Top 10 teams of 2024

Natus Vincere took the crown of Team of the Year, but now it's time to take a closer look at the other best teams of 2024.

After the top three teams of 2024 were showcased ahead of the HLTV Awards and the Team of the Year was crowned in Belgrade, it is an ample opportunity to look back at the past year and offer a deeper look into the top 10 list of the best teams.

As in previous years, the driving force behind the list is the HLTV World Ranking. A selection of events similar to that used for the Top 20 players ranking determined the final placings, incorporating a combination of the sum of total points earned and average point gain per event.

Cores of at least the same three players were considered rather than organizations, and point losses associated with decay and roster changes were not applied.

Natus Vincere led the pack by a fair margin, but there were a number of tight races throughout the remainder of the list. In particular, the second and third as well as fourth and fifth-placed teams were nigh-inseparable, and the bottom four teams were nearly in a dead heat as well.

You can see just how close these placings got in a graph at the bottom of the article.

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After an up-and-down year, Eternal Fire have secured the title of tenth-best team of 2024. They squeezed into the list past Astralis, driven by a playoff appearance at PGL Major Copenhagen and runner-up finishes at ESL Pro League Season 20 and BetBoom Dacha Belgrade Season 2.

Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli's men were denied a deep run in their first big outing of the year at IEM Katowice after falling to top sides FaZe and Natus Vincere, but the Turks made up for it after narrowly qualifying for PGL Major Copenhagen.

CS2's first Major served as one of the highlights of Eternal Fire's year, as the team stunned Vitality, FaZe, and Virtus.pro to land a place in the playoffs, a first for a Turkish team at a Major. A close loss to eventual champions Natus Vincere sent Eternal Fire packing, but MAJ3R's troops could still depart Copenhagen with their heads held high.

Eternal Fire struggled to consistently replicate their Copenhagen performance in later outings in the first part of the season. Their only success of note came in the form of an online win at CCT Global Finals on either side of early exits from ESL Pro League Season 19 and YaLLa Compass 2024.

After exiting IEM Cologne in the Play-In stage to start the new season, Eternal Fire finally found their next taste of success at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade Season 2, securing second after a stellar run in the Serbian event's lower bracket before faltering to Russian heavyweights Spirit.

Eternal Fire kept up their regained form going into ESL Pro League Season 20, where they made another piece of history by becoming the first Turkish team to reach the grand final of a Big Event. They marched past The MongolZ and Vitality with a strong showing from star rifler Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş to reach the title decider, where they ultimately faltered to Natus Vincere after a bloodbath of a best-of-five.

Early exits at IEM Rio and ESL Challenger Katowice certainly left more to be desired for Eternal Fire, but the greatest disappointment of all came at the end of the year, as the Turkish side failed to qualify for the Perfect World Shanghai Major.

Virtus.pro are ninth on the list of 2024's best teams due to periodic arena appearances amidst a sea of otherwise middling showings.

After missing out on 2023's sole Major, Virtus.pro entered the new year with an added focus on reaching the Valve-sponsored event. An early Katowice exit did not inspire confidence, but the Russian side composed themselves for the RMR, securing a place at the Copenhagen Major with an unblemished 3-0 record. Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali shared the importance of finally making the Major once again, and added that "anything can happen" ahead of the Major itself.

Virtus.pro fought through to the final round of the Copenhagen Major's Elimination Stage, squaring off against G2 for a spot in Major playoffs for the first time since IEM Rio 2022. Jame's pre-Major suggestion that "anything can happen" cruelly came true in this vital match, as the Russian captain endured a driver crash in a crucial retake just two rounds away from victory. Afterward, G2 went on to win out the closely-contested series in the third map, eliminating Virtus.pro from the Major.

Virtus.pro eased the pain of their Major defeat with their first arena of the year at IEM Chengdu, where they reached the quarter-finals. But by then they had already decided on changes, and in a shocking move Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov was signed in the place of Nikolay "⁠mir⁠" Bityukov to revitalize the Russian side.

The new-look Virtus.pro showed a solid ceiling but also had the low floor to match as they struggled with a clash of playstyles. In the rest of the first season, they made it to the quarter-finals in their first outing at ESL Pro League Season 19 and the top four at BLAST Premier Spring Final but also crashed out early of BetBoom Dacha Belgrade and IEM Dallas.

