Emil Pathric William Christensen, also known as HeatoN, is an esports manager and former Swedish professional Counter-Strike player, formerly playing as captain of the gaming team Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP). HeatoN was the manager of NiP up until October 2018 when he decided to part ways with the organisation to focus on his own brand. He is widely considered one of the best Counter-Strike players of all time.
Dignitas is an American esports organization based in Newark, New Jersey. It was founded by Michael "ODEE" O'Dell in 2003 as a merger of two Battlefield 1942 clans. Dignitas was acquired by the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA in 2016 and is now a part of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. The team is best known for its League of Legends, Rocket League, Fortnite, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squads.
Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) is a professional esports organisation based in Sweden that is best known for its Counter-Strike teams. In 2012, the team reformed with a Counter Strike: Global Offensive lineup upon the release of the game. Aside from Counter-Strike, the organisation has teams in Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege, FIFA, Rocket League, and League of Legends. They formerly had teams in Fortnite Battle Royale, Overwatch, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Paladins.
Patrik Lindberg, known by the pseudonym f0rest, is a Swedish esports player who is considered to be one of the best Counter-Strike players in the world. Having played competitively since 2005, Lindberg has been widely regarded within the esports scene as the greatest player in Counter-Strike history. Lindberg is best known for his four years of tenure on the Fnatic roster, which he helped bring to prominence as the dominant team of 2009, during which year the team broke the record for the highest-earning team in Counter-Strike history. Near the end of 2010, Lindberg left Fnatic and joined SK Gaming, which he remained with until July 2012. Soon after, he transitioned over to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and joined the team Ninjas in Pyjamas. In 2020, Lindberg left NiP to join Dignitas.
Christopher Alesund, better known as GeT_RiGhT, is a Swedish Counter-Strike player who is currently a streamer for Dignitas. During his time as a member of Ninjas in Pyjamas, he was considered one of the best Counter-Strike players in the history of the series. He began playing competitively in 2007 and has previously been a member of SK Gaming, Fnatic, Begrip Gaming, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Dignitas.
Aleksi Jalli, better known as allu, is a Finnish professional Counter-Strike 2 player for JANO. He previously played for Ninjas in Pyjamas and FaZe Clan as their AWPer. He has also played for 3DMAX, mousesports (mouz), ENCE, Rats of the Year, Team Curse, RAIDERS, The Hawks, and Team WinFakt.
Mikail Bill, better known as Maikelele, is a retired Swedish professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. He has played in teams like qwerty, G2 Esports, Team Kinguin, LGB eSports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, mousesports, UnWanted, ESG!, FaZe Clan, SK Gaming, Team Property, Red Reserve, Digital Chaos and GODSENT.
Olof Kajbjer Gustafsson, better known as olofmeister, is a Swedish professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player for FaZe Clan. He has previously played for H2k, Absolute Legends, LGB eSports, Fnatic, and FaZe Clan. Gustafsson is widely regarded as one of the best CS:GO players in history. He has won two CSGO Majors, ESL One Katowice 2015 and ESL One Cologne 2015, as well as many other tournaments.
Astralis is a Danish esports organization. Best known for their Counter-Strike 2 team, they also have teams representing other games, such as FIFA, League of Legends 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.
Kenny Schrub, better known as kennyS, is a French former professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. He was named "eSports Player of the Year" at The Game Awards 2015. He was considered the best sniper in the game, and Duncan Shields, a Counter-Strike analyst, has called him the best player in the game prior to the sniper being changed. Some of his previous teams include Titan, VeryGames, Team LDLC.com, Recursive eSports, Clan-Mystik, Team EnVyUs and G2 Esports. He was a professional Counter-Strike: Source player before transitioning to Global Offensive in 2012. Schrub announced his retirement from competitive Counter-Strike on May 20, 2023, before the semifinal between Team Vitality and Apeks at the Blast Paris Major in Paris.
Peter Rothmann Rasmussen, better known as dupreeh, is a Danish professional Counter-Strike 2 player. He has played for Team Dignitas, Team SoloMid, Astralis, Team Vitality and Heroic. In 2023, he became the first and only player to win 5 majors in CS:GO, and to win 3 majors consecutively. Due to the Blast Paris Major 2023 being the last CS:GO major as a result of the subsequent PGL Copenhagen 2024 Major being played in the upcoming Counter-Strike 2, Rasmussen is the only player to participate in every CS:GO major.
ESL Pro League Season 5 was a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. It is the fifth season of the ESL Pro League, and has an overall prize pool of $1,000,000. For the first time, the Finals will take place in Dallas, Texas, from May 30 to June 4, in the Verizon Theatre. Teams from two continents, North America and Europe competed in fourteen team leagues to attempt to qualify for the Finals over a ten-week regular season. Europe's season began with Natus Vincere defeating Astralis and ended with Team EnVyUs defeating Astralis. North America's season started with Cloud9 defeating Rush and ended with Renegades defeating Rush. In the finals, G2 Esports was crowned Season 5's champion after winning a best of five series against North.
ESL Pro League Season 6 is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. It is the sixth season of the ESL Pro League. The finals moved back to Europe after two seasons and will be hosted for the first time in Denmark. Teams from two continents, North America and Europe will compete in fourteen team leagues to attempt to qualify for the Finals. The regular season for Europe began with Heroic defeating HellRaisers and ended with mousesports defeating Astralis. North America's season began with OpTic Gaming winning against Ghost Gaming and ended with Luminosity Gaming defeating Rogue to clinch the final spot in the finals as the last match Season 6.
ESL Pro League Season 7 is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. It is the seventh season of the ESL Pro League. Teams from two continents, North America and Europe will compete in fourteen team leagues to attempt to qualify for the Finals. For the first time, the EPL finals returned to a location that had already hosted an EPL final as ESL decided to head back to Dallas and will host the finals at the Verizon Theatre. The regular season started on February 13, 2018, and ended on April 26, 2018. Europe's season started with Astralis overrunning Team LDLC.com. North America's season kicked off with the Season 6 champion SK Gaming edging out the Season 4 champion Cloud9. South America's season began with Dereguedere tying with W7M Gaming. Asia-Pacific's season started with B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape defeating Grayhound Gaming. Asia-Pacific's season ended with MVP PK defeating Grayhound Gaming in three maps to take first seed in the APAC region. South America's season will end with Team Wild taking on W7M Gaming. Europe's season ended with HellRaisers defeating North to take the last European spot in the finals. North America's season ended with Ghost Gaming defeating compLexity Gaming.
Richard Landström, better known as Xizt, is a Swedish former professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) player and Counter-Strike 2 coach who was most recently head coach for Heroic.
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.
List of events in 2018 in esports.
ESL Pro League Season 9 was a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. It was the ninth season of the ESL Pro League. Teams from five continents – North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America – competed in four leagues to attempt to qualify for the Finals. The regular season started on April 12, 2019, and ended in June 2019. This season was also the fourth tournament of the Intel Grand Slam Season 2. The EPL Finals took place in Montpellier, France.
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.
