Thousands of CS:GO players dream about joining a top team and winning a Major. O

Only a few rosters managed to clinch the biggest trophy in CS:GO and claim their place in CS:GO Hall of Fame.

Check out our Top 5 CS:GO teams of all time.

CS:GO Hall Of Fame: Top 5 Teams Of All Time

Considering that players in CS:GO frequently change organizations, and given that it’s very rare to see the same 5 players on a team for a long period, we decided to include all results of teams that have been made with the same team core (3 players). Hence, as long as there are three same players on the team, we consider it to be the same team, just like Valve does when it comes to Majors.

Before You Read below, Check out our CS:GO Hall Of Fame: Top 5 CS:GO Players Of All Time

5. NBK, Happy, kioShiMa and co. [Team LDLC/Team EnVyUs] (2014-2015)

A short and successful chapter in Team LDLC (NBK, Happy, kioShiMa, SmithZz, shox)

In a time when Scandinavian rosters dominated CS:GO scene, it was good to see some diversity and some non-Scandivaian teams winning big titles. Also, this is one of only two non-Scandinavian teams on our list of Top 5 CS:GO teams of all time. The story of the golden era of the French CS:GO scene started at the beginning of 2014 when Team LDLC was experimenting with different French rosters. They made so many roster changes hoping they could get a winning combination. The winning move turned out to be signing all players of Mercenary (NBK, Happy, kioShiMa, SmithZz, shox) on September 5th in 2014.

Until the end of the year, the French squad, led by Happy, played eight LAN tournaments. Their worst result was the Semi-final of FACEIT League – Season 2. At all other events, Team LDLC made it to Final and won three titles. One of those three titles was their first Major at DreamHack Winter 2014 where they defeated NiP in the Grand Final. In addition to those results, Team LDLC won a couple of Online events.

The Glory of Team EnVyUs

Despite great results, this roster didn’t survive under Team LDLC’s logo for so long. The French team was signed by Team EnVyUs on the first day of February in 2015, only after five months playing together in Team LDLC. In 2015, the French CS:GO scene saw even bigger success. In the first Major of 2015, ESL One Katowice, the French squad met NiP in Semi-finals. But, this time, the Frenchmen lost to the Swedish team and failed to become the first team to win back-to-back Majors.

Regardless, Team EnVyUs got their revenge not once, but twice in the next 15 days. They faced NiP in Grand Final two times and outlasted them in both finals. Later on, Fnatic stopped Team EnVyUs from winning a couple of big trophies. So, the French squad lacked titles up until Gfinity Masters Summer 1 where they defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas in Grand Final one more time. Moreover, the following results weren’t satisfying for the organization, so they decided to release shox and SmithZz and sign kennyS and apEX from Titan.

Great time for the new roster (NBK, Happy, kioShiMa, apEX, kennyS)

It turned out to be a great move as the new roster won IEM Season X – gamescom right after the roster change was made. Additionally, they reached the Grand Final of the following Major in Cologne but lost it to Fnatic. Nevertheless, the rest of 2015 was very fruitful for Happy and co.

They won two big titles (DH Open London, Gfinity Champion of Champions) prior to Major in Cluj-Napoca. There, Team EnVyUs had to defeat some really big names such as Team Dignitas, NaVi, Fnatic and G2 Esports on their path to the title. Indeed, they managed to do so to win their second Major title. At that time they became only the second squad (with the same team core) that won two Major titles. Even today, they are one of only four teams who accomplished that achievement.

Nonetheless, it was the last big result recorded by this team. After the Major in Cluj-Napoca, their performance started going downhill, and the team core eventually fell apart. In March 2016, the relationship between kioShiMa and Team EnVyUs didn’t have a solid ground, so kioShiMa ended up as part of FaZe Clan. With kioShiMa leaving Team EnVyUs and parting ways with NBK and Happy, the story of this French squad (with the same team core) ended. With two Major titles, this team just has to be part of our list of Top 5 CS:GO teams of all time, but couldn’t get higher due to lack of consistency.

4. GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, Xizt and co. [Ninjas in Pyjamas] (2012-2018)

Glorious beginnings (GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, Xizt, friberg, Fifflaren) (2012-2014)

If there is anything that the CS:GO community miss, it is the glorious beginning of NiP. This legendary organization saw a huge success in Counter-Strike 1.6, and they transferred a little bit of that success to CS:GO. When CS:GO just came out, Ninjas in Pyjamas decided to create their Counter-Strike team once again, after five years of being without a team in the most popular Shooter game.

