Who Is The GOAT Of Each Version Of Counter-Strike?

These days, it is all too easy to get lost in your Counter-Strike training, games, and content, and forget about one of the things that truly makes our beloved franchise special – its history. Many feet have walked the hallowed halls of CS greatness, since the path beneath them was barely built. Now, we have halls of fame, annual award shows, and tournaments every week.

Today, we’re going to take a trip down memory lane, and work out which players can claim to be in the debate for the GOAT of their respective versions of the game. Of course, these lists will be tremendously subjective, so if your opinion is different, let us know! With that being said, let’s jump in.

Counter-Strike 1.6 & Counter-Strike: Source

Back in the early days of Counter-Strike, the playerbase – all the way up to the professional level – was split between two games. Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike 1.6. This was the very beginning of the CS scene – before Majors, before arenas, and before most of the money. This was a time when pure passion and ability were enough to push many players into the limelight, and an era in which legends were made. In our search for the GOAT of this era, we narrowed it down to a list of four.

f0rest

Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg is a name that, really, needs no introduction. Not just a contender for the GOAT of this era, but also a contender for the GOAT of all-time, the Swedish rifler is one of the foundational pieces of everything that has made Counter-Strike great since its competitive inception.

Through his time in Realitysucks, Embrace, Begrip Gaming, and Fnatic, f0rest proved himself to be one of – if not the – best players in the world. His raw aim, gamesense, and ability to turn rounds around singlehandedly took him and his teams to multiple titles in 1.6, and have earned him a spot in the history books of early Counter-Strike.

HeatoN

Emil “HeatoN” Christensen is another name that echoes through the halls of Counter-Strike legend. Known for his mastery of the spray, the Swedish rifler was one of the earliest generation of professional Counter-Strike players. A key part of the first Ninjas in Pyjamas lineup in 2001, HeatoN went on to take SK Gaming to the title at World Cyber Games 2003. He narrowly missed out on the award for ‘Best Counter-Strike Player Of The Year’ in 2004, and went on to re-form NIP – a team that went on to become one of the very best in history.

shox

Richard “shox” Papillon is another one of those names that just carries its own weight. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a CS fan since the earliest days of LAN cafes and Half-Life mods, or if you’ve been enjoying the game for only a few months; the chances are that you have heard of shox in one form or another.

Playing for teams such as RedLine, VeryGames, and LDLC throughout his time in CS:Source, shox was a constant star in the server, generating highlights, clutches, and carry performances regularly. His ability to take control of a round was second to none, and his shining personality won him a multitude of fans. Winning multiple tournaments throughout his time on the French Source rosters, shox has more than earned himself a place in the conversation for the greatest Source/1.6 player of all time.

NEO

Filip “NEO” Kubski is, perhaps unsurprisingly, our chosen GOAT of the Source and 1.6 era. One of the Polish ‘Golden Five’, NEO has been at the very forefront of Counter-Strike excellence for the majority of his career. In this lineup, playing under Pentagram G-Shock, NEO took his team to a multiplicity of S-Tier tournaments, including World Cyber Games 2006, ESWC 2007, ESWC 2008, and World Cyber Games 2009.

NEO is considered by almost every critic to have been the best player of CS 1.6 – even winning the top spot in the 2011 HLTV Top 20. Even his major competitor for the title of greatest 1.6 player, f0rest, has said in an interview with Duncan “Thorin” Shields that he thinks NEO is probably more deserving of the top spot than him in that regard.

CS:GO

Let’s take a look at our shortlist of contenders for the greatest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player of all time.

GeT_RiGhT

Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund is another one of those names that could very easily have made either the 1.6/Source list or the Global Offensive list. Best known for his legendary time on Ninjas in Pyjamas, GeT_RiGhT is generally considered to be one of the best to ever touch the game. He revolutionized – some say created – the role of lurker, and had consistently incredible impact throughout his career.

Of course, being a significant part of the team that so infamously went on an 87-0 map win streak is always going to be a feather in the cap of any player, but GeT_RiGhT was so much more than a cog in a bigger machine.

dev1ce

Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz was, and continues to be, one of the most respected names in the history of Counter-Strike. The man who owned his signature defensive, low-risk, high-reward AWPing style in an era of flashy snipers, and arguably the most important part of the fabled Astralis dynasty.

