Former professional Counter-Strike player Fredrik “roeJ” Røj Christensen has shared his perspective on where the best CS2 players are coming from right now.
Speaking with Thunderpick ahead of the CS2 Thunderpick World Championship 2025, roeJ identified the CIS region as the leading force in player development, while reflecting on how the competitive landscape has shifted over the past several years.
When asked which region currently produces the strongest talent in Counter-Strike, the Danish ex-pro, who suited up for Fnatic, MAD Lions, and Copenhagen Flames, responded directly: “At the moment, it’s definitely the CIS region. If you asked me five years ago or six years ago, I’d probably say Denmark is one of the good ones because we had a ladder where we had a bunch of IGLs that made it very easy to go from nothing to very good with a clear line in Denmark back then.”
His comments highlight how Denmark once benefited from an organized system that helped nurture future stars, but that dominance has since given way to a different region. He credited much of the CIS success to structured academy programs developed by major organizations, with Team Spirit and Natus Vincere setting the standard in giving players a direct path to professional competition.
“I think there’s a reason also why we see some of the bigger teams, international teams like Fnatic starting to pick up CIS players and just the Academy teams are Spirit and NAVI have just been kind of paving the way forward of Academy teams in general and seeing what can actually come out of that,” roeJ explained.
For roeJ, the rise of stars like donk, m0NESY, and kyousuke is proof of how effective these systems have become. “(They are) just a different breed of players, it feels like that no one even comes close to, and they’re all from the same region playing from some of the same teams and the same coaches and those kinds of things,” he said.
Cultural factors also play a role, according to RoeJ. The combination of relentless dedication and institutional support has created the conditions for the region’s dominance. “From my understanding, the CIS guys, they just play the game a lot, and they just can’t get enough of it, and they just play all day, all night. So I think that might be one of the reasons why they are so good,” he added.
His analysis arrives at a time when global organizations are increasingly looking toward CIS players in their recruitment strategies, further proving how influential the region has become in CS2. With the Thunderpick World Championship bringing together top teams from around the globe next month, roeJ’s perspective offers a timely reminder of where the next generation of Counter-Strike stars is most likely to emerge.
Published: Sep 28, 2025 10:37 pm