Counter-Strike fans welcomed that news excitedly hoping that CS giants can shine again. Furthermore, that was exactly what happened at the beginning of CS:GO. NiP didn’t lose a single map in the first 83 games they played, including only LAN events. It has remained the longest winning streak up to nowadays. No one ever managed to be as dominant as NiP were in 2012 and 2013. Alongside 21 LAN titles, NiP won 15 Online events to become the most dominant team in 2012-2013 whatsoever. However, many experts are questioning the quality of competition back then, so that’s the reason why NiP couldn’t get higher on our list of Top 5 CS:GO teams of all time.

Even though Fnatic managed to spoil NiP’s era and prevent them from having two perfect years after beating them in the Grand Final of the first Major, NiP achieved so much in the first two seasons of CS:GO. As mentioned, the only thing that they may be regretted is failing to win the very first edition of Major in front of Swedish crowd.

NiP kept recording great results in 2014 as well. They won four LAN tournaments, including their first Major trophy in Cologne. Before the Major in Cologne, NiP lost to Virtus.pro in the Grand Final of ESL One Katowice Major. After their first Major title, NiP’s form started declining. Eventually, Flifflaren left and Maikelele joined. They played the Grand Final of Dreamhack Winter 2014 but again failed in front of the Swedish crowd. This time, they lost to Team LDLC.

End of an Era (2015-2018)

The following year was the last year when NiP had some decent results. Moreover, in 2015, we saw the fall of one Swedish giant (NiP) and the rise of the other one (Fnatic). So, even though the Swedish CS:GO scene basically didn’t lose anything, NiP struggled a lot. Prior to the first Major, NiP signed allu in place of Maikelele in order to strengthen their lines. They played the Grand Final of Katowice Major proving that they perform the best at Majors as they played all the first five Major Grand Finals, but also proving that they’re continually failing to end the job and win the Grand Final. This time, they lost to Fnatic once again, and it was a sign of not-so-great results for the rest of the year.

Indeed, they managed to win only one LAN even in the rest of 2015. They played the Quarter-final of ESL One: Cologne and Semi-Final of DH Open Cluj-Napoca. It turned out to be the last time when NiP has gone so deep at a Major. Later on, this squad has never played a Semi-final of Major again. Unsatisfactory results resulted in new roster changes as allu left the team and pyth joined.

In 2016, NiP managed to win three big events (DH Masters Malmö, StarLader Season 2, IEM XI Oakland). Furthermore, hey lacked consistency, and their results at two Majors were quite disappointing. They played the Quarters of the Columbus Major and didn’t even make it to Play-offs in Cologne.

After poor results, NiP signed draken and REZ in place of friberg and pyth in 2017 but still didn’t see any significant improvement. Nevertheless, they failed to qualify for any Major in 2017. On the 1st of April, Xizt joined FaZe Clan and the team core of legendary NiP squad fell apart. They ended their rich journey with one Major title and four Major runner-ups titles. On top of that, they won a number of LAN trophies and still hold many records and streaks. With all this being said, NiP is definitely one of Top 5 CS:GO teams of all time.

3. FalleN, coldzera, fer and co. [Luminosity Gaming/ SK Gaming/ MiBR] (2015-present)

The first Major won by the non-European team

Given that CS:GO has been dominated by European teams, it’s good to see one non-European team on our list of Top 5 CS:GO teams of all time. This Brazilian fairy tale started in July 2015 when Luminosity Gaming signed the whole squad of Keyd Stars. Later on, that year, coldzera moved from Dexterity to Luminosity, and TACO and fnx from Games Academy joined the Brazilian team. The greatest Brazilian CS:GO team had decent showings in 2015. They played Quarter-finals of Majors in Cologne and Cluj-Napoca, as well as Grand Finals of a couple of other events.

The next year was perhaps the best year for the Brazilian CS:GO scene, even though this Brazilian squad was more consistent in 2017. Prior to Major in Columbus, Luminosity played the Grand Finals of two big events but failed to win one of those. When they came to Columbus, however, FalleN and co. shined and overshadowed all other teams. They won their first Major after dropping only one map on their way to the trophy. The following month that year (May) was very good for the Brazilians as they won ESL Pro League Season 3 and DH Open Austin.

A different organization, the same results

As contracts of the whole Luminosity roster expired, SK Gaming used an opportunity to sign rising stars. Hence, in July 2016, FalleN and his teammates started playing under SK Gaming logo, where they were going to see most of their success.

