They may go underappreciated at times, but the importance of CS:GO coaches can’t be overstated. They can be the glue to hold a team together when times get tough. That’s why we’re looking at the best to ever do it, the ones who have gone on to reach the pinnacle of competitive CS:GO alongside their players.
Jonatan “Devilwalk” Lundberg
Devilwalk with GODSENT. Credit: Stephanie Lindgren | © DreamHack
The only individual to win a CS:GO Major as both a player and a coach, Devilwalk has a great legacy in the game.
Devilwalk’s impact as a CS:GO coach goes back many years. After retiring from playing at Fnatic, he instantly became the team’s coach. It was a bold choice to retire so early. He made the move at just 23 years old, way before anyone could have seen coming. It was a change that suited the Swede, as he immediately led them to two CS:GO Major finals. They even managed to win the second, securing his place in the history of the game.
Sadly, he’s never really lived up to those early days, taking on short-term projects with the likes of OpTic, GODSENT, and FunPlus Phoenix. Now at Bad News Eagles, Devilwalk has proven he’s still got what it takes at the top by taking BNE to the final CS:GO Major. At 32 years of age, he’s on the younger side of CS:GO coaches. With his wealth of experience, he can have a huge impact well into CS2, and we’ll see if another top CS:GO team takes a chance on Devilwalk.
Wilton “zews” Prado
zews’ Luminosity days. Credit: Adela Sznajder | © DreamHack
The legend of zews among CS:GO coaches was secured during the early days of the game.
He retired as a pro player in 2015, but his foray into CS:GO coaching was an immediate success. As coach of Luminosity (later SK Gaming), he won back-to-back Majors in 2016 with the famous Brazilian core including FalleN, fer, and coldzera. Along the way, his team put gave us some of the top CS:GO Major kills ever (coldzera’s jumping AWP, anyone?), and it’s a credit to zews’ abilities that he can handle the pressure of coaching the best CS:GO teams.
He also spent a successful period with Liquid between 2016 and 2018, where he was perhaps unfortunate to come up against a generational Astralis roster preventing more trophy wins.
More recently, stints with MIBR and EG proved more of a struggle. Currently a CS:GO coach for Fluxo, he led them to the Challengers Stage of the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. While the Brazilians went 0:3, just getting there was a remarkable achievement for this roster.
Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi
B1ad3 coaching NAVI. Credit: Viola Schuldner | © ESL
B1ad3 hasn’t been in the game quite as long as the other CS:GO coaches on this list, but he earns his place nonetheless. As NAVI’s coach since 2019, B1ad3 took the team to its greatest era of success in CS:GO.
During that time in 2021, NAVI seemed unbeatable. They took home 6 S-tier trophies in a single calendar year, a ridiculous endorsement of the team’s ability and determination on the server. B1ad3 was instrumental along the way, as they created an era for themselves as one of the best CS:GO teams to ever do it.
Getting NAVI to the top was a big achievement for B1ad3, and he struggled to keep them there post-2021. With the addition of npl, the rebuild of NAVI is well underway. If he can turn them into contenders once more, his legacy will only improve in CS2.
Danny “zonic” Sørensen
zonic in Astralis. Credit: Viola Schuldner | © ESL
The greatest CS:GO coach of all time – zonic. No one can compare to his incredible achievements in the game, smashing all of the CS:GO Major records.
Most will know zonic as the coach of Astralis, unarguably one of the best CS:GO teams ever. During this time, he achieved what no CS:GO coach has ever done before, winning four Majors, including three in a row. Astralis under zonic didn’t just win comfortably. They redefined the meta of the entire game, changing how teams play to this day. CS:GO is a game that moves notoriously quick, and to keep up sustained success for two years should not go unnoticed.
His success hasn’t stopped at Astralis. Now the coach of Vitality, he looks poised to challenge for the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. He doesn’t have a point to prove to anyone, and another Major would be just another for the collection. Of all the CS:GO coaches, no one has built a legacy quite like zonic.
About Post Author
