cxzi shines with insane rating in Dust2.us' Team of the Month for December 2023

Dust2.us is back with our Team of the Month is back for December 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 is tradition at this point, two Complexity players make up our two pros on the TOTM. This time around Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski is around once again while being joined by Norwegian import Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli. While the team overall had a poor showing at ESL Challenger Atlanta, the duo were still in strong form, posting 1.19 and 1.18 ratings, respectively, over the course of six maps. Hopefully this suggests Atlanta was just a fluke and COL will be back on their feet soon.

Looking at ESL Challenger League players, Danny "cxzi" Strzelczyk stands out by a country mile for being the top rated player worldwide in the month of December. The 23-year-old star has seemingly found his place in Party Astronauts and is fantastic form, helping to propel PA to a third-place finish in ECL S46 with a massive 1.40 rating over 16 maps.

The other player we want to point out, Marcus "maNkz" Kjeldsen, has been putting up massive in-game performances as the IGL of M80. While we might see IGLs struggle in their output as a fragger, maNkz seems more than comfortable playing in NA, keeping up a star-level output against domestic competition. This month on M80's way to winning ECL S46 and the Mythic Winter Cup, maNkz posted a 1.17 rating over 19 maps.

As for our Advanced Player of the Month, we believe that Spectre's Caleb "jchancE" Davis deserves some recognition. The 27-year-old has been a consistent figure in the NA scene for nearly ten years, toiling in the background, even as opportunities at the ECL level have eluded him in recent years. However, jchancE is finally set to make his return to ECL after winning Advanced S47 after last playing in ESEA Premier Season 29 all the way back in 2018 with Think Outside the Box.

Finally, Rory "dephh" Jackson is an easy shoutout for his strong leadership of M80 this month, with the team winning three events. Additionally, the veteran stood in for maNkz in ESL Challenger Atlanta recently due to visa issues. A coach having to stand-in in such circumstances is always stressful and far from ideal, therefore some kudos are in order.

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

• Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski

• Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli

• Danny "cxzi" Strzelczyk

• Marcus "maNkz" Kjeldsen

• Caleb "jchancE" Davis

• Rory "dephh" Jackson (Coach)