Top 10 teams of 2023

With Vitality being announced as the Team of The Year at the HLTV Award Show by 1xBet, now comes time to reveal the remaining top ten teams of 2023.

As the 2024 season gets into the swing of things with the PGL Major Copenhagen qualifiers, it is worth taking a step back to examine and acknowledge the best teams of 2023 and their performances. HLTV has previously unveiled the three finalists as part of the HLTV Award Show, but now we can also give a nod to the extended top 10 list for the past year.

The HLTV World Ranking from top-level tournaments (the same selection as in the Top 20 Players ranking) was the determining factor in this list and the methodology was twofold, using a formula that combined a core's raw total points gained and their average point gain per event.

As in the previous iterations, in our list the focus is on three-man cores rather than team organizations themselves. It is also worth noting that the placings were unaffected by the consequences of point decay or roster changes, as long as the three-man unit remained intact. This also meant that several organizations' different core lineups were considered separately — and, as you will see, helped one in particular earn a double placing.

While Vitality were head and shoulders above the rest of the pack for 2023, there still remained fierce competition in the rankings. Although the bottom half of the list was by and large delineated clearly, the placements of the year's top five squads were a battlefield apart from Vitality's place atop 2023's throne.

Rounding out the bottom of 2023's top 10 teams and edging out Monte by the smallest of margins is GamerLegion, the squad on this list who no doubt had the lowest expectations around them heading into 2023. A successful run through European RMR A for the IEM Rio Major propelled the squad to the top 30 heading into the new year, but it remained to be seen whether or not the international side had it in them to capitalize further off their initial Major appearance.

The first third of 2023 consisted of a heavy helping of online cups and qualifiers for Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek and his men. Here, the team managed consistently deep runs which helped solidify their place at the top of the tier two European scene, but crucial shortcomings in key qualifiers limited their ability to break out any further. The team's saving grace came in the form of a strong showing at one of the BLAST Paris Major European RMR closed qualifiers, where a 3-0 run through the Swiss stage made reaching the Major a realistic possibility for the squad.

Although GamerLegion faltered in their opening match to Apeks in the RMR, they quickly composed themselves, besting their next three opponents to snag a place in the Paris Major Challengers Stage. After a devastating 0-2 start in Paris, siuhy's troops rallied to put together three consecutive wins yet again, moving them on to the Legends Stage. Soon, GamerLegion found themselves in a position to do real damage. Earthshattering performances from Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan powered the team to not only the playoffs, but all the way to the finals, where the team's fairy-tale run was eventually halted by the behemoths of Vitality. Such a performance far outshined any expectations placed on the squad, who had entered the Legends Stage as the lowest-ranked team in the top 16.

GamerLegion struggled to replicate their astounding Major success. siuhy and iM soon moved on to bigger organizations, leaving the team reeling after their grandest achievement yet. Sebastian "⁠volt⁠" Maloș filled the vacancy left by iM, but the leading duties proved to be more difficult to pass on, with Sanzhar "⁠neaLaN⁠" Iskhakov being the first to try his hand at the role. GamerLegion's Major results garnered the European side a slew of top event invites, but the squad seemed unable to claim consistent top results, with a respectable top-eight showing at IEM Cologne segueing into short runs at Gamers8 or ESL Pro League Season 18.

The team opted for changes ahead of the first CS2 event at IEM Sydney, replacing neaLaN with Polish veteran Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski, but GamerLegion's woes remained. The team missed out on Sydney's playoffs in close fashion, adding another solid event to their tally before bowing out of four consecutive smaller events in last or second-to-last place, leaving a sour ending to the year for a core who had achieved the unthinkable just months prior.

The new international core of Natus Vincere fills in the spot of the year's ninth-best team. The European side's strong placings in some of the latter half of the year's biggest events helped to secure them a place on the list, but their inability to consistently snag playoff appearances and limited sample size kept them below other squads.

Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's iteration of Natus Vincere was undoubtedly one of the most stunning moves to come out of the post-Major roster shuffle, with the dismantling of the Ukrainian national bastion in favor of an international mix coming almost entirely out of left field.

