New blood headlines October’s TOTM

At the beginning of each month, Dust2 commemorates the best players inside the North American Counter-Strike scene by awarding five domestic talents over the three major competitive layers as members of Dust2’s Team of the Month.

This monthly award is handed out to the most impressive tier-one professional North American talents, as well as the best players inside of the second tier, most notably teams competing in ESL Challenger’s League. Lastly, to highlight the next best upcoming talent inside of the scene, at least one spot is given to the best player in ESEA Advanced over the month.

The aim of this award is not only to continue to spread the good word of some of the best players in the scene today but also to give a platform of discovery to rising talents who may dominate the servers of tomorrow. As a part of the mission to improve our coverage within the scene, monthly recognition of the best players across the region comes as a natural step in growth.

In our efforts to continue highlighting the performances of the region’s best talents, it is only right that the coaches receive the proper spotlight. Accompanying the five players chosen for the Team of the Month will also be the Coach of the Month, to ensure the mind behind the talent gets its deserved recognition.

Starting off this month’s list is FURIA’s Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato, who is surprisingly making their debut receiving the honor. After mostly being up and down this year, KSCERATO came alive at Pro League, ending the event with the second-best rating at 1.34. Despite his team falling short from the final, he still ended with a positive rating in all but three of the fifteen played maps. With the Major cycle right here, the FURIA rifler is in the right form at the right time.

Second on the list is fellow debutant and fellow star rifler, Michael “Grim” Wince of Complexity, who had one of the best LAN performances in his young professional career with a 1.19 rating over fifteen maps. He was a major catalyst for his team in their wins over Astralis, HEET, and ENCE as Complexity appears to be hitting their stride at the right time with the RMRs coming up.

Breaking the debut train is ATK’s Michael “Swisher” Schmid, who saw massive amounts of individual success in each of his teams five different played events on the month. Their primary venture on the month, ESL Challenger League, has been successful, as the team took first in group b with a 6-1 record with Swisher ending the regular season tied for first at a 1.36 rating. As ATK continues to grow as a team, Swisher is there as a lead performer.

Joining Swisher on the list as the other top performer of ECL is EG Black AWPer Jerric “wiz” Jiang, who has been especially dominant as of late with the big green. Ending the ECL regular season as a top performer despite his team ending third in groups is a great sign for the growth of the developing AWPer as EG continues to work on their multi-squad ecosystem.

Closing out the players section of the list is Andrew “VulcaN” Dominguez, representing Magic School Bus inside of ESEA Advanced. He has been one of the many catalysts for the lineup’s success inside the trenches of ADV playoffs in pursuit of an upper-bracket finals appearance. He ended September with a 1.38 K/D, 95 ADR, and a 14.30 RWS inside of ADV competition.

Earning the first coaching trifecta inside the TOTM is Liquid’s Damien “daps” Steele. Since his joining, the team has only continued to improve, and after an EPL finals appearance that ended in a close defeat, Liquid appear to be in top form ahead of the RMRs.

Dust2’s Team of the Month for September is:

• Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato

• Michael “Grim” Wince

• Michael “Swisher” Schmid

• Jerric “wiz” Jiang

• Andrew “VulcaN” Dominguez

• Damian “daps” Steele (Coach)

TOTM all-time leaders:

• Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken: 4

• Keith “NAF” Markovic: 3

• Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt: 3

• Eduardo “dumau” Wolkmer: 2

• William “spek” Smith: 2

• Michael “Swisher” Schmid: 2

• Damian “daps” Steele (Coach): 3