bolofoo
2016-06-28 12:12:26
The Counter Strike scene has always been extremely dynamic. Never willing to sit still the landscape of Counter Strike can change dramatically at any point in time. Currently the quantity of god like players and high level teams are at a level that has never been achieved previously in Counter Strike Global Offensive history.
The most interesting storyline within the current Counter Strike scene is the fact that there are a large number of players who can realistically contend for the top spot on the top of of the individual hill. Players like Coldzera, Olofmeister and Shox will be battling it out on the top stage in the immediate future in order to determine who exactly is the king of the of the hill. This article is an attempt to take a look at those players who are on the cusp of reaching the top of the hill and define who they are as individuals.
The Danish Superstar Device began 2016 in a run of poor form for his standards, choking in certain situations where his team needed him the most. Quite recently, he has regained the form that had established him as the second best player in the world previously and improved on it. Proficient on both rifles and the AWP, Device is one of the most talented hybrid players in the game, able to give his team whatever they are looking for.
Be that as it may, Astralis’s team struggles throughout the year have prevented Device from picking up the individual accolades that someone of his caliber deserves, unable to go deep into big tournaments, Device is forced to watch from the sidelines as his competitors wrack up MVP’s and trophies. Unable to accept the state of things Device and Astralis look to change this moving forward, the addition of Kjaerbye is an attempt to mend the lack of firepower from Device’s complementary stars that has plagued Astralis in high pressure situations.
Device has already established himself as a top three player in the world in current form, and with more time, his prodigious skills could see him progress all the way to the top.
Olofmeister began this year in a run of form like no other, continuing it for the next three months. Players came close to his form at times, but no player ever truly managed to supplant him as the best individual in the world. Nonetheless, ultimately all kingdoms one day end in ruin, and so did Olofmeister’s. Olofmeister was forced off the throne by an injury, and the scene was left wondering who would be capable of taking over the top spot over from him.
Not satisfied with watching as others took accolades while he was delegated to the sidelines, Olofmeister has returned to challenge those that have replaced him. Devastating the competition at ELeague, it intially appeared to the general public that nothing had changed -- Olofmeister had simply returned to the scene at the level that he had left at.
ECS Finals came in the form of a reality check, as it became clear that Olofmeister still has not reached the level that had led many to peg him as the best player in the world at the beginning of this year. Olofmeister still has a way to go before the scene can hoist him up as the best player in the world; however, he has the innate talent within himself to reach that level and as such should be an extremely exciting player to keep an eye on moving forwards.
Shox is regarded as one of the greatest players to ever play Counter Strike Global Offensive, the consensus exists that he is a top five player in the game’s history. No essay, or block of text, or even a video explanation can do justice to the magic that Shoxiejesus has performed ever since ESL Pro League finals.
Since those illuminating finals, Shox has played like a man possessed, leading his team to the 2nd spot on HLTV rankings and securing the ECS Championship over teams like Luminosity, Fnatic, and NIP. He also emerged as the best player in the world in the eyes of multiple analysts, once again surpassing some of the greatest players to ever touch the game in order to solidify himself as the greatest in the world.
Shox does not simply create highlights -- he is a walking highlight reel. When one watches Shox, they do not get the sense that they are watching a man play Counter Strike -- rather, they feel that they are watching an android designed to do one thing, and that’s to shoot people's heads off. Moving forward, Shox has the clearest path to becoming the best player in the world; after all, he already the spot at the top of the hill. All that remains is to defend it.
The Brazilian phenom himself Coldzera was, in my books, the best player of the first half of 2016. Even now he is such a fantastic talent that he still remains in the conversation for best player in the world, just recently leading his team to ESL Pro League championship and a spot in the ELeague playoffs.
Coldzera is the main star of the greatest team in the world, and has played a large part in their run towards becoming one of the greatest teams in Counter Strike history.
Possessing a versatile skillset, similar to other members of this list, he is extremely deadly with pistols, awps, and rifles. Coldzera also happens to be an integral part of one of the deadliest dual awp setups in the world, a setup that has led Luminosity Gaming to become the undisputed number one ranking team in the world.
At one point people were penciling Coldzera in as a consensus top two player in the world, only debating whether he or Niko were the best player in the world. Be that as it may, at this point he has firmly been surpassed by Shox, who absolutely ripped through LG at ECS en route to a championship.
With the skillset that Coldzera possesses, at any point he can rip through teams and establish himself as the best player in the world again; the only matter is whether or not he will succeed in doing it versus the breadth of competition present in the scene currently.
There is no sadder tale in the history of competition than when someone with an incredible skillset is unable to unleash their full potential at the highest level of competition. Such is the tale of Niko. Currently jailed on Mousesports, Niko has been caged in one of the saddest situations of Counter Strike. Prevented from spreading his wings in the sky, Niko is unable to unleash his full force onto the playoff stages of tournaments. The tale of Niko can be seen to be an even greater individual tragedy than the story of device; after all, at least Device has some of the greatest players in the game backing him up.
For a period of time, from the major onwards, a large portion of the community argued that Niko was the greatest player in the world. In the history of the game there have been hybrid players, but there has never been a player as versatile as Niko. Niko possesses the ability to do whatever he wishes. If he feels that the team needs a rifler, then he can rifle, if he feels that his team needs someone to lead tactically, then he steps up and becomes the IGL whilst simultaneously being the best player in the world. Despite Shox quite recently surpassing him to take the accolade of best player in the world, Niko still possesses such a deep skillset that he could overtake Shox as the best player in the world at any time over the oncoming tournaments.
At the beginning of 2016 Guardian was widely hailed as not only the best Awper in the world but also the player closest to overthrowing Olofmeister and taking his spot as best player in the world. However, in spite of his incredible play at the beginning of the year, Guardian eventually found himself at a crossroads, from IEM Katowice onwards. Barring one outlier event at Counter Pit finals, Guardian turned into a shell of his former self due to a wrist injury.
At the major, and onwards, Guardian has been not even remotely close to the type of Awper he normally has been, consistently failing to hit shots that a world class Awper should be capable of. Nonetheless, the winds of change are arriving and not a moment too soon. At ELeague, Guardian finished the group stages with a 1.28 rating, and for the first time in a long time looked to be at the level that the Counter Strike community had fallen in love with. If Guardian can overcome the hindrance of his injury and come back at full form then there is a realistic possibility that the Slovakian player could find himself being hailed as the best player in the world.
The competition for the top spot for individuals in Counter Strike is fierce, the range of players that can realistically compete for the spot based on current form are at levels that have never been previously touched in Global Offensive’s lifespan. While Shox exists as my current pick for best player in the world, it isn’t out of the realm of expectations to believe that someone will end up surpassing him over the next two to three lans, especially with the type of monsters that are barking at his heel.
Now, it is time for us to simply sit back and enjoy the ride, open up a bag of popcorn and enjoy this coming battle of the gods.
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Photo credit: HLTV