Jame made clear that just the addition of electroNic would not be enough, and that the team needed to change their well-established slow style if they wanted to make full use of the rifler's talents. Changes in the team's coaching staff was one method the team used to try and solve their woes, settling on Pavel "⁠PASHANOJ⁠" Legostaev as Dastan "⁠dastan⁠" Akbayev's replacement after a brief stint with Andrey "⁠Xoma⁠" Mironenko. However, Virtus.pro continued to record up-and-down results in the latter half of the year.

The Esports World Cup and IEM Rio offered the Russian side some of their best results since electroNic's addition as they notched a semi-final and quarter-final finish, respectively, but the team was still far off from the trophies it sought. Virtus.pro capped off the year with a disappointing run at the Perfect World Shanghai Major, falling to MIBR, BIG, and Wildcard, ushering in a new, Jame-less era at the turn of the year.

HEROIC finished eighth on the list after a last-minute push, squeezing through with a successful last quarter of the year in which they made playoffs at two Big Events and a Major.

The organization entered 2024 after a rebuilding phase, pivoting from a Danish lineup led by Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller to an international squad helmed by Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski. The new core endured a shaky start to the year, nearly missing out on a place at the PGL Major Copenhagen Europe RMR before suffering a bitter last-place departure from their LAN debut at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups.

Despite the lineup's freshness, Guy "⁠NertZ⁠" Iluz was confident that HEROIC could reach the Spodek at IEM Katowice. In the end, kyxsan's men came very close to playoffs in Poland after dealing Vitality a last-place exit, but just missed out after two losses to G2.

HEROIC booked their Copenhagen Major spot at the expense of former teammates Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund and Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard, besting Astralis in the RMR to put the team within reach of qualifying. Although aiming to quickly become one of the best teams in the world, HEROIC fell short of their goals at the Major, exiting the Elimination Stage with a 1-3 record.

A string of lackluster Big Event showings followed their Copenhagen campaign, culminating in the addition of Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov in place of Nico "⁠nicoodoz⁠" Tamjidi. This change was not an instant solution to HEROIC's woes, as coach Eetu "⁠sAw⁠" Saha made clear in August that the team had "so many problems" that needed to be fixed.

It didn't help that degster was also struggling with visa issues in the early period of the new squad, but despite this HEROIC locked in their first playoffs appearance of the year at IEM Dallas with nicoodoz making a temporary return to the lineup.

After the difficult period, kyxsan's men put in the work in practice, netting dividends as the end of the year approached. Off the back of an up-and-down run at ESL Pro League Season 20 that ended in playoffs, the team finally started clicking. Following a semi-final finish at IEM Rio, where just one round against eventual winners Natus Vincere separated them from a place in the grand final, HEROIC went on to place runners-up at Elisa Masters Espoo and Thunderpick World Championship.

They built on this success at the Shanghai Major, getting to playoffs after an arduous Elimination Stage run that concluded with a hard-fought win over reigning champions NAVI. HEROIC failed to move beyond the quarter-finals, falling to G2 in a close series, a result that sAw was not entirely pleased with given the team's mixed results during the rest of the year.

With two different looks, Liquid had a hard time breaking through to the elite all year long, but their solid floor and a run of top-eight finishes meant they placed just outside of the year's six big names.

Like HEROIC, Liquid began 2024 after a substantial revamp of their lineup, bringing on Danish skipper cadiaN alongside riflers Felipe "⁠skullz⁠" Medeiros and Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken, kicking off with an emotional PC-less retreat in the Netherlands.

The new international lineup struggled to match the hype from the start, as they began with a labored run through the NA closed qualifier for PGL Major Copenhagen. Then, a disappointing LAN debut at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups was followed by a disastrous Americas RMR, as cadiaN's men suffered losses to FURIA and Complexity that denied them the opportunity to participate in CS2's first Major.

Liquid started to pick up the pieces with quarter-final finishes at IEM Chengdu and ESL Pro League Season 19, but the writing was on the wall for this lineup by then. After wrapping up the first half of the year with a top-eight exit from IEM Dallas, Liquid opted for yet another overhaul, cutting cadiaN, skullz, and coach Wilton "⁠zews⁠" Prado to make way for Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage, Roland "⁠ultimate⁠" Tomkowiak, and Torbjørn "⁠mithR⁠" Nyborg, with Twistzz taking the reins of the team.

Liquid did well in their first event with the Canadian rifler at the helm, reaching the BLAST Premier Fall Final after cruising through the Fall Groups. Twistzz's troops narrowly missed out on playoffs in their next outing at IEM Cologne, but managed to make up for it with a quarter-final showing at the next iteration of Pro League. The new-look side cooled off in their next few outings, racking up early exits at three consecutive Big Events ahead of the Shanghai Major.

