HLTV Prospect Report #1

Introducing the first-ever HLTV Prospect Ranking, a list of the top 50 prospects in Counter-Strike, with profiles on five select professionals.

Welcome to the first-ever HLTV Prospect Report, where we rank the world’s top 50 prospects with the goal of highlighting Counter-Strike's hidden gems and future stars from around the world.

The parameters are simple: Players need to be 21 years of age or under as of the data cut-off date (June 30, 2025 in this case) and have played fewer than a certain number of maps depending on their age, as shown in the table below.

Check out our interactive Top 50 Prospects Ranking on Tablaeu.

Starting a list like this is never easy. We had some options, too: We could have synchronized with the criteria for Rookie of the Year, or we could have made it purely about age to make it the 'best youngsters' in Counter-Strike.

In the end, we've gone for a bit of both. We want this to be a place for the up-and-comers, the players due a step up to tier-one but not quite there yet, while also giving enough of a margin for players who are making the jump but are not yet established at the top.

These criteria are designed to be kind to teenage wonderkids, while excluding players who are already embedded in tier one (or have seen their chance come and go).

This is a seasonal list, meaning that this set of 50 players was selected and ranked using data from the first season of 2025, and an updated leaderboard will be published at the start of the next season.

Once we had our list of prospects, we started to whittle it down towards a list of 50 players. The basis of the list is statistical, using the same key metrics we use for MVPs, EVPs, and the Top 20 Players of the Year ranking.

That means the usual stats like rating, kills and damage per round win, as well as the new eco-adjusted metrics like Swing and eKPR that came along with 3.0. We also designed a 'weighted rating' based on opposition to try and account for differences in who each prospect faced, so that players with experience and good numbers against top teams were rewarded.

We also wanted both a role and geographical balance of players in the list. We've got a lot of Europeans and a lot of aggressive riflers, given the way CS is going (and the general style of young players), but we also ensured there was representation elsewhere.

The result is 10 AWPers, 3 in-game leaders, and 17 more passive rifles in addition to our 20 spacetakers, and lots of inclusion for players around the globe (even if Russia dominates).

Once we had our 50 names, it was time to be ruthless. Based on the aforementioned key metrics, in addition to sample size and fixture difficulty, players were sorted into groups and then exact ranks based on their quality.

In the end, our season one list has a good few names you will be familiar with because teams agreed with us on how good these guys are and gave them a promotion before we could finish the article. This first ranking also took some time to put together and get going, but the goal is to put out our Prospect Reports when the list is updated after each season and before the following.

The Top 50 Prospects of Season One 2025

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On top of the Prospects Ranking, we've picked five players to highlight, and in this inaugural piece some of them are already proving to be the cream of the crop. They are players we wanted to highlight before they graduate the ranking, so they may seem obvious now, particularly kyousuke or molodoy, but expect more variety in terms of region and level of development in future highlighted players.

Beyond the ranking and the article itself, which focuses on five notable pros, each update will also come with an interactive stats page where you can explore our list in more detail.

kyousuke is the top prospect on the list at 17 and was the most selected Bold Prediction amongst Top 20 Players of 2024 with six selections from Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool, Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi, Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov, and Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov. He has been endlessly compared to Spirit's Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets, the 2024 Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year — a phenom the likes we have never seen before —, and possibly the reason kyousuke didn't make the jump from Spirit Academy and was instead sold to Falcons.

The comparisons with donk make sense. He is young, Russian, an aggressive rifler, plays most of the same positions, was scouted by the same scout, Aleksei "⁠OverDrive⁠" Birukov, and went up through the same system, Spirit Academy, under the same coach, Dmitry "⁠S0tF1k⁠" Forostyanko.

In an interview, kyousuke also admitted that he watches donk's demos to learn, although there are clear differences in movement and the way both players shoot. kyousuke is fearless, as is donk. "No, I always go first," he told Erik Shokov during an interview in October 2024, although he may not have the same confidence as Spirit's little big man. He had agreed to the interview with Shokov months earlier, but waited for some time because of a fear that the excitement arround him was perhaps overblown.

