Top best cs go esports teams. Esports Kings: The Richest Gaming Teams

Dota 2

We remind you that the game portal site, in partnership with Omen by HP, as well as with the support of the E and T24 TV channels, is holding a large-scale competition in which fans of such disciplines as Dota 2, CS:GO, LoL and FIFA will test their oratory skills . Participants will be able to win themed prizes - an Omen HP headset and an Omen HP gaming monitor. The main prize - fifty thousand rubles - will be given to the winners of the competition in each game discipline.

Dota 2

Dota 2 is a super popular MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game. Valve took the Defense of the Ancients mod for Warcraft 3 as a basis and polished this “folk esports” to a shine, after which, both in terms of popularity and prize pools, it overtook many traditional sports. The International 2018 alone raised $25.5 million for the best esportsmen.

More than 10 million people enter the game every month, and their idols acquire the status of real stars. It is worth noting that teams from the CIS in Dota 2 have achieved impressive results. They take the lead international ranking and proved that they are capable of winning a championship of any caliber.

League of Legends

League of Legends is another incredibly famous MOBA game that is hugely popular all over the world. League of Legends has been at the top of the list of highest grossing PC games for years in a row, and its developer Riot Games has been diligently building and developing the game's esports scene, focusing on the tournament system of traditional sports with leagues and seasonal splits.

League of Legends has long been one of the most popular esports disciplines in the world - the official League of Legends tournament channel recently became the first channel in Twitch history to reach 1 billion views, and the 2018 LoL Mid-Season Invitational holds an impressive esports record - more than 127 million people were simultaneously watching the participants in the final match at some point.

In South Korea, League of Legends has become something of a national sport, along with StacCraft 2 - professional League of Legends players have the status of real stars, and the strongest athletes have millions of fans around the world. And lately, the game has been gaining more and more popularity in the CIS region - largely due to strong eSports teams that have appeared in the region.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a cult network shooter from Valve, one of the most popular eSports disciplines. The history of Counter-Strike begins back in 2000, and CS:GO is already the fourth iteration, which was released to the market in 2012. In July this year, according to Statista, 11.5 million people played Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The total number of tournaments in six years has reached 3511 with a total prize pool of $62 million.

The game was created on the principle of "easy to learn, hard to become a professional." Ballistics, strategy elements and in-match economics - all this and much more provides CS:GO with a unique place on the esports scene. And in the CIS, Counter-Strike has been attracting a multi-million audience since the beginning of the 2000s.

FIFA 18

FIFA 18 is the latest installment of the most popular football game in the world, and one of the most popular console games worldwide. Real players, real teams, real stadiums. The FIFA franchise has won an army of fans from the very beginning, but thanks to constant improvements and improvements every year, it has become a real phenomenon: millions of copies sold, hundreds of thousands of players online, thousands of clubs.

IN last years FIFA has ceased to be only the entertainment of millions - now it is also the most popular discipline in eSports. More than six million people took part in tournaments in 2017 Ultimate Team Championship and FIFA Interactive World Cup, the finalists of which competed for a solid prize pool of over $1 million in prize money.

It is quite possible that FIFA 18 will soon become the real locomotive of esports and will be one of the first esports disciplines presented at the Olympics. Probably with virtual football esports will break into the mainstream.

In general, this process has already begun, and Russia has taken one of the leading positions in this movement to popularize virtual football: since 2017, the FIFA series has become the official eSports discipline in Russia, and very soon we will see the official championships and cups of Russia.

Which of the professional eSports teams earned the most money in tournaments.

To bookmarks

Esports as an occupation appeared about 19 years ago. The first computer game tournament was held in 1998 for the popular shooter Quake (its prize fund was $15,000). According to the e-Sports Earnings portal, about 22 thousand tournaments have been held for all the time, in which about 307.9 million dollars were played.

Let's analyze which of the teams became the most successful in the field of computer sports. As a criterion, only winnings in competitions were chosen. The income item will not include the profit of organizations from advertising, contracts with sponsors and other aspects.

1 - Evil Geniuses

Tournament Revenue: $15.7M

EG victory at The International 2015

Evil Geniuses was founded in 1999. Today it is the most successful multi-gaming organization in the world. Under the auspices of EG, some of the best players in StarCraft, WarCraft 3 and Dota 2. The total amount of money won is 15.72 million dollars, and the number of tournament wins is 646. Today, the most profitable Dota 2 roster, which has long been one of the leading on the planet.

The organization has a victory at The International 2015, which brought Evil Geniuses $6.6 million, as well as two third places in 2014 and 2016. The total income of the team from Dota 2 is about $14 million.

Also, one of the most successful disciplines was Blizzard's RTS - StarCraft 2. Today, for unknown reasons, EG ignore one of the most media and profitable disciplines - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and League of Legends. Under the wing of Evil Geniuses, players also perform on less popular projects such as Super Smash Bros., Call of Duty, Street Fighter and Halo.

