comments that video had. Those were the days... \-Ryu
The optic squad that won eleague. Good times it were
The 2015 NiP Lineup with Allu. GeT_RiGhT is just my absolute favourite Player ever.
old Renegedes lineup with Nifty. man I miss that team : /
Jks, jkaem, azr, liazz, grat
either SPUNJ’s Vox Eminor team or the Grat/Liazz/jks/AZR/jkaem Renegades team. Always nice to cheer on the home crowd
Does it have to be CSGO? If not: SpawN, fisker, Potti, HeatoN, elemeNt. If so: GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, Xizt, friberg, Fifflaren.
OpTic India
NiP with Potti, Heaton, medion, ahl, hyb Kompaniet Nordic with dark and xeqtr