With IEM Beijing being the next big event in the CS:GO circuit, there are a lot players to follow. Here are 5 players to watch out for throughout the event.

#5. NiKo

Image from csgoniko on instagram.

With NiKo having his worst individual year so far, he and FaZe now have to prove that Coldzera’s move isn’t for naught. FaZe has the firepower with coldzera, NiKo, rain and olofmeister to outfrag most teams at this event however, since the beginning of the year they have had inconsistent results and lineups. Winning Blast Miami 2019 against what would become the dominant Liquid and then playing ENCE close in Dreamhack Masters Dallas to go out in semis. However they then went out against NRG and Mousesports in the 2nd losers bracket round in ESL One: Cologne with NiKo putting up some of the worst stats in his career with a 1.06 rating over 5 maps. There’s few players who have performed the consistent numbers like NiKo and with him having this career slump it’s now up to him and FaZe to show what they are made of in Beijing. FaZe fans all over the world needs to see a big performance from both NiKo and coldzera this event or the hype for the lineup might stall.

#4. Aerial

Image from @jussilajani on instagram

ENCE’s entry fragger has been posting low numbers since the major and the switch from their IGL Aleksib to Allu. Posting a 0.94 rating over his last 4 events shows the worrying sign of stagnation from the 26-year old. If he and ENCE don’t turn it around after having time off after more than a month of preparation time there’s gonna be questions surrounding ENCE and how the future looks without Aleksib. The T-sides that ENCE used to have was heavily reliant on both xseven and Aerial to win their opening duels. If Aerial and ENCE do not perform here they won’t have many more chances this year, since ENCE dropped out of the ESL Pro league circuit they are unable to qualify for EPL Season 10 finals. For Beijing, keep an eye out during ENCE’s T-sides and if Aerial can go back to winning opening duels for them. If Aerial cannot find form here, there might be very little hope for the Finns.

Time for Allu and ENCE to prove people wrong.

#3. shox

From @shoxcsgo_ on Instagram

One of the greatest players to touch the game has had a rough patch in 2019. Despite a strong Dreamhack Masters Dallas , he’s struggled to find any sort of consistency. With a move to Vitality he now joins with what seems like the best player of 2019 in ZywOo who’s in need of some support in terms of firepower. Vitality has looked like a good team in terms of tactics so with the addition of shox there’s a lot of promise if he can be the second star of the team. Leaving IGL duties behind shox has now played 2 events with Vitality just as a player, in Beijing we might finally see what a Vitality with 2 stars looks like.

#2. Ethan

Photo taken from @The_nahtE on Twitter

The MVP of StarSeries i-League Season 8 comes into IEM Beijing in his best form yet. Ethan, has since IGL stanislaw’s arrival, turned into what many thought he would become during his CLG days. Alongside star player Brehze and top 5 AWPer CeRq, Evil Geniuses with Ethan performing like this could make them a solidified #1 in the world, especially with this core of players seemingly having the upperhand against Astralis. If Ethan continues his good form in Beijing there’s serious contention for Liquid in the discussion of most skilled lineup in the world.

Evil Geniuses come into Beijing as the favorites and now has no apparant weakness in the lineup. If you only have time to watch 1 team this tournament, watch EG.

#1. ZywOo

Image from @cs_zywoo on Instagram.

ZywOo might be the most fundamentally complete CS:GO player in the world right now, despite only playing against top tier opposition since late 2018. ZywOo is a treat to watch with a Krieg or an AWP, his CT-sided AWP has shown to be the most dangerous in the world, maybe even more consistent than device’s AWP. If you ever wanted to improve your game and didn’t know how, watching a ZywOo demo and just seeing him play fantastic CS will help any player. However ZywOo cannot carry Vitality alone against the best teams in the world which has been shown throughout 2019 when the team would get to finals or semifinals where their runs would usually end in defeat. Losing against the newly resurgent Fnatic in Malmö, the finalists AVANGAR at the Berlin major, Winners Team Liquid in Chicago and lastly losing the final to Team Liquid in Cologne. If Vitality can finally perform as a team together without compromising ZywOo’s ability then Beijing might be theirs for the taking.

Honorable Mentions:

100 Thieves

Image from @100Thieves on twitter

The Aussies have impressed during both majors in 2019. Despite a lull in placings during summer, there were issues with Gratisfaction and his VISA situation. After their notable run in Berlin where they got to the semi-final, they have done something no other OCE roster in CS history. If you watch a single player’s POV, watch Gratisfaction, if he can find any sort of consistency, he is gonna be the x-factor that they need.

kaze

Owner: ©HLTV.org

The Malaysian AWPer is ViCi’s greatest hope for stealing a map win against any top team in Beijing. ViCi only really has zhokiNg and kaze as their fraggers when going against top teams, however if any player on ViCi is gonna perform, you can bet it’s gonna be kaze.