2-Wings Gaming

Tournament Revenue: $9.7M

Unchanged Wings Dota 2 roster at ESL One Manila

The Chinese esports organization Wings Gaming was founded relatively recently, in 2014. However, this did not prevent the team from firmly taking second place in the list of the most successful teams in computer sports. All this is provided by the only major victory - The International 2016, where the team took first place and earned $9.1 million. The line-up has won titles in several other small competitions, but has not yet succeeded in repeating success in a major tournament. Among the failures of Wings can be called 9-16th place on The Boston Major and 9-12 at Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017.

Not so long ago, the players left the organization due to financial problems. The owner of Wings tried to create a League of Legends roster and spent about three million dollars on it, but the idea failed. The story has an unpleasant continuation: the Chinese Esports Association (ACE) disqualified for life former members teams for breach of contract. Moreover, Wings Gaming can sue the players because they did not have the right to terminate contracts unilaterally. Perhaps this failure will be the final point in the history of the team. Now the owner of the brand is looking for buyers to whom he can sell it.

Wings also had a CS:GO team, but the team was not successful. The team's income in the discipline was only about six thousand dollars.

3 - Newbee

Tournament Revenue: $7.5 million

Newbee win at TI4. The Reason Why Team Captain Zhang "Xiao8" Ning Cost LGD $320k

Newbee is the second Chinese esports organization to take first place at The International (in 2014). The total amount of money won is 7.5 million dollars, of which Dota 2 players earned most of it.

The organization is constantly actively developing the Dota direction. To do this, the team has two line-ups - junior Newbee Young and the main Newbee. This year, the management also signed a third roster called Newbee Boss, which included the legendary players of the Chinese scene, but this was rather done for media. The team included authoritative players who are loved by the audience - Zhang "Xiao8" Ning, Liu "Ferrari430" Feichi, popular streamer Bi "Axx" Xia.

Today, players from League of Legends, Overwatch, Dota 2, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm play for the Chinese multi-gaming team.

4-Fnatic

Tournament Revenue: $7.3 million

The old Fnatic roster in CS 1.6 with the champion title at Intel Extreme Masters III in 2009

Fnatic is one of the oldest and most famous organizations in the world of esports. It was founded in 2004 and has become one of the most balanced in terms of success in a variety of disciplines. Today, the total prize money won is $7.3 million.

Under the auspices of Fnatic, teams play in ten disciplines, including both the most popular (CS:GO, Dota 2, League of Legends, Overwatch) and less media ones (Call of Duty, Vainglory, Heroes of the Storm). In addition to professional rosters, the team is opening academic rosters whose main function is to prepare players for an esports career.

5-SK Telecom T1

Tournament Revenue: $7.1M

SKT T1 League of Legends roster for LoL World Championship 2013

SK Telecom T1 is the first South Korean organization to enter the top 10 most profitable esports teams. The main fame came to the team during the first part of StarCraft, which is very popular in the country. With the release of StarCraft II, the management team created lineups for the new part of the legendary RTS. The discipline brought the organization about $1.9 million South Korean players remain the strongest on the planet to this day.

Unlike most other teams, today the main source of income for SKT T1 is the League of Legends roster. For the last two years, this team has won the title of winner at LoL World Championships. SK Telecom T1 has 26 wins and $5.1 million in prize money

6- Natus Vincere

Tournament Revenue: $6.4M

The legendary composition of Na "Vi in CS 1.6. From left to right: ceh9, Starix, Zeus, Edward and markeloff

Ukrainian organization Natus Vincere also entered her name in the top ten richest esports teams in the world. Glory was brought by Counter-Strike and Dota 2, in which Na'Vi are one of the most titled representatives. The CS 1.6 roster included such legends as Daniil "Zeus" Teslenko, Arseniy "ceh9" Trynozhenko, Egor "markeloff" Markelov and Sergey "Starix" Ischuk. The total income of the team from Counter-Strike amounted to about $1.7 million.

Natus Vincere Dota 2 players also became famous in their discipline. They are still the only team to have reached the finals of The International three times, one of which they won. The amount of prize money won in Dota 2 is $3.6 million.

Today the organization is experiencing better times. After the disbandment of the well-known Dota 2 roster, the team did not have any serious victories in this discipline. Recently, the only victory in a major tournament was the title of champion at StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 2 in 2016.

7-Vici Gaming

Tournament Revenue: $6.3 million

Vici Gaming is another Chinese team that has gained fame and money in the world of Dota 2. More than half of the income, namely $4.3 million, was brought to the team by players in the world-famous MOBA game from Valve. Among the achievements, we can note the second place at The International 2014 and Dota 2 Asia Championship 2015. There are a number of victories in smaller tournaments with prize funds of about 100 thousand dollars.

Today, the organization supports the work of three Dota 2 rosters - Vici Gaming, VG Potential and VG.J, as well as the activities of the CS:GO team.

8 - Virtus.pro

Tournament Revenue: $5.6 million

Current Virtus.pro Dota 2 roster

Virtus.pro became the second representative of the CIS in the top ten most profitable esports organizations, whose fame was also brought by the most profitable disciplines - Dota 2 and CS:GO. In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, VP's all-star roster leads the way with $2.2 million in prize money. Also, Polish CS-ers are one of the oldest professional players - Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas is 30 years old, and Phillip "NEO" Kubski and Jaroslaw "pashaBiceps" Jazzombkowski are 29 years old.