At the time of the interview with Shokov, when it was starting to become clear that he was destined for bigger things than an academy team, he still thought that he was 10-20% overhyped. What was telling about this imposter syndrome was the way he fought it. From the moment he agreed to the interview to when he did it several months later, he stopped streaming for six months to focus on improving and to prove that the hype was real.

That story fits well into the larger picture of how kyousuke came up. He dropped out of school at 15, in the eighth grade, and enrolled in online courses instead, while moving out of the family home to another home five minutes away from his mother's in order to focus on the game.

The talent was always there. "I think CS is easier for me than for others," kyousuke admitted, but his dedication was something else. Rid of distractions, he started to grind CS, and from when he created his FACEIT profile in 2019 to 2024, he accumulated over 6000 games and nearly broke the 5,000 elo barrier.

During the first season of 2025, Spirit Academy topped out just outside of the top 30, but kyousuke went on a tear just about every single game and posted a 1.29 Rating. They won two LanDaLans, with kyousuke finishing third and first in the stats ranking with 1.26 and 1.49 Ratings, respectively. His academy coach, S0tF1k, explains it best: "He's just an annihilator."

Another big endorsement came from Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač when the rumors of kyousuke signing for Falcons started to spread. "I think there's no doubt that he's the hottest prospect right now on the scene," the Bosnian rifler said at the time. "I don't want to say that he'll be the next donk, there's a lot to prove and to get to that point... donk has set some insane standards. So we'll see, but I think he has a great future ahead of him."

From quitting school to grinding PUGs to going through the academy system, kyousuke’s commitment can't be put in doubt, more so after hearing that creature comforts like speaking his mother tongue weren’t what he prioritized when looking for a team. "Good players, a good coach," that's what mattered to him when making his decision.

kyousuke’s story is similar to that of baseball star Bryce Harper, who got his GED (a high school equivalency credential) and quit school at 16 to focus on becoming the top draft pick in Major League Baseball. At that age, Sports Illustrated ran a cover naming him "Baseball’s Chosen One" and "The most exciting prodigy since LeBron."

That was the pressure for Harper, having to be the number one pick. "If not, I'm a failure," Harper said on the Pat McAfee show. "I have to be able to take my family out and take care of them, do the things I can to take care of them forever." Harper did not fail. He was the number one pick. Then, he became the youngest position player to play in an All-Star Game, won the Rookie of the Year Award, and at 23 was the youngest player named the National League's Most Valuable Player — by unanimous decision. "Now, all of this is cake," he added. "This is the fun part of that."

The expectations on kyousuke are similar. He’s the most touted prospect in CS since he was 16, and while there's no draft in CS, he landed on a team good enough for him to become elite and also get the bag. His goals are also similar. "I need to help my mom," he says. "She’s alone." So, now is the time to show what he can do to get to the point where he can get the cake. The fun part.

If the highlighted players in this article had to conform to any sporting or literary trope, molodoy would be our zero-to-hero. His player profile was created in May 2024, and less than a year later, in April 2025, he became one of the most shocking transfer stories when he agreed to a contract with FURIA. It was shocking not only because at the time molodoy was flying low enough under the radar that this was the first time most fans — and many CS personalities — had even heard his name, but also because FURIA left behind a large part of their Brazilian identity by going international. One would hardly think molodoy would be the target for a team whose ambition for success trumped a national pride forged by being Brazil's flag-bearing team since the glory days of Luminosity and SK.

Like kyousuke, he’s one of the players on this list who have made the jump to a big-name team, but that’s where the comparisons end. While kyousuke was talked about by fans watching his progress and he was scouted into one of the best academy programs in his region, molodoy had two 'Short' articles and was mentioned in one article about PGL Astana's open qualifiers on HLTV during his time with AMKAL. He was, of course, nobody’s Bold Prediction, in 2024 or ever.

