The Best CS:GO Players 2021

The situation in CS:GO esports changes super quickly. One day you are the best team in the world, and no one can dream of defeating you. But the next day however, victories seem to slip away from your hands, and your best guy decides to transfer to your competitor. Each year we witness the same scene growing and evolving — and therefore, our list of the best CS:GO players changes as well. Some names disappear, young legends enter the hall of fame, and traditionally powerful professionals jump or fall to another rank.

Here at DMarket we love to follow the successes of the top CS:GO players. It’s a great experience to watch them destroying their opponents and demonstrating miracles of team actions. And also, it’s educational as you definitely need to learn from the best if you want to improve your playing skills, enjoy those sweet wins and get higher CS:GO ranks.

While becoming better at the game is a long process with quite a lot of dedication needed from your side, you should not forget about another significant aspect of your success in the community — your in-game style. DMarket offers a perfect shortcut if you want to fill your inventory with amazingly beautiful weapons! Buy CS:GO skins on our marketplace and surprise teammates and opponents with your exceptional appearance.

Each big tournament may bring big surprises. Someone you never consider a prominent player suddenly reaches the top of their game and earns the audience’s heart. Or someone who despite their pedigree of glorious victories simply can’t find their pace and becomes a burden for their team. And sometimes, nothing of the sort happens, so the community may get the same results as the three previous majors. CS:GO esports is so unpredictable, but it’s also the beauty of this awesome game!

We’ve created this list on the basis of many mathematical facts (such as kills, deaths, and maps played). But it’s impossible to look behind the curtain of that unpredictability. CS:GO players train hard to improve their skills. Whereas on the other hand, they are only human, with their own ups and downs. So, our list of top players in CS:GO is not ultimate, it’s rather our personal opinion.

We all know that the emotional factor might be more significant than any number. And the brilliant performance of just one guy and the hype they create might cost much more than stable numbers throughout the year.

1. Aleksandr “S1mple” Kostyliev

Rating 2.0 — 1.39
Kills per round — 0.86
Death per round — 0.64
K/D Ratio — 1.34
Total kills — 33695
Total deaths — 25163
Total maps played — 1493

This guy definitely knows the meaning of the word “persistence.” S1mple has kept the unofficial crown of the best CS:GO player for many years, having stable results at multiple esports events. Some would even call him the best CS:GO player of all time — mostly thanks to his versatile skills that allow S1mple to adapt to different situations and perform various roles in his team.

2021 brought a powerful start for S1mple and Natus Vincere. They won BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020 and DreamHack Masters Spring 2021. Other results might not be as impressive, but S1mple always demonstrates exceptional Counter-Strike. You should pay proper attention to his style! And if you are a fan of NaVI, then you definitely should join NaViNation

2. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut

Rating 2.0 — 1.33
Kills per round — 0.85
Death per round — 0.62
K/D Ratio — 1.38
Total kills — 20914
Total deaths — 15131
Total maps played — 937

Here is another AWPer in our list (yep, this role tends to bring fame). ZywOo creates advantages for his team at different match stages, from opening kills to 1v1 clutches. He’s been entering various lists of the best CS:GO pro players since 2018, when he started playing for Team Vitality.

Thanks to ZywOo (and his teammates, of course), the team managed to finish 3rd at BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020 and 3rd-4th at Intel Extreme Masters XVI — Summer. Other results might be better, but ZywOo is always pretty effective on the virtual battle ground.

3. Nikola “NiKo” Kovač

Rating 2.0 — 1.34
Kills per round — 0.80
Death per round — 0.67
K/D Ratio — 1.19💔
Total kills — 32899
Total deaths — 27603
Total maps played — 1555

Niko has experience in the original Counter-Strike 1.6 and CS:GO, and his professional career continues, 11+ years later. It’s impressive! And even more impressive that the guy still plays so well and regularly enters top lists. His personal performance is impactful for the general results of his team.

G2 Esports and NiKo have had a few 3rd-4th places in the second quarter of 2021, which promises further progress (DreamHack Masters Spring 2021, Intel Extreme Masters XVI - Summer, BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2021).

