Canadian trio top Dust2.us' Team of the Month for February 2024

Dust2.us is back with our Team of the Month for February 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.

Starting off at the pro level, this was admittedly a strange month for North America in the pro scene. With Complexity and M80 heading to IEM Katowice 2024 and failing to make a splash there, NA's pros really only had domestic competition to look forward to shining in. Even then, there were times when NA's teams looked shaky against domestic competition — Liquid included.

Despite this, Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and Keith "NAF" Markovic both deserve a nod as the most consistent pieces of Liquid at the moment, with the Canadian duo ending 1.28 and 1.31 ratings, respectively, over 15 maps. With the Americas RMR starting today, Liquid will very likely count on these two to carry the load on the way to Copenhagen.

Moving down into the ECL level, fellow Canadian Jadan "HexT" Postma deserves a nod as the best player on NRG right now. With the roster really not hitting the ground running, HexT has proven himself as the only member of the quintet able to consistently perform in online qualifiers and the like. He ends the month with a stellar 1.32 rating over 19 maps and only two negative maps during this time period.

The other ECL talent is another returning star from January, with Deni "dea" Ediev continuing to be a joy to watch on the server. While the Russian AWPer losing his passport is desk-smashingly frustrating, when we have been able to see dea play it has been great. Hopefully he gets a new passport soon so we can see if his 1.28 rating over ten maps this month can translate to a higher level of play.

In Advanced, we almost tipped the hat to a Villainous player for their strong form in ESEA Advanced Season 48, however at the end of the month someone more exotic grabbed our attention. In the back half of the month, Asian Advanced squad G3 started picking up unexpected wins and playing close maps against the likes of Elevate, Mythic, Limitless, and Party Astronauts in online qualifiers. The primary driver of this success seems to be Qihao "C4LLM3SU3" Su, who topfragged for his team in a number of these matches. While we freely admit we know very little about the player, he may just be one worth keeping an eye on.

Finally, we come to our coach of the month, with Joshua "m1cks" Micks in our mind deserving some plaudits. Considering he is on paper only an analyst for the team, those who know about him know he does much more than his job description. As someone who is acting as both an analyst and a coach while managing an admittedly dysfunctional team, one hopes his team will be able to finally click at the all-important Americas RMR in March.

Dust2.us’ Team of the Month for February 2024 is:

• Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken (Pro)

• Keith "NAF" Markovic (Pro)

• Jadan "HexT" Postma (ECL)

• Deni "dea" Ediev (ECL)

• Qihao "C4LLM3SU3" Su (Advanced)

• Joshua "m1cks" Micks (Coach)