The squad's debut at the BLAST Premier Fall Groups showed positive signs, in particular with their win over G2 to lock down a place in the Fall Finals, but the team's biggest test would come at IEM Cologne just days later. At the flagship German event, Natus Vincere were immediately knocked down to the lower bracket by MOUZ, before the team recovered with wins over OG and FaZe. Although their playoff hopes would be dashed by Astralis at the last hurdle, the results for a team that had only just been cobbled together were promising.

ESL Pro League Season 18 is where Natus Vincere's promises were to be cashed in, as the European side kicked things off by topping their group with ease, not dropping a single map en route to the playoffs. Natus Vincere's run continued with wins over Eternal Fire and Monte before their trophy-lifting dreams were crushed by MOUZ in the finals. The team looked to carry their momentum into the debut CS2 event at IEM Sydney, but Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev's unplanned absence forced the use of coach Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy as a stand-in. Although the team were still deadly, taking maps off MOUZ and FaZe, it was not enough to secure another playoff appearance, with Aleksib's men ultimately bowing out in 9-12th place.

With s1mple's decision to step back from active play coming not long after the conclusion of IEM Sydney, Natus Vincere were left with the daunting task of replacing someone who was effectively irreplaceable. The burden of filling s1mple's shoes would pass to his fellow countryman Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov, who topped the charts for his squad in their debut at the BLAST Premier Fall Final. Although the team had a lackluster placing in Copenhagen, their EPL run secured them enough points for an appearance at the BLAST Premier World Finals to round out the European side's year. Natus Vincere made the most of their final outing of the season, besting the new-look ENCE and G2 lineups to claim a semifinal finish, with their only two losses coming at the hands of eventual champs Vitality, ending their 2023 on a good note.

Next up to bat is the core of Cloud9 that effectively lasted until the end of IEM Cologne just after the summer break. It might come off as awkward that the core of this team is considered to be Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov, Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov and Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov, but it is their most successful one given that they earned a large part of their points at the German event without Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov, who was sidelined by visa issues before the playoffs, and that later in the year they made their best placings following the additions of Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov and Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy without sh1ro.

This iteration of Cloud9 shared a similar fate to the previously discussed international Natus Vincere, in that both squads were fully capable of making deep runs but were inconsistent in doing so, and hampered by the fact that they only competed for a little more than a half of 2023.

Cloud9 did not have a start to the year that one would expect from a top team, kicking things off with a complete collapse at IEM Katowice. First knocked to the lower bracket by Natus Vincere, the Russian side were stunned by IHC, the lowest-ranked team in attendance, to send them packing from Poland in last place. Despite the troubling beginning to the year, Cloud9 quickly bounced back by topping their group at ESL Pro League Season 17, taking the scalps of G2 and Outsiders along the way. Cloud9 kept the momentum up in the playoffs, marching to the finals before being halted by a FaZe lineup hungry for an Intel Grand Slam win.

The team went on to earn some minor victories after Pro League, qualifying for the BLAST Premier Spring Finals and IEM Dallas, but the BLAST Paris Major loomed as the squad's priority, with Europe RMR B acting as the first step towards reaching that goal. After a quick win over FORZE, Cloud9 were stunned by Monte to send them to the 1-1 pool. A belabored win over Eternal Fire put the team within a stone's throw of qualifying, but tough draws against G2 and ENCE sent Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov and co. to the Last Chance Qualifier. After trouncing most of the opposition, Cloud9 squared off against FaZe and fell at the last hurdle as their Major chances were dashed before they even made it to Paris.

After the disastrous result, Cloud9 were back in action at IEM Rio just days later, but the squad seemed strong despite the circumstances. The Russians cruised through their group to secure a semifinal appearance in Brazil, ultimately falling to Vitality in a tight series thanks to a stellar performance from Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut. Mixed results at IEM Dallas and the BLAST Premier Spring Final proved to be the death knell for this core after already being on thin ice from their Major qualification mishap. Although the core officially dissolved past this point, the use of buster as a stand-in in place of Ax1Le allowed the three-man unit to claim a quarter-final appearance at IEM Cologne in their unplanned final outing.

