Being “clutch” is a special distinction that few players reach in any competitive outlet. These are the types that consistently come through when it counts the most and hold a special place in the hearts of their fans and the psyches of their opponents.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is no different. Players will often find themselves in a position where they are outnumbered, and while most ultimately try to make the best of a bad situation, some are capable of reliably digging their way out of that hole.
Rivalry recently crunched the numbers and figured out the five CSGO players who are the most clutch.
Former FaZe Clan and current Natus Vincere star Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács kicks things off with 163 career clutches. The veteran player’s AWP has carried both organizations to a number of high-profile wins, and even now he shows no signs of slowing down.
More than a decade deep into his professional career, GuardiaN’s aim is almost as sharp as ever. He’s still going to outdraw almost anyone in Counter-Strike with his AWP, something that makes him incredibly dangerous even when he’s at a significant numbers disadvantage.
Much like GuardiaN, Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz’s quickness with the AWP makes him very difficult to take down in one-on-one situations. Even if it’s a one-on-two, he’s capable of evening the odds unless his foes are flawless with their execution and communication.
dev1ce’s steeliness has been a big part in Astralis’ rise to the top of the CSGO scene. A case can be made that actually raises his game at the biggest events, which has seen him score a number of memorable clutches at majors and helped him become a two-time major MVP.
Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo has been a force in Counter-Strike for almost 15 years now and has been among the most competitively active in recent years. That veteran status and hectic schedule put FalleN in position to find himself in lots of clutch situations. He makes good on them by being an exceptional player, particularly with his trusty AWP.
During his runs with Luminosity Gaming, SK Gaming, and MiBR, Fallen came out on top of a whopping 179 clutch situations. Though MiBR has fallen on hard times of late, FalleN remains one of the steadiest hands in CSGO when the chips are down.
FaZe Clan parted ways with GuardiaN earlier this year. Statistically speaking, there are few players that could have replaced him in terms of maintaining production in tricky spots. They found one of those few in Marcelo “coldzera” David.
A longtime teammate of FalleN, the two shared the same highs, lows, and the ability to come through in the clutch. Now that they find themselves on opposite sides of the server, it will be interesting to see what happens if they wind up in a one-on-one situation.
CSGO fans probably aren’t surprised over seeing Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth at the top of this list. Anyone that has watched a major over the last three years has probably seen Xyp9x pull off a few heroic plays.
What might come as a surprise is the massive gap between Xyp9x and the rest of the pack. With 240 clutch round wins to his name, he has 56 more than coldzera. That’s a huge gap, but things don’t stop there.
According to HLTV’s stats, in one-on-one clutches Xyp9x has a +175 differential in one-on-one clutches across his entire career. The next best between these five players is FalleN at +76.
Xyp9x is an exceptional talent, but looking over the stats shows that he is almost superhuman when he’s the last man standing for Astralis.
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