The worlds of Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 rarely see any crossover...
The two games couldn’t be more apart in terms of mechanics, gameplay, tactics and strategy.
However, both games have remarkable pro players, whose skill sometimes leaves the average fan dumbfounded.
We’re determined to find some similarities. In that spirit, here are five prominent players from each game who share some pro career traits.
Nearly men
First up are Niko, from mousesports, and Arteezy, from EG.
While Niko is known for his incredible skill in Counter Strike, he has never won a Major tournament.
He’s consistently named as one of the best players in the world, and while mouz has kept a steady 10th place in team rankings, there’s no doubt Niko’s skill as a player deserves better.
He can rifle, he can AWP, his Desert Eagle is probably the best in the world, and he can single-handedly carry his team to the end.
But, alas, he’s forever pushing the boulder uphill, only to watch it roll back down again. It’s Niko against the world.
It’s a similar story for Dota 2 player, Arteezy. While displaying exceptional skill and finesse, his Major history is lacking, having gone back and forth between Team Secret and EG.
We can’t ignore that both teams have enjoyed big wins at Championships without Arteezy, but both have also maintained consistent successful runs with him on the team.
He consistently gets his team to the top of the division but rarely sees Major success, sometimes handing victory over due to his ego and long-lasting rivalry with PPD.
Hot and cold
Next up on the list is VP’s Pasha and NP’s Eternal Envy.
Both players have skill levels meriting bragging rights. We know Pasha has pretty spectacular aim and is one of the most likable characters in CS.
But he consistently makes bad decisions that cost his team rounds.
Trivial things like poor positioning leading to him getting caught out, or being unnecessarily aggressive and over peaking when he could play safe instead. He has raw talent, but lets himself down with bad habits.
Eternal Envy is similar in principle, albeit a little different. He’s talented and likeable, but is quite unconventional and high risk.
He’s a very ‘artsy’ player, and tries to maximise windows of opportunity with electrifying tactics that would be inconceivably badass – if they worked.
A lot of the time he falls victim to his own creativity and gets caught out. He has skills that not many, if any, players can match; there’s a reason they call him the ‘Artist’ in China. These high-risk, creative strategies have sometimes proved disastrous though.
But hey, innovation only comes from thinking outside the box.
Fallen star
Next up is Fnatic’s olofmeister and Na’Vi’s Dendi.
Everyone remembers the godlike Fnatic roster of olofmeister, dennis, flusha, JW and KRiMZ. The olofm/KRiMZ duo ruled supreme, and will go down in CS:GO history as possibly the best ever.
There’s no denying, however, the performance ramifications of olofm’s wrist injury back in 2016. Fnatic haven’t enjoyed the same grandeur since then, but olofm still remains relevant.
He excels in getting opening kills (0.12 per round), and has gotten at least one kill in Fnatic’s 73.1% of winning rounds in 2016.
Similar to olofm’s impressive legacy is that of Dendi – the Ukrainian legend who has shaped the competitive Dota scene since 2006.
No other player has had such an impact on the game and influenced the way it’s played.
He was the first to put emphasis on denying creeps; his tactics have inspired the way the midlane is played years later; and his crazy, unorthodox strats are what make Na’Vi so thrilling to watch.
If any player is responsible for the girlish squeals escaping young men’s mouths, it’s Dendi when he picks Pudge. Dendi, we salute you. Despite this, Na’Vi seem far off reclaiming the glory years of past Dota2.
All-round super star
So now we move on to the players who have earned themselves a place among the stars. Coldzera and FEAR, two pros with undeniable skills and who have singlehandedly been responsible for their teams taking major titles.
Colddzera is the pinnacle of versatility. He’s able to lock down success with multiple weapons, take on a variety of roles, and plays with incredible accuracy and dexterity.
He’s shown a rare level of consistency, and his penchant for making the right decisions in any given situation makes him a great all-rounder.
Let’s not forget, he’s enjoyed success and reached the top of his game in a very short amount of time.
Similar to Colzera, FEAR is also a very skilled, very consistent player. He’s a seasoned veteran, whose ability to play any role easily puts him on any list of potential top players.
One of the original members of EG, FEAR paved the way for many Dota2 pros after him. After winning TI5 and coming third at TI6, he retired as a pro player and now coaches EG.
He goes down in history as one of the best pro players Dota has ever seen.
Full potential reached
The last two on our list are dev1ce from Astralis, and bLink from Wings Gaming. Both players have shown consistency recently and rarely lose their composure during games; this wasn’t always the case however.
Wings formed in 2014, but didn’t enjoy much success until later on. Even during a period of low morale across China, the team stuck together and only really sprung to life in 2016, winning TI6 and taking home over $20,000,000.
bLink deserves a lot of praise for the team’s success. He is now arguably the best player on the team, and his mid lane aggression and large hero pool is what opens up the game for the rest of the players.
dev1ce is similarly consistent in CS:GO; but this never used to be the case.
It took some time for him to overcome his tendency to choke under pressure.
Still, his impressive skills are more often than not overlooked due to his low-risk tactics, which usually afford him a kill or two each round without having to put himself in too much danger.
His stats are some of the best in the world; in fact he didn’t dip below a 1.00 rating at all during 2016.