Making their way onto this list once again is Natus Vincere, this time featuring the Ukrainian core before the organization's international overhaul after the Paris Major. This lineup managed a streak of strong results across the events that they played, but with a grand total of only six LANs under their belt in 2023 the team was unable to climb further up the ranking.

Natus Vincere kicked off the year with a new addition to the lineup, bringing on Andrii "⁠npl⁠" Kukharskyi full-time in lieu of Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev. The squad's debut with npl as a permanent addition came at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, where two wins over Ninjas in Pyjamas and an extremely close victory versus Complexity secured the team a place in the Spring Finals, albeit without turning many heads along the way. Natus Vincere put together a far more impressive run at IEM Katowice, besting Cloud9 and Liquid to secure a spot in the playoffs, and subsequently taking down Outsiders in the quarter-finals. Although the Danes of HEROIC put a stop to their good fortunes, a semi-final showing at Katowice was certainly nothing to sniff at.

Katowice would be just the beginning for s1mple and co., as they secured yet another semi-final appearance at ESL Pro League Season 17, taking revenge on HEROIC in the quarter-finals before falling to eventual EPL and Grand Slam winners FaZe. Natus Vincere kept the ball rolling at Europe RMR A for the Paris Major, putting together a 3-0 run through the Swiss stage that ended with a convincing 2-0 win over FaZe. This success was immediately followed up by reaching yet another semifinal berth, this time at IEM Rio, thanks to a dominant run through the group stage. With the Paris Major now just weeks away, Natus Vincere seemed poised to make a deep run in CS:GO's final Major.

Unfortunately, despite the team's strong, albeit lacking in silverware, record for the year up to that point, Natus Vincere were unable to maintain their form all the way to the Major. Two early wins and a loss to Liquid in the Swiss stage put Natus Vincere within touching distance of playoffs, but consecutive BO3 losses to Monte and FaZe forced Natus Vincere to bow out in 9-11th place, a far cry from the potential showcased in earlier events. Despite the team's otherwise promising results from the first half of the year, this critical miss at the Major ultimately set in motion the departures of electroNic and Perfecto and the signing of the organization's first international lineup.

The first title-winning side on this list is MOUZ, who recovered from a lackluster first half of the year to become a consistent top squad following the additions of siuhy and Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo, earning them the sixth position in 2023's rankings.

After a semifinal finish at the IEM Rio Major to complete 2022, MOUZ, expectations were high for Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong's men heading into IEM Katowice to kick off their 2023 season. A quick succession of losses to OG and Complexity put a damper on those expectations, sending MOUZ packing in short order. A quarter-final finish at ESL Pro League Season 17 and a narrowly secured place at the Paris Major softened the blow of their early exit at Katowice, but the results did not inspire confidence that a deep run was possible for the squad.

Any glimmers of hope remaining soon vanished after the team's run at IEM Rio, where MOUZ were unable to replicate their previous performance in Brazil, exiting in last place. Weeks later, they would suffer the same fate in the Challengers Stage of the Paris Major, going 0-3 in the Swiss Stage to end the first half of their season in disappointing fashion. A second-place finish at IEM Dallas served as the squad's best placing of the year, but by this point, the nail was in the coffin for this iteration of MOUZ. Amidst the chaos of the post-Major shuffle, the team opted to bring on siuhy and Jimpphat in place of dexter and Jon "⁠JDC⁠" de Castro, reuniting the Polish in-game leader with three of his former MOUZ NXT teammates.

Although the squad managed to reach the main stage of IEM Cologne in their debut showing, they were unable to get much farther, with a middling 9-12th finish. MOUZ's breakout event would come soon afterward, as the team marched to victory at ESL Pro League Season 18 off the back of monstrous performances from David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský and Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás. MOUZ kept up the pace in their next few events, with playoff finishes at IEM Sydney, Thunderpick World Championship, and CS Asia Championships. A group stage exit at Elisa Masters Espoo marked the final result of this core, as frozen moved on to FaZe to replace Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken in the — at the time — No. 1 team.

