With the last world championship level tournament (the IEM VI World Championship) long gone, and even the medium-sized tournaments having died out, now feels like the appropriate time to take stock of the great teams in CS history. In this series I will count down the best five man, four man, three man, two man teams and single players in CS history in terms of prize money won.
In the third edition I'm presenting the top 35 trios (three man units) in CS history, by prize money won.
Note: where trios could have been included that had identical, or less, prize money to another trio (i.e. a trio of the Poles with LUq instead of loord) I excluded them from the list. Any trios which overlap had some placings which were different from each other.
The top 10
1. $674,088 -
fnatic 2006-2010 ( f0rest, cArn and dsn)
When it comes to prize money this trio is far and away the most successful of all time. Not only did their span of time competing together cover the years with the most international tournaments (2006-2010) but their famously strong teamplay-orientated approach to the game, and to some degree recruitment of new players, ensured fnatic very rarely bombed out of tournament. If they didn't win a tournament they would so often still place somewhere on the podium or in the money. That approach to CS didn't yield as many major titles as the likes of the Poles or Na`Vi, but it was without a doubt the best approach to racking up prize money.
2. $592,592 -
Pentagram/FX/AGAiN/ESC ( NEO, TaZ and loord)
As the trio which has spent the most time together by a long stretch, about six and three quarters years competing together in 1.6, it should come as no surprise that the Poles are very high on this list. Their place at the top of the leader board for major titles also ensures they would be high up, especially since some of their earlier titles came with astronomically high single event prizes, $60,000 for first place at WCG 2006 coming to mind immediately.
Where fnatic grinded their way to the top of this list, taking prize money from seemingly every event they attended during their time together, this trio instead won money in big bunches, taking down huge prize purses and then battling their way through slumps to climb to the top, for however briefly, again.
3. $379,936 -
Na`Vi ( markeloff, Edward and starix)
The Ukrainians impressively topped the five man prize money list, but in the world of the trios the drop off from the top two units down to them is pretty steep. That is largely attributable to the disparity in time spent playing together though, with fnatic's trio being together for 5 years and the Poles ~6.75. Considering that Na`Vi got to almost $380k in less than three years their success is very impressive within that context.
There's also the factor of them only joining forces around the beginning of 2010, so the death of 1.6 stopped their run in its tracks. The Poles were also stopped by the death of 1.6, but Na`Vi was consistently grinding out prize money even after 2010. After famously winning most tournaments in 2010 the Ukrainians finished third at most tournaments in 2011 and second at msot in 2010. If they'd had the 2.5-3.75 years needed to match the trios above them the team of 2010 would have had a legitimate shot at equalling those incredible marks set by the Swedes and Poles.
4. $362,096 -
NoA/mTw 2007-2010 ( Zonic, ave and Sunde)
Of all the trios on this list this might be the one we could feel most sorry for. Their total amount is impressive, and especially for having played together for about 3.5 years together, but after their stellar 2008 this team suffered from taking a lot of second and third places. The big problem with second and third places, especially in the latter years of CS, is that the dropoff in prize money was quite steep, since tournaments wanted to keep first place looking comparable to previous years, but without maintaining the overall size of the prize purse. In the world of CS finishing third three times sometimes doesn't amount to finishing first once and winning nothing at two other tournaments.
Add in that in 2010 the lack of tournament seeding ensured mTw sometimes finished outside of the top three, despite being the third best team of the year overall, and that was more potential prize money lost.
The success of this trio starts with ave's leadership. Along with gob b, ave is the IGL who seemed capable of taking almost any composition of players and making them into a working unit which could place in the top five of tournaments. Zonic played the role of consistent clutch player under pressure, which ensures your team will always be in close games and able to claw your way back into games you trail. Finally, it was the utilisation of Sunde as the pick-off AWPer in 2008, once whiMp had shored up other aspects of their game, which propelled them into the champion's circle.
