The Best Players of IEM Cologne 2023 | Stars of the Show

IEM Cologne 2023 reached its conclusion yesterday, after some of the best Counter-Strike we’ve seen in a while. We’ve seen plenty of great team play, but who brought the individual brilliance to Cologne? We’re taking a look at the list of IEM Cologne best players to see who deserves MVP of what was potentially CS:GO’s swansong.

5. sh1ro

Our list of IEM Cologne best players begins with sh1ro. His journey may have ended at the IEM Cologne 2023 Quarter-Finals, but without sh1ro, Cloud9 would never have got that far. At times he was like a man possessed on the server, single-handedly carrying his team to the brink of victory even in defeat.

With that said, this likely isn’t the best we’ll see of sh1ro this year. He was still gaining synergy with his new teammates electroNic and Perfecto during IEM Cologne 2023, and he played much of the tournament without Ax1Le due to visa issues. On an individual level, there are promising signs that sh1ro has plenty to give in the rest of 2023.

4. ZywOo

It shows the standard that ZywOo has set himself, that 4th in this list is a slight disappointment. There’s no doubt that ZywOo is one of the best CS:GO players on the planet right now, if not the best. He continued to show that at IEM Cologne 2023, putting in a performance of the highest quality throughout. In the earlier matches against teams like OG at MOUZ, it looked as though ZywOo was smurfing at times.

Despite playing well throughout, ZywOo will be the first to tell you that his Semi-Final performance was disappointing. He held his own in the first two maps against ENCE, but the final map on Vertigo saw him go 11:19 as Vitality crashed out of IEM Cologne 2023. If he managed to drag his team even further, he’d surely be higher on this list.

3. dev1ce

If you had any lingering doubt that dev1ce was back among the best CS:GO players in the world, you can put those concerns firmly to rest after IEM Cologne 2023. The legendary AWPer was in top form here, taking Astralis to the Semi-Finals of Cologne with its brand-new roster.

Just two months into this new Astralis project, and they’re already making Semi-Finals with dev1ce at the forefront. It’s extremely impressive. He may not have lifted the trophy at the end, but it was just great to see dev1ce back on the big stage where he belongs. There will surely be more to come in the future.

2. m0NESY

IEM Cologne 2023 must have gone exactly how m0NESY had seen it in his wildest dreams. Everything was perfect, down to the final trophy lift. The young AWPer faced some criticism after the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, but he showed why he’s considered one of the best CS:GO players in the world in Cologne.

The Baby GOAT was hitting flicks left, right, and center that no human should be able to come close to. Want to know how fast m0NESY is with the AWP? Watch some of his flicks in slow motion. At times in IEM Cologne 2023, some of his shots when seen in slow motion looked like they were at normal speed, which is just absurd.

Of the thirteen maps m0NESY played at IEM Cologne 2023, he went positive in all but two. It was an impressive display of consistency from m0NESY, who picked up another major trophy for the collection. If he carries this sort of form into the rest of 2023, G2 have a great chance of victory every time they step onto the server.

1. NiKo

In the list of IEM Cologne best players, there can only be one winner. NiKo. He chose IEM Cologne 2023 to remind us exactly why he’s considered one of the best CS:GO players of all time, putting in a tournament performance that will surely go down as one of his best ever.

NiKo himself has finished runner-up at Cologne once before. It would have been easy to let nerves take over, and allow history to repeat itself once more. The IEM Cologne 2023 Grand Final was different, with NiKo carrying his team to allow the match to define his career for all the right reasons.

Once all was said and done, NiKo was given the official DHL MVP award to take home with his IEM Cologne trophy. We’d be hard-pressed to disagree with that assessment, and NiKo is our IEM Cologne 2023 MVP too.