Top 10 CSGO Players from the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Challengers Stage

With the Challengers Stage of the Major coming to an end, here are the top 10 names who had the best performance

The BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 has already showcased the skills of many players in the Challengers Stage. While, unsurprisingly, three of the top five spots in HLTV rankings are being occupied by G2 players, we have also seen some new names emerging from the shadows and surprising their opponents with excellent plays.

Without further ado, here are the top 10 CSGO players from the Challengers Stage –

Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov

HLTV Rating: 1.23
Impact Rating: 1.24
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 74.1%
Average Damage Round: 79.2
Kills Per Round: 0.78

Credit: ESL Gaming

m0NESY is CSGO's most exciting prospect and the player most likely to overtake Oleksandr ‘s1mple' Kostyliev and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut — whom he already matches in terms of performance at the grand old age of 18. A monster on the Big Green, m0NESY is known for his stupefying clutches, flashy flicks, and devastating shutdowns. The young Russian has been setting an example of consistency with his clinical performances.

He was solid against Apeks with ratings of 1.10 and 1.21 on Anubis and Inferno, respectively, and destroyed The Mongolz on Inferno with a 1.47-rated outing. However, his best performance came in the Best of 1 in G2's Round 2 against Complexity, where his ridiculous, belligerent AWPing — which earned him a 2.23 rating — blew Complexity away. m0NESY was largely responsible for G2’s easy march to a 3-0 qualification into the Challenger Stage.

Aleksandr “zorte” Zagodyrenko

HLTV Rating: 1.14
Impact Rating: 1.13
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.7%
Average Damage Round: 73.2
Kills Per Round: 0.72

The Russian AWPer for FORZE had his career’s best S-tier performance in this Major, but sadly, it wasn’t enough for his team to reach the Legends Stage.

I’m crying 😢 sorry , we didn’t show up in important moments, I always think that I could better in every moment, every previous game but it is not enough. Thanks for support, I will be better for the next major. Good game @GamerLegion you are deserved it <3 road to airport

— zorte (@zortecsgo) May 11, 2023

The 2022’s PGL Antwerp was zorte’s first-ever appearance in a Major event, where the 24-year-old struggled to find his footing, ending the event with a 1.03 rating and failing to get past the Challengers Stage. But it wasn’t the case in this event.

zorte was looking hot from the start of the Challengers Stage at this Major, getting a 1.41 rating against Grayhound. However, the rest of his team was falling behind, resulting in a loss in FORZE’s first game. The next game was zorte’s best look, as he singlehandedly led his team to victory against Liquid with an incredible 1.66 rating while his teammates were sub-1.

Fredrik “REZ” Sterner

HLTV Rating: 1.03
Impact Rating: 1.10
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.7%
Average Damage Round: 77.8
Kills Per Round: 0.70

The longest-standing player for Ninjas in Pyjamas has almost always underperformed in his previous Majors. However, Paris had a different plan for him, as REZ is already on the board of the top 5 players in the Challengers Stage.

This Russian player found his groove from the start in this Major, securing a 1.49 rating on NIP’s first game against MOUZ, leading them to victory. While crafting a path to the Legends Stage, REZ was assisted by his talented teammates, especially Danyyl “headtr1ck” Valitov and Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, and together they reached the goal with a 3-1 record.

Mohammad “BOROS” Malhas

HLTV Rating: 1.16
Impact Rating: 1.31
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 69.6%
Average Damage Round: 84.3
Kills Per Round: 0.79

The young rifler from Jordan is one of the most talented rookie players in Paris, and he is about to make a name for himself on his first Major appearance. BOROS began drawing our attention in the RMRs, where his excellent performance, with an average rating of 1.31 and an impact rating of 1.54, helped Monte defeat ENCE, Cloud9 and FORZE.

The 19-year-old’s first-ever Major game was against none other than FaZe in the Challengers Stage, and he had a hot start with a 1.30 rating and 28 frags. While the Ukrainian squad failed to defeat FaZe, it was a close 16-14 encounter. So far, BOROS has shown his best look on Anubis against TheMongolZ, where his domination with a 1.57 rating led to the Mongolians getting eliminated from the Major.