5. $317,703 - NoA/mTw 2006-2009 ( Zonic, ave and MJE)
As if to prove my above point about how much more the Sunde era mTw might have won, it is worth comparing the numbers of the trio that existed a little prior to his arrival and overlapped into the pre-trace era. This trio was active from only a year or so before Sunde's arrival and finished up with MJE's departure in late 2009, yet they are less than $50,000 behind the trio which in our memories would be marked down as much more successful.
This trio went from continually placing outside of the top two at events to reaching the heights of second place, after Sunde's arrival, and then moving up onto the top of the podium with whiMp's addition. MJE crucially played the role of small site player very efficiently, allowing Zonic to rotate over to the bigger site, based on the calls of his team-mate, and give mTw the luxury of overloading a site for an oncoming attack. When his small site was attacked his approach meant he either took out enough of the enemies to make it possible to retake, or he delayed the enemy attack long enough for the other CTs to rotate.
6. $299,431 - NiP/SK.swe 2001-2004 ( HeatoN, Potti and ahl)
The second appearance of Swedish players on this list is of course made up of members of the legendary SK.swe lineup of 2003, which had such a stellar run of dominance across the board, under the leadership of elemeNt. This particular trio also can count the $50,000 NiP took for first place at CPL Winter 2001 under their umbrella, helping advance their total.
This trio first formed with the aforementioned victory, then in the beginning of 2003 reformed, with ahl coming in from 2easy/team9 with team-mate fisker and the combination of HeatoN and Potti already having played for SK for three quarters of a year or so. Early on they dominated their domestic rivals but had problems with eoL and being upset at ESWC, ensuring they lost the first two big international events of the year.
When elemeNt, who had been a member of eoL, was fully integrated into their lineup, and SpawN brought in as a super-ringer, there was nothing that could stop the trio on their rampage across the European scene. From the beginning of CPL Summer 2003 through to the end of CPL Winter 2003 the team lost only a single map on LAN, going 47-1. In 2004 the lineup suffered from the departure of elemeNt and more upsets.
A brief look down this list, though, will show how far ahead of their time they were in terms of monetary success, as the only lineup from pre-2005, or having the majority of their success pre-2005. While first place prizes were often higher during this trio's era, there were less tournaments overall and those high first place prizes meant the pressure to finish at the top was very high.
7. $283,828 -
coL/EG/x6 2004-2006+2009+2012 ( fRoD, Storm and warden)
The only North American trio to make it into the top 10, this trio is most famous for their time anchoring the coL lineups of 2005 and 2006. That era of coL owes much of their success to the consistent teamplay they developed, and an understanding of how to fit players around the devasating AWP of fRoD. What held other North American teams back was their over reliance on raw aiming skill, trying to stuff lineups full of aimers over and over, at the expense of role-players and a more teamplay-orientated style.
Those coL teams also made the smart decision, minus a brief spell of replacing sunman with exodus, of keeping the same lineup through thick and thin. NA teams were famous for removing the perceived weakest player for a player in better form, instead coL stuck together and were rewarded for that persistence in the face of minor adversities. Later on they made up the first edition of the American EG teams, with warden eventually being removed for dboorN.
8. $272,921 -
mouz 2007-2010 (
gob b, Kapio and TIXO)
This trio from the German scene didn't win many international events, but they did manage to collect a commendable number of prize money placings over a span of about three years. When they did win it was always memorable, and aside from that they were always one of the teams capable of playing the world's best to a close game. Barring a couple of slumps this trio was almost amongst the elite in international CS.
One of the big factors stopping this trio's eventual total from being higher was the death of cyx in 2010.
9. $271,758 - SK.swe 2007-2009 ( walle, RobbaN and allen)
The SK trio sits in the usual position of never having been the world's best team during their time playing together. Nevertheless this team won prize money by virtue of being present for practically every imaginable event, and always being consistently in or around the top five teams in the world. At times they could peak as high as the second best in the world, at other times they might be on the outskirts of the top five, but SK was always collecting prize money to add to their total.
