Today we are taking a look at ten young CS:GO players to keep an eye on in 2021. Despite their age, these players are not to be underestimated and can bring some ridiculous fragging potential to the table at times.
1. Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov (18) – Gambit Esports
With a team like Gambit, Ax1Le has a positive outlook for 2021. He has incredible fragging power just like the entirety of Gambit and is a valuable part of the puzzle, as the clip below will prove as well. Things are looking very positive for the team as a whole, with so much momentum in their hands at this time and an impressively rising HLTV ranking. To bring the point home that Ax1Le is a necessary part of Gambit and their success, just take a look at the following clip.
2. Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom (19) – Team Vitality
A personal point of pride here, representing my lovely country Belgium. Nivera is the 6th man for Team Vitality (recently acquired from Team Heretics), who has been delivering excellent performances as a stand-in and substitute player. It will be interesting to see how his position in Vitality develops in the future and if he can perhaps take on another role in the team. On the other hand, him being that little advantage that Vitality can whip up in a time of need seems to be working out just fine.
3. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut (20) – Team Vitality
Keeping things on the Vitality side, ZywOo is also one of the relatively young players that has been performing massively and will undoubtedly continue to do so in 2021. He’s an AWPer that contends with the likes of s1mple, even booking the same HLTV rating as him (1.29) this year despite getting a lower K/D ratio. In case you needed some proof to see that ZywOo really is deserving of being one of the best players in the world, just look at this clip with one hp (!) remaining.
4. Martin “Stavn” Lund (18) – Heroic
Moving over to the Scandinavian part of Europe we see Stavn the Dane. Heroic has achieved fantastic things in 2020 and is still shining bright at the number 4 spot in the world. They’ve had moments at the very top, even overruling Astralis at times. Stavn has been a key element in that aspect. His rifling and support role has been key in the battles of Heroic. He’s definitely worth keeping an eye on to see if he will continue catapulting Heroic to greatness.
5. Kévin “Misutaaa” Rabier (17) – Team Vitality
The last Vitality player you should definitely have your sights on is Misutaaa. He’s actually the youngest player on the team at 17 years of age and, coming into 2021, it’s only his second year under the wings of Vitality, joining back in March 2020. He’s a strong rifler who will undoubtedly continue helping Vitality achieve greater things and keep that top spot in the world ranking locked down.
6. David “frozen” Čerňanský (18) – mousesports
Another entry fragger on the list. It’ll be interesting to see whether frozen can aid mousesports in their climb to greatness in 2021. They have had their time at the number two spot in the world earlier this year. With the end of the online era potentially being in sight things might be looking up for Frozen, as he often feels more comfortable back in a LAN environment, where can be that key factor for mousesports.
7. Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras (17) – mousesports
Mousesports has an even younger player in their roster in the form of the Lithuanian Bymas. He’s a relatively fresh addition but has already been pulling consistent high rankings in the matches he’s playing with mousesports, ending up on the third or second place on the leaderboard. Let’s take a look at how impressive his first ever professional ace was.
8. Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin (18) – Fnatic
With three years under his belt on the professional level, already signing with GODSENT at 15 years of age, Brollan deserves to be proud. He’s currently with top tier esports organisation Fnatic and also has two trophies to his name with said team (ESL Pro League S11 EU and DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019). Having achieved so much as a player who is only 18 years of age, is seriously impressive.
9. Nicolas “Plopski” Gonzalez (18) – Ninjas in Pyjamas
When we scan the Scandinavian esports field a little more, we’ll certainly spot Plopski on our radar. In a similar fashion to Brollan, he started out two months before turning 16. He’s been in the running from an impressively young age and is now further developing his career under a legendary team like Ninjas in Pyjamas. Although it can be said that NiP’s performance has been waning somewhat in recent times, one can only hope that 2021 will bring more achievements to the team, supported by none other than Plopski.
10. Helvijs “broky” Saukants (19) – FaZe
In the diverse lineup of FaZe, broky fits like a glove. Sporting a rather fresh CS:GO career, he has now been running with the FaZe lineup since September 2019 – broky has been part of FaZe at their very peak – but sadly the team’s performance has been waning lately. He has incredible potential to turn an entire round, which is something the team needs to capitalise on to compete for that top ten ranking once more. Let’s take a look at broky’s versatility in this clip.
On the radar
Through this list you will undoubtedly know which players to keep on your radar for 2021. The year is brimming with young potential and it will be a delight to see how the landscape changes in 2021 and where these young talents will end up or what they will achieve!
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