However, not so famous players Dota Virtus brought the organization more money - approximately $2.6 million. Notable achievements include second place at The Kiev Major and 5th-6th place at The International 2015.

The nearest major tournament where the team will take part is ELEAGUE's CS:GO show match between the finalists of ELEAGUE Major 2017. VP will face the Danes from Astralis in the fight for 250 thousand dollars. The match will take place on June 16.

9-Invictus Gaming

One of the former iG Dota 2 teams. This is the lineup of the team that went to The International 2015

iG rose to prominence mainly in Dota 2 and League of Legends, where he still performs to this day. There are not many achievements of the team, however, the Dota roster won the World Championship in 2012, where it defeated Natus Vincere in the final (then the team took home a million dollars). This year we can again observe the inexplicable success of the organization - a victory at the Dota 2 Asia Championship and 3rd-4th place at The Kiev Major.

The League of Legends roster is not so successful, but brought the team about 603 thousand dollars. The last iG titles in LoL were won in 2014.

10- LGD Gaming

Tournament Revenue: $5.4 million

For a very long time, Zhang "Xiao8" Ning (center) was a key player in LGD.

LGD Gaming is another team that exists thanks to its success in Dota 2 (its roster brought the organization about 90% of the money won). The huge buzz around LGD was created by the transfer of the legendary captain Zhang "Xiao8" Ning after The International 2014, when LGD paid the Newbee team about 320 thousand dollars. This transition is still one of the most high-profile and expensive in esports.

One of the LGD Dota 2 rosters looked exactly like this. In front of you LGD Girls

The League of Legends team is still part of the organization. Despite the fact that the income from LoL players is quite modest (354 thousand dollars), the management continues to support the activities of the team. The last win was in LGD's pocket in 2015.

Valve - the key to success?

Gabe Newell at The International 2016

As a result, we can say that the success of the modern top ten was mainly ensured by Dota 2. The key to this success was Valve's decision to deduct 25% of the sales of in-game themed products dedicated to competitions to The International prize fund. The exception is the SK Telecom T1 team from South Korea- League of Legends brings them the main income.

The situation is similar in CS:GO. The company increases prize funds at tournaments every year. Last year, CS:GO first introduced competitions with over a million dollars in prize money. In Dota 2, this bar was already overcome at the first World Championship in 2011, and at the last The International, the total prize money was approximately $20 million.

Height prize pool TI7 compared to the previous two years

This is the recipe for success today - the most generous prize money is provided by Valve. In Dota 2, a total of $99.3 million has been raffled off. For comparison, League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and StarCraft II combined have a similar “budget”.

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11.10 2017

First half of 2017 in Counter strike: Global Offensive was quite active. According to the results of the half year in May, HLTV.ORG updated the TOP 10 best teams. Among them are only about CS GO players, known and loved by most fans of the esports arena.

We present the Steam profiles of the players of these teams. You can view your inventory, see your avatar, and even add someone as a friend. Pro players are quite popular, and all the information about many is directly on Steam.

Unfortunately, not all accounts of professional players on Steam are open. Some are very good at hiding from the public. Therefore, you can be content with only links in the hope that one day cybersportsmen will open accounts.

Astralis

Former TSM from Denmark, reorganized in 2016 with a new name. As of May 2017 - the best in the world. Almost the most successful of all.

Profiles of the best players in the world:

• gla1ve (Lucas Rossander) http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198010511021
• Xyp9x (Andreas Heislet) https://steamcommunity.com/id/astralisXyp9x/
• dupreeh (Peter Rasmussen) https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198004854956
• Kjaerbye (Markus Kjebye) https://steamcommunity.com/id/Gizminister
• device (Nikolai Reedtz) http://steamcommunity.com/id/devvek1ng

FaZe Clan

Team from all over the EU, founded in 2016. She was also known for playing CoD, but later switched to CS GO.

Accounts about:

• karrigan (Finn Andersen) https://steamcommunity.com/id/karrigancsgo
• olofmeister (Olof Kaibjer) https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197988627193
• GuardiaN (Ladislav Kovacs) https://steamcommunity.com/id/lololGuardian
• NiKo (Nikola Kovacs) https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198041683378
• rain (Howard Nygard) https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197997351207

In the first half of the year, it was only by chance that I was unable to win back the first place from Astralis, which does not prevent them from dragging in the second. The rivalry continues.

SK Gaming

The team was formed in 2013 and now plays under the flag of Brazil. It drags since CS 1.6 and does not give up in CS GO.

• FalleN (Gabriel Toledo) https://steamcommunity.com/id/fallencs
• felps (Joao Vasconcellos) https://steamcommunity.com/id/JustDabliu/
• fer (Fernando Alvarenga) https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197999186947
• coldzera (Marcelo David) http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198039986599
• TACO (Epitasio de Melo) http://steamcommunity.com/id/tacocs

The Brazilians have two high-profile victories but don't want to stop there.