The Brazilian squad couldn’t ask for a better beginning in SK Gaming as they managed to win Major in Cologne just a few days after signing for SK. Again, they dropped only one map and it was against the same team, Virtus.pro. By winning the Major in Cologne, SK Gaming became only the second team who accomplished back-to-back Majors.

Until the end of 2016, the Brazilians failed to win another big title but played at least Semi-finals at all events they attended.

Their struggle to make one last step towards the title continued in 2017 at the Major in Atlanta. They lost to Virtus.pro in the Semi-final. After another late-stage failure, they replaced fnx with felps from Immortals. In the next event (DH Masters, Las Vegas), they reached the Grand Final but lost to Virtus.pro one more time. After disappointment at the following two events due to early elimination, SK finally started winning titles. They won three big and two smaller tournaments between two Majors in 2017. As their results were promising, they were heading towards the Major in Krakow, Poland confidently, hoping they can clinch another Major.

Nevertheless, Astralis ended their dream of winning the third Major title already in Quarter-final. Despite the big disappointment in Krakow, SK Gaming managed to consolidate and win two big titles and one BLAST Pro event until the end of 2017.

Shuffling roster didn’t succeed

After losing in another Major Semi-final, (this time it was to underdogs, Cloud9) SK Gaming decided to make some roster changes. They signed Stewie2k from Cloud9 who has just won the Major as TACO left the team and joined Team Liquid. It resulted in the worst period in the history of this squad as they couldn’t even reach Semis anymore. After six months of struggle, they decided to part ways with SK Gaming and take part in the return of legendary brand, MiBR (Made in Brazil) that was so popular in previous versions of Counter-Strike.

However, a change of organization didn’t bring anything significant to the Brazilian squad. They still lacked big trophies and their form still was in decline. In the following two Majors(FACEIT Major 2018, Katowice Major 2019), they again dropped out in Semi-finals. In addition to that, they finished as a 3rd-4th team at a big event twice (EPL Season 8, IEM Sydney) and as a runner-up once (ECS Season6), which was a minor improvement in comparison to the beginning of 2018. They even gathered the old squad with TACO and felps together, but it’s questionable if this legendary squad can ever get back to their peak again.

Nevertheless, it would be a shame if we didn’t consider this Brazilian squad being one of Top CS:GO teams of all time as they completely deserve that.

2. JW, flusha, pronax and co. [Fnatic] (2013-2015)

Overshadowing neighbors

Considering that NiP had such a dominant beginning in CS:GO, it was very hard for any team to build their own era. However, the other Swedish team was on a good way to make their name famous already in 2013. The story of one of Top CS:GO teams of all time began in August 2013 when Fnatic signed the squad of Epsilon players. A couple of months later, in November, they completed their roster with pronax who joined the Swedes.

A new, stronger roster started off in the best possible manner. Just a couple of weeks after gathering together, they took part in the first CS:GO Major at DreamHack Winter 2013 and defeated NiP in the Grand Final. It was an incredible result for Fnatic and a big confidence boost for the Swedes. However, Fnatic wanted to additionally strengthen their lines, so they replaced schneider and Devilwalk with KRiMZ and olofmeister. It was also the only roster change that Fnatic made in the span of two and a half years.

The first half of 2014 wasn’t that promising as Fnatic lost in the Quarter-finals of Katowice Major and ended as runner-up in Cologne Major. Additionally, they had relatively weak showings at other events. Their form started going up right after they signed olofmeister and KRiMZ. Afterward, they won a bunch of Online tournaments and four LAN events. However, they dropped out from DreamHack Winter Major in Quarter-finals after controversy. Even though they won the match against Team LDLC on the server, they forfeited it when Valve decided to replay the duel because of illegal boosts on both sides. But, those decent results were only a hint of what was coming in 2015.

The first back-to-back Major champions

Fnatic kicked off 2015 in a great fashion. Prior to the first Major, they won a couple of small events and then became the first CS:GO team that won two Major titles at ESL One Katowice against NiP in the Grand Final. Later on, between the first and second Major of 2015, Fnatic clinched four LAN titles.

At the second Major in Cologne, Fnatic became the first back-to-back Major champions after dropping only one map to Virtus.pro in Semi-final. They beat Team EnVyUs in the Grand Final to win their third Major trophy. Up to this day, no squad has more than that.

