5 CS:GO players to watch during 2023 BLAST Premier Spring Groups

2023 BLAST Premier Spring Groups will be the first tier-one CS:GO tournament of the year following the player break.

Like it is at every start of the season, some of the teams in attendance will be debuting new players at the event and fans will get a first glimpse of what these new players are capable of doing. Ninjas in Pyjamas, Astralis, and Evil Geniuses will be debuting one player each, while Natus Vincere will play their first tournament with Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi as their official fifth, instead of just playing with him in some maps as they did at BLAST Premier World Final in December 2022.

Related: 2023 BLAST Premier Spring Groups: How to watch, scores, brackets, results

With that in mind, here are the players that are worth keeping an eye on during this edition of BLAST Premier Spring Groups. Stars like s1mple and ZywOo are always worth watching and we didn’t list them, as we focused on players that you might not know yet.

5 CS:GO players fans should follow during 2023 BLAST Premier Spring Groups

1) NiP headtr1ck

NiP has got a new AWPer for the 2023 season. The former NAVI Junior talent replaced Patrick “es3tag” Hansen in the active lineup and will take the AWPing duties that belonged to REZ. There’s a lot of expectation around headtr1ck, not only because of his skills, but also because of how m0NESY, another former NAVI Junior AWPer, performed in 2022 in his rookie year.

Headtr1ck is 18 years old and averaged a 1.27 rating across 72 maps played last year, according to HLTV. If he can keep his average in NiP around 1.15 or 1.20, NiP could become one of the best teams in the world. This is a good first event to measure if the Ukrainian is ready to put up a fight in tier-one.

2) EG wiz

Wiz is another AWPer debuting at BLAST Premier Spring Groups. The 21-year-old has taken the place of CeRq in Evil Geniuses, who parted ways with the organization earlier this month. Wiz previously played for EG Black, one of the organization’s secondary CS:GO teams, and averaged a 1.15 rating during his six months with that squad, according to HLTV.

While a lot of fans were expecting EG to sign a European dedicated sniper to replace CeRq, the organization decided on giving a chance to wiz. The North American has never played a big LAN tournament in his career and completely lacks experience in tier one, meaning he’ll face a true baptism of fire at the Spring Groups and is one of the most interesting players to follow during the competition.

3) Astralis Buzz

Astralis has rounded out its roster for 2023 with the signing of an unproven player. 19-year-old Christian “⁠Buzz⁠” Andersen began playing CS:GO professionally in 2020 and mostly played for secondary teams in Denmark until now. Making the leap to the most victorious team in the tournament might be a tall task, but at least he’s surrounded by veterans such as gla1ve, dev1ce, and Xyp9x, who could take some of the pressure from Buzz’s shoulders.

Buzz averaged a 1.06 rating across 218 maps played in 2022, according to HLTV, which isn’t particularly exciting. Former pro and current analyst Lucas “⁠Bubzkji⁠” Andersen, however, said that the numbers don’t do justice to Buzz and that he has got a professional attitude. This first tournament will show what Buzz can deliver playing alongside some of the most experienced CS:GO players in the world.

4) NAVI npl

This edition of BLAST Premier Spring Final is not npl’s actual debut with NAVI’s main roster, but it will be his debut as the official fifth player of s1mple’s team. The youngster massively underperformed at BLAST Premier World Final in December, averaging a 0.67 rating in three maps, according to HLTV, and definitely didn’t give a good first impression.

During Spring Groups, we’ll get to see how well he plays now that he has been integrated into the team. The only other player NAVI ever promoted to the first team on a full-time basis is b1t, who made it into HLTV’s top 20 list two years in a row, so the organization must have a lot of faith in npl’s capacities. Following him in the upcoming tournament is a great way to understand what roles he’ll be taking.

5) Astralis Dev1ce

Unlike the other players on this list, dev1ce is definitely not a newcomer. But there’s a good reason to follow the four-time Major champion during BLAST Premier Spring Groups: The Dane will play his first LAN match since December 5, 2021, which took place at IEM Winter while he was still part of NiP.

Dev1ce already impressed at the end of 2022 in some smaller CS:GO tournaments, but Spring Groups will be the first time since the inactivity period in NiP that we’ll get to watch him play against the best teams in the world again. Much of what Astralis can achieve this season is directly tied to how well dev1ce can play, so all eyes will be on him during the tournament.