Counter-Strike 2 players to watch in 2025<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many great players have already made an impact in the Counter-Strike competitive scene: Here are the top six to watch for the rest of 2025.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2025\/02\/counter-strike-2-players-to-watch-in-2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Counter-Strike 2 players to watch in 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many great players have already made an impact in the Counter-Strike competitive scene: Here are the top six to watch for the rest of 2025.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2025\/02\/counter-strike-2-players-to-watch-in-2025\" \/>\n<meta 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\n \n

The 2025 season of Counter-Strike 2<\/strong> is well underway, with IEM Katowice<\/a> and BLAST Bounty Spring 2025<\/a> already in the books. Now, a lot more tournaments awaiting the best teams in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n

\n \n
Many great players have already made an impact in the competitive scene with their clutches and saves\u2014and we are narrowing it down to the top six to watch<\/strong> for the rest of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n Keep Reading<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
Counter-Strike player ZywOo to launch a mousepad<\/a><\/li>\n
Counter-Strike 2 added to Esports World Cup 2025 game line up<\/a><\/li>\n
IEM Katowice 2025 Group Stage has already surpassed 2024 viewership<\/a><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets<\/span><\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
To the surprise of absolutely no one, one of the players to watch this competitive year is Danil \u2018donk\u2019 Kryshkovets<\/strong>, 2024 Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year. This unique combination of HLTV awards had some analysts calling this a \u2018god year\u2019 for Team Spirit\u2019s Russian entry fragger.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nHis sheer number of flawless frags, perfect entries, and bewildering clutches has left commentators both speechless and shouting at the major events of 2024. Now, his 2025 has started very well with a win at the BLAST Bounty Spring 2025<\/a> and a second place finish at Katowice, sporting a rock solid performance at both tourneys.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
Donk\u2019s playstyle is leading from the front with top tier mechanics, often picking multiple opponents from forward defensive angle leaving the audience astounded. He\u2019s only at the beginning of his career but is already coveted as hall of fame material going into 2025..<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
Mathieu \u2018ZywOo\u2019 Herbaut<\/span><\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
The player that couldn\u2019t have asked for a better start of the year is Mathieu \u2018ZywOo\u2019 Herbaut<\/strong>. He won IEM Katowice with Team Vitality after a long hunt, a milestone year in the making. Since his debut in 2018, ZywOo has been regarded as one of the best<\/a> Counter-Strike players in the world and he has the numbers to prove it.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n
$\"Counter-Strike$
Mathieu \u2018ZywOo\u2019 Herbaut at IEM Cologne 2024. Image Credit: ESL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n \n
With the recent win in Poland, the French player is now en par with CS<\/a> legend Oleksandr \u2018\u2060s1mple\u2060\u2019 Kostyliev in terms of MVP titles for major events, both sitting at 15. He was the Player of the Year for 2019, 2020 and 2023, and a runner-up in 2021 and 2022\u2014 all while in the role of AWPer.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
In 2024, ZywOo got the highest K\/D of the competitive circuit at 1.46 in a year, even though he was up against entry fraggers like donk. With a strong Katowice performance<\/strong> (Vitality beat Spirit 3-0) after a disappointing BLAST Bounty Spring 2025, ZywOo is one player to keep on the radar as he\u2019s poised to leave an even bigger mark than s1mple\u2060 on the scene.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
Ilya \u2018m0NESY\u2019 Osipov<\/span><\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
Rookie of the Year in 2022 and AWPer of legendary flickery, Ilya \u2018m0NESY\u2019 Osipov<\/strong> wants to see his team, G2, get to even higher heights in 2025. The start of the year has not been phenomenal for the Russian player, with a missed podium at the BLAST Bounty Spring 2025 and a poor performance at the IEM Katowice. If the rest of his 2025 is anything like his 2024, however, m0NESY has a lot of surprises up his sleeve. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n
$\"Counter-Strike$
Ilya \u2018m0NESY\u2019 Osipov at IEM Katowice 2025. Image credit: ESL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n \n
