Top 15 Swedish Counter-Strike (1.0 to 1.6) players of all time

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

No country in the history of competitive Counter-Strike has produced more top players and teams than Sweden. For the first five years of the game's history, Swedish teams were consistently the best in the world and the majority of the major titles ended up in the hands of their finest. The latter half of the 2000s saw elite squads from other European countries rise up and start to pile up major titles, but no country ever came close to the collective success Sweden has managed at the top end of the scene. As such, picking out the best Swedish players of all time is by far the most challenging of all the "Top X" lists one could make.

In making my judgements, I've striven to consider all criteria, from individual skills to success to impact on their teams. Here are the top 15 Swedish Counter-Strike players of all time.

15. Johan 'face' Klasson

Face is one of the most overlooked names in Swedish CS history. In his early days he was best known for his raw individual skills, particularly his consistently excellent aim. What allowed him to reach the esteemed company of this list, though, was his incredible aptitude for playing in clutch situations. Under pressure, alone and facing two opponents, there have been very few players in CS history who were more consistent or successful than face. Always seeming able to solve the riddle of where his opponents would be and how they would attack him, face's play in such pressure situations meant that he was typically best suited to rotating as a CT into the bigger site, able to overcome the numbers advantage.

That latter fact ties into his other key strength: playing the smaller sites. At B on inferno and lower inside on train, face was one of the very best in the world as a CT. His ability to hold off multiple enemies at once, either decimating the offensive force or stalling them until his team-mates could rotate over, face's teams knew exactly what they would get from him in those famed positions. Where a player like MJe is still fondly remembered for his small site play, it wasn't until the end of 1.6 that people truly took note of how good face was at playing some of the trickest positions in the game.

Since he played out the latter years of 1.6 alongside f0rest and GeT_RiGhT, it might be misunderstood that face was always a role player in the top teams. In fact, the era before those two ex-Fnatic stars arrived, face was one of the players carrying his team in their numerous top three finishing campaigns. I always used to phrase it that in other teams face's 1vX antics would have been the edge to win his team the game, but in the 2009-2010 SK line-ups it took those clutch round wins just to keep them in games against the top opposition. He might not have gotten much acclaim, but helping his teams win more than $290,000 is more than enough reward for a quietly impressive career.

14. Michael 'ahl' Korduner

When you talk about role players there is no Swedish name who springs to mind quicker than ahl. In the early days of CS, ahl was actually one of the rising star players of the Swedish scene, in GoL and then the 2001 CPL Winter winning NiP line-up. After that, ahl adapted his play to become the ultimate teamplay asset though. Go and look at ahl's 2easy and SK.swe line-ups and you'll see him providing a backbone of consistency to teams stacked with all-star calibre talents. When nobody else wanted to do the dirty work, ahl emerged to anchor his teams in that sense, allowing the stars to win the games for them.

The closest analogue to ahl in the modern day would probably be fifflaren, consistently criticised by the community and yet with an overflowing trophy cabinet and happy team-mates.

13. Johan 'Hyb' Carlund

This name is probably a surprise entry on this list for some, being as Hyb wasn't really a factor in top competitive CS beyond the middle of 2003. That should suggest how significant his play was in the first years of CS though. From 2000 to mid 2003, Hyb was one of the very best AWPers in history, perhaps the best. Where names like SpawN and Ksharp had incredible AWPs online, Hyb would actually use the weapon every time he could afford it offline. Not only that, but he was absolutely deadly and unshakeable with it.

Back at that time, the reason so many top pros shied away from the AWP was because the risk was too high of missing a shot due to nerves or being pressured by the opponent. Hyb was so steady and lethal with the weapon that players would frequently avoid his sites, giving his teams an advantage in an extra sense. The NiP line-up he was a part of in 2001 is still considered by experts to be one of the greatest ever CS teams. The GoL teams he was a part of in 2002 reached back-to-back American CPL finals, with his AWPing being a key reason.

Hyb was the pioneer of the successful dedicated AWPer, always buying that expensive sniper rifle when the opportunity arose. Playing with HeatoN and Potti, whose careers extended far beyond his own in longevity, means he was rarely the player in the spotlight, but Hyb was consistently one of the elite Swedish players for a period of almost two years.

12. Harley 'dsn' Orvall

Dsn's inclusion on this list comes not merely as a result of his accomplishments, including an incredible amount of tournament victories and two major titles. Instead, it's due to his versatility as a player, able to transition from one role to another and keep his teams winning. The early 2000s were disappointing for dsn, who seemed like a star player who was set to be one of the busts of the Swedish scene, never making an impact on international tournaments. From 2006 onwards though, dsn established himself as a solid second star to f0rest in Fnatic and his AWPing was a key factor in his team securing those seemingly never-ending top three finishes.

That run as a second star lone would not have been enough to get dsn this high on such a list, the kicker came when Fnatic added GeT_RiGhT and Gux. With more than enough raw firepower coming from the two younger players, dsn was able to successfully transition into a support role. He would still sometimes AWP, but far less frequently, and was able to put more focus in executing the strategy and helping specific team-mates out. Very few former stars have been able to manage such a transition, especially with the kind of success dsn was able to manage.

