Top 10 Best Teams of the Season in CS:GO
Elen StelmakhThe season in CS:GO was quite difficult. First of all, we came up two Majors short which makes it impossible to talk about domination of any team. Nevertheless, despite the absence of LAN championships, we can mark ten teams that have shown their best side.
Tenth Place. Gambit
One of the most hard-working teams on the professional stage. Gambit started the season as Youngsters limiting themselves with only TIER-2 tournaments. However, getting closer to the summer, everybody started seriously talking about prospects of the team on the highest level. It’s implied that the starting point of big achievements is supposed to be Hobbit’s return. Initially this transfer was doubtful but the management of the organization outsmarted everyone again when they found the perfect balance between experience and youth.
All in all, the team won eleven championships including DreamHack Open November 2020, LOOT.BET/CS Season 8, and also the tournaments of the Nine to Five series. Gambit’s peak was DreamHack Masters Winter 2020: Europe where the team beat Cloud9 (2:0) and Complexity (2:0) getting to the playoffs and coping with the grands’ attack.
Besides, Gambit has a lot of talents who can become members of big teams in the future. Just look at sh1ro and Ax1Le: they keep position of leaders at every championship. But the most important is that Gambit’s growth is gradual and the team is likely to take their next step forward in the next season.
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Ninth Place. Complexity
Another reincarnation of the team led by Jason Lake started in the autumn last year. At the beginning Complexity did not show promise but everything changed at the beginning of 2020. The team had a beautiful performance at BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Regular Season where they beat Astralis (2:0) and Vitality (2:0). Since then everybody started speaking about Complexity that is pretty serious about becoming the best in the sphere.
However, the further several months held off on the big plans as the gamers did not show strongest performances in the spring. But when it got warmer, Complexity won four tournaments of the #HomeSweetHome series in a row and earned $120 000. Several weeks later the team joined the big world when the gamers won BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals which brought them $335 000.
But the helter-skelter in the autumn had a massive impact upon the team’s prospects and Complexity were able to get to quarterfinals from time to time. Nevertheless, it took the team only one year to make a claim about themselves, and, if the team is preserved, there are premises for Complexity’s further growth.
Eighth Place. OG
Another team formed at the end of 2019. OG broke into the professional CS:GO stage singing both stars and gifted talents. However a few could think that when the season was over everybody would consider OG a rather tough team that is capable of surprising.
It’s important to say that the team doesn’t have individual victories. Nevertheless, OG had stable results during the season and never dropped to the TIER-1 stage. At ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe, the team took sixth position and in the summer OG became third at the rating tournament – cs_summit 6 Online: Europe. In the autumn the team became second finalists at Intel Extreme Masters XV - New York Online: Europe and FLASHPOINT 2 gaining $280 000 only for two silver prizes. Even though the gamers did not achieve success, OG is definitely going to work hard to get what the gamers want.
Seventh Place. FURIA
It is necessary to make the only exception from the rules and add another team from North America to the list of the best teams. FURIA won almost all events in the regional division moreover, the Brazilians came to Europe in the autumn and did not get lost.
It’s interesting that in the winter FURIA became second at DreamHack Open Anaheim 2020. But, when they got used to the situation, the Brazilians triumphed at all tournaments one after another. As a result, the Brazilians won DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: North America, DreamHack Open Summer 2020: North America, ESL Pro League Season 12: North America, Intel Extreme Masters XV - New York Online: North America, andBLAST Premier: Fall 2020 Showdown. And another FURIA’s achievement is that the team is definitely the best in the region and is far from the last in Europe.
Sixth Place. G2
The title of the main loser of the season is given to G2. 2020 started successfully for the French as the gamers won BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Regular Season. Then G2 moved to the final of IEM Katowice 2020, but got whitewashed by NAVI. But the team continued to surprise in a bad way when the gamers failed at ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe. However, G2 again surprised making it to the final of ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe but again could not win the trophy. A month later, the French got to another final but again the victory at DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe slipped through their hands.
Everything was going as it had to – G2 continued to show their mood in their performances. Nevertheless, the organization decided to take a risky road when they bought NiKo from FaZe Clan. As a result, the team immediately won the group at BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 Regular Season and then they became third at Intel Extreme Masters XV - Beijing Online: Europe. But after that there was a standstill which G2 were trying to break in the next season. Why are the team on such a high position? First of all, the answer is stability along with a big amount of prize places. Secondly, they were accompanied by championship ambitions added to signing NiKo. And if the team work on the holidays, the gamers will have a chance to start a new season as a leader.