Liquid looked far closer to Twistzz's expectations of being "a championship contender" once in Shanghai, marching through the Opening Stage with an unblemished 3-0 record. The team's fortunes continued into the Elimination Stage as they recovered from an opening loss to Natus Vincere with three straight wins to make the quarter-finals, where Liquid's season met its end at the hands of eventual winners Spirit.

FaZe dip to sixth place after coming in third and first in the 2023 and 2022 iterations of the top ten teams list, respectively. Although Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's men had a solid start and end to the year, a tumultuous middle portion kept the international side from placing among 2024's top five teams.

FaZe came into 2024 looking to improve on their streak of five consecutive grand finals that began in October 2023 with their victory at IEM Sydney. After locking down a place in the BLAST Premier Spring Finals to kick off the year, they came up just shy of winning IEM Katowice, faltering to a Spirit lineup fueled by Russian phenom Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets in the final.

The PGL Copenhagen Major offered FaZe a chance for retribution against Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov's men, one they capitalized on in the semi-finals, but they once again fell short of adding another trophy to the cabinet after falling victim to Natus Vincere's Cinderella run.

FaZe eased the pain of two missed trophies with a winning campaign at IEM Chengdu, where they hoisted their only trophy of the year in their eighth-consecutive grand final. Coming up short at two of the year's biggest events still took its toll, with karrigan describing this period as the first time in his career where he was truly drained, enduring deep runs without the payoff of a tournament victory.

Unfortunately for FaZe, one of the team's highest moments of the year was immediately followed by a crushing defeat to Vitality in the EPL Season 19 quarter-finals, halting the team's lengthy grand final streak. This defeat marked a turning point, as karrigan's men failed to return to a Big Event grand final for almost the entire rest of 2024. After racking up several quarter-final and group stage exits karrigan was blunt in stating that the team was lacking its "killer instinct" that had made FaZe one of the best teams in the previous two years. With Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool battling a slump in individual form, FaZe desperately needed another deep run to salvage their year.

That looked unlikely at the Shanghai Major at first, as FaZe suffered difficult losses to HEROIC and G2 in the Elimination Stage, but karrigan's troops rallied to reach the arena. They then found new life on stage thanks to a stellar showing from ropz, who spearheaded his team's run to the final. FaZe's 2024 concluded similarly to how it began, as the international side was denied the trophy in Shanghai by Spirit, akin to their meeting at IEM Katowice.

MOUZ conclude 2024 as the year's fifth-best team, the organization's highest placing on the list, which it also reached in 2018. The young international squad was a consistent contender throughout the year, winning two trophies and making numerous deep runs.

MOUZ made just one change ahead of the 2024 season, acquiring the services of Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin after David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský made his way to rival organization FaZe. The young side fared well in their debut LAN at Katowice, heading straight to the semi-finals after topping their group, but a loss to frozen and company on FaZe prevented MOUZ from winning a match on stage in the Spodek.

MOUZ cruised through the Copenhagen Major Europe RMR with a 3-0 record, leading captain Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek to declare that MOUZ had "still yet to show our potential" after qualifying for the Major over Spirit. The international side seemed to be living up to their promise with a 3-0 run through the Elimination Stage, but MOUZ once again met their end in the arena, this time at the hands of G2.

siuhy's men made an important step at IEM Chengdu, winning a stage game over G2 in a moment that Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás stated proved the team belongs in the top. International rivals FaZe prevented them from lifting the trophy in China, but MOUZ quickly built on their progress with back-to-back wins at EPL Season 19 and BetBoom Dacha Belgrade, earning the moniker of "kings of the studio."

Outside of the studio, MOUZ continued to come up without trophies, although the young side came close several times. siuhy's men racked up semi-final showings at Esports World Cup and IEM Cologne, and a runner-up finish at IEM Rio, but the team was eliminated by Natus Vincere in all three instances.

MOUZ's final chance to lift a trophy on stage came at the Shanghai Major, where the team faced the risk of a group-stage departure early after losses to The MongolZ and rivals FaZe. MOUZ rallied to secure a place in the quarterfinals, where the international side got revenge against The MongolZ before faltering in the semi-finals against Spirit, ending MOUZ's year with two trophies but none on the biggest of stages.

Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's troops entered the new year as the number one team in the world off the back of consecutive titles at BLAST Premier Fall Final 2023 and BLAST Premier World Final 2023, but Vitality fell far below expectations in their first key outing at IEM Katowice. The team crashed out in last place after losses to ENCE and HEROIC, their first outright failure since adding William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman and coach Rémy "⁠XTQZZZ⁠" Quoniam.

Vitality quickly realized the gravity of the disaster in Katowice, with Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan describing the result as a "good slap in the face" ahead of the Copenhagen Major. apEX's men stepped up in the hopes of defending their Major title, marching to playoffs with a 3-1 record after an opening hiccup against Eternal Fire, but the team's run met its end following a close semi-final meeting with FaZe.

The rest of Vitality's first half of the year was characterized by numerous deep runs, but no trophies, falling just shy of wins at EPL Season 19, IEM Dallas, and the BLAST Premier Spring Final. Despite the shortcomings, apEX was sure that the team was not far off from their peaks of 2023, highlighting individual consistency issues as the main barrier to trophies for Vitality.

That barrier would finally be overcome at IEM Cologne, eight months into 2024. After a swift run through the group stage, Vitality bested SAW and Natus Vincere in the playoffs, earning the team their first trophy of the year and fulfilling half of apEX's dream to win an IEM Cologne and another Major before retirement.

Unfortunately for apEX, the second half of his dream was not destined to be completed in 2024. Vitality returned to semi-final and quarter-final finishes in many of the remaining events of 2024, including the Shanghai Major. Despite notching a 3-0 record in the Elimination Stage, Vitality's 2024 concluded with a quarter-final exit at the hands of a red-hot ropz, consigning the team to just a single trophy for the entire year.

Powered by the addition of Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov and the emergence of donk as a world-class player, Spirit took the Counter-Strike scene by storm in 2024 in by far the organization's best year in the game, a sliver separating them from a runners-up finish to Natus Vincere.

Making their tier-one LAN debut with their new lineup, Spirit entered IEM Katowice not expecting much from the event, but what transpired next surely shocked even their wildest imagination. Spirit went on a tear in Poland, making quick work of their opposition thanks to a record-breaking 1.70 event rating from donk, culminating in a 3-0 win in the grand final over FaZe.

Spirit now headed to PGL Major Copenhagen with a drastically new mindset, with Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia sharing that he believed Spirit could win the Major in Denmark outright. With a 3-0 record in the Elimination Stage, it seemed that the Russian side were on course to do just that, until chopper's men found their hopes dashed in a fateful rematch with FaZe, who secured their revenge for Katowice by eliminating Spirit from the Major.

Big Event outings were fleeting for Spirit in the early portion of the year, as the team did not attend IEM Chengdu or EPL Season 19. The team entered IEM Dallas as contenders for the title but bowed out in the semi-finals after a loss to Vitality. Ahead of the BLAST Premier Spring Finals, chopper stated the team had more to give, something the Russian side would eloquently display with their second trophy of the year after besting Natus Vincere in the grand final.

The only team to end the first half of 2024 with two Big Event trophies, Spirit struggled to keep up their momentum immediately after the player break. A quarter-final finish at EWC was followed by a disastrous last-place finish at IEM Cologne, a result that chopper attributed to issues built up after the player break. Back-to-back quarter-final exits at EPL and BLAST Premier Fall Final did not instill confidence, but second place at the BLAST Premier World Final ahead of the Shanghai Major helped buck the trend.

Spirit booked their Major spot after scraping through the RMR with a 3-2 record and a tiebreaker win over Ninjas in Pyjamas. After a hiccup of an opening match against FURIA, Spirit secured a place in playoffs with a 3-1 record that included a 13-2 trouncing of Natus Vincere. Powered by another record donk performance, Spirit marched to the grand final where the Russian side bested FaZe once again for one of the most important titles of the year.

G2 became the second-highest points-earning team to outdo Spirit's slight edge in average points per event after racking up three big trophies and several more deep runs compared to their rivals.

The Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen-led iteration of G2 had a strong start to the year by locking down a place in the BLAST Premier Spring Finals, but the European side were unable to contend for the IEM Katowice trophy after faltering to FaZe in the quarter-finals.

Hoping to rebound at the Copenhagen Major, G2 marched through the European RMR with a 3-0 record, which included a 2-0 win over FaZe. The Major itself proved to be a far more difficult affair, however, as G2 scraped into the playoffs with a 3-2 Elimination Stage record, something that HooXi attributed to nerves in the G2 camp. In the Royal Arena, they made short work of MOUZ but came on the losing side of a tight semi-final affair against eventual champions Natus Vincere.

