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<\/p>\nDespite being in the midst of the most dominant era that most Counter-Strike fans have ever laid eyes on, Vitality\u2019s likelihood of taking the trophy shouldn\u2019t push you away from watching other teams who have less of a claim to the crown. Not every team is built to win championships today, many teams are biding their time and developing their own identity in the shadows as Vitality walks away the victors on championship Sundays. However, there\u2019s still a reason to watch some opening day and lower bracket Counter-Strike. I\u2019ll move in reverse order, selling you the weakest of the bunch first:<\/p>\n
JamYoung \u2013 The one player from the Chinese region that you could make an honest case for that he should devote time to learning English. He obliterates domestic opposition individually, putting up a 1.34 Rating in his 2 series vs Lynn Vision and Rare Atom this season (his only 2 series against opponents around the Top 50). It\u2019s worth reminding everyone that he is the sole Chinese player to win an HLTV MVP in CS2 and put up an eye-catching 1.19 in both Austin and Budapest Majors last year. If there\u2019s any hope to Chinese CS, it lies with him.<\/p>\n
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Jee\u2019s Postgame Interviews \u2013 The man that stole our heart with his affinity for ice cream and willingness to just be himself at BLAST Austin last year. I always keep the volume up for a Jee interview because you don\u2019t know what sort of personality he\u2019s going to reveal and with DarfMike taking up interviewer roles at the upcoming BLAST Open Rotterdam, we should get even more.<\/p>\n
dgt \u2013 The prodigal son returns. After a rather perplexing stint on paiN which included highs such as a semifinal finish at the BLAST Austin Major and lows such as a 1-3 finish in the StarLadder Budapest Major, dgt has returned to 9z. He spent just shy of 6 years with the organization before and now he reunites with the Spanish speaking team. He\u2019s been putting up a 1.22 Rating lurking for them this season and is clearly the standout on a roster which is on the rise since his return.<\/p>\n
A South American Team that Isn\u2019t Brazilian \u2013 And they bring a nice flare in style with them. Overpass is their first pick in series when it\u2019s allowed and so I decided to check out some of their formations. They worked through at least 4 different starting formations (2-1-2, 1-2-2, 3-1-1, 5B) and were able to exert multiple points of pressure across the map simultaneously. They\u2019ll keep things exciting. It\u2019s rare to see a roster emerging from South America that doesn\u2019t have a green flag in the server. 9z is 2 parts Uruguayan, 2 parts Argentinian, and 1 part Chilean. Well, they do have a storied Brazilian coach too in BIT standing behind them.<\/p>\n
Grim\u2019s Growing Pains \u2013 I was excited to see Grim to return to an American-majority lineup with NRG. So far, we\u2019ve only gotten a 7 map taste of what he has to offer. He singlehandedly dominated NIP on a map of Ancient where Grim posted a 2.15 Rating for the map with 27 kills over 20 rounds. We\u2019ve also seen him post 6 kills in 17 rounds of Mirage against the very same NIP. It\u2019s safe to say he\u2019s still finding his footing, but if he does then I believe NRG can jump into the Top 20. The bar is depressingily low for North America right now, but that\u2019s actuall an accomplishment. I still consider Grim to be one of the 2 best Americans competing today despite the initial outing not proving as impressive as one would hope and look forward to his growth on NRG.<\/p>\n
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oSee \u2013 The year is still young, but if one decides to go deeper into the HLTV filters (Top 30), oSee is the 9th highest rated AWPer this year with 20 or more maps. In a CS2 that is still primarily dominated by riflers and hybrids, it\u2019s interesting to consider the fact that one of the world\u2019s best AWPers might actually be an American. If Liquid ever want to return to a fully NA lineup, this is their man. He sits at a 1.10 for the year thus far, but he put up an an impressive 1.25 in his 11 maps at IEM Krakow. Even though that seems to good to be true, he\u2019s posted a 1.00 or higher at all 6 events he\u2019s played this season. He\u2019s looked assertive and clutch in what I caught of him at IEM Krakow and hoping that form returns after a weaker online ESL Pro League.<\/p>\n
The cairne Gamble \u2013 When NIP replaced ewjerkz for cairne, it was supposed to be a direct upgrade, but it has proven to be more of a sidegrade for NIP who has still yet to return to HLTV\u2019s or the VRS top 20. A recent win at the Roman Imperium Cup felt mandatory for a team that had since slipped to 36th on Valve\u2019s rankings and jumping up to a 22nd spot today puts NIP in a position where they took one step back and have regained that step, but it doesn\u2019t quite push them 2 steps forward as the saying goes. cairne has looked relatively pedestrian as he\u2019s been trying to slot into the NIP system. ewjerkz held a 0.99 Rating vs Top 50 opponents in his time with NIP (122 maps). cairne is posting up a 0.96 so far vs Top 50 opponents in 31 maps. Additionally, he doesn\u2019t always seem to be the X-factor player that made ewjerkz so vital to Snappi\u2019s offense. cairne looks to be a bit more timid in his approaches, not using all of the smoke push timings which are a hallmark of the Snappi-system which ewjerkz knew inside and out. For the sake of an NIP project which has been exciting at various points, cairne has to start delivering consistently vs the better opposition the world has to offer.<\/p>\n
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r1nkle\u2019s day to day form \u2013 One of the most explosive AWPs still trying to maintain the flair of another Ukrainian legend (who also conveniently has a 1 in his username). r1nkle\u2019s last 6 months paint a worrying picture. At Tier 2 events, he tends to hold his own and farm any of the weaker opponents. As soon as he plays the big dogs, you\u2019re praying he\u2019s having a good day. r1nkle\u2019s aggressive, all-in style of AWPing can lead to one of the biggest adrenaline rushes you get out of any AWPers in the Top 30 teams, but it comes with a hefty price. His off days are dreadful. Against a floundering Liquid this season, r1nkle put up 14 kills in a 40 round series while leaving the server -3 on openers. The disappointing part of this story is that there really is no flip side. His best series this season against a Top 30 team would be a 1.16 vs Gentle Mates which is a Rating you would hope your AWPer averages, not peaks at. You really do not know what you\u2019re going to get from him day-to-day which, in a masochistic way can be a bit thrilling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite being in the midst of the most dominant era that most Counter-Strike fans have ever laid eyes on, Vitality\u2019s likelihood of taking the trophy shouldn\u2019t push you away from watching other teams who have less of a claim to the crown. Not every team is built to win championships today, many teams are biding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":372646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-372641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n