The best teams of 2024 so far

We’re fast approaching the half way point of 2024 and although we still have IEM Dallas and BLAST Premier Spring Final still to be played before the first season is over, we thought now was a good time to look back at who have been the best teams of the year so far.

Four big events have occurred in the year to date, each of which was won by a different organisation, making it one of the most competitive years in CS history.

The best teams of 2024 so far

5. G2

Kicking us off is G2, an organisation that may be a controversial inclusion on this list. G2 have been the focus of much criticism this year, but they have still managed to finish in the playoffs of every event they have attended, including a semi-final appearance at the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024.

Despite being the only team on this list who are yet to win an event this year, we have put G2 on the list above Vitality because of their consistently high placements. Vitality went out in last place at IEM Katowice 2024, and that was enough to put G2 ahead of them due to their own quarter-final placing.

G2 may be far from their best at the moment, but their incredibly high floor continues to prove why you can never count them out. Especially considering they have m0NESY, who, with his 1.30 HLTV rating in the year to date is in the form of his life.

4. MOUZ

MOUZ have gone from strength to strength since the arrival of siuhy from GamerLegion, and it doesn’t look like that’s slowing down anytime soon.

Even with the departure of their star player frozen, Brollan has come in an reinvigorated his career by showing the form that previously made him one of the hottest prospects in all of CS, and that has continued with a 1.21 rated ESL Pro League Season 19.

Like G2, MOUZ have been an ever-present in playoffs this year, and they also have one event win thanks to their performances in Malta at Pro League.

3. Spirit

Given the signing of sh1ro at the end of 2023 and the incredible, record-breaking performances of donk at IEM Katowice 2024, many people would have expected that Spirit would go on to be by far the best team of 2024, but things haven’t quite panned out that way.

Spirit sit third because of that win at Katowice, but their comparatively disappointing quarter-finals finish at the Major means they can’t place any higher. It’s not that reaching the playoffs isn’t impressive, but more was expected of them given the fashion in which they won in Poland.

Spirit also can’t place any higher due to being absent at both ESL Pro League Season 19 and IEM Chengdu, two events that could’ve seen them take home the crown and place higher.

2. NAVI

NAVI’s have won the biggest tournament of the year, and that has to mean something.

What’s most impressive about their Major win is that they did it without any of the superstars the other teams have. jL may have been in the form of his life and b1t may have crushed FaZe in the final, but they don’t have the luxury of a player like donk, m0NESY, ZywOo, or even a ropz or frozen, and that makes their win all the more exceptional.

Outside of the Major, NAVI have placed highly all year, only failing to reach the playoffs at IEM Katowice due to it being a six-team playoff bracket instead of eight. They also finished in the top eight at Pro League, but fell to a vengeful FaZe, the team that they defeated in the Major final.

1. FaZe

That leaves us with FaZe, the team that has been one of the best teams so far in 2024. They may only have one trophy to show for their efforts this year, but they have been in the final of all but one event they’ve played at, and that’s a level of consistency no other team can come close to.

FaZe were unlucky to come up against Spirit in their dominating form in Katowice, evidenced by the fact they later beat them in Copenhagen. They suffered the same poor fortune later on in Copenhagen by facing NAVI in a time when the stars were aligning for the Ukrainian organisation.

Had those two teams faced FaZe at any other point in the year, we may be talking about FaZe winning three events by now, not one.

Their win at IEM Chengdu may be overlooked because it did not come at Katowice or the Major, but a trophy is still a trophy, and FaZe had to beat a host of elite teams to lift it.

The consistency they have shown in 2024 is near-unheard of in modern Counter-Strike, and it feels likely we will still be saying these things come the end of the year, too.