So, where did he come from? molodoy grew up in Semey, a city of frigid winters in Kazakh Siberia, where he was a difficult student. It got so bad at school, in fact, that he was threatened with expulsion, and his parents sold his computer and forbade him from playing. So, what did he do? He skipped school to go to the local LAN center, of course, where he became the owner's favorite and was given free food and playing time on the computers.

First, it was local LANs with a team from Semey, then molodoy started traveling around Kazakhstan to compete at larger regional LANs, but it all came to a head when another Kazakh player, Altair "⁠kAlash⁠" Askarov, who was in AMKAL, got him a tryout.

All it took was one practice match. molodoy, despite playing with 120 ping, dropped a 30 bomb and was flown out to bootcamp with the team in Serbia the next day. By this point, molodoy had some small earnings, but nothing that would convince his parents outright. Still weary, his mother had to be convinced by AMKAL management before he was allowed to make the trip.

The AMKAL days were brief. Just three months later, in April, molodoy was on the move. When interviewed by Erik Shokov at the Austin Major in June, he still couldn’t quite believe how everything had been developing. And can you blame him? A giant of the game, Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo, who was not only one of the best sniper in the world in his prime but also a respected veteran, gave up his staple weapon, the AWP, for this unknown Kazakh youngster. Not only that, the Brazilian captain flew out to Serbia to meet with molodoy and mentor him personally, taking the newcomer under his wing and creating an environment for the two to immerse themselves in Counter-Strike every day.

That alone sounds unbelievable. Now add to that making a Major a year after first appearing on HLTV, or the thought of FURIA fans now cheering on this imported youngster as if he were one of their own. Most incredibly, though, is probably the fact that he got to debut at the first-ever Big Event in Kazakhstan, on home soil, at PGL Astana. Not his first ever Big Event in Kazakhstan, the first ever Big Event in his home country.

If the odds of FURIA going international were slim, and then them going for someone completely unknown and unexperienced made those slim odds even slimmer, and add to that FalleN giving up the AWP to an inexperienced teenager, what are the odds that it all converges into the crowd in Kazakhstan having a new rising star to cheer on in their debut as hosts and his debut at a Big Event? It's magic.

From the looks of it, molodoy is a thinker. You can tell by how he lights up when he says that he got to nerd out with FalleN during those early days in Serbia. Or by his style. When looking up his doppelganger, it came out to be one of the most studious AWPers in the game, Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz. MOUZ’s Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás, not so long ago an up-and-comer who has now established himself among the elite, also noticed molodoy's smart approach to the game. "He's definitely a star AWPer," the Hungarian told HLTV in August. "He has his own moves, he has his own ideas, and I think he's really sharp, as well."

When molodoy’s first salary from FURIA came in, his parents asked him if he had robbed a bank, which reminds me of another player who made it despite his progenitors' early opposition: Brazilian superstar Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David. In the end, once the success came, cold's parents were sold and ended up traveling the world following their son's exploits, which included two Major victories and two Player of the Year awards. The support at home has shifted the same way for molodoy.

But what may be most exciting of all is that molodoy’s love for the game seems pure, going all the way back to when he was skipping school to go to the LAN center, and in his persistence on playing even when the odds were stacked against him and he wasn't getting support at home. This quote from Shokov's interview before FURIA and paiN met at the Austin Major encapsulates it: "For the Brazilians, it's a derby. For me? I just like playing."

PR may be the most underrated player we're highlighting in this article. He's not on a top 10 team, like kyousuke and molodoy, and he didn't command a historic transfer fee like jambo. He may be more well-known than nettik, but the New Zealander is on the best team he could be on, given his circumstances. It's not to say people don't rate the Czech rifler, but perhaps not as much as he merits.