4. Dmitry “Sh1ro” Sokolov

Rating 2.0 — 1.26
Kills per round — 0.77
Death per round — 0.53
K/D Ratio — 1.44
Total kills — 16675
Total deaths — 11555
Total maps played — 815

Sh1ro joined Gambit Esports in October 2020, and the team has been performing especially well since then. Sh1ro is a master of AWP who delivers kills, one after another, becoming a super-valuable teammate.

Gambit has had quite a lot of victories in 2021, and many consider it the best team in the world right now. Their successes this year include first place at Intel Extreme Masters XV — World Championship, Intel Extreme Masters XVI — Summer, and BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2021.

5. Sergey “⁠Ax1Le⁠” Rykhtorov

Rating 2.0 — 1.15
Kills per round — 0.73
Death per round — 0.63
K/D Ratio — 1.16
Total kills — 17108
Total deaths — 14789
Total maps played — 888

Sergey Rykhtorov aka Ax1Le is a Russian professional CS:GO player, and is one of the youngest names on the CS:GO scene. He was born in April 2002 and became active on the professional scene in 2018, He was born in April 2002 and became active on the professional scene in 2018; since then, he still plays for Gambit Esports.

Sergey usually holds the role of Rifler and during his professional career, his total winnings add up approximately to $453,712. Ax1Le has achieved great results with his team and some of their notable achievements include placing first during the Funspark ULTI 2021 by beating Entropiq in the finals, as well as taking the top prize during the BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2021 when Team Esports beat Natus Vincere.

6 Abay “HObbit” Khasenov

Rating 2.0 — 1.07
Kills per round — 0.73
Death per round — 0.65
K/D Ratio — 1.11
Total kills — 21362
Total deaths — 19205
Total maps played — 1115

HObbit, real name Abay Khasenov is a professional CS:GO player from Kazakhstan who is currently playing for Gambit Esports. Abay has been active on the professional scene since 2014 and can usually be seen playing the role of Rifler.

Over the years, HObbit has amassed approximately $644,145 in winnings and is known for winning the PGL Major Krakow in 2017. In November 2018, he left Gambit Esports and played for HellRaisers and Winstrike before returning to his original team in July 2020. Other notable achievements include winning the Funspark ULTI 2021 as well as winning the ROG Masters in 2017.

7. Denis “electroNic” Sharipov

Rating 2.0 — 1.10
Kills per round — 0.75
Death per round — 0.66
K/D Ratio — 1.14
Total kills — 24419
Total deaths — 21407
Total maps played — 1238

Denis Sharipov, better known as electroNic within the CS:GO community, was born in September 1998 and is a professional CS:GO player from Russia. ElectroNic has been active on the professional scene since 2016 and is currently playing for Natus Vincere, holding the position of Rifler.

During his professional career, he has achieved many notable feats such as winning the BLAST Premier: World Final 2021, winning the PGL Major Stockholm as well as placing first at the ESL Pro League Season 14, beating Team Vitality. His total winnings are estimated to be upwards of $1,397,194.

8. Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis

Rating 2.0 — 1.14
Kills per round — 0.75
Death per round — 0.70
K/D Ratio — 1.07
Total kills — 20695
Total deaths — 19307
Total maps played — 1042

Here we have another young player in our list. YEKINDAR joined Virtus.pro in May 2020, and soon the team started getting victories and good results at S-Tier tournaments. In 2021, they won cs_summit 7 and finished 2nd at Intel Extreme Masters XV — World Championship.

This is one of the new names you don’t want to ignore. His energy in matches is pretty impressive.

9. Valeriy “⁠b1t⁠” Vakhovskiy

Rating 2.0 — 1.12
Kills per round — 0.70
Death per round — 0.63
K/D Ratio — 1.11
Total kills — 7068
Total deaths — 6356
Total maps played — 379

Valeriy Vakhovskiy is a Ukrainian professional CS:GO player who is better known by his video game alias B1t. Valeriy is one of the youngest CS:GO professionals, born in 2003, and only starting his professional career in 2019, however, all of this only makes his achievements more impressive.

B1t is currently playing for Natus Vincere and usually plays the role of Rifler or AWPer. His winnings are estimated to be $852,695 and his notable achievements include taking first place at the BLAST Premier: World Final 2021 as well as winning the DreamHack Masters Spring 2021.