In the following Major in Cluj-Napoca, Fnatic got eliminated in Quarter-finals by the same team they defeated in Cologne. Regardless, the ending of the story of this squad with this team core (JW, flusha, pronax) was the happy one. They managed to win three big trophies and finish 2015 in the best possible manner. However, later on, pronax left the team, which meant that the team core that won three Majors fell apart. Although Fnatic had some decent success in 2016, it couldn’t beat Major title from 2013.

Just one year ago, Fnatic would definitely be on top of our list of Top 5 CS:GO teams of all time. However, what happened in 2018 and 2019 completely changed the history of this game.

1. Dev1ce, dupreeh, Xyp9x and co. [Copenhagen Wolves, Dignitas, TSM, Astralis] (2013-present)

Promising beginning

Apparently, the core of this squad has changed the most organizations on our list of Top 5 CS:GO teams of all time. However, there are many other things to be said about this team that dominated the field at one point. This has been perhaps the most consistent team throughout their existence including both Majors and other events. They started off as a team in August 2013 when Xyp9x joined dupreeh and dev1ce in Copenhagen Wolves. Apart from two titles at small events and Quarter-final at the first CS:GO Major, 2013 wasn’t so successful for the Danes, especially in comparison to their later results.

The next year, however, was significantly better. They signed for Team Dignitas where they saw decent success. Dev1ce and his teammates played in the Semis of Cologne and Katowice Major and Quarter-final of DH Winter Major. On top of that, they won a big event at Fragbite Masters Season 2. In addition to all those decent results, they had late ends at several other tournaments.

A new star team was born [dev1ce, dupreeh, Xyp9x, karrigan, cajunb] (2015-2016)

After solid results in 2014, Team SoloMid decided to sign the whole Dignitas roster at the beginning of 2015. A team led by their IGL, karrigan, won five big trophies in 2015. Also, they played Semi-final of Cologne Major and Quarters of Cluj-Napoca and Katowice Major. Plus, they ended the tournaments as 3rd-4th or runner-ups a number of times, especially at the end of the year.

At the beginning of 2016, a squad of Team SoloMid decided to create a new CS:GO organization, owned by players. As a result, Astralis, which was going to become one of the most dominant teams ever, has been created. The first year of Astralis wasn’t that great although they didn’t have almost any early loss. Additionally, they played in the Semi-final of Columbus Major and Quarter-finals of Cologne Major but still failed to clinch their first Major title, even though everyone knew they had the necessary quality for doing that.

In order to win the Major, Astralis decided to make some roster changes, so they signed Kjaerbye and gla1ve in place of cajunb and karrigan.

Dev1ce and co. managed to finish 2016 in style with winning ECS Season 2 against OpTic Gaming in the Grand Final, just one week after losing to the same team in Grand Final of ELEAGUE Season 2.

Early beginnings of Astralis era [dev1ce, dupreeh, Xyp9x, gla1ve, Kjaerbye/Magisk] (2017-2019)

At the beginning of 2017, Astralis finally managed to do what was expected of them. In Atlanta, at ELEAGUE Major, they managed to defeat Virtus.pro in the intense final to clinch the very first Major title for the Danish squad. Although 2017 could easily be the year of Astralis, the Danes were choking too much and were dropping out in Semis and Quarters very often. Alongside ELEAGUE Major, they managed to win only one more big title, IEM XI – World Championship. Despite being so consistent, and despite winning the first Major, 2017 was mentally tough for the Danes.

However, they completely deserved credit for being one of the most consistent squads as they didn’t get eliminated at Major before Quarter-final at all. They played 11 Majors and didn’t drop out in Group Stage a single time. Nevertheless, that finally changed in 2018.

Astralis failed to defend the ELEAGUE Major title, as they got knocked out in Group Stage. Kjaerbye decided to leave the team, which was very shocking for his teammates, but it turned out to be a great turn of events for them as Magisk joined them. The rest is history. Astralis had one of the most dominant years ever, as they won eight big titles including FACEIT Major and a couple of other events. After the StarLadder event in February of 2018, Astralis didn’t end a tournament before Semi-finals. On top of that, they managed to claim Intel Grand Slam. Hence, they became the first squad that accomplished that.

At the beginning of 2019, in Katowice, Astralis became only the third squad that won back-to-back Major titles. However, after that big success, their form started dropping and it seems like they share the same destiny with all those great squads from our Top 5 CS:GO teams of all time list that just fell apart after their peak. We will see what the future brings to us and if the most consistent CS:GO squad can get back on track.