Coming in at fifth for the year is the international side of ENCE, who climbed sharply from ninth place in 2022 thanks to several deep runs off the backs of stellar performances from Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García and Guy "⁠NertZ⁠" Iluz in the middle of the year.

The core that played out the majority of the year was formed after the team's early bow-out at the IEM Katowice Play-in spelled the end for Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså, who was replaced by Israeli up-and-comer NertZ in February. His addition immediately bore fruit after a disappointing few months, as the team marched to a semi-final finish at EPL Season 17, with standout wins over top sides G2 and Vitality before the squad faced a tight loss to Cloud9 to end their run. The success at Pro League was soon followed up by a sketchy performance in Europe RMR B, as a 0-2 start was converted to a 3-2 qualification in large part thanks to a top-tier performance from new addition NertZ.

Once in Paris, the European side proceeded through the Challengers Stage with ease, moving to the Legends Stage with three consecutive wins under their belt. The top 16 of the Major would not be quite as fortunate for ENCE, as a win over Bad News Eagles segued into losses to Vitality, Into the Breach, and Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Despite the disappointing finish, ENCE hit the ground running immediately afterward at IEM Dallas, earning their first Big Event win on the back of Spanish AWPer SunPayus tearing apart the opposition. After rounding out the first half of their year with a second-place finish at ESL Challenger Katowice, ENCE opted to keep their lineup untouched amidst the summer roster shuffle, rolling into IEM Cologne with the wind in their sails. Here, the squad secured an appearance in the finals after close wins over HEROIC and Vitality before being halted by G2. This performance was just the beginning for ENCE, as the team claimed another finals appearance at Gamers8 and made it to the top four at the first CS2 event, IEM Sydney.

A quarter-final exit at CS Asia Championships followed as the team had to utilize Vladan "⁠VLDN⁠" Radević instead of Paweł "⁠dycha⁠" Dycha due to visa issues, and not long after this the exits of Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer and coach Eetu "⁠sAw⁠" Saha were confirmed, while rumors of the departure of every other player spare dycha were in full swing. The core's final event under the ENCE banner came at the BLAST Premier World Final with Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander at the reins, ending in an unfortunate last-place finish, a meek sendoff to an otherwise stellar second half of the year as the former core packed their bags to reconvene on Falcons.

HEROIC secure their second consecutive appearance at fourth place in the end-of-year rankings, highlighting the squad's consistency across both 2022 and 2023. This superb floor across most of the year's top events helped the squad maintain their stellar placing on this list, but the lack of more trophies prevented them from placing any higher in a very close race for second place between three teams.

After a false start to the talent pipeline of Evil Geniuses at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, HEROIC recovered with three hard-fought wins to lay claim to a place in the Spring Finals. IEM Katowice followed shortly thereafter, where the Danes swept their group-stage opponents to earn a direct semi-final appearance, earning a quick win over Natus Vincere to move on to the finals. Although G2 would be the ones to go on to lift the trophy, a podium finish at one of the year's top events was certainly still something to be proud of.

A quarter-final finish at EPL Season 17, where Natus Vincere exacted their revenge, left more to be desired, but an unbeaten run at Europe RMR B helped to soften the blow with a reservation for the Paris Major Legends Stage.

Ahead of their Major campaign, HEROIC locked down another runner-up finish for good measure, this time at IEM Rio after suffering a close loss to Vitality. Looking to buck their trend of missing out on trophy lifts, HEROIC began their Major run with a smooth 3-0 start, following it up with a huge win over the Grand Slam winners of FaZe in the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller's men would not continue their streak of finals appearances, as the Danes found themselves stunned by GamerLegion, sending one of the favorites for the event packing.

HEROIC hoped to wipe off the dust at IEM Dallas, and although they managed a semi-final appearance they could go no further, ultimately being felled by another underdog about to make changes, MOUZ. HEROIC's time in the United States was not finished after this loss however, as the team went on to notch their first and only event win of the year at the BLAST Premier Spring Finals in D.C., giving the squad something to be thankful for after going home empty-handed for months.

