The BLAST Paris Major, the last Valve-sponsored event for CS:GO, will run from May 8 to 21 and presents the last chance for every one of the 120 players and 24 teams in attendance to carve their name into the history of Counter-Strike esports before the switch to Counter-Strike 2. For you at home to have a better understanding of all the teams participating in the $1.25 million tournament, Dot Esports has ranked every team according to their results ahead of the event.
CS:GO may be an unpredictable esport, but our power rankings are a clear representation of what you should expect from each team. Of course, upsets are to be expected along the way as is the case with any high-level esport, but some of the best teams in the world—like G2, Heroic, Natus Vincere, FaZe Clan, and Vitality—will have the chance to assert their dominance against the rest of the pack.
Related: BLAST Paris CS:GO Major: How to watch, scores, standings, and results
Here’s why some teams are unlikely to reach the deep stages of the BLAST Paris Major and why others are simply the favorites to make history.
24) Fluxo
Fluxo, a giant Brazilian organization in Free Fire esports, joined the CS:GO ecosystem in August 2022 with a team featuring veterans like former SK Gaming and MIBR player João “felps” Vasconcellos, former MIBR and 00 Nation player Vinicius “vsm” Moreira, and fresh blood in Lucas “Lucaozy” Neves, who is considered one of the country’s best young players. Fluxo have asserted their dominance in South America thus far, having won four local CCT events since the roster was created, but they lack experience against the best in the world. They’ve only attended one tier-one tournament, BLAST Fall Final in November 2022, and were sent home without winning a map against NAVI and G2.
23) The Mongolz
Representing the Asian CS:GO region, The Mongolz has created a roster that can decimate teams within its area, even taking out top Australian teams like Grayhound along the way. Their struggles begin when tackling European competition. The Mongolz floundered against the top tiers of professional CS:GO, with their only noteworthy performance seeing them take a map off Heroic, but still losing 2-1. Their limited playtime against the best teams might be the catalyst for an early exit from the Major. While they’re likely to be torn apart in the beginning stages of Paris, there’s always a chance of them thinning out the herd as they try to keep their heads above water.
22) Into the Breach
Into the Breach have the unfortunate distinction of being our lowest-ranked team that’s starting play in the Legends Stage. While the bright side for the U.K. core is they are guaranteed to finish top 16, there’s little expectation for them to do anything of note in the Legends Stage. They’re a relatively new roster with little to no accomplishments outside of their impressive RMR run.
21) Grayhound
After shouting “fuck your Pick’Em’s” at the last Major, Grayhound have shown steady improvement as 2023 has progressed and have more than earned a few extra places since the IEM Rio Major. Joshua “INS” Potter’s crew took scalps (NiP, 00 Nation) at ESL Pro League 17 and finally ascended to the throne of Asia as the first seed out of the APAC RMR. That all said, the Aussies will be hard-pressed to make it to the Legends Stage given the competition they’ll face. Just don’t put them as your 0-3 this time.
20) Apeks
Similar to other squads on this list, Apeks’ Europe RMR seeding gave the international roster a fighting chance at qualifying for the Major. The squad’s hardest challenge was a close-fought battle against FaZe, with their other opponents barely scratching the top 20 teams in the scene. Their recent performance after the RMRs has been relatively consistent with wins over teams like OG and Eternal Fire. These wins are countered by losses to rebuilding rosters like Astralis. These guys are an obvious underdog at this Major and therefore we can’t expect much from them other than producing one or two upsets.
19) Monte
Monte have arguably drawn the shortest straw of the Challengers Stage and will face former champions FaZe in their first match. While this is not ideal, making it out of this stage with three wins is not a hopeless endeavor for them. The trio of BOROS, Volodymyr “Woro2k” Veletnjuk, and Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev have led the way for Monte, and they’ll need to show up again in great form to give Monte a chance of making it through the Challengers Stage.
18) Complexity
Complexity are one of the more complex entries on this list. On some days, they look like they can hang with the best teams, like when they made a run at IEM Katowice. But on other days, they struggle and sometimes fail to put away teams below their standing. Hallzerk remains the team’s focal point, but they need someone other than him to step up if they want to make it past the Challengers Stage.
17) GamerLegion
GamerLegion have been hovering just outside that tier-two mark of European CS:GO for the bulk of 2023. And while their Europe RMR run proved successful, the level of opposition they’ve been playing, as well as their shortcomings against Bad News Eagles in the tiebreaker, betray their true level. Put simply, the squad still rides or dies on the efforts of Frederik “acoR” Gyldstrand, even despite GamerLegion unearthing a prodigy in Romanian Mihai “iM” Ivan. Upset potential? Sure. A deep Parisian run? Unlikely.
