To say that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a successful game is an understatement. Few titles have managed to achieve such spectacular results as CS:GO and entertain us for so many years. The esports events for the game continue to attract huge crowds with prize pools going through the roof. According to esportsearnings.com, CS:GO is ranked second on the list of top games awarding prize money, with over $112 000 000 already awarded throughout its rich, 9 year history. With this accolade, no wonder so many players managed to forge their careers playing the game. In this article, we are looking at some of the most successful CS:GO players of all time.
Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer
Approx. Total Winnings: $883,819
Proclaimed the best CS:GO player in the world in 2015, this Swedish-born player has a rich history both with the original CS as well as CS:GO. Among his greatest achievements are: the winner of two CS:GO Majors, ESL One Katowice 2015 and ESL One Cologne 2015. He has played in 6 teams throughout his long career, and has been a pillar of FaZe Clan since 2017. Privately, Olof is a football fan, a sport he had to stop playing due to a knee injury at a young age, and he is a great supporter of Arsenal. He has a brother and a sister.
Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut
Approx. Total Winnings: $374,571
The famous French AWPer at Team Vitality, and an ex-member of E-Corp Bumpers, WySix and aAa. He was declared the best CS:GO player of 2019 and 2020. His career began later than Olof’s, as he is also significantly younger. In 2014, he joined dizLown, an amateur formation, where he did not achieve much, but it was a step forward. In 2017 he joined Wysix with which he achieved 2nd place at the Gamers Assembly 2017, but he made his biggest breakthroughs once he joined Team Vitality a year later. With this team, he won DreamHack Open Atlanta 2018, cs_summit 4 and more. Mathieu holds the record for the most HLTV MVP awards earned in a player’s first year of professional gaming.
Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund
Approx. Total Winnings: $602,910
GeT_RiGhT is another Swedish professional player on our list, who has been active on the scene for over 14 years. The man was ranked second in the original CS by HLTV in 2010 and 2011, and first in 2013 and 2014 in CS:GO. During his career, he played for 11 teams, including the famous Ninjas in Pyjamas, SK Gaming, Fnatic and as a loan for Meet Your Makers. He retired in January 2021. Christopher has three older siblings, and is sometimes referred to as “Totte”, which in Sweden is a common way of referring to a person named Christopher. His nickname – GeT_RiGhT – comes from a download manager application that was popular over a decade ago.
Zainab “zAAz” Turkie
Approx. Total Winnings: $52,893
We mentioned zAAz for the first time in our “Women in esports – female professional gamers” article. She is a Swedish player with Lebanese roots, and one of the most accomplished females in esports. Her most prominent achievements include 1st place at DreamHack Showdown Winter 2020: Europe with Xset, and 1st place at DreamHack Showdown Valencia 2019 with Beşiktaş Esports. During the latter event, her team won a prize of $50,000. Currently, she continues her esports career with Xset.
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
Approx. Total Winnings: $831,186
Another living legend, he started playing CS at the age of four, after the game was recommended to him by his brother, and reached out for CS: GO the moment it was released back in 2012. One year later, he joined his first professional team – Courage Gaming. Among his recent accomplishments, there is the first place at BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020 – a tournament in which the prize was $600,000. People refer to him as “Sasha” sometimes, which is a popular way of addressing Alexander in Ukraine. He studied Chinese at university before joining Team Liquid.
Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz
Approx. Total Winnings: $1,897,000
The first player to win 4 majors in CS:GO, and the first one to win 3 majors consecutively. Dev1ce is a Danish pro that continues to excel since 2014. He has been a member of Astralis since 2016. His accomplishments are reflected by some of the highest total winnings in CS:GO history. He surpassed GeT_RiGhT for the most FLTV MVPs in a single year in 2018, with the count of 7, and is also one of 6 players who attended all Majors. In his younger days, he was invited by prominent Danish sports clubs to play badminton for them, but he rejected their offers. Now, he enjoys running in his breaks from gaming.
Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski
Approx. Total Winnings: $983,132
He is a professional US player of Polish descent, currently playing as a Rifler for Team Liquid. He was ranked 4th on the list of TOP CS:GO players in 2019. His team’s most notable victory is the 1st place at Intel Grand Slam Season 2, with the prize of $1 million. Apart from being an outstanding player, he is also a very good student – he has received the title “Scholar of the Year” for a number of achievements, in general for his overall contributions to the Carbondale Area Junior Senior High School.
Conclusion
There are many other very accomplished CS:GO players we could put up there, to mention a few: Kenny "kennyS" Schrub, Marcelo “Coldzera” David, Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács, Robin "flusha" Rönnquist, Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg, Nikola "NiKo" Kovač and others, the list goes on and on. They all made history at some point, entertaining us and contributing to the popularity of esports and CS:GO.
