Top 10 CS:GO Pro Players you should follow on Twitch

Counter-Strike:Global Offensive e-sport

As years go by, Counter-Strike:Global Offensive, Valve’s famous FPS, still encounters the same never-ending success. In 2017, it remained as one of the soundest investments in esports and offered many new tournaments, more cashprizes and spectacular shows for spectators and online viewers.

This outstanding success can also be perceived on Twitch: more and more players, amateurs and professionals, choose to stream their games on the franchise on a daily basis.

For this article we decided to focus on pro players’ streams: active or retired, many of them have been entertaining their communities on Twitch with high-level plays, great moves and strategic advice.

Here are the Top 10 CS:GO pro players you should follow on Twitch at the moment, ranked by their overall popularity (total number of followers and views) and by their stream frequency (for your greatest enjoyment).



10. Jacob « Pimp » Winneche


Photo credit: DreamHack
Pimp esport player on Counter-Strike

Pimp’s Twitch Channel

Current total number of followers: 110,327

Current total number of views: 4,303,895

Stream frequency: daily

Jacob « Pimp » Winneche was already a professional player on Counter-Strike:Source, the version preceding Counter-Strike:Global Offensive which was only released in 2012. The Danish player joined different teams in his home country, the most famous being Copenhagen Wolves, Team Dignitas and SK Gaming. Pimp quickly stood out thanks to his skills as a sniper and was finally hired in a powerful team from North America, Team Liquid. For a year, he played in the best tournaments all around the world, and eventually decided to go back home and become a full time streamer under the tag of Team Dignitas.

Although he is not officially retired and might come back on the scene, Pimp is currently dedicating a lot of his time for streaming on Twitch. He plays on CS:GO every day to entertain his fans.



9. Eric « adreN » Hoag


Photo credit: MLG
adreN CS:GO pro player

adreN’s Twitch Channel

Current total number of followers: 241,750

Current total number of views:9,745,646

Stream frequency: daily

Eric « adreN » Hoag also started playing on Source. At that time, he had already made a name for himself as one of the best in-game leader of the North American scene. On CS:GO, he is mainly known for having played with iBUYPOWER and Team Liquid, two powerful teams in North America. In June 2016 however, adreN was kicked from Team Liquid et since then has been playing in a small team made of streamers.

adreN invests quite a lot of time in his stream, and plays on CS:GO on a daily basis. He was quickly nicknamed « the teacher« , as his channel is known to be one of the most educational stream on the game.



8. Jordan « n0thing » Gilbert


Photo credit: Beyond the Summit
n0thing professional player on CS:GO

n0thing’s Twitch Channel

Current total number of followers: 375,861

Current total number of views:7,515,342

Stream frequency: regular

Jordan « n0thing » Gilbert is a well-known American player who enjoys a good reputation. From August 2014 to August 2017, he was an emblematic player of the North American team Cloud9, and encountered many successes at the most prestigious tournaments. He is well-liked thanks to his humility and nice character, thus acquiring a large fan base. Since he was recently benched by his team, he’s currently taking more time to stream and interact with the community.

Since last 2017, n0thing has also been invited to several events as a caster, so he still has to take a break from Twitch from time to time. When he does stream, you can see him either on CS:GO, or on other popular games like Call of Duty or PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.



7. Jake « Stewie2K » Yip


Photo credit: DreamHack
Stewie2K esport pro player on Counter-Strike

Stewie2K’s Twitch Channel

Current total number of followers: 431,801

Current total number of views:7,862,966

Stream frequency: irregular

Jake « Stewie2K » Yip is a young American player who first started playing on CS:GO in 2014, and quickly showed great talent on the game. After a short period within Splyce, Stewie2K got hired by Cloud9 early 2016 despite being unknown on the professional scene. Nobody thought this would work, and they were wrong, since Stewie’s team recently won the most prestigious tournament on CS:GO : a Major.

Thanks to his great performance on the professional scene, Stewie2K has gathered an important fan base and streams every now and then for them, when he’s not training with his teammates. Thanks to his experience and his past as an in-game leader, his games are very educational, full of skills and strategic moves.



6. Jason « jasonR » Ruchelski


Photo credit: DreamHack
jasonR former CS:GO pro player

jasonR’s Twitch Channel

Current total number of followers: 393,622

Current total number of views:14,185,093

Stream frequency: daily

Jason « jasonR » Ruchelski is a Canadian player that used to play on the North American scene. He first reached an international level within Splyce, then entered Optic as a trial when the team was looking for its fifth player to enter the Major of Summer 2017. Only three months later, the player chose himself to put an end to his trial as he wanted to dedicate his time to online streaming. Since then, he’s been showing his games with pro players daily, and his Twitch channel has become a reference for CS:GO fans.

Thanks to his popularity and explosive character, jasonR has managed to gather a large fan base. Right now, he’s trying to diversify his stream with other games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or Fortnite.