Fairly underwhelming in the major tournaments, but this trio was very solid when it came to accruing prize money and top four placings.
10. $212,080 - NiP/SK 2006+2008-2009 ( zet, RobbaN and walle)
This lineup overlaps with the above lineup at times, but the crucial difference is NiP's big year in 2006 when they were at times the world's best team. Sadly for them, and in line with the careers of members walle and RobbaN, this team would most often win the medium events and not come through in the majors. zet's departure to CGS in 2007, and his eventual downfall as an elite player, obviously handicapped this trio from additional success, so fans can only imagine what could have been if he'd remained at his 2006 level for more years.
The entire top 35
1. $674,088 - fnatic 2006-2010 ( f0rest, cArn and dsn)
2. $592,592 - Pentagram/FX/AGAiN/ESC ( NEO, TaZ and loord)
3. $379,936 - Na`Vi ( markeloff, Edward and starix)
4. $362,096 - NoA/mTw 2007-2010 ( Zonic, ave and Sunde)
5. $317,703 - NoA/mTw 2006-2009 ( Zonic, ave and MJE)
6. $299,431 - NiP/SK.swe 2001-2004 ( HeatoN, Potti and ahl)
7. $283,828 - coL/EG/x6 2004-2006+2009+2012 ( fRoD, Storm and warden)
8. $272,921 - mouz 2007-2010 ( gob b, Kapio and TIXO)
9. $271,758 - SK.swe 2007-2009 ( walle, RobbaN and allen)
10. $212,080 - NiP/SK 2006+2008-2009 ( zet, RobbaN and walle)
11. $202,968 -
project_kr/eSTRO 2006-2009 ( solo, termi and bail)
12. $172,420 - mousesports 2003-2005 ( Blizzard, gore and Roman R.)
13. $166,051 -
wNv.gm 2005-2007 ( Jungle, tK and alex)
14. $143,971 - mTw 2010-2011 ( ave, zonic and trace)
15. $138,982 - EG 2009-2011 ( fRoD, n0thing and Storm)
16. $134,952 - NiP 2005-2006 ( zet, ins and walle)
17. $134,825 - 3D 2005-2006 ( Rambo, Volcano and method)
18. $126,581 -
Virtus.Pro 2004-2007+2010+2011 ( LeX, F_1N and Snoop)
19. $124,755 -
MiBR 2006-2008 ( cogu, fnx and nak)
20. $122,720 - aTTaX 2006 ( mooN, Kapio and CHEF-KOCH)
21. $122,625 - SK.swe 2011+2012 ( f0rest, GeT_RiGhT and face)
22. $117,298 - aTTaX 2007-2008 ( mooN, paN and approx)
23. $116,200 - X3/3D 2001-2003 ( Rambo, Ksharp and Bullseye)
24. $115,079 -
hoorai/69n-28e/roccat/GamePlay/PwR ( ruuit, naSu and contE)
25. $102,500 -
NoA 2003-2004 ( shaGuar, method and Naikon)
26. $92,631 - eoL/NoA 2003-2005 ( elemeNt, XeqtR and Naikon)
27. $91,518 - NoA 2004-2005 (elemeNt, Naikon and method)
28. $89,155 - SK.swe 2007-2008 ( SpawN, RobbaN and allen)
29. $88,411 - The-Titans/SK.dk 2004 ( eGene, whimp and Drally)
30. $85,861 - 9.esu 2003 ( vesslan, Luchesse and quick)
31. $82,647 -
emuLate 2007-2009 ( mSx, R!Go- and MaT)
32. $74,384 - H2k/Lions/WinFakt.se 2009-2012 ( kHRYSTAL, FYRR73 and niko)
33. $73,881 - e9/NiP 2000-2001 ( Potti, Hyb and MedioN)
34. $72,650 - M19 2002-2004 ( kALbI4, r1d3r and Nook)
35. $68,435 - Virtus.pro 2007-2008 ( LeX, Edward and Zeus)
I'll return with the top duos and individual players, by prize money won, in the future.