16) FORZE
FORZE are a roster that can tear through some of the biggest names in CS:GO. But maintaining a level high enough to continually take down Counter-Strike’s big dogs is something just out of reach for the CIS squad. Their matchups in the Europe RMR B tilted their odds of qualifying in their favor through a series of easier competitors, and their recent matches against far-inferior teams like Spirit Academy and the ex-HEET roster likely prove they won’t be able to win the tournament—but they might cause some damage along the way. Andrey “Jerry” Mekhryakov and crew will have to grind out tough games to make it anywhere beyond the Challengers Stage.
15) OG
OG showed impressive resolve to even make it to the Major, rallying from a 0-2 start with three straight wins over SAW, 1WIN, and Falcons in April to secure a spot in Paris. The team is still struggling with Danish niko in place of nexa, but even with the current roster, they’ve shown they’re capable of producing big wins once in a while. They’ve got an uphill battle in Paris, starting off against ENCE, but there’s hope even if they lose their initial matches again as they showed they’re resilient not too long ago.
14) Bad News Eagles
The hype around the Kosovar outfit that stormed their way to the Legends Stage in Rio grows once more after an almost flawless RMR, capped off with a brilliant 2-0 victory over FaZe Clan. BNE snatched the Legends Spot away from GamerLegion but were brought back to earth by surprise packet Movistar Riders at ESL Challenger Melbourne—a tournament where BNE were odds-on favorites to win. Worryingly, the team lacks proper LAN experience in 2023; BNE have only played two LAN events this year, missing both EPL and IEM Rio, and their online results leave much to be desired. Their experience in Melbourne, however, is a boost to their stocks. Look to Flatron “juanflatroo” Halimi and Genc “gxx-” Kolgeci as the key pieces to BNE’s hunt for the Champions Stage in Paris.
13) Ninjas in Pyjamas
This amalgamation of deadly aimers led by widely-praised IGL Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen hasn’t molded into a cohesive unit just yet. They’re relatively consistent in taking down a lesser opponent with room for the occasional upset. But when they face top-tier teams like Heroic, Natus Vincere, and Vitality, their stars are missing in action. There’s almost a guarantee they’ll take some scalps, but the chances of them progressing to the end stage of the tournament would be an overperformance. If the seeding plays to their advantage, they could make it further than expected, as long as players like Fredrik “REZ” Sterner and Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke pop off.
12) Fnatic
From beginning to end, it’s only fitting Fnatic are present at the final CS:GO Major. And even better, 29-year-old Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson will be there to see Fnatic through. Paris marks Major No. 16 for one of Counter-Strike’s greatest riflers, and he and the team will have their work cut out for them again this time. Fnatic made a full Challengers to Champions Stage run in Rio, and for Paris, they’ll start in the Legends Stage after a 3-0 RMR record. None of their three opponents ended up qualifying for the Major, however, and their record outside of the Europe RMR has been subpar, to say the least.
11) paiN Gaming
PaiN had been flying under the radar of tier-one for the past four years, but they started getting recognition after the departure of former in-game leader Vinícios “PKL” Coelho and the arrival of veteran rifler Gabriel “NEKIZ” Schenato in February. The captaincy duties were handed to the team’s star Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt, who has proved his capability against solid teams such as OG and Team Liquid at ESL Pro League season 17 in March. PaiN also did exceptionally well at the Americas RMR and nearly snatched the Legends spot from FURIA, the best team in the country since 2019. If they can keep that form going, they have a solid chance of making it out of the Challengers Stage and taking some scalps in the Legends Stage. The Major should show paiN and their fans what the team’s ceiling is ahead of Counter-Strike 2.
10) 9INE
9INE were one of the biggest surprises of the Europe RMR. The Polish team headlined by former ENCE AWPer Aleksander “hades” Miskiewicz had an undefeated run at the qualifier while facing prestigious adversaries in G2, BIG, and Vitality, showing the world they’re no longer a simple tier-two team, but rather a squad that’s ready to fight against the best in CS:GO. They’ll start their run in the Legends Stage and, should they have success in their best-of-one encounters, they have a good shot at making the playoffs and putting Poland on the map again ahead of CS2. The fans deserve it—after all, it’s been nearly five years since a Polish team qualified for the Major.
9) FURIA
Although FURIA once again secured a spot in the Legends Stage of a Major, they’re unpredictable at the moment. The Brazilian community expected KSCERATO and crew to do better this year and finally win tier-one trophies after their semifinal run at IEM Rio Major in November 2022, but that looks far from happening. They were sent packing by IHC in the play-in stage of IEM Katowice in February, didn’t progress past the round of 12 in ESL Pro League season 17 in March, and fell in the quarterfinals of IEM Rio 2023 in April. The reality is that FURIA will likely have to look for changes if they can’t perform at the BLAST Paris Major because with the way that KSCERATO is playing nowadays—he’s the best rifler among the top 20 teams in 2023 with a 1.21 rating, according to HLTV—they should be doing much better and at least fighting for titles.
