Counter-Strike might be a team game, but that hasn’t prevented star duos from becoming iconic within various fan-favourite teams.
Modern Counter-Strike might be in an era where teams have three or even four stars, but in the past, that was often limited to two, typically a team’s AWPer and star rifler.
As we say goodbye to CS:GO, we wanted to take a walk down memory lane, and thanks to this HLTV tweet, they inspired us to look back at some of CS:GO’s greatest duos, and by highlighting their stats and achievements, remind you of why they are so fondly remembered.
From Scandinavia to South America, and to the Russian-speaking scene, here are the three greatest duos in CS:GO history.
The very first great duo to play CS:GO had already been playing together for two years upon the game's release, already regarded as a great duo, it was in the early years of CS:GO that they became era-defining.
Having already recorded an 87-0 unbeaten LAN map winning streak in 2012 and 2013, f0rest and GeT_RiGhT’s NIP were dominant in the early years of CS:GO, playing in all five of the first Major finals and winning one amongst a plethora of other big tournament wins.
In that time, GeT_RiGhT was named the best player in the world by HLTV for 2013 and 2014, while f0rest finished second and seventh in those two years. With eight and ten MVP awards apiece, very few players have enjoyed sustained success as these two did, and they were two of the biggest stars in the world in the game’s early years.
2016 was an incredible year for FalleN and coldzera. Alongside fnx, fer, and TACO on Luminosity and SK Gaming, they became the first squad from outside of Europe to win a Major, and the second team to win back-to-back Majors after fnatic in 2015. Coldzera was the MVP of both of their Major wins, the first player ever to become a Major MVP twice.
He was also the number one player in HLTV’s top twenty in both 2016 and 2017, the second player to earn that title in consecutive years after Get_RighT.
What makes this more impressive is that just like the NIP duo, FalleN also featured highly in both years, finishing second in 2016 and sixth in 2017.
Tournament wins may have been few and far between for both players since their reign of terror in those years, but their peak is one of the greatest ever seen in CS:GO. With countless iconic moments, they inspired an entire region.
Way back in 2017, NAVI with s1mple had become something of a one-man army. flamie was still putting up a respectable 1.11 HLTV Rating, but he was inconsistent, and a true second star needed to arrive for NAVI to ascend to greatness in what was, by the Ukrainian organisation’s standards, a lacklustre year.
They found that star in electroNic, a Russian player signed from FlipSid3 who had just become the latest graduate of the B1ad3 school of Counter-Strike.
It took the youngster a little while to get going, but in 2018, as flamie had dropped off to a 1.08 HLTV Rating, he announced himself as one of the greatest riflers in the game with a 1.19 Rating and finished fourth in HLTV’s top twenty.
In a year where s1mple finished with a 1.35 HLTV Rating, the pair combined to help deliver four tournament victories, including ESL One: Cologne and BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen and a runners-up finish at a Major at FACEIT London.
One of the great duos of Counter-Strike, the pair would continue to destroy teams together until electroNic departed for Cloud9 earlier this year.
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