The best of the year in each position form the Team of the Year.
The Team of the Year has been announced at the HLTV Awards 2023, which is a collection of five individual players, each voted the most exceptional in their role. The selection of names and winners is chosen by a panel that brings together players from the world's main teams, talent and HLTV staff.
This "Team of the Year" category differs from the roster of the year. In this category, the roles receiving awards were:
- IGL
- AWPer
- Closer
- Opener
- Anchor
- Coach
Team of the Year - In-Game Leader (HLTV Awards 2023)
Nominees:
- Dan "apEX" Madesclaire
- Finn "karrigan" Andersen
- Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer
Winner: apEX
Background: apEX was on the winning side of several titles in 2023 with Vitality. The most prominent is the BLAST.tv Paris Major but the European has won several other titles. Karrigan leads FaZe Clan and in 2023 the team was unstoppable in the transition to CS2 with an incredible sequence of victories. Snappi won IEM Dallas with ENCE being one of the main actors in the organization's enormous evolution in recent years.
AWPer of the Year
Nominees:
- Helvijs "broky" Saukants
- Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov
- Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut
Winner: ZywOo
Closer of the Year
Nominees:
- David "frozen" Čerňanský
- Robin "ropz" Kool
- Lotan "Spinx" Giladi
Winner: ropz
Frozen had a fantastic second half of the year, accompanied by the team's level. The good moment culminated in winning ESL Pro League Season 18.
From Vitality, Spinx was one of Vitality's highlights of the year with several big trophies. Ropz is an indisputable name, a player who was discussed as the best in the world by the community at the beginning of CS2.
Opener of the Year
Nominees:
- Nikola "NiKo" Kovač
- Håvard "rain" Nygaard
- Dorian "xertioN" Berman
Winner: NiKo
NiKo at 26 years old is still in great shape and very consistent in his performances. Therefore, the player led G2 to win two major titles. Since 2016 at FaZe, at 29 years old Rain has had absolutely frightening moments of form. The player was MVP of IEM Sydney 2023.
XertioN's name comes after a great second half of the year. The player came from the MOUZ academy and was largely responsible for the main team's great evolution in recent months.
Anchor of the Year
Nominees:
- Shahar "flameZ" Shushan
- Justin "jks" Savage
- Emil "Magisk" Reif
Winner: Magisk
FlameZ arrives at Vitality in the middle of the year with the great burden of replacing legend Peter "Dupreeh" Rasmussen shortly after winning the Major. The answer was clear, Gamers8's achievement in FlameZ's debut and several trophies won.
The Australian JKS was one of G2's greatest achievements. Due to the team's decline in form, jks went to the G2 bench in August 2023. Magisk is an undisputed name in the Counter-Strike scene. The player's experience at Vitality and in 2023 speaks for itself. Magisk leaves Vitality with another Major and several trophies.
Team of the Year - Coach (HLTV Awards 2023)
- Eetu "sAw" Saha
- Dennis "sycrone" Nielsen
- Danny "zonic" Sørensen
Winner: zonic
The Finnish coach, now at Heroic, built a good project at ENCE together with Snappi. They picked up promising players and others perhaps forgotten by the community. ENCE won IEM Dallas in 2023.
Having also started at MOUZ Academy, sycrone evolved with MOUZ to this fantastic end of the year for the team.
The Danish zonic is also undeniable, proof of which is his five Majors won. At Vitality he won the last CS:GO Major and built a solid project with apEX. Now on Team Falcons in Saudi Arabia, zonic has a new challenge ahead of him in 2024.
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