8) ENCE
Since Lotan “Spinx” Giladi’s departure, the ENCE roster has seen various ups and downs. The recent addition of Guy “NertZ” Iluz has brought back some of the firepower they lacked while Valdemar “Valde” Bjørn Vangså donned the ENCE jersey for a period of time, and now there’s definitely a chance of upsets. The low-budget, international org has a strong chance of thwarting the dreams of some of the best teams in the game. Their recent wins against Cloud9, Vitality, and G2 might’ve increased their player stock, but looming losses against inferior rosters like Astralis and SAW leave a question mark as to how they’ll perform in Paris.
7) MOUZ
MOUZ surprised just about anybody last year at the IEM Rio Major when they made it all the way to the semifinals of the tournament while heavy hitters like FaZe and Vitality didn’t even come close. This result showed the community the project is working; three out of the five MOUZ players came from the academy team. But they’ve failed to keep that momentum going thus far in 2023. MOUZ only reached the playoffs of ESL Pro League season 17 in March and put out disappointing performances at IEM Katowice in February and IEM Rio in April. It’s time for the players to show their potential once again and there’s no better place to do it than the Major stage. Should the young international squad make it out of the Challengers Stage, they could be a serious threat in the Legends Stage, which has three lesser-experienced teams in the form of Into the Breach, 9INE, and Bad News Eagles.
6) Team Liquid
Like with G2, the BLAST World Final and IEM Katowice were bright spots for the top North American team, but inconsistency has still been an issue for Liquid. In an interview with HLTV, Keith ”NAF” Markovic said at the RMR they were playing at their “worst as a team.” But even at their worst, they handled business at the RMR, and we’ve seen what Liquid is capable of at their best, so there’s hope North America will have at least one representative in the playoffs.
5) Vitality
Vitality are the only French team who qualified for the BLAST Paris Major. But they’ll have to play much better in comparison to what they did at the IEM Rio Major to have a chance to play in front of the fans in the playoffs and enjoy the home-crowd factor. The community pressure on in-game leader Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and head coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen has been high all year since the squad hasn’t delivered consistent results despite having the superstar ZywOo and one of the best riflers in the world in Lotan “Spinx” Giladi. Some of the pressure went away after Vitality won IEM Rio in April, but part of the fan base is still doubting that Vitality can be a solid team with the current lineup. If apEX makes the best of ZywOo and Spinx, they’ll likely make the playoffs, which should be the bare minimum considering the investment the organization has made with the signings of dupreeh, Magisk, zonic, and Spinx since January 2022.
4) FaZe Clan
The Intel Grand Slam season four winners have had somewhat of an iffy track record in the past few months, dipping in and out of tournaments with upsets in IEM Dallas 2023 via FURIA and Vitality’s star-studded casts. Other losses to Bad News Eagles and Natus Vincere in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Europe RMR A haven’t filled fans and analysts with confidence, either. But FaZe have been a consistent force in most other events, either reaching the playoffs or the finals in every tournament (except for IEM Dallas 2023) since their Rio Major win last year. There’s an incredibly solid chance that we’ll see them progress to the latter stages of Paris, but winning the tournament is dependent on whether Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s collection of big names can handle the neck-and-neck matches they’ll inevitably encounter.
3) Natus Vincere
Where the team above them on our rankings has taken silver all year, it’s been nothing but bronze for the Ukrainian organization since their run at IEM Katowice in February 2023. Part of the squad’s drop-off, if you can really call it that, has to do with Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi’s regression to the mean after one of the greatest rookie years in Counter-Strike’s history. Not to be forgotten is the impact the Russian invasion of Ukraine has had on the squad, especially on Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev. Any iteration of NAVI with s1mple cannot be written off lightly, however, so the question remains: Can they find that extra gear that saw them dominate CS:GO throughout 2021 and 2022, or have the world’s best teams outpaced NAVI?
2) Heroic
It’s silver all around for the Danish squad who are peaking at just the right moment. Jakob “Jabbi” Nygaard took some time to get to grips with the Heroic system, but he enters Paris with a remarkable 1.17 rating in the past three months, according to HLTV, and has led the squad to two grand finals in 2023. We also must speak to the squad’s consistency—arguably their greatest strength—with all five players posting a 1.10 or higher rating for the calendar year. After coming in second in Katowice, second at the Europe RMR, and second at IEM Rio, could Paris finally yield gold for Casper “cadiaN” Møller’s men? With the top three all being viable contenders, now is the time for Heroic to strike.
1) G2
They might be starting in Challengers, but G2 are the focal point of the tournament. Coming off a BLAST World Final and IEM Katowice victory in December 2022 and February 2023, respectively, G2 stumbled a little bit at ESL Pro League in March and at the Europe RMR in April. But they’re still the best team in the world when they’re clicking. If NiKo, huNter-, m0NESY, Justin “jks” Savage, and Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen arrive in Paris in form, the path to the trophy could be an easy one for G2.