GamerLegion is a funny team. They’re stuck outside of the top 10 and can't take the next step, although they do peak inside the top 10 on occasion, but even then the likes of molodoy and gr1ks choose going to FURIA and HEROIC instead of GamerLegion. On the other hand, GamerLegion are also better than just about any other team in their position, the so-called tier-2 gatekeepers, and they're ready to occasionally upset a big team, beat on anyone who is in a slump, and make the odd playoff run.

A good example of how they're perceived came in a recent BLAST Open London match online when the commentators said that Virtus.pro, "judging by their names, should be winning against GamerLegion every time," adding that they are, or were, "clearly more skilled individuals." Virtus.pro were one rank ahead of GL on the HLTV ranking at the time, and GamerLegion led VP by three spots in the Global VRS.

To be fair, PR was mentioned as a win condition in that match alongside Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner, but he wasn't as hyped up as the Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedevs and Petr "⁠fame⁠" Bolyshevs, players we should perhaps consider PR's equals when looking at the current form they've all been performing at. It wasn't an overly unfair assessment, but it perhaps didn't fully capture the reality of the situation. PR is, at 17 years old, a top 5 prospect in the world. The series ended up going to GamerLegion 2-0 with Sebastian "⁠Tauson⁠" Tauson Lindelof at the top of the scoreboard. PR was second. Jeremy "⁠Kursy⁠" Gast, the AWPer GL had to settle for in the end, finished last on his team.

Before GamerLegion, PR was already turning heads in Hamburg, where he had been scouted by MOUZ NXT. "They tend to have a better attitude and way fewer bad habits," Ashley "⁠ash⁠" Battye says of scouting and signing academy players. "A lack of experience happens either way, but you don't want to risk extra flaws if possible."

But PR is something else, although it's hard to know exactly what. What makes him such a special player? It became more clear when we asked ash, and his answer made it all make sense.

PR is seemingly in the right place at the right time. He's talented, but not overly flashy or reliant on any particular gimmick. Look away and you may miss a highlight. He makes the right moves, and the game looks easy when it goes in his favor, which is often.

When you watch some players, it seems that by making it hard on themselves, they can rise above and make jaw-dropping plays. PR is the opposite. You could watch him make an incredible play and barely notice the genius unfolding until it has passed. It's not always that way, of course; he can wow us with the best of them, but he does have a certain quality that can make him not as hyped as he may deserve. His game is layered.

"He thinks and reacts extremely quickly, and he thinks about the overall picture, but his creativity is probably his strongest asset because he is always trying to outplay his opponent like a veteran IGL who relies on it to win duels," is the way ash describes it. "But he also has the aim, and I've got no doubt in my mind that in 10 years he will still be a top-tier pro and a future IGL at some moment."

PR’s impact is not a mirage, so much so that he's one of the few players who improve after eco adjustment — eKPR: 0.72 (+0.01) and eADR: 80.9 (+0.80) —, and he's a player whose frags can often move the needle and swing rounds in his team's favor.

Like many players on our ranking, PR isn't quite elite-level ready yet, or hasn’t shown it playing on a team that usually struggles to compete against the top of the top. His Rating only drops against top 10 teams, down to 1.05 (28 maps), from an otherwise stellar 1.14. He may not set the world ablaze like a donk did or kyousuke is doing from the get-go, but a high in-game IQ and plenty of talent should no doubt get him up to speed when his time comes.

When you go for close to $600,000, it’s hard to stay out of the spotlight, but that has been somewhat the case here. That was the price jambo went for when he was signed by fnatic in March (it's esports, so we don't know the price tag officially, and that's a problem, but it's what Passion UA's CEO, Artemijs Rjabovs, claimed in Leniniw's Twitch chat). What we do know, is that he became fnatic's most expensive transfer in history.

It wasn't out of place for fnatic's Team Director, Andreas "⁠Samuelsson⁠" Samuelsson, to make a grandstanding comment about such an acquisition. "We believe jambo will play a key role in our vision to return to the biggest stages and once again compete for trophies," he stated when the signing was made public.