G2 Esports

French team created in 2015. A powerful line-up does not allow her to sink low enough - five victories in the championships, but that's not all.

Profiles of esportsmen:

• shox (Richard Papillon) http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198006920295
• kennyS (Kenny Shrub) https://steamcommunity.com/id/kennyS-
• NBK (Nathan Schmitt) http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197960710573
• apEX (Dan Madeskler) http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197989744167
• Bodyy (Alejandra Pianaro) http://steamcommunity.com/id/bodyys

"Gee-Too" with five victories deservedly occupy a place in the ranking and do not want to leave their homes.

North

The team from Denmark, supported by F.C. Copenhagen and confidently won EPICENTER 2016.

Player profiles:

• MSL (Matthias Lauridsen) http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197984400619
• valde (Waldemar Wangse) https://steamcommunity.com/id/v4lde
• aizy (Philip Aistrup) https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198050950952/
• cajunb (Rene Borg) https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197978328043/
• k0nfig (Christian Wieneke) http://steamcommunity.com/id/k0nfig

Traditional and eSports have paid off - the team continues to be one of the best.

Natus Vincere

Everyone's favorite esports team from Ukraine, which has existed since 2012. Despite a number of defeats, she did not lose her fans and support. Now it is gaining momentum again and

Team profiles:

• Zeus (Daniil Teslenko) http://steamcommunity.com/id/NaViZeus
• Edward (Ivan Sukharev) http://steamcommunity.com/id/IoannSukhariev
• flamie (Egor Vasiliev) http://steamcommunity.com/id/flamie7
• seized (Denis Kostin) http://steamcommunity.com/id/seizedwf
• s1mple (Alexander Kostylev) https://steamcommunity.com/id/officials1mple

"Born to Win" survived the departure of the best players. But they were able to find a replacement and stay among the TOP teams, although they failed miserably several times. 10 championship victories speak for themselves.

Gambit Esports

A division of Gambit Gaming based in Kazakhstan. It deserves a place in the TOP, having won the tournament only once so far.

Accounts of pro-players of the team:

• AdreN (Dauren Kystaubaev) http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198006466707
• fitch (Bektiyar Bakhytov) http://steamcommunity.com/id/fitch4w-
• HObbit (Abay Khasenov) https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198028292758
• Dosia (Mikhail Stolyarov) http://steamcommunity.com/id/ADosia
• mou (Rustem Telepov) https://steamcommunity.com/id/mou13

The victory was unexpected and stunning. They are not going to give up their place in the ranking and are actively fighting for it.

Virtus.pro

One of the most famous teams world, based in Poland. Changed the name many times, but the essence remained the same.

Steam accounts:

• TaZ (Victor Wojtas) https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197960499780
• NEO (Philip Kubsky) http://steamcommunity.com/id/NEOZORD
• pashaBiceps (Jaroslav Jazzombkowski) http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197973845818
• Snax (Janusz Pogorzelski) http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197982141573
• byali (Pavel Belinski) http://steamcommunity.com/id/bialyyy

Sensational 17 victories and many prizes. And these are not the last achievements of Virtus.pro.

Who are the people who look for talent, create the best teams in the country and support players in difficult moments.

To bookmarks

Virtus.pro manager Roman Dvoryankin (in suit) with esports players Vladimir Minenko (left) and Sergey Revin. Photo from personal twitter

In December 2017 in high school economy, a training course for eSports managers began in conjunction with the Russian Federation of Computer Sports. The course will last until mid-June 2018 - according to the project, participants will receive basic knowledge for managing and managing eSports clubs.

The project was the result of the growing popularity of the industry, which was created in the country 10 years ago by rare enthusiasts. They looked for funds for the existence of their small organizations, solved the psychological problems of the players and made their way to international tournaments. Times have changed, but the system has settled - like the classic sports teams, esports organizations cannot exist without managers.

TJ talked to representatives of CIS esports organizations and found out how difficult the work of managers is, whether it brings a stable income and how to learn this business.

Hobby turned into work

At sports director Russian organization Team Empire Alexander Solomonov has two higher educations - economic and technical, and for more than 15 years he has been involved in e-sports (he also has another business, but he refused to disclose its details). In 2003, when the concept of e-sports was little known in Russia, he became interested in the real-time strategy Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Solomonov liked that he could play strategy not with a computer, but compete with other people.

In parallel with his first year at the university, he began to follow the first esports tournaments and realized that he was even more interested in organizing competitions than playing. It all started with the management of amateur teams, and a few years later, Solomonov was offered the position of team manager of the Russian national Warcraft team.

Alexander Solomonov. Photo from the page in "VKontakte"

“Russia has always had strong Warcraft players ( talking about the third part - approx. TJ), but they never reached the finals in Europe, because they could not get a visa, ”recalls Solomonov. Around 2006 or 2007 (he does not remember the exact year), the manager promised himself to go to the tournament abroad. Despite not the best composition, the team left the group in the CIS and went to Germany. Solomon personally stood with the players at the embassy in Moscow and processed visas.