Robin “ropz” Kool

HLTV Rating: 1.15
Impact Rating: 1.14
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.5%
Average Damage Round:78.6
Kills Per Round: 0.74

After only a year of joining FaZe, ropz has already achieved some of the biggest achievements a CSGO professional can have! He was the #8 player of 2022, and only five months after his signing, the Estonian got the PGL Major Antwerp 2022 trophy. On top of that, he helped FaZe win several S-tier events in 2022 and 2023, including the recent ESL Pro League S17, where the rifler became the second-best player under Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut.

FaZe’s advancement to the Legends Stage has a lot to do with the lurker’s performance. Even though ropz had a slow start against Monte, he got right back to his pace by dominating paiN on Nuke and securing a 1.32 rating. However, his best performance in the Challengers stage was versus ENCE, where the 23-year-old picked 30 kills and a 1.69 rating on Overpass and then ended the Bo3 with a total of 80 frags and a 1.50 rating.

Abdulkhalik “degster” Gasanov

HLTV Rating: 1.20
Impact Rating: 1.22
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.8%
Average Damage Round: 78.3
Kills Per Round: 0.78

We had already predicted this young Russian to dominate the Major servers, and the 21-year-old didn’t disappoint. He was part of one of the greatest Cinderella stories by helping an underperforming Team Spirit reach the 2022 PGL Major Antwerp Playoffs.

It was bittersweet to see degster have his best performance of this Major in an elimination match against GamerLegion, where OG lost 2-1. He was on top of the scoreboard throughout all three maps, dominating most on Mirage and getting a 1.62 rating with an excellent 24-12 K/D record.

Keith “NAF” Markovic

HLTV Rating: 1.09
Impact Rating: 1.08
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 73.5%
Average Damage Round: 81.0
Kills Per Round: 0.72

The Canadian rifler is participating in his 7th Major under Liquid and has been the lifeline of the North American team throughout the Challengers Stage. NAF is a three-time top-20 player who has helped Liquid win several noteworthy events in 2019, arguably the best year of his career. While this experienced lurker hasn’t been on top of his game in recent months, we are seeing a change of pace from him in Paris.

Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt

HLTV Rating: 1.16
Impact Rating: 1.15
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 73.1%
Average Damage Round: 80.6
Kills Per Round: 0.72

The in-game leader for paiN hasn’t been able to lead his team to large milestones yet, and with a view to changing that, he put up an incredible look in the Challengers Stage. The Brazilian was the lifeline for paiN in these last few games, but even with their captain leading the team while being the MVPs of several matches, the roster couldn’t get their Legends Stage spot.

biguzera’s start at the Major wasn’t impressive in terms of pure stats, and he was busy directing the team to a dominating 16-2 victory against fellow Brazilian squad Fluxo. The 26-year-old rifler had his best game only one match later, where his 1.60 rating and a 21-10 K/D allowed paiN to get a convincing 16-4 victory facing Complexity. He also was on top of his game on the elimination Bo3 against Monte, as we saw him outnumber his teammates in terms of frags and rating in all three maps.

Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren

HLTV Rating: 1.14
Impact Rating: 1.19
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.9%
Average Damage Round: 83.9
Kills Per Round: 0.74

Even though The MongolZ were only able to get a single victory in the Challengers Stage, their 21-year-old rifler was able to become one of the best players by outmatching his teammates in his last three games.

The Mongolian player didn’t have a hot start on his first match against G2, but he started to get warmed up from the second game with a 1.28 rating. bLitz was at his best on the team’s high-stake elimination game against Monte, where multi-kills on Anubis made him secure an HLTV rating of 1.41 and win the map.

Pavle “maden” Bošković

HLTV Rating: 1.08
Impact Rating: 1.16
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 68.4%
Average Damage Round: 79.0
Kills Per Round: 0.72

The Montenegrin-Serbian gamer has a history of struggle in his previous two Majors. However, he decided to bring a change of pace in Paris and has already become an important name on the top players’ list.

ENCE have enjoyed a 3-0 record in the Challengers Stage, with maden leading the charge during the team’s victories. The entry fragger was outperformed by his teammate Paweł “dycha” Dycha on their first game. However, he became MVP in the next two matches, with a notable 1.43 rating on the Bo1 against Ninjas in Pyjamas. As his team was able to move forward to the next stage, we will see more from this talented player in this Major.

Keep an eye on ESTNN to receive more news, rankings and previews on the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023.