Over the last three months. the Counter Strike community has bore witness to a shift within the hierarchy of North American players. Star players who have struggled to perform at the international level have fallen down the ranks as younger talent have come to supplant them.

The most notable names to have flourished ever since the last major have been the Asian duo from Cloud 9, Autimatic and Stewie2k, and the youngster from Team Liquid, Elige. These three, over the last three months, have put up impressive individual performances, the likes of which have put them in contention for the spot as best player within North American Counter Strike.

At the end of the day, however, only one of them can claim the spot at the top of the mountain. In order to determine which one of the three truly deserves the right to be called North America’s best player, it will require one to conduct extensive analysis of the resumes that each of the three have accumulated over the previous months.

Elige

Upon S1mple’s departure from Team Liquid, many members of the Counter Strike community pointed to the large hole he left, in regards to star power, within the Team Liquid lineup and questioned who would come to plug the hole. Many even questioned whether or not there was someone within the Team Liquid lineup who could step up and play at a star level akin to what S1mple had provided in the past. Those questions were ultimately answered as Elige elevated his game, ever since S1mple’s departure, and emerged as the clear star within the Team Liquid lineup.

At ESL One New York, Elige gave the community a taste of what he was truly capable of, ripping through some of the top teams within the scene en route to posting a 1.27 rating for the event overall. To those unfamiliar with the HLTV rating system, a 1.10 rating is akin to the levels of production that a star should generate, and around a 1.20 rating and above is the level that is expected to come out of a superstar. Not only did Elige play at a superstar level, at ESL One New York, he also played at a level that has not been seen out of a North American player in a long time.

Elige followed up ESL One New York with two other impressive performances at IEM Oakland and Northern Arena, finishing with overall ratings of 1.15 and 1.27 respectively. While Elige’s performance at EPL Finals was nothing to write home about, finishing with a .94 rating and no really impressive single map performances, his other individual performances over the last few months have been more than enough to establish him as one of the best players within North America currently.

Stewie2k

One of the most impressive aspects of Stewie2k is the fact that he functions in a dual role within the Cloud 9 system. Not only is he tasked with the job of being a competent entry fragger, he also has had the expectations of an In Game Leader thrust upon him.

Normally the role of In Game Leader would not ever be in the hands of an entry fragger, especially not an entry fragger who is famous for having extremely limited amounts of experience playing Counter Strike competitively. However ever since Stewie2k found his way into the role of In Game Leader for Cloud 9 things have changed drastically within the team.

Stewie2k’s leadership has not been characterized by impressive tactics, no tactic that the current Cloud 9 roster runs can be seen as wildly innovative. Rather, as a leader, Stewie2k has managed to implement a system within Cloud 9 which has allowed certain pieces to flourish. Under Stewie2k’s leadership, the dual star setup of Autimatic and Stewie2k has led Cloud 9 to levels of success that hasn’t been seen in North American Counter Strike in quite a while.

Despite all of Stewie2k’s prowess as a leader his most impressive aspect has been the fact that he still manages to put up impressive individual performances all whilst being the tactician that the team relies upon. As an individual within the server Stewie2k plays a versatile role within the Cloud 9 system. If the team requires a second awper who can create openings then Stewie can fill that gap, but if what the team needs in a game is a rifler who can make the hard entries onto a site, Stewie can also fill that role.

This versatility that Stewie2k brings into the Cloud 9 roster has allowed him to put up some impressive statistics over this roster’s history on LAN events. Over these last three months Cloud 9 have attended eight events, and Stewie2k has finished with an HLTV rating below 1.00 at only two of those events.

While his statistical ratings at those events never really reached the same levels of Elige and Autimatic, his overall game impact has been extremely impressive when one takes into account the fact that Stewie2k was the primary entry fragger for those games all whilst providing strategic input. Regularly Stewie would impact the server and change the game for his team in a variety of ways. He could potentially provide the impact frags that were necessary in order to secure a pivotal round or he could make the right call in game that could lead the team to securing a round.

Overall, over these past several months, Stewie2k has utilized his amazing versatility in game to emerge as not only one of the brightest young stars in the game today but also one of the strongest contenders for the title of best North American player.

Autimatic

The tale of Autimatic’s rise over the past few months has been one of the most surprising stories to grace the Counter Strike community in quite a long time. Before joining Cloud 9, Autimatic was viewed as a simple middle of the road player in most of the teams that he had been in. Autimatic was not the player from TSM that popped into most people’s heads, those honors were reserved for the duo of Twistzz and Sick.

However ever since his arrival into Cloud 9 it seems that most people can not get Autimatic out of their heads. Cloud 9 has looked completely revolutionized, ever since Autimatic’s arrival, going from a team that struggled to make its impact on the international stage to one that has managed to win one of the biggest tournaments in North America’s longstanding history.

The most impressive part that Autimatic has played in Cloud 9 over the last few months has been his role as the primary star of Cloud 9, and more importantly, as a North American star capable of fragging at an international level. Too often do North American stars reserve their star level of play solely for domestic competition, and sometimes an odd map here or there versus high level competition.

In the case of Autimatic, there has been no lack of fragging regardless of the opponent that he has come across. At ESL Pro League finals, the tournament that Cloud 9 claimed their first tier one title at, Autimatic finished with not only a 1.31 hltv rating for the entire event but also with the MVP trophy for the entire event.

Impressively enough, Autimatic’s individual success has not come out of a play style relying on high levels of mechanical prowess and flashy shots, rather Autimatic succeeds due to his ability to be consistent in all aspects of the game over long periods of time. Nowhere is this more evident than upon taking a look at Autimatic’s ratings over his entire tenure on Cloud 9, finishing with below a 1.00 rating for an event only once over the last three months.

Over these last three months, Autimatic has emerged as a primary star in a top ten team in the world. When one takes that into account, and his superstar level performances at tournaments like ESL Pro League Finals, then it comes as no surprise that Autimatic is one of the strongest contenders for the spot of best North American player.

Who Takes the Spot?

Each of the three candidates have a strong case for being the best player in North America, sadly only one of them can ultimately come to be crowned as the best player within North America.

In Elige’s corner he has the strength of his individual performances versus some of the best teams in the world backing him up, however he has also has his own inconsistencies at certain events during this year detracting from his case. Autimatic similarly has had impressive individual performances backing him up, yet the question of whether he is simply a product of the system around him remains at the back of everyone’s minds. Finally Stewie2k’s case for being the best North American player emerges when you take a look at his dual role of leader and secondary star, yet the fact of the matter is that he has not had as impressive individual performances when compared to Elige and Autimatic.

The fact of the matter, however, is that there is no right or wrong answer in picking the best player out of these three candidates. Ultimately if one were to pick the best out of these three it would come down to the individual’s biases and preferences in regards to Counter Strike players. One could not go wrong in naming any one of these three as the top dog within the North American region as each of them have built up a resume that makes them worthy of the top spot in North America.