After the team received the Schengen, the German representation was closed for several days - the athletes almost missed the chance to face foreign rivals on their soil. The Russian team lost that tournament, losing in the final match to the Ukrainian team with a score of 2:3. However, the manager of the Russian team took it calmly - in both teams there were many players whom he once led.

Command Fortress

“Guys, can you be a little quieter?” Adalat Mammadov (nickname “Krookie”), the general manager of the Russian club ROX, asks in English when, during a conversation with a TJ correspondent, his voice is blocked by the exclamations of playing athletes. Mammadov is 22 years old, he is a sixth year student at Moscow State University, he teaches Olympiad mathematics and biology at the Physics and Mathematics School, and also lectures on bioengineering. He once played well in League of Legends, the most popular esports discipline of the MOBA genre (multiplayer real-time strategy with role-playing elements), and planned to become a professional player until the age of 18.

As a result, his parents did not allow him to start his career as an esportsman, but Mammadov is satisfied with his current job. Together with the team, he is preparing for the continental league of League of Legends, where 8 the best teams CIS. Among the players are two Russians, a Belarusian, a German and a Dane - recently they and the rest of the staff (coach and analyst) moved to a training house, which in a professional environment is called a bootcamp.

former manager Russian organization M19 Andrey Poleshchuk believes that during remote training, players are distracted by household chores, parents, friends, disrupt sleep patterns and eat poorly. Training houses are designed to correct this problem - before important tournaments, players come there and live under the supervision of a manager and coach. The athletes have a schedule: getting up at 12-13 in the morning, exercising, breakfast (the manager is responsible for the food supply), morning briefing and training. Sometimes they last up to 10-16 hours, during which the players are in the same room.

Team ROX players during the game. Club manager Adalat Mammadov is in the background. Photo from the personal archive of the organization

The bootcamp of the ROX organization is located in the Krasnogorsk district in the Moscow region. This is a large five-story house, where two housekeepers, athletes, a substitute player, a coach, an analyst, Krookie himself and, on rare occasions, , psychologist and massage therapist. Sometimes cottages are not rented, but bought - this is what he did Russian club Vega Squadron.

House - the best option for preparation, as there is little space in the apartments and you can wake up the neighbors during night games. However, it is not so easy to find a landlord who rents a cottage for three months. Not all owners immediately understand what esports is and what a group of people is going to do in their house. Mammadov considers the process of finding a cottage a very difficult task, after which the building still needs to be repaired in order to eliminate problems with electricity and plumbing, and then transport the equipment.

2 million rubles

How much does it cost to run a five-story training house for the ROX esports team in three months.

Most important point preparing a training house - conducting a fiber optic connection. If the internet is down and out, the team will not be able to compete. February 2017 Russian team Virtus.pro suffered a forfeit defeat during a match against the club Effect while playing at a bootcamp in Krasnodar. This means that during the battle, Virtus.pro's connection was interrupted. After that, the manager was fired.

For reinsurance, the training house is connected to two providers in case one has problems. According to Mammadov, in August 2017, during a match, unknown persons launched a DDoS attack against the team, knocking out two connections with different IP addresses. “There is a suspicion that [it] is beneficial to someone. Especially when 10-20 million rubles are at stake,” the ROX manager suggests.

Roundtrip

The main reason why ROX rents a cottage in Moscow is the regulations of Riot Games (creators of League of Legends). If a team enters into a contract with a company and wants to participate in professional tournaments, it needs to participate in stage matches with spectators. In 2017, Riot Games began using the Glavkino studio (one of the largest film and television companies in Russia) to record fights. What happened there was broadcast on Twitch and YouTube. The ROX organization deliberately settled on Novorizhskoye Highway, since the Glavkino studio is located there.

The organization of tournaments falls on Riot Games: the Moscow branch rents a studio, launches an advertising campaign, provides managers with information, referees matches, and partially finances top teams. Esports organizations receive funds to partially cover the costs of the training house, flights and salaries. But if you do not go into a "personal minus", you can live on subsidies only with very austerity, the ROX manager explains.

Inside Glavkino. Photo from the official website of the studio

Poleshchuk from M19 believes that beginners and intermediate esports players receive from 28 thousand to 85 thousand rubles a month. A TJ source in the industry claims that, in total, with subsidies from Riot Games and bonuses for victories in tournaments, top players can receive from 400 to 700 thousand rubles in a three-month season (the salary is usually transferred to a bank card). In general, the source believes, these figures are close to all top clubs.

To become a professional in a good organization, players must pass a "behavior check". How it works: The team manager sends links to the athlete's social media accounts, and Riot Games (or any other video game company) checks his pages for offensive behavior.

If a player often swears or makes racist comments, the administration will notice this. Additionally, employees look through game chat logs for rude statements - for this, most likely, the athlete will be denied a contract.

Kirill "Likkrit" Malofeev

If a player violates ethical rules after entering into a contract with a game company, he may be banned from participating in its tournaments. This happened in November 2017 with the former captain of the Russian League of Legends organization M19 Kirill Malofeev. During the stream, the athlete criticized the professional position of the game in the CIS, including the fall in salaries and the withdrawal of esports organizations from the discipline.