Trophies continued to elude HooXi's men in their first post-Major outings, as they recorded semi-final and quarter-final finishes at IEM Chengdu and EPL Season 19, but the drought would not last forever. Despite utilizing hometown hero Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip as a stand-in for HooXi at IEM Dallas, the European side found new life in the United States with a miraculous run to the trophy, beating three top-five sides in a labored campaign for their first silverware.

As the season was winding down, HooXi returned for the BLAST Premier Spring Final, but a temporary absence from Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov over passport issues dashed their hopes of repeating their Dallas success as they departed London in last place.

One trophy was not enough for an organization like G2, so the team opted to bring on Guatemalan youngster Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa and Polish captain Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski into the mix. The new roster hit the ground running, with a runner-up finish at EWC, a quarter-final placing at IEM Cologne, and a semi-final run at EPL Season 20.

Their first win came quickly, scooping up the trophy at the BLAST Premier Fall Final to match their trophy count from the first half of the season. After an eyebrow-raising last-place finish from IEM Rio, G2 swiftly recovered with another tournament win, this time at the BLAST Premier World Final, just as the Shanghai Major approached, a much-needed redemption according to Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač.

After an opening defeat to The MongolZ to start their Shanghai campaign, Snax's men rallied with a clean sweep of BIG, 3DMAX, and FaZe to secure reach the playoffs, putting them in a prime position to secure NiKo his first Major trophy. The Bosnian rifler's dream was not meant to be in Shanghai, however, as G2 fell victim to international rivals FaZe, who were fueled by a stellar showing from ropz, denying the team the opportunity for a fourth trophy in 2024.

Natus Vincere have been named Team of the Year after winning four big trophies, including the PGL Copenhagen Major, and finishing runners-up on three more occasions.

Still coming to grips with their international core, Natus Vincere's first significant outing of the year at IEM Katowice left more to be desired, as the team narrowly missed out on playoffs following losses to Spirit and Falcons in the group stage. Things were about to get better very quickly, though, as the Copenhagen Major cycle was coming up next.

In the end, Natus Vincere got far more than they bargained for at the Copenhagen Major. After a rough ride through the Elimination Stage that featured daunting losses to Spirit and Cloud9, Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's men rallied with a win over paiN to reach playoffs. A side of the bracket that did not feature Spirit served as "extra motivation" according to Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy, something the team capitalized on as they pulled off a dark horse run in the arena, going all the way to the final to take down FaZe.

Thrust into the spotlight with their Major win, Natus Vincere now looked to build off their tremendous success, fighting back against the common sentiment that the team's win was a fluke. They struggled to make it deep at EPL Season 19 or IEM Dallas, but the team remained undismayed and capped off the first half of the year with a runners-up finishe to Spirit in the BLAST Premier Spring Final.

Natus Vincere's Spring Final run kicked off a streak of grand finals for the international side, as Aleksib's men managed to go all the way in the next five events after the break, bagging wins at EWC, EPL Season 20, and IEM Rio along the way, firmly establishing that the team's Major run was not just a one-off. The constant deep runs took their toll, however, as Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius shared that fatigue was an issue in the Natus Vincere camp at IEM Rio, while B1ad3 added that he was worried about the team becoming overconfident ahead of the Major.

Natus Vincere's grand-final streak finally met its end at the BLAST Premier World Final, as the team exited in last place with losses to Astralis and FaZe. Despite having some time to get back on their feet after the tough exit, Natus Vincere stumbled throughout the Elimination Stage at Perfect World Shanghai Major, suffering losses to Spirit and MIBR that put the Major champions at serious risk of an early exit. The team's final series against an in-form HEROIC proved to be too much to handle, consigning B1ad3's troops to a 2-3 record at the Shanghai Major to conclude their otherwise strong season.

You can see the point totals and average points gain for the top 10 teams below:

1. Natus Vincere - 1,587 points, 113 per event
2. G2 - 1,534 points, 110 per event
3. Spirit - 1,470 points, 113 per event
4. Vitality - 1,298 points, 93 per event
5. MOUZ - 1,244 points, 96 per event
6. FaZe - 1,223 points, 82 per event
7. Liquid - 530 points, 44 per event
8. HEROIC - 558 points, 42 per event
9. Virtus.pro - 583 points, 39 per event
10. Eternal Fire - 444 points, 44 per event