Top CS:GO Players of 2022

For more than a decade, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has drawn in millions of players monthly, and people never get bored of it. Valve makes sure to add new and modify existing features regularly to keep the game addictive to new and old players alike. Big CS:GO tournaments offer even bigger prize pools, and there are many amazing professional players out there. In this post, we present the top CS:GO players in 2022 across all categories, according to HLTV.

#1 s1mple

Oleksandr Olehovych Kostyliev is considered one of the best CS:GO players of all time. He joined Natus Vincere in 2016 and has kept getting amazing results in competitive games ever since. He’s the AWPer on the team. Kostyliev holds 21 MVP titles, and he also won the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 and more than 10 tournaments apart from this one. He was among the top three players of the year on HLTV three times. Dozens of other awards and unbelievable accomplishments tell enough about s1mple’s skills.

Student of Chinese as a Pro Player

After high school, s1mple started studying Chinese at University. After the first semester, he decided to quit his studies and move to LA, where he joined Team Liquid. When he dominated his first ESL tournament, he went back home to Ukraine to be with his family. He’s 25, and his best friend describes him as an aggressive player but a calm person with a clear mind, always able to make the right decisions. S1mple has an older brother who introduced him to Counter-Strike when he was four years old. Today, they share a sushi restaurant business. Oleksandr is very close to his family.

Earnings and Statistics

Until December the 5th, s1mple has earned $1,676,721.98. A few years ago, he bought an apartment in Kyiv, in a building next to his parents, which they are very proud of. This player holds a +650 kill/death difference, which is insane! Here are the stats from HLTV that show how incredible his play is.

• Total kills: 36,506
• Headshot %: 41.2%
• Total deaths: 27,199
• K/D Ratio: 1.34
• Damage / Round: 86.2
• Grenade dmg / Round: 2.4
• Maps played: 1,617
• Rounds played: 42,759
• Kills / round: 0.85
• Assists/round: 0.10
• Deaths/round: 0.64
• Saved by teammate/round: 0.08
• Saved teammates/round: 0.11
• Rating 1.0: 1.25

#2 sh1ro

Dmitry Sokolov’s career seems to have just gotten started. His first big tournaments took place in 2018, and he’s 21 years old. So, there’s still time for him to show the world what he can do. However, HLTV puts him in second place of this year’s best players. His win rate is 70% at the moment. 

sh1ro used to play for Gambit Esports for two years before joining Cloud9 as the AWPer in April of this year. He won IEM Katowice 2021, BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2021, and IEM Summer 2021 with Gambit Esports, and he holds four MVP titles as of now. He also performed well in PGL Major Stockholm 2021 but unfortunately lost to NaVi.

Support from Uncle

Dimitry started playing Counter-Strike 1.6 when his uncle showed him the game when he was five years old. As soon as Global Offensive was released, he switched to it. Later, when he started traveling for tournaments, his uncle followed him and supported him all the time. Dimitry really worked hard to succeed in his career, and it has certainly paid off. Considering his not-that-long career, he did an amazing job—and he’s just getting started.

Earnings and Statistics

Since he didn’t have much time to earn a larger amount of money, his overall profit until now is a total of $521,267.25. He participated in 59 tournaments to earn that much. If he continues this path of fame, better earnings are guaranteed. HLTV recorded these statistics on sh1ro’s play:

• Total kills: 18,971
• Headshot %: 27.9%
• Total deaths: 13,108
• K/D Ratio: 1.45
• Damage / Round: 78.7
• Grenade dmg / Round: 3.9
• Maps played: 925
• Rounds played: 24,587
• Kills/round: 0.77
• Assists/round: 0.11
• Deaths/round: 0.53
• Saved by teammate/round: 0.08
• Saved teammates/round: 0.11
• Rating 2.0: 1.26

#3 ZywOo

Mathieu Herbaut is one of the best CS:GO players worldwide. He’s been an APWer for Team Vitality for four years now, and this is the team he had amazing success with. He’s the owner of 12 MVP awards and the number-one player in the world in 2019 and 2020. He was the youngest French pro player to get this title in 2019.

 In PGL Major Stockholm 2021 ZywOo’s team didn’t perform too well, but he was announced to be the second-best player of that year. He’s still young, only 22, and we can expect him to be number one again soon!

Baccalauréat Before eSports

Mathieu was born in Lens, France, and his mother made sure he finished his studies before starting a professional eSports career. She insisted that he finish his baccalauréat (a national academic qualification obtained after secondary education). Right after getting his diploma, he joined Team Vitality and the rest is history. However, he was never allowed to spend hours gaming, nor did he stay up late to play. He did have support from his family once he started playing professionally, though.