For this, Riot Games banned Malofeev from participating in all League of Legends tournaments for six months, after which the player announced his retirement. According to "Krookie" from ROX, athletes are not so much afraid of the termination of the contract with the organization, but of a ban from gaming companies - this can cost them their reputation.

Looking for sponsors

In the early days of esports, the exclusive sponsors of organizations were computer or hardware manufacturers. These were mainly giants like Razer, Acer, Asus, Intel and HP, but now they have added large sponsors from other areas. This includes Mercedes-Benz (signed a contract with the European league ESL), a large electronics sales network Media Markt (partner of Virtus.pro), Lenovo (partner of ROX), Omen by HP (partner of Team Empire), Visa, Qiwi, PepsiCo, Twitch and fast food chain KFC.

One of the most valuable partners in eSports are bookmakers. Esports betting is very popular, so this is a very profitable offer for organizations. Clubs with Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive disciplines feel best in this territory, and League of Legends is the worst, since Riot Games policy prohibits advertising alcohol, tobacco or gambling.

According to the forecasts of the international consulting and audit company PwC, the size of the eSports market will increase from $327 million in 2017 to $874 million in 2022.

When an organization needs equipment, but there is no money for it, it turns to computer giants - the advertiser supplies the equipment, and the club advertises it in competitions. Someone goes to the big stats holdings and suggests putting their logo on the players jerseys to add coverage. In the US, for example, esports organizations partner with insurance companies, including GEICO.

In January 2018, the MTS operator bought the European esports club Gambit Esports: the amount of the contract was not disclosed, but, apparently, the company approached the development thoroughly. The company has an esports division led by Irina Semyonova - she is one of the founders of Virtus.pro and has been working in the gaming industry for over 17 years.

In addition to MTS, only two cases of large investments in the industry are known in Russia. In January 2017, the M19 team appeared in the Continental League of Legends League - its investor was the owner of the Strongbow Investments investment holding Evgeny Tugolukov. According to him, it takes about $500,000 a year to maintain a League of Legends roster.

Dota 2 esportsmen in the M19 training house. Photo from the organization's official group on VKontakte

M19 also had a Hearthstone and Dota 2 roster, but the latter was disbanded in February 2018, leaving only one Hearthstone player. In a conversation with TJ, the roster manager Andrey Poleshchuk said that this was not in the organization's plans. “Apparently, cost optimization,” the manager answered the question about the reasons for the disbandment. He plans to start work in a new esports project, but does not disclose details.

The loudest contribution to eSports was made by businessman Alisher Usmanov. In 2015, he invested about $100 million in the Virtus.pro team, on the basis of which the ESforce holding appeared. In January 2018, it became known that the Mail.Ru Group company for $100 million. According to Vedomosti, the holding owns 14 websites, 209 groups on social networks and the RuHub analytics studio.

One of the most accessible games for the layman. At the same time, the balance in it does not change as often as in League of Legends or Dota 2. Some maps are played for so long that the participants know all possible tactics and strategic moves in advance. But the teams still manage to come up with something new, adapt to the opponent and impose their own pace. The best always know how to surprise. Analyst of the StarLadder studio Alexander Petrik explained to the "Championship" how the game is built and what viewers should pay attention to when watching the matches.

Roles in the game

Since the days of Counter-Strike 1.6, nothing has changed in this regard. The roles differ depending on the side. The special forces (CT) have the following:

"Supporters". Usually there are 2 of them on the map. Each one is ironically attached to its own point where they should plant a bomb (in the game jargon, "plant"). Leaves him last (only if the player with the bomb burned on the opposite "site"). His task is to hold back the opponent's exit, give information about the exit to the "plant" in time, make as many frags as possible (kill as many opponents as possible) or wait for help. Opportunists are valued who are able to exchange for a plus during the opponent’s exit (i.e. either give two frags and die, or give a frag and survive). Characteristic representatives: Epitasio TACO de Melo (SK), Egor flamie Vasiliev (NaVi), Bektiyar fitch Bakhytov (Gambit).

"Helping" (supports). They work in conjunction with defensive midfielders / snipers / other players, trying to help make frags with minimal risk to their lives. Most often, captains act in this role. Throw away flash drives (light grenades), go out for an exchange, carefully collect information - this is about them. Outstanding representatives: Andrey Blad3 Gorodensky (Flipsid3), Fatih gob b Dijk, Nikola LEGIJA Ninich (BiG), Lukas glaive Rossander (Astralis).

"Snipers". Everything is clear here: they act with sniper rifle, cover key parts of the map (center on de_mirage, street on de_nuke, "green" on de_train). Active snipers can often change positions and always act aggressively (Gabriel FalleN Toledo, for example), and there is a standing type of snipers who rarely allow themselves desperate aggression (Nikolai device Reedtz and Tyler skadoodle Latham).

The combination of these three roles, playstyles and prefabs is what the game is all about.

More roles for terrorists:

"Entry-fragger" (opener, entry) - a type of player who constantly acts aggressively, the first to enter the shootout. It is important for him to coordinate with the “helpers”, because without competent flash drives and other interaction, an “entry-fragger” will more often be an “entry-fragger”. Examples: Dan apEX Madescler (G2), Fernando fer Alvarenga (SK).

