For now, they are the most exciting non-elite team to watch at the upcoming tournaments, says the former Counter-Strike professional
So far in 2016 dignitas has been the feel-good story of the year.
At DreamHack Open Leipzig they overcame Virtus.pro and mousesports in best-of-three series before falling short against Na`Vi in the semi-finals.
And at Game Show Global eSports Cup they beat FlipSid3, EnVyUs and CLG en route to a second-place finish behind EnVyUs.
They have also made an appearance on Thorin’s world ranking at 10th place and debuted on HLTV.org’s ranking at No. 7.
Fans have been praising MSL and his team due to their tactical approach – not unlike that which saw Luminosity become an elite team in a world filled with teams that have long foregone tactical play.
The Danes play a smart brand of Counter-Strike and have obviously realised what their strengths are as a team, leading to a better and more-rounded product on the server.
One gaping hole the team has is in the sniping department, with MSL – the team’s primary sniper right now – having scored less than two per cent of his career kills with snipers, per HLTV.org, in comparison to 39 per cent for kennyS or 42 per cent for GuardiaN, the game’s top two snipers.
Even comparing to sniping riflers, MSL comes out inexperienced – f0rest has scored eight per cent of his kills with an AWP and for olofmeister that figure is 11 per cent.
However, as MSL alluded to on Twitter, the team has made a conscious decision that they are better off with him as a quasi-sniper.
So far, it is hard to argue with the results.
On an individual level, Kjaerbye has had a great start to the year, with a rating that would put him in the top 10 early on after two tournaments ofline.
Notably, k0nfig has also spawned seemingly out of nowhere to have a very good showing at Game Show last weekend and, at 18-years-old is still years away from what should be the peak of his abilities.
RUBINO has had some flashy moments – an important feature for a role player, to make sure they do not merely disappear against top teams – while tenzki has proved his worth as a pistoleer, despite generally playing only as well as you might expect from a role player.
It seems clear the big selling point of dignitas 2016 is Kjaerbye. He is only 17 and, considering his quick development curve, could easily turn out to be a top-five player in two or three years.
If this were 2013, what everyone would be waiting for is for a stronger team to pick him up. But in 2016, contracts matter and even quasi-top 10 teams can get paid serious money.
Kjaerbye is a building block and dignitas must realise they need to make sure he is at all times happy to be representing the organisation because he is obviously the franchise player of the Counter-Strike team.
Realistically, dignitas will likely falter in the coming months.
They play a tactical style, but have far less individual skill than the likes of Na`Vi or Luminosity. As a result, for them to keep their results, they would need to continue outperforming these teams tactically.
In reality others will slowly catch up and dignitas will be in a world of pain as they try to continue outsmarting these more established teams, while hoping their youngsters will continue developing and growing into more well-rounded players.
But that does not mean they are not a top 10 team right now – because they are.
And their sudden leap is more proof that Counter-Strike is slowly veering towards a more tactical playing style.
A lot depends on how much MSL can innovate and how good of a leader he truly winds up being after spending some time learning from gla1ve in Western Wolves, a top-three team in early 2013.
For now, dignitas are the most exciting non-elite team to watch at the upcoming tournaments.
And that is just fine, considering how new and young they are.
READ: lurppis: Grading the off-season roster moves
READ: The best of the best: Our top 5 European League of Legends players in 2016