The HLTV MVP of 19 tournaments and the AWPing backbone of the most dominant era of any team in CS:GO’s history, dev1ce has more than earned his place on the Mount Rushmore of CS:GO talent.

ZywOo

The Chosen One. The man who was born on the very day CS:GO was released. Arguably the greatest player in the history of the game, and the only one to feature twice in this article: Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut. What is there to say about the French prodigy that hasn’t already been said, ad nauseam? The guy is an absolute phenom. His ability to play the game as if every micro-decision comes as naturally to him as breathing is augmented by a palpable sense of poetry to his story – it’s only fitting that the man who was born the very day that CS:GO was released went on to win his first Major in his home country, under the dying light of the game that made him.

ZywOo has never been out of the top three HLTV rankings since he hit Tier One, and has only been placed third once. He sports a (Rating 2.0) 1.26 Rating against Top 5 opponents over 300 maps, and has been the rock of Vitality for years. It is safe to say that, in any conversation about the GOAT of CS:GO, whilst there are many names that could have made this shortlist, the debate will always come down to two guys: ZywOo, and…

s1mple

Could it really have been anyone else? There are a great many legends of CS:GO, including the nearly insurmountable skill of the ‘Woo, but was it really ever in doubt? Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev simply was Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He is perhaps the most well-known FPS gamer in history, the most remarkable CS:GO player ever to have touched the game, and an individual who inspired countless players over multiple years.

The MVP of an astonishing 21 tournaments, the Ukrainian AWPer has never been anything other than a star. Best known for his time on NAVI, where he won the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, s1mple was the absolute pinnacle of the scene. It doesn’t matter if you had forty minutes playtime or ten-thousand hours, you know who s1mple was. He was, and is a legend of the game and, for that reason, he gets our top spot as the GOAT of CS:GO.

CS2

Let’s take a look at our shortlist of contenders for the current GOAT of CS2.

m0NESY

Let’s talk about ‘The Flash’. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov came up in the shadow of s1mple, grinding FPL and playing at NAVI Junior, before getting his big break – a contract with legendary organization G2. Since then, he has gone on to be nothing short of astonishing. His passion for the game, constant innovation, and mind-breaking plays have cemented him as one of the names at the very top of the conversation for the current GOAT of CS2.

Now playing for Falcons – an org that’s going from strength to strength – the stage appears set for m0NESY to add to his cabinet of silverware and cement himself as one of the greatest players to ever touch this newest iteration of the game.

ropz

Robin “ropz” Kool has been one of the professional scene’s guiding lights during its transition to Counter-Strike 2. When the pro scene first switched over, it was a FaZe Clan powered by ropz’s innovation that pulled ahead for a long while. From the very beginning, the Estonian lurker was grinding harder, learning more, and almost singlehandedly creating the earliest metas in CS2. It is fitting, then, that he was considered by many to be the best player in the new game for quite a while at its inception.

Since then, Mr Kool has continued to be a mainstay in the upper echelons of the professional scene. After his move to Vitality, it felt like the French organization had found the final piece of their puzzle. It is clear to anyone that ropz was a huge part of Vitality’s unbeatable run at the start of the year, as his unique approach to the game raised both the floor and ceiling of Vitality to a frankly absurd degree.

ZywOo

We’ve already spoken about The ‘Woo, so we’ll keep this one short. He’s the only player on this list to be featured twice, and for good reason. A key part of Vitality’s incredible streak in the first half of 2025, and a Major winner in the BLAST Austin Major to boot. Frankly, it would be remiss of us not to mention ZywOo in the GOAT of CS2 discussion.

donk

Let’s be honest, you all knew it was coming. Danil “donk” Kryshkovets is an absolute demon, unlike anything we have seen before. The kid is simply better at the game than everyone else. The aggressive young rifler has already won practically everything there is to win – he has taken home the trophy at IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne, the Major, and other Tier One tournaments alongside them. He has already won a ridiculous 10 MVPs, and continues to blow his opponents out of the water at any given chance.

Winning Rookie of the Year at the HLTV Awards is always a feather in the cap of any young star, but donk took it not one, but three steps further. In his first-ever year of Tier One play, donk took home Rookie Of The Year, Opener Of The Year, Highlight Of The Year, and the coveted Player Of The Year. This kid is, to quote Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill, ‘the truth’. It remains to be seen just how good he is going to be, but for now, it is a no-brainer. Our final GOAT of this list – the GOAT of CS2 – is donk.