"Lurker" is the complete opposite of "entry-fragger". During the mass exits of his team on one of the “sites”, he acts silently in another part of the map, hunts for the defensive players who are being pulled, seizes the moment in order to go into the back of an opponent who is not waiting for him. It's a whole art, especially when your opponent knows that you will go in the back, and you know that your opponent knows. Until 2015, Christopher GeT_RiGhT Alesund was considered one of the best lurkers in the world, but then he stopped playing like that. Examples today: Vincent Happy Schopenhauer (EnVyUs), Finn karrigan Andersen (FaZe).

The “sniper” acts with a sniper rifle much less often than on the CT side, most often aims for quick aggressive attacks in the first seconds of the round, and at the time of exits more often covers the “riflers” (the one who wins back only with assault rifles / machine guns) from distant positions and neutralizes enemy snipers. Examples: Alexander s1mple Kostylev, Ladislav GuardiaN, Rustem mou Telepov, Nikolai device Reedtz.

"Captain" (IGL, coordinator, "caller") - the most important person: directs the team, maintains spirit and discipline, makes decisions. Without it, panic sets in. Examples: Daniil Zeus Teslenko (NaVi), Andrey Blad3 Gorodensky (Flipsid3), Mattias MSL Lauridsen (North).

"Support" ("helping") - the same role as a similar player for CT. Throws grenades, goes out for an exchange, acts most often in conjunction with other players. Outstanding representatives: Ricardo boltz Prass (SK), Andreas xyp9x Hoyslet (Astralis), Mikhail Dosia Stolyarov (Gambit).

Important statistics

ADR (average damage per round) - snipers are always low, but this indicator allows you to evaluate the quality of the "riflers" work. Even if the player has few frags, he can often make a big contribution by dealing damage from grenades, lumbago. It just may be that frags are “stealed” from a player (it happens that several players shoot at a target at once, but only one is given a frag).

All sorts of statistics on "entry frags": total, average number, percentage of effectiveness (more likely to frag or die first), percentage of aggressiveness (how often gets involved in the first shootouts) - all this allows you to evaluate the work of "entry-fraggers".

"Clutches" (number of wins, percentage of wins). A psychologically stable and intelligent player, able to keep a cool mind at critical moments and take on 1vsX situations is a valuable shot. Some people are better at it (eg Andreas xyp9x Häuslet and Finn karrigan Andersen are good at it).

"Flash Assists" is a new statistic that allows you to evaluate the frequency of frags made by any of the teammates of a player throwing flashes. Good statistics of "flash assists" will have high-quality supports, giving a lot of well-timed flash grenades, for which "fraggers" already work. Vivid examples: Fatih gob b Dijk, Nikola LEGIJA Ninich and Andrey Blad3 Gorodensky. These are old-schools who take not with their shooting and reaction, but with cunning and experience.

Possible arrangements on the map

From the side of attack and defense, there is always the concept of “default”, that is, the standard arrangement that the team shows every round, when the captain has not given other instructions.

"Default" for CT (for most teams it looks like this):

Cache, Dust2, Mirage: One defensive midfielder for each of the bombsites. One "helper" for each of the sites. Plus a player (most often a sniper) in the center of the map.

Train, Inferno: defender + helper on bombsite B, sniper + 2 combo riflers on A.

Overpass: helper + sniper on A, defensive player + 2 helpers on B.

Nuke: A sniper on the street, a defensive midfielder on the ramp, two combo A-riflers + a helper who darts between the ramp and the A bombsite.

Cbble: defensive midfielder or sniper + helper on A, defensive midfielder + helper on B and defensive midfielder in droproom

The "default" for terrorists is to gain control of as much of the map as possible, without aggressive maneuvers. Less commonly used by pro teams, more applicable to mixes. Teams have an initial task for the round, which is completed from the first seconds. However, players will still most often be distributed from round to round in the same positions in order to collect information and search for the first frags, control pressure from CT.

Styles of professional teams in CS:GO

I would highlight several styles. Strong team never adheres to one style, otherwise they will quickly get used to it.

"Free style"

The team does not play in pre-prepared rounds, but relies on its skill in micro-moments (shooting, movements, timings, playing in combinations) and the search for "entry frags". Decisions are made during the round, depending on the situation on the map. It is unrealistic to prepare for such a team, but if you find an approach to it, then such a team will most likely be driven into a dead end. The individual skill of each player is of great importance, since without initiative and effective game decisions such a team will be ineffective. Examples: Fnatic, FaZe Clan, G2 Esports, Cloud9.

"Strict style"

Very slow game. Previously, the team collects information, lures grenades from the opponent. The team has a pre-prepared plan for each round, they work out the throws in training. Each player in such rounds knows his task in advance, up to which corner he will check and which not. If the strategies are good, then such teams can beat anyone. But if something goes wrong, then the lack of firepower and strong individualists will lead to the fact that most teams will celebrate easy wins over them (Flipsid3, BiG, VP). But in CS 1.6, everyone played like that.

