The last couple of years have been transitional ones in the world of Counter-Strike. In the BLAST.tv Paris Major we saw the rise of names like Justinas “jL” Lekavicius and Ivan “iM” Mihai, with both of those names now being Major winners with NAVI, and even more recently, Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo has risen to the top with MOUZ.

Here at Bo3.gg we always like to stay ahead of the curve, so we asked the talent on hand at the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 for a list of players who will rise to the top quicker than you can say “Rush B.”

Brandon “BDog” Rawlings

I’ll go for r1nkle as my bold prediction, and I think NIP would do well by signing him. (Editor’s note: this comment was made before NIP signed him, so well played, BDog)
r1nkle has appeared at multiple RMRs and B8 always go 2-0 up and then just crumbles under the pressure, but one thing is for sure, he is a player for the future and you see the direction that Tier 1 teams are going in they are looking for more experienced Tier 2 players and giving them opportunities

Neo “Ne0kai” Caine

I've got a few. One guy who many people won't know at all but I think is one of the most talented riflers I've seen in a long time is icyvl0ne, he plays for NKT and I saw him at IESF representing Uzbekistan. He's insanely talented, one of the best entrys I've ever seen, he's got that raw, kinda donk-esque hard swing, he's super self-reliant.
Aside from that, a lot of people would say nilo or podi and I think they're very good but, are they going to be stuck in their current organisations for a while? podi was in ENCE Academy but now Sprout has fallen apart I don't know if he's going to get any chances in a top team for a while.

Travis “Trav” Landaw Mott

I think ICY from AMKAL could still do really good stuff even though they're now making roster moves. cej0t from ex-Sprout is another name that could be mentioned.
The obvious one is nilo though, I had the chance to cast a 1v5 of his in the Dallas qualifiers and that was an absolutely brilliant clutch. Everyone has been speaking about him and there's a reason why, I can't wait to see what he can do as Metizport continue to rise up the ranks. That whole team is one to watch, it's not just him.

Adam “Dinko” Hawthorne

I think salazar, the Danish AWPer, will be a little bigger coming into next year. I think he's a player that we'll start talking about a lot more.

Michael “YouM3” Cassidy

That's hard right now, I feel like there's no stand-out player. Statistically, you could go Magnojez, but I just don't feel like there's a team in the top tier of Counter-Strike that could make use of him right now.

Harvey “Skriv” Rodgers

I quite like the look of ICY who is playing for AMKAL. We saw them in the Opening Stage of the Major and maybe they didn't perform as some people would have expected, but they're a pretty solid tier two team. He's 18, from Kazakhstan, and so much talent comes out of there. Under the right wing, he could turn into something quite awesome.