11. Erik 'Medion' Engström

Another surprise name, no doubt, is MedioN. From 2000 to 2001 he was one of the three or four best players in the world and by far the most versatile top pro. Capable of using every gun, playing every position and with incredible skills, MedioN had the potential to be one of the greatest winners in the game's history, but stepped away of his own accord at the height of his success, just after having won CPL Winter 2001 and $50,000. For those first years, MedioN really was that good that he leapfrogs people who have played ten times more tournaments and won much more money.

10. Dennis 'walle' Wallenberg

Walle is one of the most difficult players in history to characterise, due to the wide variety of roles he played and his sheer longevity. The latter factor, the number of years he was able to remain a pro, really helps his case here. From 2004 to 2010, walle in there competing with the best in the world and racking up top three finishes. From 2004 to 2005 he was one of the stars, an elite level talent. From 2006 onwards he began transitioning into becoming a full-time strat caller and his individual game dropped off, though not as much as is often suggested.

The real problems that held back walle from being higher on this list are two-fold: his failures in the major tournaments and his refusal of a carry role. Walle played in five major finals, a number of times for the favourite time, and he lost every single one of them. Despite all his top placings and his medium-sized tournament wins, one cannot overlook his tendancy to crumble in the biggest games of his career. When you're deciding amongst the greatest player of all time, that kind of factor is pretty significant.

There's also the matter of walle shying away from being a star. As CS movie fans know, walle had one of the best AWPs the game has ever seen. The problem is that if you were only watching competitive offline games then you'd barely know that. During his time in teams like EYE and NiP he often shied away from being a dedicated AWPer, instead going the safe route of just rifling. When he became an in-game leader it was the ultimate excuse not to AWP. The problem is that his talents with the gun, during his peak, were so good that he should have dedicated himself to the kind of path a player like cogu did.

Now, maybe his nerves couldn't hold offline, in which case the point is moot, but one cannot deny that he never truly committed himself to seeing where his carry potential lay, in that regard. Seven years as a top pro is impressive, as is the sheer number of high placings he took in tournaments, but it's only good enough for 10th on this list.

9. Rasmus 'Gux' Ståhl

Gux is difficult to place on a list like this because his career had three distinct phases: as a part-time second star, as a main star in his own right and then in a team with a very even distribution of skill. The first, when he joined Fnatic in 2009, saw him become one of the best individual players in the world and help his team win numerous tournaments and look unstoppable at times. After that, in 2010, he joined up with SK and quickly established that his skills worked in a carry role too, even if SK wasn't going to win nearly as many events as his Fnatic had.

The problem comes when one looks at the period after that. In 2011 he looked less than convincing as the main star of Lions and Fnatic, not coming close to the levels of his individual performances in 2010 and prior. Then he got a lot of help in 2012, as Fnatic essentially took in a bunch of second star level players. That team's success was impressive, but he hardly stood out as the key reason. All in all, a player with potential that still perhaps went untapped, in part due to his very particular and stubborn style of play. Still, one of the best talents Sweden ever produced, even if he lacked a solid winning carry period to boost him higher up this list.

8. Patrik 'cArn' Sättermon

When you're the best in-game leader of all-time from the best country in the game's history, then it's pretty much a given you're going to get onto such a list as this. CArn's biggest skills were motivating his team-mates and maintaining their morale, improvisation of tactics during a round and getting out of his stars way. Each might not seem so impressive in their own right, though very few were ever even comparable in each respect, but the combination of all three made him an ideal leader for the personnel of his Fnatic line-ups from 2006-2010. Give cArn superstar level players and he would give you back more top three finishes than any other in-game leader in history, with only ave even comparable in that respect.

CArn did have his weaknesses, even if they rarely were exposed, in that with the wrong personnel his approach was significantly less successful, as 2011-2012 showed us. Even so, he put together one of the all-time great careers for an in-game leader. F0rest and GeT_RiGhT still won a lot when they left cArn, but they never won in quite the same way or quite as much.

7. Daniel 'Hyper' Kuusisto

Hyper had all the tools to be one of the five best players in the history of Counter-Strike, from his raw individual skill to his innate understanding of the tactical flow of a game and his ability to work within the strats vilden would call. Imagine f0rest with the tactical understanding of elemeNt and you are approaching an idea of how good Hyper was at his peak. That he essentially quit of his own volition, still very much a player who would have been snapped up by an elite team in 2005, one can but wonder what he might have been able to do if he had played more years.

Even so, Hyper was able to provide some of the only legitimate resistence to the dominant SK.swe line-up of 2003 and eventually reached the top of the mountain in 2004, winning the CPL Summer event without dropping a map, despite using a player who had joined their team as a stand-in only two weeks earlier. Hyper was a gem, even if we never got to admire him for more than about two years.