The rest of the teams try to combine these two styles. There are bands that like to play step by step. They do not have a clear plan for where they will plant the bomb, but their actions are planned and aimed at taking the map step by step, squeezing the enemy out of aggressive positions. This style seems to be loose, but at the same time slow, viscous and non-aggressive. This is how Astralis, NaVi, North play.

The video can be viewed on the YouWrong YouTube channel.

There are teams that have blanks for both slow and fast rounds. They combine fast and slow styles and you never know what to expect from them. The brightest representative is SK Gaming, Gambit can be attributed to the same style.

Coaches and their impact on the game

It is difficult for the viewer to evaluate the work that the coaches do, since they are not on the server, they do not make frags, they cannot speak during the rounds. However, the players of some teams themselves claim that the coaches really help them a lot.

I personally distinguish three types of coaches for myself:

A physical trainer is a person who is responsible for discipline, scheduling training, maintaining a diet, resolving conflicts and minimally helping with correcting mistakes in the game. Such coaches are most often with young teams, they do not need to understand the game much in order to fulfill their function, therefore, “old men” from CS 1.6, who may not even have played CS:GO, are often taken to this role. For example, ex-coach pro100 Ivan F1N Kochugov, ex-mentor (and maybe current) QB Fire Alexey NooK Kozlovsky (from M19, who won in 2002). Among the top teams, one can probably call Mikhail Kane Blagin from Na’Vi (Gambit players did not speak in the most flattering way about Kane’s knowledge of CS: GO, but Zeus always respects his opinion, although he does not have great experience in CS:GO).

Analyst trainers. They focus on developing new strategies, searching for chips, analyzing mistakes, analyzing future opponents, etc... Vivid examples: Andrey Andi Prokhorov, Danny zonic Sorensen, Louise peacemaker Tadeu, Sergey LMBT Bezhanov, Robert RobbaN Dahlström.

Experienced trainers. Most often, these are former professional CS:GO players who have completed their careers, but have a large amount of knowledge in key moment can offer an interesting solution, suggest a round, point out a mistake. Their opinion is valued, as they look at everything from the outside and see the full picture of what is happening. Representatives: Edward SmithZz Dubordeaux, Wilton zews Prado, Jakub kuben Gurchinski, Jimmy Jumpy Berndtschoen.

There are coaches who can "stage" the game. The brightest of them is Wilton zews Prado. He became a two-time Major champion with SK/Luminosity, then successfully applied his experience to help establish the second Brazilian top team, Immortals, and then also Team Liquid.

I think that many coaches are able, if not to completely change the game of any team, then at least with their vision and experience to teach players something, help them correct mistakes, etc.

Captains

In-game leaders, they are also captains - a key role in the team. He must think for everyone, he must imagine the monitor of each of the teammates and coordinate their actions in time and correctly in order to act as efficiently and harmoniously as possible.

I do not think that the captain is a conductor of coaching ideas. Quite the contrary: in many teams, coaches and captains clash, especially if they have a different vision of the game. The ideal model is when the coach complements and improves the style of play and the manner of coordination chosen by the captain, and therefore comfortable for him. This is how it works in Zeus + Kane, where Kane comes to the rescue if Teslenko has no ideas.

A coach in most tournaments can only talk during timeouts, which means he can only throw in an idea, point out an opponent's weak spot, point out a repeated mistake of his own, or even tell you which round to play. The rest of the time the team is led by the captain. At the same time, he also needs to remember to hit the enemy in the head himself, which is why this role is considered the most difficult in the game.

Three teams to watch at ESL

At the upcoming EPL finals, there are teams of completely different structures and styles.

If you want to see the unique playing style that one of the best captains in CS history, Gabriel FalleN Toledo, built, then keep an eye on SK. Characteristics: very aggressive defensive style, many attacking maneuvers from Toledo and especially fer combined with TACO's "sitting" and reliable style of play. How this whole “machine” works for Marcelo coldzera David, how well he copes with the role of the main star of the team and what pre-scheduled rounds FalleN is ready to show if something goes wrong - all this can be seen from SK.

But, for example, Fnatic and FaZe profess a free style of play, tied to the individual maneuvers of the players. Fnatic hasn’t been riding only on this for a long time, so they probably upgraded their playing style by the final part of the ESL Pro League. Things are not so bad for FaZe, but in order to implement their plans, they also need to have ready-made solutions in stock for all unforeseen situations. If you love spectacular game with tons of beautiful moments but simple tactics - watch out for these teams.

And if your soul wants harsh layouts, preliminary analysis to the smallest detail and every step thought out in advance, then the only team that professes a slow style of play, and even often plays anti-CS (that is, not trying to impose its own pace on the opponent, but adapting and reading the opponent's actions) - then it's only Misfits. American legend Sean seangares Geirs was the first captain to lead a North American team to big victories over European teams. And he achieved this just the same thanks to a thorough study of rivals. He hasn't made it in a long time big victories, and the Misfits are unlikely to succeed in 2017 with this style of play, but it will be at least entertaining to watch Sean Geirs try again.