Just a little over a year ago, things were looking great for the North American CS:GO scene. Not only was there a North American team that was capable of upsetting top tier international teams (iBUYPOWER), their rival domestic squad, compLexity Gaming, had just moved to a different eSports organization with considerably more money (Cloud9). Everyone thought that the North American scene would experience nothing but exponential growth in the coming months, with hopes of an NA dream team being able to consistently perform on the international level.

Unfortunately, that dream team was never able to see the light of reality.

While the NA scene was able to achieve some decent results in the coming months - notably Cloud9 making it to the playoffs at ESL One Cologne 2014, everything seemed to fall apart just a few months later. On January 26th, 2015, the developers of CS:GO decided to ban seven key figures in the North American scene indefinitely from all Valve-sponsored events for match fixing. A list of the individuals banned can be found below:

Duc “cud” Pham Derek “dboorn” Boorn Casey Foster Sam “Dazed” Marine Braxton “swag” Pierce Keven “AZK” Lariviere Joshua “Steel” Nissan

While the bans against the first three people on the list may not have had a very large impact on the scene, the last four definitely has. If you haven’t noticed already, those are four out of the five players from the former iBUYPOWER lineup, one of the few North American teams that had the potential to become an international level team. Losing four of the best CS:GO players in the NA scene was sure to be a tremendous setback towards everything?—?and it was noticeable.

It was only downhill from then on. Not a single North American team was able to make it to the playoffs at the MLG X Games or ESL One Katowice 2015, always losing the spots to their rival European teams. However, the biggest blow to the North Americans was at the ESEA Season 18 LAN Finals, where none of the four NA teams were able to win a single map off of the Europeans.

So where do they go from here? Right now, the NA scene is experiencing a relatively large roster shuffle. The best case scenario is for a dream team to emerge from the shuffle, but in reality, that’s very unlikely. However, it’s always fun to dream, so without further ado, here is what the roster of a North American dream team would consist of:

Eric “AdreN” Hoag

A seemingly unlikely choice for a player in the North American dream team, Eric “AdreN” Hoag makes up for his sub-par fragging ability with his excellent leadership skills and strat calling. Hoag currently plays for Team Liquid, where his experience in being an in-game leader shines through his Terrorist side strategies that have helped upset top tier European teams.

Daniel “roca” Gustaferri

Arguably the best entry-fragger in the North American scene, Daniel “roca” Gustaferri combines raw aim with skillful game sense throughout all of the maps. While still relatively young in the scene, it would be difficult to find a player that is consistently more skillful than roca. Gustaferri currently plays for Team eLevate, which has achieved some respectable domestic success, but very little in the international scene.

Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham

The only player from the former iBUYPOWER lineup that was not banned for match fixing, Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham is easily one of the fastest AWPers in North America. With lightning fast reflexes and unpredictable movement, Skadoodle proves to be stronger than other AWPers because of his ability to adapt through various different situations. While Latham experienced a four month hiatus following the iBUYPOWER match fixing scandal, he recently joined Cloud9 to replace former AWPer Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan.

Michael “shroud” Grzesiek

Despite being one of the younger players in the scene, Michael “shroud” Grzesiek brings invaluable experience from the international level. Shroud was one of the players that helped Cloud9 reach the playoffs of ESL One Cologne 2014, being the consistent and well-rounded rifler that is crucial to the success of any team. Grzesiek still currently plays for Cloud9, as he has been in past 10 months of his CS:GO career.

Spencer “Hiko” Martin

While Spencer “Hiko” Martin has not been on a professional CS:GO team for over half a year now, he has still been a very active member in the community. Hiko was one of the players that played alongside shroud at ESL One Cologne 2014, helping Cloud9 achieve a top 8 finish. Recently, he played as a stand-in for Team eLevate at the MLG X Games with respectable results. Martin has proven to excel with his impressive game sense and reaction time.

If you enjoyed this content, consider following the author for more at @GGnetKevin. Image Sources: HLTV.org, GosuGamers.net, ESEA.net, iBUYPOWER.com