In the third edition I'm presenting the top 35 trios (three man units) in CS history, by prize money won.
Note: where trios could have been included that had identical, or less, prize money to another trio (i.e. a trio of the Poles with LUq instead of loord) I excluded them from the list. Any trios which overlap had some placings which were different from each other.
The top 10
1. $674,088 -
fnatic 2006-2010 ( f0rest, cArn and dsn) When it comes to prize money this trio is far and away the most successful of all time. Not only did their span of time competing together cover the years with the most international tournaments (2006-2010) but their famously strong teamplay-orientated approach to the game, and to some degree recruitment of new players, ensured fnatic very rarely bombed out of tournament. If they didn't win a tournament they would so often still place somewhere on the podium or in the money. That approach to CS didn't yield as many major titles as the likes of the Poles or Na`Vi, but it was without a doubt the best approach to racking up prize money.
2. $592,592 -
Pentagram/FX/AGAiN/ESC ( NEO, TaZ and loord)As the trio which has spent the most time together by a long stretch, about six and three quarters years competing together in 1.6, it should come as no surprise that the Poles are very high on this list. Their place at the top of the leader board for major titles also ensures they would be high up, especially since some of their earlier titles came with astronomically high single event prizes, $60,000 for first place at WCG 2006 coming to mind immediately.
Where fnatic grinded their way to the top of this list, taking prize money from seemingly every event they attended during their time together, this trio instead won money in big bunches, taking down huge prize purses and then battling their way through slumps to climb to the top, for however briefly, again.
3. $379,936 -
Na`Vi ( markeloff, Edward and starix)The Ukrainians impressively topped the five man prize money list, but in the world of the trios the drop off from the top two units down to them is pretty steep. That is largely attributable to the disparity in time spent playing together though, with fnatic's trio being together for 5 years and the Poles ~6.75. Considering that Na`Vi got to almost $380k in less than three years their success is very impressive within that context.
There's also the factor of them only joining forces around the beginning of 2010, so the death of 1.6 stopped their run in its tracks. The Poles were also stopped by the death of 1.6, but Na`Vi was consistently grinding out prize money even after 2010. After famously winning most tournaments in 2010 the Ukrainians finished third at most tournaments in 2011 and second at msot in 2010. If they'd had the 2.5-3.75 years needed to match the trios above them the team of 2010 would have had a legitimate shot at equalling those incredible marks set by the Swedes and Poles.
4. $362,096 -
NoA/mTw 2007-2010 ( Zonic, ave and Sunde)Of all the trios on this list this might be the one we could feel most sorry for. Their total amount is impressive, and especially for having played together for about 3.5 years together, but after their stellar 2008 this team suffered from taking a lot of second and third places. The big problem with second and third places, especially in the latter years of CS, is that the dropoff in prize money was quite steep, since tournaments wanted to keep first place looking comparable to previous years, but without maintaining the overall size of the prize purse. In the world of CS finishing third three times sometimes doesn't amount to finishing first once and winning nothing at two other tournaments.
Add in that in 2010 the lack of tournament seeding ensured mTw sometimes finished outside of the top three, despite being the third best team of the year overall, and that was more potential prize money lost.
The success of this trio starts with ave's leadership. Along with gob b, ave is the IGL who seemed capable of taking almost any composition of players and making them into a working unit which could place in the top five of tournaments. Zonic played the role of consistent clutch player under pressure, which ensures your team will always be in close games and able to claw your way back into games you trail. Finally, it was the utilisation of Sunde as the pick-off AWPer in 2008, once whiMp had shored up other aspects of their game, which propelled them into the champion's circle.
