Now that we’re mid-way through March, there’s three months left until the Summer player break in the world of Counter-Strike. Most teams have had their fair share of practice reps and tournament appearances following the off-season. Some have done very well for themselves, others less so. I’d like to take a look at some teams that need to get their rears into gear starting at BLAST Open Spring 2025.
G2 Esports
Everyone saw this coming, but losing one of the most prolific rifles in the history of Counter-Strike does a number on a team. With Nikola “NiKo” Kovac now gone to Falcons, G2 has been notably lacking in firepower and killer instinct. They’ve been struggling to beat teams in the top 10, their most notable win of the year coming against Falcons.
You would think that having Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov lighting it up on the server would be enough to get G2 deeper into tournament runs, but the lack of NiKo’s experience and game sense has caused G2’s cracks to become even more defined. Replacement rifler Nikita “HeavyGod” Martynenko is understandably less effective than his predecessor, and Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski’s subpar in-game leading is more apparent than ever.
G2 Esports is currently ranked 7th by HLTV, down from the 2nd place they held at the start of the year. If they can’t find a way to get some big wins on the board, they could keep freefalling going into Summer. At that point, huge questions will need to be asked about this team. Most importantly, what will happen to m0NESY? Can G2 convince him to stay and rebuild around him, or will the young superstar look to greener pastures?
If G2 wants to avoid that juncture, they’ll need to make what they have work starting soon. Assuming they win their opening match against Imperial Esports, they’ll immediately have a shot at another win against a top 10 opponent in the form of Team Liquid or Eternal Fire. A victory there would immediately boost them into the top 6 and playoffs at BLAST Open Spring 2025.
Team Liquid
North America’s premier squad has been something short of impressive so far in 2025. It’s true that the Casper “cadiaN” Moller experiment was a failure and that they needed to rebuild from the ground up. When they committed to transitioning Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken to IGL, we knew the team would take some time and have growing pains that keeps them lower down on the BLAST Open power rankings.
Once we hit summer, it will have been one year since this iteration of Liquid came to be. Their highest finish at a non-qualifier during that time is 5th-8th. Suffice to say, Liquid has not been in a real discussion as trophy contenders yet. If they continue to fail to crack into a semifinal, that perception will not change.
Giving rosters time to grow and gel together has positives and negatives. By giving them time, you can get a better grasp of and get closer to the team’s ceiling. However, by committing to a squad, you lose any opportunities to stretch for upgrades in free agency.
Liquid already made one change at the dawn of the year, benching Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis for Guy “Nertz” Iluz. Nertz has been an upgrade for the most part, but Liquid still isn’t breaking though their previous ceiling. Will this squad manage to finally show that they can make deep tournament runs, or is this as far as this project can go?
FaZe Clan
FaZe Clan has had a somewhat flat start to 2025. Stats-wise, Jonathan “ELiGE” Jablonowski has been a fine replacement for Robin “ropz” Kool, the resulting team just lacks the same punch that they showed at the Major last December.
In FaZe’s defense, they’ve only attended three events so far and have a top eight at Katowice and a top four at Cluj-Napoca to show for it. That said, they’ve only made playoffs a single time and only have a win over SAW under their belt.
This is a squad that came mere inches short of a second Major trophy at the end of last year, only losing to the most prolific CS prodigy ever in the dying moments. Yes, ropz is one of the hardest players to replace in CS2, and his presence on Vitality has already elevated them into a contest with Spirit for world number one.
Even so, FaZe should still be a top five team in the world and vying for Grand Finals appearances, not losing to Astralis and Falcons. Hopefully their lighter schedule to start the year will give them the rest they need to ramp up heading towards Summer.