10. Dzhami “⁠Jame⁠” Ali

Rating 2.0 — 1.18
Kills per round — 0.72
Death per round — 0.55
K/D Ratio — 1.31
Total kills — 21379
Total deaths — 16348
Total maps played — 1118

Dzhami Ali is a Russian professional CS:GO player who plays for Virtus.pro. Better known by his in-game alias Jame, Dzhami has been active on the scene since 2017, and currently holds the position of AWPer. He is also currently the In-game leader of Virtus.pro and his winnings are estimated to be $384,974.

Jame’s notable achievements include winning the Pinnacle Fall Series #1 and winning the DreamHack Open December 2020 with Virtus.pro as well as placing first during the BLAST Pro Series: Moscow 2019 and winning the DreamHack Open Rio de Janeiro 2019 with team AVANGAR.

11. Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz

Rating 2.0 — 1.16
Kills per round — 0.78
Death per round — 0.62
K/D Ratio — 1.25
Total kills — 36293
Total deaths — 29085
Total maps played — 1793

Probably everyone who’s even slightly interested in CS:GO esports comes across this name. dev1ce is a great legend, well-known for his brilliant performance with AWP. His years with Astralis brought some phenomenal records to the team, and for quite a while no one could defeat the Daish team.

In 2021, dev1ce decided to transfer to Ninjas in Pyjamas — due to his desire to live and work in Sweden. Such a change definitely affected his performance, but even with Astralis, dev1ce was not on the top of his game this year. Still, his performance is very impressive, he finished 2nd at BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020 (with Astralis) and Flashpoint Season 3 (with NiP). His best result with the Ninjas at an S-Tier event is 4th place at BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2021.

12. Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač

Rating 2.0 — 1.12
Kills per round — 0.78
Death per round — 0.67
K/D Ratio — 1.16
Total kills — 28420
Total deaths — 24423
Total maps played — 1389

Nemanja Kovač, also known as huNter is a Bosnian-Serbian professional CS:GO player and also a cousin of another professional CS:GO player, Nikola “NiKo” Kovač. Nemanja has been active on the scene since 2015 and currently holds the position of Rifler for the team G2 Esports.

Over the years, Nemanja earned many notable achievements including being named the MVP of cs_summit 5 by HLTV and winning the United Masters League Season 1 with Valiance aswell as winning the BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2021 with G2 Esports by beating Team Spirit 2:1.

13. Benjamin “blameF” Bremer

Rating 2.0 — 1.22
Kills per round — 0.76
Death per round — 0.61
K/D Ratio — 1.26
Total kills — 15824
Total deaths — 12596
Total maps played — 778

This player is known for his versatile skills and stable performance. blameF started on the local Danish scene but then got noticed by bigger organizations. He played in a few teams before landing his current one, Complexity Gaming, becoming an in-game leader.

blameF and Complexity finished 1st-3rd at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2021 but then were 5-6th at BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2021. They had the same result at ESL Pro League Season 13 and were 7-9th at Intel Extreme Masters XVI — Summer.

14. Keith “NAF” Markovic

Rating 2.0 — 1.09
Kills per round — 0.73
Death per round — 0.63
K/D Ratio — 1.15
Total kills — 28554
Total deaths — 24754
Total maps played — 1497

Keith Markovic, also going by his in-game alias NAF, is a Canadian professional CS:GO player who has been active on the professional scene since 2013 and currently plays for Team Liquid. NAF usually holds the role of either a Rifler or AWPer for his team, and over the years it is estimated that his total winnings have amassed to more than $1 million.

During his professional career, he was named the MVP by HLTV on multiple occasions including the BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles 2019 and the cs_summit 2. His other notable achievements include winning the ESL Pro League Season 9 - Finals as well as winning the DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019.

15. Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato

Rating 2.0 — 1.19
Kills per round — 0.74
Death per round — 0.58
K/D Ratio — 1.28
Total kills — 16244
Total deaths — 12686
Total maps played — 843

KSCERATO, real name Kaike Cerato is a professional CS:GO player from Brazil and is currently playing for FURIA Esports. Kaike is also the brother of Kauan “KNCERATO” Cerato and a cousin of Adriano “WOOD7” Cerato, both of them being professional CS:GO players.