5. $317,703 -
NoA/mTw 2006-2009 ( Zonic, ave and MJE)As if to prove my above point about how much more the Sunde era mTw might have won, it is worth comparing the numbers of the trio that existed a little prior to his arrival and overlapped into the pre-trace era. This trio was active from only a year or so before Sunde's arrival and finished up with MJE's departure in late 2009, yet they are less than $50,000 behind the trio which in our memories would be marked down as much more successful.
This trio went from continually placing outside of the top two at events to reaching the heights of second place, after Sunde's arrival, and then moving up onto the top of the podium with whiMp's addition. MJE crucially played the role of small site player very efficiently, allowing Zonic to rotate over to the bigger site, based on the calls of his team-mate, and give mTw the luxury of overloading a site for an oncoming attack. When his small site was attacked his approach meant he either took out enough of the enemies to make it possible to retake, or he delayed the enemy attack long enough for the other CTs to rotate.
6. $299,431 -
NiP/SK.swe 2001-2004 ( HeatoN, Potti and ahl)The second appearance of Swedish players on this list is of course made up of members of the legendary SK.swe lineup of 2003, which had such a stellar run of dominance across the board, under the leadership of elemeNt. This particular trio also can count the $50,000 NiP took for first place at CPL Winter 2001 under their umbrella, helping advance their total.
This trio first formed with the aforementioned victory, then in the beginning of 2003 reformed, with ahl coming in from 2easy/team9 with team-mate fisker and the combination of HeatoN and Potti already having played for SK for three quarters of a year or so. Early on they dominated their domestic rivals but had problems with eoL and being upset at ESWC, ensuring they lost the first two big international events of the year.
When elemeNt, who had been a member of eoL, was fully integrated into their lineup, and SpawN brought in as a super-ringer, there was nothing that could stop the trio on their rampage across the European scene. From the beginning of CPL Summer 2003 through to the end of CPL Winter 2003 the team lost only a single map on LAN, going 47-1. In 2004 the lineup suffered from the departure of elemeNt and more upsets.
A brief look down this list, though, will show how far ahead of their time they were in terms of monetary success, as the only lineup from pre-2005, or having the majority of their success pre-2005. While first place prizes were often higher during this trio's era, there were less tournaments overall and those high first place prizes meant the pressure to finish at the top was very high.
7. $283,828 -
coL/EG/x6 2004-2006+2009+2012 ( fRoD, Storm and warden)The only North American trio to make it into the top 10, this trio is most famous for their time anchoring the coL lineups of 2005 and 2006. That era of coL owes much of their success to the consistent teamplay they developed, and an understanding of how to fit players around the devasating AWP of fRoD. What held other North American teams back was their over reliance on raw aiming skill, trying to stuff lineups full of aimers over and over, at the expense of role-players and a more teamplay-orientated style.
Those coL teams also made the smart decision, minus a brief spell of replacing sunman with exodus, of keeping the same lineup through thick and thin. NA teams were famous for removing the perceived weakest player for a player in better form, instead coL stuck together and were rewarded for that persistence in the face of minor adversities. Later on they made up the first edition of the American EG teams, with warden eventually being removed for dboorN.
8. $272,921 -
mouz 2007-2010 ( gob b, Kapio and TIXO)This trio from the German scene didn't win many international events, but they did manage to collect a commendable number of prize money placings over a span of about three years. When they did win it was always memorable, and aside from that they were always one of the teams capable of playing the world's best to a close game. Barring a couple of slumps this trio was almost amongst the elite in international CS.
One of the big factors stopping this trio's eventual total from being higher was the death of cyx in 2010.
9. $271,758 -
SK.swe 2007-2009 ( walle, RobbaN and allen)The SK trio sits in the usual position of never having been the world's best team during their time playing together. Nevertheless this team won prize money by virtue of being present for practically every imaginable event, and always being consistently in or around the top five teams in the world. At times they could peak as high as the second best in the world, at other times they might be on the outskirts of the top five, but SK was always collecting prize money to add to their total.
Fairly underwhelming in the major tournaments, but this trio was very solid when it came to accruing prize money and top four placings.