To put it into context, $600,000 is the price m0NESY commanded according to OverDrive when he was transferred from NAVI Junior to G2 in 2022 at age 16. He went on to win six trophies, including an IEM Katowice and an IEM Cologne, earned four MVP awards, and was named a Top 20 Player of the Year on three occasions (7th in 2022, 4th in 2023, and 2nd in 2024), as well as Rookie of the Year in 2022 and AWPer of the Year in 2024.

Beyond the price tag, the two are hardly comparable. One went up through the Natus Vincere structure and terrorized other academies and lower tiers of competition, while jambo made his name in a newer club, Passion UA, without the same legacy, history, or resources. But most importantly, m0NESY was signed to a top 5 team, ready to compete for trophies alongside the best rifler in the world at the time, while jambo joined a dysfunctional fringe top 30 team.

jambo’s rise was as sudden as Passion UA's, going from outside the top 100 teams in the world to showcasing his talent for the world to see during the Shanghai Major cycle. He posted a 1.32 Rating in the iconic 2-0 victory in the 2-2 decider match of the RMR that put his team through to the Major and eliminated Astralis, and then a 1.10 Rating at the Major itself, where he and his teammates made it all the way to the decider match in the Opening Stage before being eliminated with a 2-3 record.

Those showings didn’t go unnoticed, however, and NiKo made jambo his Bold Prediction in 2024, which is so far proving to be on the mark. The Ukrainian AWPer is the fourth-highest-rated prospect at age 20, and has shown that he doesn't fall off when he plays against strong opposition, meaning that he could be one of those players who would adapt quickly to higher levels of play. In fact, his rating increases when he faces stiffer opposition, although the data is limited when examining his performance against the most elite teams.

When looking for a doppelganger, The MongolZ's Usukhbayar "⁠910⁠" Banzragch is the nearest match. Not the biggest name or the flashiest AWPer, but a cornerstone in a team that has gone on to reach new heights recently after beating Vitality and Aurora at back-to-back tournaments and even lifting the EWC 2025 trophy.

jambo also appears to be a real asset in the clubhouse. Former Passion UA coach Mikhaylo "⁠Kane⁠" Blagin described him as "always in a good mood, proactive, (and) tries to help the captain and other players," adding that "you always want to have a player like him in your squad."

At 20, he's already showing a professional approach to the game, according to those around him, even in hard circumstances, which can be tallied under the intangibles. "He lived in a tough region in Ukraine, Odesa, which was getting bombed, and he was a professional until the end," Rjabovs said of his former player. "It doesn't matter if there are sirens, bombing around him, he still plays."

He may not be m0NESY, but the character shown coming up under such circumstances and still receiving praise for level-headedness, professionalism, and a positive attitude while also being one of the top prospects in the game may well make that hefty price tag worth it.

nettik is the oldest of the five highlighted players and the lowest-ranked, but we just couldn't pass up on the first big prospect from New Zealand. Especially after the region's previous biggest prospect, Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage, who is now more veteran than youth, just returned to his FlyQuest boys after becoming the first Australian player to win notable trophies on international rosters and make the Top 20 Players of the Year ranking. It's also the last chance for the 22-year-old to be featured. Unlike kyousuke or molodoy, who will graduate because of the level they’re playing at, nettik barely made the list at all, aging out just one month after the cut-off.

