floppy, junior return for Dust2.us' Team of the Month for October 2023

Dust2.us is back with our Team of the Month is back for October to highlight North America's best and brightest across the three tiers of competitive play. As always, Dust2.us' list consists of two professional-level players, two players from ESL Challenger League, and one standout name from ESEA Advanced. Additionally, the list includes the most impactful coach regardless of tier.

As can be expected, two players from Complexity, Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski and Ricky "floppy" Kemery, claimed the pro-level spots in Dust2.us' TOTM. Until Liquid announce their new roster or another team begins to compete consistently at the pro level, expect this to be the norm. However, despite it being a forgone conclusion, we cannot disregard the excellent month Complexity's stars had. In a month where COL won the BLAST Premier: Fall American Showdown 2023 and placed second at IEM Sydney 2023, EliGE posted a 1.17 rating against top 30 teams, making him the ninth-highest rated player in October. Meanwhile, floppy was not far behind him as he posted a 1.10 rating.

The crowning moment for Complexity this also came from EliGE, with the franchise player leading COL to another win over Cloud9 on October 17th at IEM Sydney, posting a 1.38 rating as he led the charge in a decisive three-mapper on their road to the finals.

Down at the ECL level, Paytyn "junior" Johnson has returned for the second month in a row after another dominant series of performance in ESL Challenger League Season 46. Over 22 maps, junior maintained a 1.22 rating, proving he is a class all his own when it comes to the Big Green Gun in ECL. Nouns' Christopher "cJ" Jones also deserves some recognition as he ended the month with a 1.19 rating. While Nouns' outing at the Thunderpick World Championships 2023 didn't make the splash they were expecting, cJ has continued to reinvent himself and show why he attracted attention initially back in 2016 and 2017.

Moving down to the Advanced level, Zombler's Dave "seziwana" Schrage deserves some recognition for his contributions to the recently-promoted team. After winning ESEA Main Season 46 at the start of the month, Zomblers have gone on to start ESEA Advanced Season 47 with a 4-0 record. seziwana top-fragged in two of these matches and has otherwise been playing great. For those who don't know about seziwana, the 27-year-old rifler has been a part of the NA scene for eight-plus years and played at every level of semi-professional competition. With NA having an experience gap for new teams, having someone like seziwana leading a new generation of players in Advanced and succeeding cannot be understated.

Finally, with Counter-Strike 2 making the role of a coach even more ephemeral considering they cannot join the server online, we have to look harder at their theoretical impact on a team as a leader of men. In that sense, a clear choice is Wildcard's coach, João "horvy" Horvath, for helping guide the team on their first European bootcamp. As an experienced coach, player, and European native his experience was likely invaluable as Wildcard looked to gain experience across the pond.

Dust2.us’ Team of the Month for October is:

• Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski

• Ricky "floppy" Kemery

• Paytyn "junior" Johnson

• Christopher "cJ" Jones

• Dave "seziwana" Schrage

• João "horvy" Horvath (Coach)