5. Joshua « steel » Nissan


Photo credit: HLTV
steel banned pro player on CS:GO

steel’s Twitch Channel

Current total number of followers: 412,055

Current total number of views:21,732,163

Stream frequency: daily

Joshua « steel » Nissan is a Canadian player who also started his career on Source, within the famous Team Dynamic. Later on CS:GO, while playing for iBUYPOWER, one of the best North American teams in 2014, steel, three of his teammates and their coach were accused of match-fixing and were banned from any official tournament. However, steel did not stop streaming and still had people supporting him after this event. In July 2017, ESL, an organization that holds many CS:GO events throughout the year, lifted its ban on the players accused of match-fixing. Thanks to this decision, steel was recently able to return to the professional scene and is currently playing with team Torqued.

Nevertheless, steel hasn’t dropped his streaming sessions on Twitch, and still shows his games on CS:GO on a daily basis.



4. Tarik « tarik » Celik


Photo credit: DreamHack
tarik esport professional player on Counter-Strike

tarik’s Twitch Channel

Current total number of followers: 469,813

Current total number of views: 13,979,871

Stream frequency: regular

Tarik « tarik » Celik is a Turquish-American player who started as a streamer, and quickly proved to be a very talented player. Since he started his pro career, tarik has played with renowned North American teams such as Counter Logic Gaming and Optic, and more recently joined Cloud9 as their in-game leader, in August 2017. Back when he was only a streamer, tarik was already well-known for streaming shirtless, eating cereals from one hand and destroying his ennemies from the other, thus obtaining the nickname « Cereal Killer ». At that time, he was full of skills but had no interest in team play. Since then, tarik has become a reference by leading his team to the top and winning the ELEAGUE Boston Major 2018, the most important tournament on CS:GO.

Even after he became successful on the professional scene, tarik never stopped streaming. When he’s not travelling from tournament to tournament, he takes time to go on Twitch and display fun and skillful games on CS:GO.



3. Oleksandr « s1mple » Kostyliev


Photo credit: ELEAGUE
s1mple ukrainian player on Counter-Strike

s1mple’s Twitch Channel

Current total number of followers: 514,710

Current total number of views: 17,471,851

Stream frequency: occasional

Oleksandr « s1mple » Kostyliev is an Ukrainian player and already a legend on CS:GO. He started playing on the professional scene at a young age and proved to be a very talented sniper. He first joined some powerful teams from Eastern Europe, such as Hellraisers and Flipsid3 Tactics. At that time, he was also well-known for his difficult character and immature acts, and started his career by leaving one team after another. Things finally got better in 2016 when s1mple joined Team Liquid in North America, and the player gained more maturity. A year later, he chose to go back in Europe and has been playing with the very powerful Natus Vincere since then.

s1mple hardly ever has time to log into Twitch, but when he does, he displays his high-level skills and quick thinking in English. Because he is so renowned and popular on the professional scene, each appearance he makes on Twitch is followed by almost 10,000 people.



2. Mohamad « m0E » Assad


Photo credit: HLTV
m0e former pro player on CS:GO

m0e’s Twitch Channel

Current total number of followers: 688,405

Current total number of views: 20,552,653

Stream frequency: quotidienne

Mohamad « m0E » Assad is a retired American player who was on the North American scene until late 2015. Better known for his strong character than for his pro career, m0e became very popular thanks to his stream that combines rage, fun and skillful play. Even after he retired, he remained involved in the North American pro scene by managing team Echo Fox and casting a few tournaments.

m0e is on Twitch everyday and is very close to his community. When he’s not playing on CS:GO with his pro player friends, he’s streaming different games or IRL talks.



1. Michael « shroud » Grzesiek


Photo credit: DreamHack
shroud former professional player on CS:GO

shroud’s Twitch Channel

Current total number of followers: 2,696,087

Current total number of views: 115,665,778

Stream frequency: daily

Michael « shroud » Grzesiek is a Canadian player and a real star on Twitch. From August 2014 to August 2017, he played for Cloud9, considered to be one of the most powerful North American teams of all times. When Cloud9 decided to bench him, he chose to retire and become a full-time streamer for the structure. His Twitch channel was already popular when he was still an active player, but since last August shroud became a real phenomenon and a major reference for those who like CS and skillful plays in general.

Nowadays, shroud offers many different contents on his channel and is still as popular as ever thanks to his humble character and his talent. Recently, his stream has reached fourth place of the most followed Twitch channels, all categories combined.



You probably noticed that most pro players on Twitch are from the North American scene, and work to improve their image and character as much as their skills in order to gather a community around them. They’re not necessarily the best players on the scene, but certainly the most entertaining at the moment. You also have to remember that this is not a final ranking, as a player’s popularity and stream frequency always change with time. This is especially true for pro players, who have to reconcile their streaming sessions with practice and tournaments.

Anyway, if you happen to like Counter-Strike and want to improve your skills, if you like watching high-level games and feeling closer to the pro players you admire, then consider these 10 CS:GO players as the esport professionals you need to follow on Twitch at the moment.

Stats sources: Twitchmetrics

– Article written by Tanéa Milesi