This pick is perhaps the most controversial because our prospect list includes players like makazze and zweih, who are well on their way to also graduating out of the ranking and will most likely not get highlighted. And this is where you may get a little bit upset. You may think "nettik? That’s ridiculous, you have zweih or makazze, or even xKacpersky!" or "You're just doing this because he's from New Zealand!" Or maybe your're thinking, "It's nice that you shed light on a player who is making it in a region with lesser resources," or "I hope this kid goes on to do great things for his region," or perhaps several of the above. Remember, though, as we said before, we want this list to be global, and we want to shed light not only on those who will become the biggest stars and are already in the media's eye, but also those from some underserved regions.

nettik has incredible mechanical skill, and he dominated the local scene for years. Even outsiders with a cursory knowledge of what goes on Down Under could see he was the next big thing, but when trying to make it out from a region with only one team competing at an international level, fate isn't always in your hands. Not many spots open up, and competition is fierce. Not only with new players that may be coming up, but also with old players who were kicked and whose statute of limitations on the actions that got them kicked in the first place has expired. Often, too, the more experienced players don't want to be constantly teaching the new guy.

Friendships and chemistry can go a long way on a team that's a big fish in a small pond, and can produce more complacency than teams in more competitive markets. We're not saying it's necessarily what happened here, but it has been the reality of small-market teams since forever. No matter, nettik is here now, and it's fantastic. Just look at how he has Argentine commentator Luciano "⁠forg1⁠" Forgione going with this play at the Austin Major against BetBoom.

Highlights aside, nettik is making quite the jump. He had a 1.27 Rating during his time in Rooster and a 1.03 so far in FlyQuest. It's not like a tier-two player in Europe playing against a little bit better teams, or playing the best teams in officials instead of practice. It's another level altogether, and one it will probably take some time to adjust to. It'll also be hard to make a big difference playing on one of the weaker teams in the field. In some sports, it's easy to be a difference-maker, even on a losing team, and have individual stats shine beyond your team's pallor. In Counter-Strike, a game in which so much is reliant on teamwork and your place on that team, it can be hard for an individual on a losing team, especially a rookie, to shine.

Look, for example, at the Sultan of Swing, Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş, whose wide swings are instantly followed by a headshot. He has been a monster individually during his whole career, but it wasn't until Eternal Fire (now Aurora) started winning that he made a Top 20 Players of the Year ranking for the first time as a 29-year-old in 2024. Had he ended up on a team like FaZe in his early days, I'd wager that he could have perhaps built a Hall of Fame career, or one that could have at least put him in that conversation.

Not to say that carrying a team is impossible, it's something the truly elite superstars can do on any given day, but outside of the freaks of nature like donk, Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut, and the guys fighting for Player of the Year, it's a rare occurrence. It's clear that nettik isn't that, or we would have known by now, but if he can get his play against international opposition at least a little bit closer to how he plays against teams in Asia and Oceania, it will be a boon for FlyQuest.

nettik’s doppelganger is also a fun one; Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa. Not only because the two are impactful Openers, exciting players whose mechanical skills light up a server — more than ever now with CS2 —, but because he's also a player from an underrepresented region who at one point was a prospect and is establishing himself as a household name.

Things really ramped up for malbsMd in the past year, when he turned 22. Could things be ramping up for nettik, who just turned that age? He's in a slump right now — which is not unheard of for rookies —, particularly when playing better opposition, but if he can turn it around, he could perhaps be the next one to follow in jks's footsteps. Much will depend on his ability to adapt to what FlyQuest need of him, and FlyQuest make room so he can be at his best and most effective.

FlyQuest's captain, Joshua "⁠INS⁠" Potter, who himself has shown such brilliance at times that to make him the in-game leader can be seen as a questionable decision, has spoken well of the youngster. "Adding nettik brings in some serious firepower. He's one of the best riflers in Oceania," he said back in March.

In June, the sentiment remained. "He's the kind of guy you can send anywhere, and you know he's good for a couple kills,” he said before giving the ultimate compliment one could get in an Australian team. "He's a super chill guy, and he's fitting in really well."

Now, the super chill guy will need some grit if he’s going to break through. "My mindset has always been 'I wanna be the best,'" nettik told Esports Kingdom after joining FlyQuest, "so constant improvement every game eventually got me somewhere." Now, it's time to see if he can continue to improve and flourish despite recent growing pains.

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