Natus Vincere, commonly referred as abbreviated name NAVI, is a Ukrainian esports organization based in Kyiv. Founded in 2009, the organization has teams and players competing in various games, such as Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, FIFA, Brawl Stars, World of Tanks, Paladins, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Clash of Clans, Apex Legends, Rainbow Six Siege, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Fortnite, and VALORANT.
Anders Blume is a Danish Counter-Strike: Global Offensive commentator and co-founder of RoomOnFire. He has been present as a caster at all of the Valve sponsored CS:GO Majors, with the exception of EMS One Katowice 2014. He has worked for a wide variety of tournament organisers including Electronic Sports League (ESL), Dreamhack and Gfinity. He is more often than not paired with Auguste 'Semmler' Massonnat, also a co-founder of RoomOnFire and Jason "Moses" O'Toole, for his casts. He is famous for his energetic casts, including the use of what has become his catchphrase, "Are you kidding me?". In 2015, he won the Golden Joystick award for esports icon of the year.
ESL One Cologne 2016, also known as ESL Cologne Major 2016 or Cologne 2016, was an Electronic Sports League Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. It was the ninth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship and was held at the Lanxess Arena In Cologne, Germany from July 8–10. It featured 16 teams from throughout the world competing. Cologne 2016 had the second consecutive major with a prize pool of $1,000,000.
Astralis is a Danish esports organization. Best known for their Counter-Strike 2 team, they also have teams representing other games, such as FIFA and Rainbow Six Siege. The parent group of Astralis is the Astralis Group, who previously managed Origen and Future F.C. before the merger of all teams under the Astralis brand. Astralis Group became the first esports organization to conduct an initial public offering, and is traded as ticker Nasdaq Copenhagen: ASTRLS. Astralis's CS:GO team holds the most CS:GO Major Championships won at 4.
Nicolai Hvilshøj Reedtz, better known as dev1ce, is a Danish professional Counter-Strike 2 player for Astralis. On his first stint in Astralis, he became the first to win 4 majors in CS:GO, and to win 3 majors consecutively. He is regarded as one of the best players of all time, consistently playing at a very high individual level since 2014.
ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017, also known as ELEAGUE Major 2017 or Atlanta 2017, was the tenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship. It was organized by ELEAGUE and held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States from January 22 to 29, 2017. It featured sixteen professional teams from around the world. Eight teams directly qualified based on their top eight placement in the last major, ESL One Cologne 2016, while another eight teams qualified through the ELEAGUE Offline Major Qualifier. ELEAGUE Major was the third consecutive Major with a prize pool of $1,000,000.
Nikola Kovač, better known as NiKo, is a Bosnian professional Counter-Strike 2 player for G2 Esports. NiKo is often cited by many professionals and analysts alike as one of the greatest Counter-Strike players of all time and the best rifler in the history of Counter-Strike:Global Offensive. He has been an named a Top 20 Player Of The Year by HLTV eight times, tying dev1ce for the 2nd for most top 20 player appearances in Global Offensive history. NiKo is widely considered as one of the most mechanically skilled players in Counter-Strike and has been in contention for the title of the best player in the world at multiple periods throughout his career.
Counter-Strike Major Championships, commonly known as the Majors, are Counter-Strike (CS) esports tournaments sponsored by Valve, the game's developer. The first Valve-recognized Major took place in 2013 in Jönköping, Sweden and was hosted by DreamHack with a total prize pool of US$250,000 split among 16 teams. This, along with the following 18 Majors, was played in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. As of the 2023 release of Counter-Strike 2 (CS2), Counter-Strike esports, including the Majors, are played in CS2.
Oleksandr Olehovych Kostyliev, better known as s1mple, is a Ukrainian professional Counter-Strike 2 player for Team Falcons, on loan from Natus Vincere. He is considered to be one of the best players in Counter-Strike history.
Lukas Egholm Rossander, better known as gla1ve, is a Danish professional Counter-Strike 2 player for ENCE. Considered one of the best captains in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, he became the first to win 4 majors in CS:GO, and to win 3 majors consecutively.
Emil Hoffmann Reif, better known as Magisk, is a Danish professional Counter-Strike 2 player for Team Falcons. He has won four majors in total, three in a row, a record he achieved with Astralis.
ESL One Cologne 2019 is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. In July 2019, sixteen teams from around the globe competed in an offline (LAN) tournament that featured a group stage and playoffs with a US$300,000 prize pool. This event and Intel Extreme Masters Season XIV - Chicago were the last events before teams playing at StarLadder Major: Berlin 2019 took a month break before heading to the Major.
Russel David Kevin Van Dulken, better known as Twistzz, is a Canadian professional Counter-Strike 2 player for Team Liquid. He has previously played for top teams such as Team SoloMid, Misfits, and FaZe Clan. Twistzz was named the MVP of ESL One New York 2018 and IEM Sydney 2019 by HLTV.
The Intel Extreme Masters Season XVII – Rio Major 2022, also known as IEM Rio Major 2022 or Rio 2022, was the eighteenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship. It was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between October 31 and November 13, 2022. Outsiders won the Major, defeating Heroic in the grand final 2–0.
The PGL Major Stockholm 2021, also known as PGL Major 2021 or Stockholm 2021, was the sixteenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Major Championship. It was held in Stockholm, Sweden at the Avicii Arena from October 26 to November 7, 2021. Twenty-four teams qualified via regional major rankings. It featured a US$2,000,000 prize pool, a rise from the $1,000,000 of previous Majors due to the absence of offline competition amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the second Major hosted by the Romanian organization PGL, after PGL Major: Kraków 2017. Stockholm 2021 was the first Major after a break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic following the StarLadder Major: Berlin 2019. The Major was won by Natus Vincere, who did not lose a single map throughout the tournament.
Robin Kool, better known as ropz, is an Estonian professional Counter-Strike 2 player for FaZe Clan. Kool has played in eight Majors and won the PGL Major Antwerp 2022.
Mathieu Herbaut, better known as ZywOo, is a French professional Counter-Strike player for Team Vitality. He is considered one of the best players in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive history, having been ranked the No. 1 player in the world by HLTV in 2019, 2020 and 2023. He is the youngest ever HLTV Player of the Year at 19 years old, and only the second player after coldzera to be named the HLTV Player of the Year in their first full year as a professional player. He is also sometimes nicknamed "The Chosen One" due to being born on the day of the original Counter-Strike game's commercial release.
Heroic is a Norwegian esports organization with teams competing in Counter-Strike 2, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Sim racing and Rainbow Six Siege.
Ence is a Finnish esports organization with teams and players competing in Counter-Strike 2, PUBG: Battlegrounds, StarCraft II, and NHL 22. ENCE was founded in 2013 and the organization takes inspiration for its name from the Enceladus of Greek mythology. It is currently based in Helsinki and is the most popular esports organization in Finland. The organization also competed in Hearthstone and Overwatch until 2018, and in League of Legends for the 2020 season. ENCE is best known for its success in Starcraft II and CS:GO. Serral was the first non-Korean to win a StarCraft II World Championship and the CS:GO team finished second at IEM Katowice Major 2019.
Team Falcons is a Saudi esports organization. Founded in 2017, the organization fields rosters in multiple esports. The org has garnered a reputation for pursuing high-profile players and coaches, being able to successfully construct "superteams" in the process.
