In the modern era, Counter-Strike teams are typically made up of players from various countries.
There are some outliers, such as Astralis, Eternal Fire, and Virtus.pro - but what if more nations were to follow suit and build super teams?
In this article, we'll examine some of the best national dream teams that could be formed if the players were free to form any roster possible.
Let's start off with one of the most highly requested national teams of all, Sweden.
There was a lot of talk about Swedish national teams when NIP and fnatic were rebuilding their rosters, but those talks were all squashed due to Sweden's best AWPer, nawwk, being contracted to Apeks.
However, with Apeks now transfer-listing their entire roster, nawwk is now available, and talks of a Swedish superteam are sure to resume.
Fortunately for Sweden, forming a Swedish dream team is actually quite easy. There may be players like REZ and KRIMZ still floating around, but instead, we'd like to look towards the future for our dream team.
Metizport have impressed the Counter-Strike world in the past six months and currently sit 39th in the HLTV world ranking. They also almost made it to BLAST Premier Spring Final too, only being defeated by Spirit in the final after pulling off upset victories against Falcons and Monte.
However, Metizport have one flaw, and that is Jackinho. The AWPer is tied as the lowest-rated player on the team alongside IGL zwith both players having a 1.02 HLTV rating in the past six months.
Therefore, for our Swedish dream team, we'll go for four Metizport players and nawwk.
The Swedish dream team is:
Thanks to the exploits of FalleN, fer, coldzera, and TACO, Brazil has rightfully become one of the most iconic nations in Counter-Strike.
However, since those players have moved past their peaks, Brazil has failed to see any real success on the international stage.
That isn't to say Brazil isn't full of talent. In fact, there's probably now more talent in the country than ever before. The only problem is that that talent is spread around all the top Brazilian teams.
With a Brazilian shuffle bound to happen at some point in the near future, what is the dream Brazilian CS team that could come out of it?
Despite FURIA's struggles since the BLAST.tv Paris Major, there's no way that KSCERATO and yuurih can be left out of the team. The former is the best player in the country, and the latter still has a lot to offer.
After that, it's important to find an IGL and a star AWPer.
For the first of those two roles, there is no other option than biguzera. paiN's IGL has done incredible work across two different teams for the organisation, and it's about time he gets to play with some real stars.
As for the AWPer, although FalleN still has the ability to play, his impact on the team is negated by not being the team's IGL. So, we'll instead go with HEN1, as the mercurial talent he has is exactly the type of star potential many FURIA teams have been lacking.
Finally, we need an anchor. For that spot, we'll go with latto, who has really come into his own during his time with Legacy. decenty was another solid option, but he just doesn't have the experience of latto.
The Brazilian dream team is:
Poland has a great history over the multiple iterations of Counter-Strike although, in the last few years, all they've had to shout about was the rises of 9INE and siuhy. Well, that and the reappearance of Snax in tier one.
With 9INE now picked apart and on ENCE and siuhy locked away on MOUZ, a Polish CS dream team seems unlikely - so what if we could do whatever we wished?
The two most obvious players that make the cut are siuhy and hades. hades is the best AWPer in the country and siuhy has quickly risen up the ranks to be regarded as one of the best IGLs in the world.
After that, things get slightly more difficult. A year ago it would've been easy to say dycha, but he has been disappointing since Snappi and co. all departed ENCE.
That being said, it's hard to see a world where dycha wouldn't improve under siuhy. The MOUZ captain has gotten the best out of both torzsi and Brollan since he left GamerLegion, he can do so again with dycha.
After that, the rest of the team is easy. 9INE climbed up the rankings for a reason, and the experience they've gotten since that initial climb and the subsequent move to ENCE has made them worthy of their place amongst Counter-Strike's elite.
The Polish CS dream team is:
UK CS has been a laughing stock for a long time now, except for that time that Into the Breach made it to the BLAST.tv Paris Major playoffs that is.
Still, that doesn't mean there is a lack of talent from the UK, far from it. mezii currently finds himself on one of the best teams in the world, while CYPHER is impressing as BLEED are progressing after a difficult start to their time together.
There are some other names that could come together to make a UK CS dream team outside of those two, so who are they?
First off, we have Thomas, the man who led Into the Breach to that Major playoff appearance. Thomas has been quiet since then, but seeing as mezii has told us he wouldn't like to return to IGLing, Thomas is certain to have a place in this CS dream team.
We then need an AWPer, to which there is only one name that springs to mind: smooya. smooya may have been out of the limelight for a couple of years now, but his 1.19 rated stand-in period for FORZE proves he still has a lot left to offer.
Finally, we have a player who has just been released from his organisation: Tree60. Tree60 is a player we have previously highlighted as one to look out for in the coming years, and he'd be a perfect star quantity to fill the last spot on this team.
The UK and Ireland dream team is:
Finally, we come to Denmark, the nation that was the most successful over the course of CS:GO.
We began this article by saying that Astralis is an outlier in terms of still being home to a national team, but that doesn't mean we think that their team is the Danish dream team.
That being said, we would keep two of the players currently on Astralis.
The first of those two, device, is the most obvious one. He is one of the best players in Counter-Strike history and recent results have proven that he can maintain his impressive individual form while also IGLing, so he'll keep that role too.
The second player is jabbi. There are very few players in Denmark like jabbi, and he was a real X factor for HEROIC during his time on the team. He's beginning to play like that again now after the changes to Astralis, so there's no way we can make a Danish dream team without him.
After that, there are two more players from the former HEROIC team that we'd like to include on the dream team, TeSeS and sjuush. The duo are exactly the type of supportive players this team will need, and TeSeS will be integral to the success of the final member of this dream team.
Despite his rather unceremonious departure from Astralis, the final player we have chosen for this team is blameF. It would've been easier to go for stavn, but considering his level still drops off in playoff games, we think blameF is the better choice.
Also, with TeSeS being on this team, blameF would have the type of aggressive support player he never had on Astralis, and that type of player would surely maximise his fragging potential.
The Danish dream team is:
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