For yet another year, professional CS:GO players elevated the game with amazing performances in tournaments around the world.
The first half of the year was dominated by FaZe Clan’s tremendous performances, which brought them three pivotal trophies: IEM Katowice 2015, ESL Pro League Season 15, and most importantly, the PGL Antwerp CS:GO Major.
The second half of 2022 was much more unpredictable, with teams like Vitality and Outsiders triumphing in crucial events such as ESL Pro League Season 16 and IEM Rio CS:GO Major, respectively.
The top teams this year had players who constantly shone and performed under pressure, cementing themselves as the best individuals in the past 12 months.
Some of them had the chance to cherish their successes with a trophy or two, while others had to swallow the bitterness of defeat for the whole year. One thing they have in common, though, is fantastic consistency.
Here are the top 10 players in CS:GO in 2022.
Top 10 CS:GO players of 2022
10) Jame
“It’s Jame time” is a running joke in the CS:GO community that means saving your AWP or another weapon due to being in an unwinnable situation. Although looking at Dzhami “Jame” Ali’s performances in 2022, this term might need to be changed into showcasing brilliant plays with an AWP. The Russian was often an obstacle that his enemies couldn’t get by. His passive yet successful way of playing the sniper rifle was a key reason behind Outsiders’ IEM CS:GO Rio Major triumph, where Jame also received an HLTV MVP award. Out of HLTV top 30 teams this year, Jame has the fourth-highest ratio of AWP kills per round with a 0.40 score.
9) BlameF
Astralis had a disappointing year when compared to their historic eras in 2018 and 2019. Yet despite missing out on the biggest events like Rio Major or often crashing out early, Benjamin “blameF” Bremer always brought in superstar performances. In terms of players from the top 30 teams around the world, the Dane placed fourth Rating 2.0-wise, with an eye-watering 1.22 score. Astralis had their highs, like the semifinals run at IEM Cologne 2022, but were mostly struggling to get into playoffs at this year’s tournaments. In both cases, it was tough to put any blame on blameF, who was simply their best player and often tried his best to get his squad over the finish line.
8) Stavn
Heroic were battling for the main trophies in the scene for the entire year, and finally claimed one at BLAST Premier Fall Finals 2022 in November, right after they reached the final of the IEM CS:GO Rio Major 2022. While all of their players had stellar performances and games, the standout individual was Martin “stavn” Lund. He has boasted a 1.17 HLTV Rating 2.0 this year, with a +365 KD difference. Stavn has been a solid foundation for Heroic’s successes since he joined the team in March 2019, and he’s continued to do so and grow in 2022, becoming the team’s best player this year.
7) YEKINDAR
In CS:GO a single transfer can occasionally transform the whole team, though it rarely happens. Nevertheless, that was the case with Team Liquid after Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis joined the team. The Latvian brought Liquid back among the world’s best and made them trophy contenders once again, which they showed with a second-place finish at ESL Pro League Season 16 or BLAST Premier World Finals 2022, for example. He did that by bringing incredible aim, firepower, and decisiveness to the team. YEKINDAR himself had an amazing year with a 1.14 Rating 2.0, which is extremely admirable for an entry-fragger like the Latvian. Furthermore, he also has the highest ratio of opening kills per round in 2022 with a 0.17 score.
6) Ax1le
There is only one team featuring two players on that list this year–Cloud9. Their Sergey “Ax1le” Rykhtorov is the first one with the sixth spot. As a squad, C9 didn’t hoist any S-tier trophies besides IEM Dallas 2022. Yet, the performances from a few of their individuals, like Ax1le, left the audience worldwide stunned. The 20-year-old had the 1.20 Rating 2.0 and a +363 KD difference, according to HLTV. Moreover, in Dallas, he was arguably C9’s best player, as he also received an HLTV MVP award for that event.
5) NiKo
G2 Esports built their CS:GO roster around one superstar for the past couple of years–Nikola “NiKo” Kovač. And it’s for a reason. Despite G2 not meeting their expectations in 2022, NiKo always delivered. He had the sixth-highest Rating 2.0 from players from the top 30 with a 1.20 score. He also had the third-highest damage per round this year with 86.2 points. Simply put, NiKo individually is always on the server, and you can never ignore his presence.
4) Broky
FaZe Clan’s wonderful first half of the year was earned on the back of group effort. Every single player had some standout matches and performances which secured them four trophies. Yet, if we had to pick one member that was the most consistent, we wouldn’t hesitate in choosing Helvijs “broky” Saukants. The Latvian has the fifth-highest KD difference in the top 30 with +622 and is one of the five players with more than 50 percent of rounds with multi-kills. Even in the second half of the year, where FaZe didn’t look as good as previously, broky was often the only one consistently putting in his A-game.
3) Sh1ro
The top three players were a level above the rest this year, and it starts with Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov, the second player from Cloud9 on the list. The Russian had the highest Rating 2.0 with a 1.27 score and the highest KD difference with +779 kills. He also took the crown in a few other significant statistics, like success in opening duels (68.2 percent). Sh1ro was undoubtedly Cloud9’s best player this year and was pivotal in them securing IEM Dallas 2022 and having many playoffs runs. Sh1ro was almost perfect in many aspects, though he didn’t accumulate as many flashy plays as the two best players this year.
2) ZywOo
Since 2019, the CS:GO community has had a debate about who is the best player in the game, with Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut being one of two choices. And this hasn’t changed this year. His 1.25 Rating 2.0, +779 KD difference or 62.8 percent of opening duels won may be lower than sh1ro’s, though still incredibly high. Yet when it mattered the most, ZywOo played to his 110 percent to put Vitality in the driver’s seat. He was Vitality’s best player in their grand final victory during ESL Pro League Season 16, where he broke the record for most kills in a series with 143. He was also the MVP of that event.
ZywOo’s consistency is the main reason why you can never count Vitality out of a tournament. His proficiency not only with the AWP but also with a bunch of other weapons makes him one of the best players in the world and a proper match for the number one on our list.
1) S1mple
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev is widely considered the GOAT of CS:GO. For the past five years, he was named either the best or second-best player of the year by HLTV, fighting with ZywOo for that spot.
Statistically speaking, s1mple is on a similar level to ZywOo and sh1ro. He has a 1.26 Rating 2.0 with a +732 KD difference. He overtakes them in multi-kill rounds and kills per round, where he tops the scoreboards by accumulating 53.9 percent and 0.83 score, respectively.
Still, Natus Vincere had a much better year than Vitality or C9. The Ukrainian team won the BLAST Spring Final and posed the biggest threat to FaZe in the first half of 2022. NAVI finished behind the latter in second place at IEM Cologne and Antwerp Major. And most of that was thanks to s1mple, who received HLTV’s MVP award for Spring Final and Cologne.