6. Abdisamad 'SpawN' Mohamed

What's crazy about SpawN is that he is sixth on a list like this, an incredible feat, and yet he is largely overrated by CS fans. I always see him thrown around in discussions for the absolute number one player of all time, yet in reality he is really not even a factor in such discussions. I can understand why fans suggest him though, as SpawN had a long career, was a part of numerous legendary line-ups and had the kind of incredible aim that CS movies were practically created to highlight. The problem lies in the context of SpawN's successes.

During the early part of his career, SpawN was a part of line-ups that often choked offline and didn't come close to their online success. Starting in late 2002, he established himself as a legit offline player and when he joined up with SK.swe he was one of the factors in ensuring they continued to be utterly dominant over the CS world. It's key to note, though, that he was playing in a team with names like Potti, HeatoN and elemeNt. That wasn't SpawN hard carrying the team to those titles, he was a second or third star in most games.

In the post-NiP era, he was the man that led SK.swe to back-to-back CPL titles as the best player, without a doubt one of the best in the entire world amongst lead stars at the time. He then had a period in 2006 when he was a second star behind zet's incredible year, so we must apportion credit carefully. Beyond that, he was a top player again and helped SK to some high placings, but never quite at his level from 2005. SpawN has some excellent accomplishments to his name and helped make history numerous times, but he wasn't quite the permanent number one star player for his teams that some fans might mistakenly imagine.

5. Marcus 'zet' Sundström

That zet is even as high as this on this list should suggest to you just how insane his stretch from 2005 to 2006 was. His 2006 is one of the craziest peaks any CS player in history has ever had, only names like f0rest and NEO can even really come close. Had that zet continued on in 1.6 into 2007, rather than going off to the USA and Source, then I think he'd be pushing top three on this list. Instead, his insane peak can only get him this high. At his peak zet had incredible intuitive aim, the most aggressive playing style imaginable and would get into opponents' heads with trash talking out loud between rounds, very unusual for a Swedish player.

4. Emil 'HeatoN' Christensen

HeatoN had the most raw firepower of anyone in CS from 2001 to 2002. It was his unreal spray and ability to put frags on the board that helped power his half of the legendary HeatoN and Potti combi which won so many CPL titles, with Potti handling the finesse and clutch round part of the equation. In latter years, he was less of the lone frag monster and more of a star amongst stars, getting to play with some other great individual stars, but the success continued nonetheless. The end of his career was a little underwhelming, for a player so used to permanently reaching big finals and winning tournaments.

Those who only saw the latter years of his career will underrate him, while those who only remember the early days might overrate him. In his time he was one of the top two or three players in the entire world. In his era he was one of the most successful by a long stretch and his record in CPL tournaments speaks for itself. One of the best players to ever play this game, from any country.

3. Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund

As I already suggested in my 'Top 10 players who could have been the greatest' piece, GeT_RiGhT would likely be the best CS 1.6 player of all time if he had been able to play that game for two or three more years, that's the level of excellence he had reached. As CS:GO fans have seen, GeT_RiGhT doesn't win by being the most skilled player in the world, he wins because he is the most dedicated to refining the skills he does have and as a result is impossible consistent.

When he first got all his success in 2009, with Fnatic, it was easy for some to suggest that playing with f0rest and Gux could make him look better than he was. 2010 showed how wrong that was, as f0rest dropped off at a point in the year and Gux was gone, leaving GeT_RiGhT to carry the team on his shoulders. In the latter years with SK, 2011 to 2012, GeT_RiGhT was the number one star of those teams and helped lead them to their successes, including the ESWC 2011 title.

Outside of Potti and NEO, no other players have ever truly put together the kind of consistency GeT_RiGhT was able to show, amongst elite players.

2. Tommy 'Potti' Ingemarsson

Potti was the man in Counter-Strike from 2000 to the end of 2003, even if most fans didn't fully recognise why. Insanely clutch, especially for a star player, and one of the earliest pioneers of the firing techniques which became standard in the latter half of the 2000s, Potti was the complete package. HeatoN's frags helped propel those NiP and SK teams through tournaments, but Potti's 1vX ability and his technique helped close out those games and ensure that when those teams were at their best, nobody could ever come close for long.

Had f0rest and NEO not come along, Potti would still be the best CS player of all time, for my money.

1. Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg

F0rest had the best aim in the history of Counter-Strike, such is the level of skill he possessed. When he was on fire, playing at his very peak, then he was at a level I think only zet in 2006 has ever reached. The longevity of f0rest's career shows that he was a player who basically couldn't be bad, even poor stretches of time for him still saw him as a top 10 player in the entire world, despite the top end part of his career lasting for around seven years.

He had his own problems in major finals, in as much as a player of his incredibly high level and having reached so many finals as a favourite should have won more, but he still won a good share of majors. That he won and placed so highly in all other grades of tournaments really shows what an incredible force he was over his long career. It's no coincidence this man is top of the all time money list for players, and by a considerable margin.

Photo credit: fragbite, SK Gaming