NAF and Twistzz shine in Dust2.us' Team of the Month for October 2024

Dust2.us is back to present our Team of the Month for October 2024, giving us the opportunity to highlight NA's best and brightest currently competing at home and abroad. 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.

This month saw ESL Challenger League Season 48 wrap up and ESEA Advanced Season 51 kick off at home while NA teams were all over the world at IEM Rio 2024, the BLAST Premier World Finals, and ThunderPick World Championship 2024.

Starting at the pro level, the choice of Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and Keith "NAF" Markovic was easy as their performances at IEM Rio 2024 and the BLAST Premier World Finals were the only highlights to speak of from the likes of Liquid, Complexity, and M80 at the tier-one level. With the duo both posting 1.06 ratings over 12 maps they massively outperformed their Polish and Latvian teammates while also showing up Complexity by besting the squad once again in Rio.

Liquid's success in the upcoming Perfect World Shanghai Major and Americas RMR seems contingent on the Canadians continuing their strong year especially if Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis is unable to wake up from his slumber and Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak's recent slump continues, although their long-term prospects may require all four players to be on their "A-game" when facing off against tier-one opposition.

Moving down into the ESL Challenger League level, ECL S48 came to a close this month with M80 carving a dominant path through the playoffs bracket to win the division for the third time in a row. As can be expected, German AWPer Fritz "slaxz-" Dietrich was a major part of that success as he was unstoppable on the big green gun, posting a 1.34 rating over nine maps while top fragging against NRG in their upper bracket semi-final match and against Legacy in the upper bracket final.

The other player who giving kudos to, Michael "Swisher" Schmid, had a more quiet playoffs performance when compared to slaxz-, however Swisher came alive in the grand finals against NRG, posting a massive 1.63 rating over the three maps while also top fragging on Ancient and Inferno.

Moving down to the ESEA Advanced level, Mitch "gloRinsz" MacInnis' HoleSmokers have had a fantastic season despite losing org support ahead of the start of Season 51. The mix of old and new players finished with a 6-1 record and currently sit at the top of the division with an 8-1 record. A large part of that success can be attributed to a relative newcomer to the top of the Advanced scene as 24-year-old rifler Ayden "Dante" Laube has led the charge for HoleSmokers in many key victories. Dante put on great performances in wins against MIGHT, MarcaRegistrada, and regain while the team has also secured wins over FRAUDS, jahsdnmasjdm v2, and Take Flyte KINGS.

With the team having one of the more difficult schedules this season when compared to their peers, HoleSmokers and Dante may very well be a dark horse for a deep run in ESEA Advanced playoffs this season.

Finally, for our coach of the month Damian "daps" Steele got the nod for helping guide his team to ESL Challenger League Season 48 playoffs. While NRG have overall been underwhelming in their return to CS, they have clearly been making gradual improvements, and with daps being the master of slow but steady progress on his teams it gives us hope for the future of this NRG core in 2025.

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

• Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken (Pro)

• Keith "NAF" Markovic (Pro)

• Fritz "slaxz-" Dietrich (ECL)

• Michael "Swisher" Schmid (ECL)

• Ayden "Dante" Laube (Advanced)

• Damian "daps" Steele (Coach)