HEROIC picked up where they left off after the player break with a quick run through the BLAST Premier Fall Groups to snag a place in the Fall Finals, before packing their bags for IEM Cologne. Cologne continued the trend of results that were strong, but not quite enough, as HEROIC fell to Danish archrivals Astralis in the quarter-finals. Gamers8 told a similar story, with HEROIC falling short in the semi-finals after a loss to ENCE.

ESL Pro League Season 18 would offer a dramatic departure from the team's otherwise consistently stellar form, as HEROIC simply collapsed, finishing the league in a middling 21-28th place, securing only a single win over Australian side Rooster. This result marked the end of this HEROIC lineup, as the squad opted to part ways with cadiaN before Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard and Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund made their own decision to depart, leaving the organization to field a number of stand-ins for their final events of the year before rebuilding entirely heading into 2024. The core would claim one final appearance at the BLAST Fall Finals, employing cadiaN to notch a single win over Astralis before making their exit.

Although FaZe were unable to top the charts for the second year in a row, Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's men still impressed in 2023, making their way to the top three after an Intel Grand Slam win in the first half of the year and a dominant run in the latter half following the release of CS2. The squad's placing was only hampered by a handful of runs in the circuit's very top events that left more to be desired, a rather low floor that ultimately cost them second place.

FaZe kicked off their year with a stroll through BLAST's Spring Groups, easily earning a spot in the Spring Finals despite having to use Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen instead of Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard, who missed out on the event in anticipation of the birth of his child. The real prize up for grabs for FaZe was the prospect of securing an Intel Grand Slam win, with just one more ESL tournament victory being needed to snatch the $1,000,000 bounty. Unfortunately, IEM Katowice would not be the place where FaZe were to claim their prize, as the team faced an early exit after losses to G2 and Liquid. But FaZe did not have to wait much longer to cash in, as the squad capitalized on their next available opportunity at Pro League Season 17, moving past a CIS gauntlet of FORZE, Natus Vincere, and Cloud9 in the playoffs to secure one of the scene's most prestigious awards.

With the Grand Slam under their belt, FaZe looked to maintain their momentum en route to qualifying for the Paris Major, but this proved much more difficult than expected. A rough run at the RMR forced them through the Last Chance Qualifier, where they earned a place in the Challengers Stage only after denying Cloud9 their own spot in Paris. A group stage exit at IEM Rio did little to bolster their confidence, but FaZe bounced back at the Major, marching to the quarter-finals. That would be as far as they went however, as HEROIC edged out the win over FaZe to eliminate the European side. From there, the remainder of the first half of the year was mixed, a solid semi-final appearance at IEM Dallas juxtaposed with a poor performance at BLAST Premier Spring Final, where FaZe bowed out in 5-6th place.

The second half of the season began much like the first; FaZe moved through the Fall Groups with ease, and missed out on a deep run in Cologne, exiting in 9-12th place. Middling results at Gamers8 and EPL Season 18 did little to turn the team's fortunes. Although things were not quite going the way of the FaZe camp, the release of CS2 would quickly turn the scene on its head, giving the squad a ripe opportunity to gun for titles once again.

Gun for the top they did, as FaZe put together an impressive streak, hoisting trophies at IEM Sydney and CS Asia Championship alongside the online Thunderpick World Championship. The shocking news of the departure of Twistzz came before a finals appearance at the BLAST Premier Fall Final, where the squad's streak was finally broken by Vitality. Employing frozen to fill Twistzz's steed, FaZe concluded their year with another second-place finish to Vitality at the BLAST World Final.

Snagging the second-place finish on 2023's list of top ten squads is G2, who narrowly edged out the opposition thanks to victories at two of the year's three most prestigious tournaments, alongside consistent placings at other big events throughout the year.

After finishing 2022 with a win at the BLAST Premier World Final, hopes were high for G2 rolling into 2023. Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen and his men did well to live up to expectations and kicked off a winning streak, steamrolling their competition in the BLAST Spring Groups and IEM Katowice, dropping only a single map across the two events. After another dominant run in the BLAST Paris Major RMR Closed Qualifier, G2 began to cool off, exiting EPL Season 17 in 9-12th place and suffering losses to 9INE and Vitality in European RMR B, but G2 could still by no means be discounted considering their voracious start to the year.