10. $212,080 -
NiP/SK 2006+2008-2009 ( zet, RobbaN and walle)This lineup overlaps with the above lineup at times, but the crucial difference is NiP's big year in 2006 when they were at times the world's best team. Sadly for them, and in line with the careers of members walle and RobbaN, this team would most often win the medium events and not come through in the majors. zet's departure to CGS in 2007, and his eventual downfall as an elite player, obviously handicapped this trio from additional success, so fans can only imagine what could have been if he'd remained at his 2006 level for more years.
The entire top 35
1. $674,088 -
fnatic 2006-2010 ( f0rest, cArn and dsn) 2. $592,592 -
Pentagram/FX/AGAiN/ESC ( NEO, TaZ and loord)3. $379,936 -
Na`Vi ( markeloff, Edward and starix)4. $362,096 -
NoA/mTw 2007-2010 ( Zonic, ave and Sunde)5. $317,703 -
NoA/mTw 2006-2009 ( Zonic, ave and MJE)6. $299,431 -
NiP/SK.swe 2001-2004 ( HeatoN, Potti and ahl)7. $283,828 -
coL/EG/x6 2004-2006+2009+2012 ( fRoD, Storm and warden)8. $272,921 -
mouz 2007-2010 ( gob b, Kapio and TIXO)9. $271,758 -
SK.swe 2007-2009 ( walle, RobbaN and allen)10. $212,080 -
NiP/SK 2006+2008-2009 ( zet, RobbaN and walle)11. $202,968 -
project_kr/eSTRO 2006-2009 ( solo, termi and bail)12. $172,420 -
mousesports 2003-2005 ( Blizzard, gore and Roman R.)13. $166,051 -
wNv.gm 2005-2007 ( Jungle, tK and alex)14. $143,971 -
mTw 2010-2011 ( ave, zonic and trace)15. $138,982 -
EG 2009-2011 ( fRoD, n0thing and Storm)16. $134,952 -
NiP 2005-2006 ( zet, ins and walle)17. $134,825 -
3D 2005-2006 ( Rambo, Volcano and method)18. $126,581 -
Virtus.Pro 2004-2007+2010+2011 ( LeX, F_1N and Snoop)19. $124,755 -
MiBR 2006-2008 ( cogu, fnx and nak)20. $122,720 -
aTTaX 2006 ( mooN, Kapio and CHEF-KOCH)21. $122,625 -
SK.swe 2011+2012 ( f0rest, GeT_RiGhT and face)22. $117,298 -
aTTaX 2007-2008 ( mooN, paN and approx)23. $116,200 -
X3/3D 2001-2003 ( Rambo, Ksharp and Bullseye)24. $115,079 -
hoorai/69n-28e/roccat/GamePlay/PwR ( ruuit, naSu and contE)25. $102,500 -
NoA 2003-2004 ( shaGuar, method and Naikon)26. $92,631 -
eoL/NoA 2003-2005 ( elemeNt, XeqtR and Naikon)27. $91,518 -
NoA 2004-2005 (elemeNt, Naikon and method)28. $89,155 -
SK.swe 2007-2008 ( SpawN, RobbaN and allen)29. $88,411 -
The-Titans/SK.dk 2004 ( eGene, whimp and Drally)30. $85,861 -
9.esu 2003 ( vesslan, Luchesse and quick)31. $82,647 -
emuLate 2007-2009 ( mSx, R!Go- and MaT)32. $74,384 -
H2k/Lions/WinFakt.se 2009-2012 ( kHRYSTAL, FYRR73 and niko)33. $73,881 -
e9/NiP 2000-2001 ( Potti, Hyb and MedioN)34. $72,650 -
M19 2002-2004 ( kALbI4, r1d3r and Nook)35. $68,435 -
Virtus.pro 2007-2008 ( LeX, Edward and Zeus)I'll return with the top duos and individual players, by prize money won, in the future.