Earnings and Statistics

After 92 tournaments, Mathieu earned $549,344.48. Keep in mind that he, like sh1ro, started building his bright career in 2018 and has enough time to play and earn a lot more. After all, he holds the title of the most MVP medals in the first year of a player’s pro play. Also, who else could have been ranked first on the top 20 best players, aged only 19 years? ZywOo’s insane talent will take over the scene before we know it. Here are his stats, according to HLTV.

• Total kills: 24,086
• Headshot %: 41.0%
• Total deaths: 17,460
• K/D Ratio: 1.38
• Damage / Round: 87.9
• Grenade dmg / Round: 3.7
• Maps played: 1083
• Rounds played: 28,535
• Kills/round: 0.84
• Assists/round: 0.12
• Deaths/round: 0.61
• Saved by teammate/round: 0.10
• Saved teammates/round: 0.12
• Rating 2.0: 1.33

#4 blameF

Even though Benjamin Bremer owns only one MVP award from the Pinnacle Cup Championship 2022, he was twice among the top 20 CS:GO players of the year. He also has several EVPs. His consistency and hard work put him on HLTV’s top players’ list since he keeps producing exceptional results with his team, Astralis. Benjamin has been active in eSports for years, ever since he joined his first pro team in 2015. He’s 25 years old and plays the role of a lurker on the team.

Social Media Star

Beofre he seriously started working on an eSports career, blameF used to stream often on his Twitch channel. Thousands of people follow him on every platform he’s active. His Twitch is followed by 95k fans, while his Instagram has 36.8k people who check his posts. There are 60.3k followers on Twitter. However, this Danish giant doesn’t share a lot about his personal life. Much information about him is unknown: his relationship status, family members, or any detail that fans might like to know.

Earnings and Statistics

Benjamin earned his first tournament money in 2017, and since then, his total earnings from 67 tournaments amount to $249,236.08. However, his greatest passion is the play itself, and we couldn’t find any info on his other hobbies or income source. He did mention in an interview that he bought an apartment, though. Professional play does pay off if you’re good at it! Let’s take a look at blameF’s statistics from HLTV.

• Total kills: 19,378
• Headshot %: 39.2%
• Total deaths: 15,391
• K/D Ratio: 1.26
• Damage / Round: 85.7
• Grenade dmg / Round: 7.1
• Maps played: 942
• Rounds played: 25,314
• Kills/round: 0.77
• Assists/round: 0.14
• Deaths/round: 0.61
• Saved by teammate/round: 0.07
• Saved teammates/round: 0.09
• Rating 2.0: 1.22

#5 Ax1Le

Sergey Rykhtorov (Сергей Александрович Рыхторов) started his CS:GO career as a young player, at only 16 years old. His great achievements came with Gambit Esports, when he won IEM Summer 2021, Funspark ULTI 2021 Finals, and BLAST Premier Spring Final 2021. 

The two MVPs he owns are earned with Gambit, while the third one was won with Cloud9, where he plays to this day. Sergey considers the hardest loss in his whole career the EPL S13 Final. But Ax1Le is 20, and his time is yet to come! With such skills, he’s one of the most desirable CS:GO players for every professional team.

No Emotions While Playing

Sergey’s teammates, as well as his opponents, have figured out his secret to being such a great player. While he’s in the game, he is extremely calm. His old teammate, Alexey “RuFire” Burakov, who played with Ax1Le in his first pro team, said: ”During the game, he has almost no emotions: he never rages, doesn’t scream for joy. I call such people ‘a Rock’. This is a significant advantage as Sergey is very stable because of this. Many people burn out and tilt a lot, but it is impossible to piss him off. He sits and plays, and nothing can stop him.”

Earnings and Statistics

After participating in 61 tournaments, Ax1Le earned a total of $520,463.61. With his win rate of 70% and high ranking, it’s certain that he will continue doing an awesome job – and earning even more in the future. Here are Ax1Le’s statistics.

• Total kills: 19,304
• Headshot %: 48.6%
• Total deaths: 16,625
• K/D Ratio: 1.16
• Damage / Round: 80.5
• Grenade dmg / Round: 5.2
• Maps played: 998
• Rounds played: 26,505
• Kills/round: 0.73
• Assists/round: 0.14
• Deaths/round: 0.63
• Saved by teammate/round: 0.09
• Saved teammates/round: 0.09
• Rating 2.0: 1.16

More Amazing Players

There’s so much more to say about the top CS:GO players of this year. Some of them are just switching positions for a place or two on the scale, but they still stay on the list of the top 20. NiKo, mONESY, XANTARES, SENSEi, and others are on the list, too – which is not surprising at all. If you’re willing to bet on CS:GO in the next period, keep in mind that these players are probably going to dominate the tournaments with their teams. So, good luck!