His performance, along with the rest of G2 at the BLAST Premier: World Final 2024<\/strong>, was one to remember\u2014with a spectacular win 3-0 over what felt like an invincible Team Spirit. With a first place at IEM Dallas and missing victory at the Esports World Cup by just a hair, m0NESY is on a quest for greatness in 2025, making him one of the top players to watch\u2014if only to get mesmerized by his skill with the AWP.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
Dmitriy \u2018sh1ro\u2019 Sokolov<\/span><\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
The story of Dmitriy \u2018sh1ro\u2019 Sokolov<\/strong>\u2019s 2024 is, unfortunately, shadowed by his teammate donk\u2019s performance. However, a lot of donk\u2019s setups wouldn\u2019t have worked without sh1ro\u2019s AWP mastery. His Katowice\u2019s clutch in 2024 still populates highlight reels showing the craziest moments but there\u2019s a sore spot on his resume.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n
$\"Counter-Strike$
Dmitriy \u2018sh1ro\u2019 Sokolov at IEM Katowice 2025. Image Credit: ESL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n \n
His performance oscillated between great and completely off last year, with him admitting that his team\u2019s poor performance at the BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 (which ended 0-3 in favor of G2) was due to his lack of form. In 2025, Team Spirit started off with a bang. And sh1ro was a cornerstone of the newfound success: he had the lowest death rate (0,47) among all players in January and was instrumental in the team\u2019s most recent wins.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
Valerij \u2018b1t\u2019 Vakhovsjkyj<\/span><\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
Natus Vincere won the first ever Esports World Cup of CS2 with such a phenomenal performance that the roster was awarded the HLTV award for Best Team of 2024. The face of that world-dominating team was Valerij \u2018b1t\u2019 Vakhovsjkyj<\/strong>. The name of his game is consistency: his frags are essential to NaVi\u2019s competitive prowess\u2014but they don\u2019t come in the form of insane flicks like m0NESY\u2019s or unbelievable multikills like donk\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Valerij \u2018b1t\u2019 Vakhovsjkyj at IEM Dallas 2024. Image credit: ELS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n \n
b1t\u2019s rifling skills are what carries Natus Vincere with confidence through a lot of the early stages in the tournaments. His LAN performance is still not at its full potential, but the start of the year shows promise: NAVI secured a 3rd – 4th place finish in both the BLAST Bounty Spring 2025 and the 2025 IEM Katowice so there\u2019s room, and will, to improve.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
\u0130smail\u0441an \u2018XANTARES\u2019 D\u00f6rtkarde\u015f<\/span><\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n \n
One of the strongest leaders in the competitive CS2 scene in 2025 has to be \u0130smail\u0441an \u2018XANTARES\u2019 D\u00f6rtkarde\u015f<\/strong>. He is the cornerstone of Eternal Fire\u2019s most recent triumphs and the protagonist of a resurgence story for himself and his team. Gleaming results are yet to come, but his most prominent achievement has been getting his team to face big and scary opponents and come out beaten but triumphant, something that could not be said at the beginning of 2024.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
\u0130smail\u0441an \u2018XANTARES\u2019 D\u00f6rtkarde\u015f. Image credit: PGL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n \n
The rifling skills of this Turkish player are what\u2019s keeping him and his team at the forefront of this season\u2019s up and coming rosters. They had an incredible run at the BLAST Bounty Spring 2025, which saw them lose only against an absolutely on fire Team Spirit. Their next objective should be, at the very least, to play another big final<\/strong> in front of an adoring crowd.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Danil \u2018donk\u2019 Kryshkovets at IEM Katowice 2025. Image Credit: ESL The 2025 season of Counter-Strike 2 is well underway, with IEM Katowice and BLAST Bounty Spring 2025 already in the books. Now, a lot more tournaments awaiting the best teams in the world.\u00a0 Many great players have already made an impact in the competitive scene … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":167817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","esi_template":"default","excluded":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,50,55,106,53,8701,18248],"tags":[220,16052,20448,20450,20444,20449],"class_list":["post-167811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-counter-strike","category-features","category-esports-titles","category-latest-news","category-opinion","category-shooters","category-top-stories","tag-counter-strike","tag-counter-strike-2-2","tag-donk","tag-m0nesy","tag-top-players","tag-zywoo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCounter-Strike 2 players to watch in 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