A CS2 World Championship for National Teams: Which Country Would Build the Strongest Roster and Win It All?
Once upon a time there was a so-called esports Olympics — WESG. The event featured single-nation squads, or purpose-built national teams competing under their country’s flag. Sadly — or maybe luckily — something like that is hard to picture in modern Counter-Strike. Sure, there’s an attempt to revive the idea as the Esports Nations Cup, but let’s be honest: orgs are hardly going to free up their players for a whole tournament (Vitality, for one, have already said as much outright). The current pro-scene calendar is so packed that teams sometimes can’t even find time for a bootcamp — never mind traveling to third-party events.
Still, you have to admit it’d be fascinating to see how it played out. So in this piece we decided to have a bit of fun and put together a dream team for a few national sides. This part covers Brazil, France, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and Turkey — and we’ll look at the rest next time. Let’s get into it!
Brazil
- IGL — FalleN
- AWP — nqz
- Support — yuurih
- Rifle (or Lurker) — KSCERATO
- Opener — insani
- Coach — sidde
To our minds, this side would be a real contender for the top spots. It’s built around FURIA’s strongest core and reinforced with a seriously skilled AWPer and rifler. Not a bad alternative to molodoy and YEKINDAR, wouldn’t you say? Obviously, when you assemble rosters like this, all you have to go on is the raw numbers. There’s no telling whether the right chemistry would click between them, or whether they’d find the motivation to play at full tilt — but on paper, this lineup really appeals to us.
Brazil is overflowing with good players and quality teams right now, yet somehow they just can’t come together into one strong machine. After FURIA’s successful experiment, the top sides keep turning to European players and coaches, and these days it’s really hard to find a fully Brazilian roster at tier-1. That’s exactly why a tournament like this would be a great chance to lift the region back to the top — just like in the Luminosity and SK Gaming days.
France
- IGL — apEX
- AWP — ZywOo
- Support — Graviti
- Rifle (or Lurker) — misutaaa
- Opener — afro
- Coach — XTQZZZ
Now, the ones who’d hardly be itching to take part in something like this are France’s biggest stars, ZywOo and apEX — players used to being number one, and with this team that’s unlikely to happen. That goes double for apEX, who lived through the golden era, back in the early CS:GO days when France had two or three superstar lineups at once. Happy, kennyS, shox, kioShiMa, NBK-, rpk and plenty of others left the pro scene long ago, and they’re surely watching the current state of 3DMAX — the only French team left standing — with a heavy heart.
If you noticed, we even slotted in a second AWPer here — afro — because the guy looks far stronger with a rifle in hand than many of his compatriots who play that role full-time. A lineup with ZywOo and apEX will always be in the hunt for trophies, no question, but pulling it off would be a lot harder than it is with Vitality.
Ukraine
- IGL — alex666
- AWP — w0nderful
- Support — npl
- Rifle (or Lurker) — b1t
- Opener — dem0n
- Coach — B1ad3
Plenty of people probably figured that without s1mple this side could never be taken seriously as a real contender. And true, we’re used to thinking that ZywOo and s1mple are half a team on their own — but B1ad3 proved at NAVI that nobody is irreplaceable. On top of that, you have to admit there’s now a whole queue of excellent Ukrainian AWPers lined up for s1mple’s spot: cmtry, r1nkle, s1zzi, headtr1ck. Notice how many of them have a “1” in place of an “i”? We’re pretty sure that’s all Oleksandr Kostyliev’s influence.
As you’ve probably already gathered, we went with w0nderful. Yes, Ihor isn’t the most consistent AWPer, but he has more tier-1 experience than the rest. Alongside him we slotted in Valerii b1t without a second thought — currently the strongest and most experienced Ukrainian player. To the NAVI duo we added npl and dem0n (both NAVI Junior products, by the way) and alex666 — who, in our opinion, does a pretty tidy job captaining B8 and has earned a shot alongside one of the best coaches in the world.