Fifth Place. Heroic
The Danish started the season as a tough TIER-2 season. Moreover, the spring adventures with FunPlus Phoenix ended with the final leaving of the professional stage by the organization. But the transfer was not smooth and the Danish returned to Heroic not with a previous but improved roster.
At the end of May Heroic won #HomeSweetHome: Week 5 taking their first step. Two weeks later, the Danish won LOOT.BET/CS Season 6. But not everybody knew that the summer had the best period of the team’s history in store. Fourth place at cs_summit 6 Online: Europe and silver at DreamHack Open Summer 2020: Europe are just beginnings. Heroic made it into history thanks to their victory at ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – Europe. However, the honeymoon did not finish with results but conclusions as the breaking scandal put a halt on HUNDEN’s career as a coach of Heroic. Nevertheless, their inspiration was enough only for four following championships including an outstanding win at DreamHack Open Fall 2020.
There are several doubts that the Danish could demonstrate comparable results at LAN events. However, this season showed that Heroic broke the barrier and made it to the rank of the strongest teams in the world.
Fourth Place. Natus Vincere
Before the start of the season, the team decided to get rid of GuardiaN when they signed Perfecto. However, time showed that this transfer became one of the best in the year.
February-March for «Born to Win» was truly fateful – the team took silver at ICE Challenge 2020, and then won BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Regular Season and IEM Katowice 2020. In spring, the team had a standstill which was followed with a fail at the local ESL One: Road to Rio – CIS. However, NAVI overcame all difficulties taking a break as a champion of WePlay! Clutch Island.
But the team needed some time to adapt and in October NAVI again started showing worthy results. After the session in autumn, the team took two silver prizes at ESL Pro League Season 12: Europe and Intel Extreme Masters XV - Beijing Online: Europe, and also third place at Intel Extreme Masters XV - Global Challenge.
We can’t say that «Born to Win» had a strong season even though in spring it seemed that the team were going to start a new era of playing on the professional stage. Nevertheless, NAVI got used to the online format giving hopes to continuation of the fest in the next season.
Third Place. Astralis
A leader of the pro-stage if we judge only by the rating did not cause a stir in the season. Astralis had everything to conquer the world again, however, change of roles, reshuffles and psychological state of main gamers wavered the Danish gamers’ efforts to become the best team of the season.
The team started the season not like a champion and the gamers managed to adapt only in the spring. Yes, the team won ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe, but later disappeared from the radars for several month missing important championships in the summer. Only in October the Danish managed to make it to the Olympia winning ESL Pro League Season 12: Europe, DreamHack Masters Winter 2020: Europe, and Intel Extreme Masters XV - Global Challenge.
Nobody would disagree if we said that Astralis had a mixed season. The long warming-up in February and March and the standstill in the summer were followed by a true champion gaming by the Danish in the Autumn. However, there were teams that had a better season in the current circumstances.
Second Place. BIG
In January, BIG made changes in the roster and immediately won DreamHack Open Leipzig 2020. However, nobody could think that the team that had always been on the sidelines of the competitive stage would make the best season in history, even without Majors.
The fascinating series of the German team started in April when BIG won two #HomeSweetHome events in a row and also picked up a win at the local Merkur Masters Season 1. But the team were not going to stop and became the best roster at DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe, cs_summit 6 Online: Europe, and DreamHack Open Summer 2020: Europe. No need to argue that in the autumn BIG had a decline with longstanding bootcamp and busy schedule. However, the team again made it to the playoffs of big tournaments apart from ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – Europe, and even beat the leaders of the end of the season.
Despite the autumn depression, BIG made an outstanding mark in history of 2020, taking a big step forward. We want to believe that the Germans are not going to stop at what they have achieved but will continue conquering the stage in the next season.
First Place. Vitality
The best team of the season is, undoubtedly, Vitality. The French set off poorly, the gamers took part in ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe only. However, this event was followed by a victory at BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Showdown, when the gamers made a serious claim for the further part of the season.
This was what happened. In the summer Vitality stopped one step away from gold losing finals at BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals, cs_summit 6 Online: Europe, and ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – Europe. But the invisible wall broke in the autumn when the team won BLAST Premier Fall Series 2020, IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Europe, and BLAST Premier Fall 2020 Finals one after another. Let us add here the silver at DreamHack Open Fall 2020 in October and we will get an extremely stable team of the season. And a great solution with six gamers makes this Vitality the best team in the season.
Elen Stelmakh is a creative individual dedicated to advancing gaming culture through articles and visual design. As a full-time EGamersWorld author and designer for a gaming website, Elen not only creates content but also infuses it with energy and creativity.