Kaike has been active on the scene since 2017 and usually occupies the role of Rifler. His total winnings are estimated to be around $241,778 and he was ranked 18th best player in 2020 and 15th best CS:GO player in 2021 by HLTV. His other notable achievements include winning the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 as well as winning the ESL Pro League Season 12: North America.

16. Martin “stavn” Lund

Rating 2.0 — 1.11
Kills per round — 0.72
Death per round — 0.68
K/D Ratio — 1.06
Total kills — 20227
Total deaths — 19021
Total maps played — 1047

Martin Lund was born in Denmark in 2002 and is one of the youngest names to appear on this list. Better known by his alias Stavn, he has been active on the professional CS:GO scene since 2016. Stavn is also the younger brother to Jacob “dragoNfly” Lund and Thomas “Lifedance” Lund, both of whom are well-known names within the CS:GO community.

Martin currently plays for team Heroic and is usually their go-to Rifler or AWPer. His total winnings are estimated to be in the ballpark of $251,864 and his notable achievements were placing first during the ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online - Europe tournament as well as winning the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2021.

17. Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken

Rating 2.0 — 1.12
Kills per round — 0.74
Death per round — 0.62
K/D Ratio — 1.18
Total kills — 24759
Total deaths — 21000
Total maps played — 1284

Twistzz entered CS:GO esports at a young age and then demonstrated exceptionally fast growth. He can find amazingly good positions on the maps, and his aim skill is a constant danger for any opponents.

The player has been with Team Liquid since 2017, but in January 2021, Twistzz joined FaZe Clan. Their results are not that impressive so far (9-12th at Intel Extreme Masters XV — World Championship and 7-8th at BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2021), but you can’t underestimate the strength of Twistzz.

18. Robin “ropz” Kool

Rating 2.0 — 1.15
Kills per round — 0.74
Death per round — 0.62
K/D Ratio — 1.20
Total kills — 20473
Total deaths — 17021
Total maps played — 1045

He is a lurker in the team mousesports, who successfully delivers both information and kills to his teammates. ropz joined his organization in 2017 and has earned the reputation of one of the calmest guys on the pro scene.

In 2021, ropz and mousesports still have to get their S-Tier victories. The team finished 3rd at cs_summit 7. But they won A-Tier events Snow Sweet Snow #3 and Flashpoint Season 3.

19. Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski

Rating 2.0 — 1.05
Kills per round — 0.75
Death per round — 0.68
K/D Ratio — 1.10
Total kills — 30448
Total deaths — 27569
Total maps played — 1539

This guy is like an embodiment of the CS power in NA. EliGE has been playing professionally for quite a long time, and his skills have only improved — he regularly enters lists of CS:GO best players, mostly thanks to his stable personal stats.

Team Liquid, the organization of EliGE, finished 3rd-4th at Intel Extreme Masters XV — World Championship and won cs_summit 8 in 2021. Still, the rest of the year might bring better results, and the performance of this player gives the fans a justified hope for this.

20. Helvijs “broky” Saukants

Rating 2.0 — 1.09
Kills per round — 0.69
Death per round — 0.61
K/D Ratio — 1.12
Total kills — 10984
Total deaths — 9797
Total maps played — 600

Helvijs Saukants aka Broky, is a professional CS:GO player from Latvia who is currently a member of the FaZe Clan. Broky has been active on the professional scene since 2017 and prior to joining FaZe Clan, he played for Epsilon Esports.

He currently holds the role of the AWPer within his team and his total winnings are estimated to be around $186,883. Broky was ranked 20th best player of 2021 by HLTV and his notable achievements include winning the ESEA Season 30 Premier Division - Europe tournament with Epsilon Esports as well as winning the Intel Extreme Masters XB - New York Online: Europe tournament with FaZe Clan.

Something to note is that these results and stats are for the first half of 2021. Do you remember that part about unpredictability? Teams keep training, and the CS:GO best players tend to become even better.

Would you like to get the same great weapons as our top 10 CS:GO players in their pro matches? Need some cash for this? Sell CS:GO skins on DMarket and let your in-game arsenal reflect your exceptional real-world personality!

Trade on the go - install the mobile app of DMarket from Google Play or App Store. Never miss great prices and unique skins. The best CS:GO, Dota 2, Rust and TF2 marketplace is always at hand!