Denmark
- IGL — karrigan
- AWP — device
- Support — TeSeS
- Rifle (or Lurker) — blameF
- Opener — Jabbi
- Coach — sycrone
There’s an absolutely massive number of Danish players on the pro scene, and of course Astralis’ fingerprints are all over it. The era of that famous Danish five inspired a whole generation to tie their lives to Counter-Strike, and one member of that legendary lineup made it into the current national team — device. Yes, Nicolai Reedtz is playing out the final days of a glorious career, but even at 30 his rating sits at 1.22, something nobody else can match.
Naturally, the newly crowned Major champions — karrigan and TeSeS — couldn’t be left out of the Danish side either, while blameF and Jabbi earned their spots through solid tier-1 experience. The result is a very sturdy, experienced team — but after Astralis’ endless attempts with Danish players, there’s no guarantee this machine would run smoothly. Just in case, we hedged our bets with sycrone, who does outstanding work at MOUZ year after year and should keep this engine from stalling on the very first lap.
Sweden
- IGL — LNZ
- AWP — phzy
- Support — Brollan
- Rifle (or Lurker) — REZ
- Opener — nilo
- Coach — Xizt
While Denmark and France, despite the very real decline in those regions, still have something to show off and someone to keep the flame of hope alive in fans’ hearts, Sweden has none of that. Does that mean we’ve rounded up bad players here? Definitely not. Individually, every one of them is perfectly decent — but they’re a long, long way from top-tier status.
LNZ went off to share his know-how with Brazilian colleagues, Brollan turned out to be surplus to requirements at MOUZ, and REZ, nilo, and phzy are hovering somewhere between tier-1.5 and tier-2. Not the rosiest picture, you’ll agree. It’s especially sad for Xizt, who back in the NIP days didn’t just make people respect the Swedish school of CS — he made it truly great.
Poland
- IGL — Snax
- AWP — hypex
- Support — siuhy
- Rifle (or Lurker) — jcobbb
- Opener — xKacpersky
- Coach — TaZ
The Poles are feeling much the same as the Swedes, and these days Snax and TaZ are watching with tears in their eyes — not just at their successors on the national team, but at the very tag they once carried: Virtus.pro. Just a year and a half ago there were huge hopes pinned on siuhy: after he was cut from MOUZ, the whole community was baffled that anyone would let go of the most promising young IGL on the pro scene. In the end he flopped completely at Liquid, and now all we can offer him is a support role.
Top players vouched for xKacpersky, hypex, and jcobbb, but so far each of them hasn’t just failed to live up to the hype — they’ve been downright embarrassing. It’s an inexplicable mystery how these guys can be unstoppable in regular games yet completely lose themselves in official matches.
Turkey
- IGL — MAJ3R
- AWP — woxic
- Support — xfl0ud
- Rifle (or Lurker) — Wicadia
- Opener — XANTARES
- Coach — Fabre
Just to keep it fair, we decided to shake up Aurora’s cozy little idyll and bring in the young, brash xfl0ud, who’s already played alongside these guys. Turkey would obviously have a clear edge in cohesion, and there’s nothing to be done about that.
There’s not much point dwelling on this side in detail — we already know perfectly well what it’s capable of. The one downside: the guys have almost no competition, with only jotAAA and soulfly contesting their spots. That kind of comfortable environment often breeds complacency, leaving players with little motivation to fight for a place on the team.
That wraps up part one. In the next piece we’ll reveal the rosters for Russia, the USA, Germany, Kazakhstan, Israel, plus two mixed sides — a Balkan one and a Baltic one.
Alex
Alex is an author and esports observer with more than seven years of experience. He specializes in analyzing new releases in the world of computer games, gaming services, and in-game economies. Alex shares practical experience and an expert perspective on the development of gaming, helping readers understand complex mechanics and stay up to date with the latest news.
