The best pistol players in Counter-Strike in 2023

Bo3.gg, as part of the Annual Advent Awards, continues to summarize the results of 2023. This time, we have compiled a list of the top ten pistol players for the past competitive year.

Methodology

To compile the top-10 pistol players, we took statistics only from S-tier championships for a sample of tournaments with the highest level of play. We considered cyber athletes who played at least 80 maps at such events over the last 12 months. The list of all S-level tournaments for 2023 can be found here.

The final points are a combination of average damage points and kills from the three most popular pistols – Desert Eagle, USP-S, and Glock. For the best cyber athletes, sometimes these are enough to win an eco, force, or simply turn the round around.

#10. Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, Heroic – 648.42 points

The oldest player on our list rightfully earned a spot in our top pistol players. Moreover, he did it while being almost four months inactive with Vitality. Who knows what place dupreeh would have taken if not for the scandal in Heroic with some of its members leaving for Astralis.

#9. Justinas “jL” Lekavicius, NAVI – 673.84 points

The most charismatic cyber athlete in CS2 stood out not only with funny moments on the webcam during matches but also with his pistol skills. His Desert Eagle has saved rounds for “Born to Win” in difficult situations several times.

#8. Kristian “Buzz” Andersen, Astralis – 687.02 points

The 20-year-old rifler, currently inactive with Astralis, can confidently be called one of the most promising talents from Denmark. Over the year, we saw a decent growth in individual skill, even though his team suffered from instability for a long time. We hope that in 2024 he will easily find a new team.

#7. Emil “Magisk” Reif, Falcons – 725.76 points

Since we’ve already mentioned the Desert Eagle, it’s necessary to mention Magisk – during the time of Astralis' domination and some time after the end of that era, his aim with pistols received many praises. The mere fact of being in our top says that the Dane has not fallen off much, still being a dangerous opponent in pistol rounds and eco.

#6. Helvijs “broky” Saukants, FaZe – 728.86 points

The 22-year-old Latvian is also a fan of making stylish headshots with the Desert Eagle. If we look at the damage statistics with this pistol alone, the player is even in fifth place, with Glock and USP-S the situation is somewhat modest. But even so, he had a good year in terms of personal performance.

#5. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, G2 – 813.7 points

A notable detail about m0NESY is that in terms of average damage with Glock, he ranks higher than with any other pistol. His case is quite unique for players of his level. However, having NiKo on the team, entrusting the “pocket sniper” to him makes sense.

#4. Maciej “F1KU” Miklas, OG – 868.78 points

How many of you expected to see an OG player in our selection? Yes, the club had a very mediocre year in terms of the results of its CS roster, but F1KU managed to stand out, becoming a small ray of positivity in the roster. We might be very wrong in underestimating the Pole.

#3. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, Vitality – 876.58 points

It would be surprising not to see ZywOo in our top. He is good with rifles, AWP, and more modest weapons. This year, the famous Frenchman won two spectacular pistol clutches 1v4 – such things speak for themselves better than dry statistics.

#2. Håvard “rain” Nygaard, FaZe – 881.88 points

The 29-year-old Norwegian may be approaching “retirement” age for esports, but with FaZe he is as young as ever and ready to give the youngsters a run for their money. There is a good chance that next year he will be able to achieve similar heights.

#1. Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, G2 – 895.06 points

The Bosnian from G2 and the Desert Eagle have become one, at least it seems so in many eco and force rounds, where

NiKo shoots heads one after another. He has bad days, but in other cases, he can rightfully be called one of the strongest players on the planet.