CS:GO Tier 1 scene is more competitive today than ever before

CS:GO Gamers8 2023 is now history, and we all witnessed the great level of play demonstrated by Team Vitality in the tournament, which led them to become the champions by beating ENCE in the Grand Final. As a result, Vitality proves once again that they are at their best possible level of play and, above all, that they are one of the best teams in the world. However, this is not a surprise; as we know, the team won the Paris Major and the IEM Rio 2023.

34 🏆#VforVictory pic.twitter. com/D53afLCqbV

— Team Vitality 🐝 (@TeamVitality) August 20, 2023

Similarly, this is the first trophy that Team Vitality gets in the last 3 months, as other teams are also playing at a great level and have won tier 1 events, ENCE, Heroic, and G2 Esports. In addition, it is worth mentioning that these 4 teams were the participants of the semifinals at Gamers8, so we are currently in the presence of what, for many, are the 4 best teams.

Now, if we think about the 11-year history of CS:GO, it is very difficult to remember when several teams are fighting for the crown in major tournaments. However, Gamers8 has proven, and by far, that the CS:GO competitive scene is better than ever.

CS:GO Season 2022/23

Over the past year, several teams have climbed to the top of the CS:GO world rankings. In the 2022 season, we saw FaZe Clan sweep all the tournaments they participated in and lift the Intel Grand Slam trophy at the beginning of 2023.

However, before the end of last year, Heroic burst onto the scene. Admittedly, the Danish squad did not win every tournament they entered, but they were a team that was consistently in the Grand Final.

At the beginning of the current season, G2 Esports started to show a great level of play, establishing a winning streak never seen before in CS:GO LAN tournaments. Finally, Team Vitality took the baton from April 2023, when they won the IEM Rio 2023 and, subsequently, the Paris Major.

Finally, ENCE won the IEM Dallas 2023 and has participated in four finals in a row, so they have been one step away from being the kings of the CS:GO competitive scene.

Looking at all this, we are more than sure that these four teams, if they maintain this spectacular level of play, will have everything in their hands to fight for the championship trophies in the following tournaments.

Changes in the squad

Undoubtedly, one of the main factors in the success of these squads is the changes in the lineup or, in other cases, the lack of changes. Many CS:GO teams decided to change their lineups in the player break that lasted about a month. For example, Team Vitality made the radical decision to replace dupreeh with flameZ, despite winning the Paris Major a few days earlier.

However, teams like G2 Esports and FaZe Clan decided to stay intact, something that many in the community did not fully understand. Likewise, remember that CS2 is very close to its release, and having a compact team is ideal for a proper transition to this new title.

Gamers8 contributes to the CS:GO scene

While it is true that this esports festival has been heavily criticized for being held in Saudi Arabia, there is no doubt that Gamers8 contributed a lot to the CS:GO competitive scene.

Unlike the ESL and BLAST tournaments, Gamers8 used a direct elimination format, i.e., the team that loses the team that is out of the tournament. This is another incentive to demonstrate the ability that teams like ENCE, Team Vitality, G2 Esports, and Heroic currently have to be among the best.

These 4 teams are a step above the rest, and there is no doubt that this is more than healthy for the scene.

There is no doubt that the time when the Brazilian squad led by Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo (Luminosity and SK Gaming) and Astralis between 2017 and 2019 were entertaining and exciting, right now we are sure that the competition is “stronger than ever.”

Header: ESL