8 Best CSGO Players of ESL Pro League Season 18

These are the 8 best CSGO players in ESL Pro League Season 18 who dominated the last-ever event of this series in Global Offensive 

The final Global Offensive ESL Pro League has concluded, and MOUZ made history by winning the event through their clean 3-0 sweep against NAVI. Out of the 32 teams that participated, only 8 moved to the Playoffs stage, and we saw many players shine during this LAN. Out of hundreds who graced their presence at this Pro League, we selected the top 8 out of the HLTV ranking, picking only one player from every team. 

8. Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev – NAVI

• HLTV Rating: 1.24
• Impact Rating: 1.34
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 73.9%
• Average Damage Round: 85.4
• Kills Per Round: 0.85

During NAVI’s journey to the Grand Final, s1mple fueled his legendary status by leading his team to another great milestone, a continuation of his form throughout this year. The 23-year-old’s skills with the AWP were on full display during most of the matches as he secured the top-fragger status in three out of five series for his roster. 

[embedded content]

The Playoffs game against Eternal Fire was the best we saw from s1mple at this event, where NAVI enjoyed a dominating 2-0 victory due to this legendary player’s prowess on Anubis and Nuke. In that Bo3, the AWPer secured a rating of 1.42 through 43-29 K-D.

7. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov – G2

• HLTV Rating: 1.22
• Impact Rating: 1.23
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 73.8%
• Average Damage Round: 78.6
• Kills Per Round: 0.77

During IEM Cologne 2023, m0NESY secured the second-best player spot, right below his teammate Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, and it was expected that he would shine again for G2 this time around. While his team failed to move past the Quarterfinals, this 18-year-old AWPer delivered some of the best Counter-Strike, still serving as an eye candy for the fans.

[embedded content]

The Flash has consistently performed well throughout this tournament, but his best comes from the Group Final game against North American Complexity. After a decent start on Anubis and Inferno, m0NESY fired up on Ancient, scoring a 23-11 K-D that helped him secure a 1.77 rating.

6. David “frozen” Čerňanský – MOUZ

• HLTV Rating: 1.13
• Impact Rating: 1.18
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 73.2%
• Average Damage Round: 83.0
• Kills Per Round: 0.76

The 21-year-old rifler for MOUZ has had an excellent year so far, from being the fifth-best player at IEM Cologne to leading his team to a trophy after years. MOUZ’s victory at this event wouldn’t have been possible without frozen consistently providing great performances throughout all nine series. 

[embedded content]

During the duel against G2, frozen helped his team score a great upset, one of many at this event, through his excellent rifling abilities. The Slovak player dominated Inferno during this Bo3, scoring a 1.73 rating through 23-12 K-D. 

5. İsmailсan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş – Eternal Fire

• HLTV Rating: 1.17
• Impact Rating: 1.35
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.3%
• Average Damage Round: 89.3
• Kills Per Round: 0.81

Eternal Fire were able to reach the Quarterfinal of this competition by defeating teams like Cloud9, Liquid, and BIG – a great set of accomplishments for an underdog squad. Turkish-Macedonian player XANTARES had a significant impact on those victories, as he brought his experience from being in BIG to fruition. 

[embedded content]

The 28-year-old’s best performance was when he faced his former team BIG in the Playoffs, defeating them 2-0 and picking up a 1.75 rating on Anubis while doing so. He had a K-D of 25-12 on that map, which allowed his squad to close out the map with a dominating 16-10 scoreline. 

4. Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato – FURIA

• HLTV Rating: 1.19
• Impact Rating: 1.10
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 75.1%
• Average Damage Round: 79.6
• Kills Per Round: 0.74

KSCERATO keeps getting better and better throughout the years. In 2020, he started to bring attention to himself by ranking #18 in the world, then progressed to #15 the following year. Last year, he had a #9 ranking, and judging by his performance so far in 2023, he is traversing the path of greatness. 

[embedded content]

The 24-year-old Brazilian led his team to the Playoffs, where they unfortunately didn’t match the power of tournament winner MOUZ. While KSCERATO had a poor series in the Playoffs match, he shined the most in earlier games, especially the 2-0 victory against Movistar Riders, where he secured a 62-34 K-D. This Bo3 was his best performance at the event, scoring a 1.85 rating on Nuke. 

3. Guy “NertZ” Iluz – ENCE

• HLTV Rating: 1.10
• Impact Rating: 1.25
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 69.5%
• Average Damage Round: 83.4
• Kills Per Round: 0.76

NertZ, the Israeli who took his first S-tier trophy this year, almost led his team to another huge victory. The 24-year-old’s rifling skills helped ENCE reach the Semifinals of the event, where a close 2-1 loss against MOUZ stopped them from achieving glory. Nonetheless, the Finnish org must be happy with its decision to take in NertZ at the start of this year.

[embedded content]

The Group Stage match against MIBR was the best we saw from this rifler at this event, where he secured 97 kills in three maps. His stats on Ancient was unbelievable, as he got a K-D of 37-18 and a rating of 1.92 on the map. 

2. Lotan “Spinx” Giladi – Vitality

• HLTV Rating: 1.12
• Impact Rating: 1.10
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.8%
• Average Damage Round: 77.9
• Kills Per Round: 0.73

Most of us expected the Paris Major MVP Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut to be the best out of Vitality. However, at this event, Israeli player Spinx takes this spot with a slightly higher rating than his highly talented teammate. 

[embedded content]

The Group Final Bo3 against Ninjas in Pyjamas was this 23-year-old rifler’s magnum opus, as he secured a staggering 50-27 K-D to confirm a dominating 2-0 victory. His 31-kill performance on Mirage was one of the best Counter-Strike we’ve seen in a while from a single player, which allowed him to secure a 2.32 rating.

1. Benjamin “blameF” Bremer – Astralis

• HLTV Rating: 1.23
• Impact Rating: 1.23
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 74.1%
• Average Damage Round: 85.5
• Kills Per Round: 0.77

Even though Astralis failed to go far in the Playoffs, blameF takes first place on our list of best players at this tournament. The 26-year-old, while IGLing for his team, made incredible plays to help his squad reach the Playoffs. His domination against teams like Ninjas in Pyjamas, GamerLegion, and FURIA allowed Astralis to enjoy clean 2-0 victories.

[embedded content]

The Group Stage series against ORKS was the best performance from this Danish rifler, where he dominated both maps, especially on Nuke, where his rating was 1.89 due to an incredible 25-11 K-D performance.