A quick 3-0 run through the BLAST Paris Major Challengers Stage soothed some doubts, but such comforts did not last as the team crashed and burned in the Legends Stage, bowing out with a 1-3 record after losses to Vitality, Bad News Eagles, and fnatic. G2 looked to get back to winning ways at IEM Dallas, mustering a quarter-final appearance, but they would go no further after a tight loss to FaZe. Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and co. would ultimately finish the first half of the season with a semi-final showing at the BLAST Spring Finals, stumbling versus eventual champions HEROIC.

G2 resumed the 2023 season with a subpar showing at the Fall Groups, but immediately bounced back at IEM Cologne, where the team displayed an impressive run of form that saw them take the scalps of FaZe, Vitality, and ENCE en route to hoisting the trophy.

While G2 would not secure another event win for the year, this result kicked off a string of consistent playoff appearances for the squad, who secured semi-final showings at Gamers8 and IEM Sydney along with a quarter-final finish at EPL Season 18. This consistency faltered after the organization decided to bench Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage to make room for the addition of Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković, as G2 concluded their year with only a single win over MOUZ at the BLAST Premier World Final.

Last but certainly not least is Vitality, whose five victories at top LANs, including the year's sole Major, and consistent placings overall throughout 2023 propelled the squad from tenth place in last year's edition of the ranking to the top of this year's charts.

Vitality's year began similarly to G2 and FaZe's start, kicking things off with a smooth run through the Spring Groups. The European side then managed a quarter-final finish at IEM Katowice, where a close loss to Liquid cut short their hopes of an early trophy to start the season. After utilizing Audric "⁠JACKZ⁠" Jug for a chunk of the event's group stage, Vitality landed a consecutive quarter-final appearance at EPL Season 17 before being knocked out by ENCE. Vitality then began their all-important Major qualification campaign, looking to earn Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire and ZywOo the opportunity to contest a Major title on home soil. The squad passed the first part of the process, snagging a Legends Stage spot after dropping only a single loss to a red-hot 9INE.

The RMR quickly segued into IEM Rio, where Vitality established themselves as firm contenders for the upcoming Major by securing the tournament win in Brazil, even despite an early loss to OG that immediately shipped them to the elimination zone. Not long after, the stars aligned for apEX's men, as Vitality stamped out their opposition at the Major, laying claim to the final Valve-sanctioned event of CS:GO without dropping a single map. Vitality rounded out the first half of their year with a runner-up finish at the Spring Final, where only a red-hot HEROIC could stop them from earning their third title in succession.

Vitality would go on to reconvene after the player break with a new face, Israeli prodigy Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan coming in place of Danish veteran Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen in a controversial move following the Major triumph. flameZ's debut at the Fall Groups secured Vitality a place in the Fall Final, and was soon after followed with a semi-final finish at IEM Cologne, where a heroic performance from SunPayus kept Vitality out of the finals. This solid outing was soon added upon with a first-place finish at Gamers8, where Vitality secured revenge against ENCE for their defeat at Cologne.

Vitality's next appearance at Pro League Season 18 garnered them yet another quarter-final finish, this time being halted by Monte, who had already sent HEROIC packing earlier in the event. Vitality's worst result of the year would follow shortly thereafter, as the team bowed out of IEM Sydney dead last after an opening loss to BetBoom followed by a defeat at the hands of FaZe.

As it turned out, this result came just before Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif and Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen's departure to Falcons, and this led to the acquisition of William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman to fill the gap as the end of the season fast approached. Although FaZe were at this point knee-deep in an impressive win streak following the introduction of CS2, the new-look Vitality remained undeterred as they trounced FaZe at the BLAST Fall Final to secure a LAN win in their debut performance. To round out their season, Vitality put on an even more dominant display at the BLAST World Final, going 8-0 in maps and beating out a FaZe lineup incorporating frozen to solidify themselves at the top of the scene as the 2023 season drew to a close.