Last year's  DreamHack Valencia was more of a second-tier tournament in CS:GO, featuring many outdated lineups such as k1ck and the old HellRaisers (and an all French grand-final that amusingly featured two players with current VAC bans, Sf and KQLY). But this year s DreamHack received some pep in its step by integrating with FACEIT, buffing the prize-pool and bringing elite teams who would theoretically qualify from three regions: Europe, North America, and Oceania.

The event saw a flurry of stories determine its odd composition, with an Oceanic regional contender missing from the party due to both qualified teams (Renegades and Immunity) having to focus on the ESL One Cologne Asian qualifier running concurrently in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

With the dust settled from the event, and with Danish TSM bearing home a trophy and check for $40,000, let s reflect on the FACEIT 2015 Stage 2 finals at DreamHack Valencia.

Takeaway #1: Liquid have a long way to travel

Let s first focus on the all-American Liquid team, whose latest offline results heading in the tournament saw them take a map apiece off of elite teams Fnatic and Na`Vi at Gfinity Spring Masters II, as well make their continental rivals Cloud9 sweat in the quarter-finals of ESWC 2015, despite ultimately losing.

Expectations among the Liquid camp were not particularly high going into Valencia, considering the team s hapless group draw alongside Fnatic, TSM, and NiP. And despite no major blowouts, Liquid went down 9-16 in the opening match to Fnatic and then lost in their best-of-three to NiP the next day.

The fact of the matter is that the team requires fraggers nitr0 and EliGE to be heavily present, as well as fundamental support play from flowsicK and FugLy, and some form of this overall cohesion was missing in Valencia. The takeaway for Liquid from this series will be that the team needs to hit the drawing board, draw on its recent international tournament experiences, and practice set-ups and timings until they can compete at the highest level.

Takeaway #2: An ode to the old Virtus.pro

Despite some tournament wins in 2015, and a deep playoff run at this year s so-far only major in their home country, Virtus.pro is a shell of its old former self. Although the team continues to perform well online—a fact that is highly ironic considering that the team s core of NEO, TaZ, and pashaBiceps were notorious in CS 1.6 for poor online placings—which allows them to qualify and attend events, deep playoff runs seem less and less likely as time goes on.

This team is one of the most travelled in 2015, and with a median age for its players being higher than many teams , are thus particularly susceptible to event fatigue. No wonder then that no successful combination of players has been able to show up in its recent matches, and even the game-sense genius that is Snax is subdued as of late.

The opening game against Na`Vi was in Virtus.pro s favour until sloppy play on the Poles side cost them the opener. The next day s best-of-three group decider against Kinguin at first appeared to be a breeze, but a resurgent Kinguin squad bounced back after map one and took de_dust2 away from VP to force a third map.

And from there, legends tell that a third map was never played. Or, a third map could not have possibly been played considering the savage dismantlement that went down on de_cache. Virtus.pro stood up from their computers with a 0-16 drubbing on the books.

The story here is similar to Liquid s case, although in a different ultimate direction. Both teams will have to look to the future, however Virtus.pro s road looks to be a downhill slope as of now.

Virtus.pro stood up from their computers with a 0-16 drubbing on the books.

Takeaway #3: Kinguin Kings

The replacement of one Swede for another, dennis for SKYTTEN, seems to have had immediate effect in the Scandinavian-Belgian-Portuguese superstar team that is Kinguin. Although the team s upset victory over Virtus.pro has been mentioned, the team even managed to take de_inferno off of Na`Vi in the Group A decider match (despite ultimately losing 2-1).

The tale of Kinguin is one of infinite promise, as well as delivery on all the past months previous hype. The revelation that dalito is both IGL and coach behind the team (whereas other CS:GO team s coaches are sometimes seen sulkily prowling behind the team with not much real input) is no doubt one piece in the puzzle of the team s impressive showing at the FACEIT Stage 2 finals. However, one cannot simply discount the insane fragging ability of ScreaM, Maikelele, rain, and fox, and as the team s cohesion (and English language proficiency) improves—barring any hiccups—Kinguin will be a legitimate contender in any tournament format.

Takeaway #4: NiP An enigma

There is no question of the Ninjas in Pyjamas experiencing a fall from grace in 2015. With one title under their belt (ASUS ROG Winter) this year, as well as yet another finals placing at a major, the team survived off what little fuel in its tank remained to ride out a few events up until midsummer.

Yet recent events (despite breaks for NiP) have not been so rosy, with the team s crash-and-burn in the quarter-finals against a Hiko-powered FlipSid3 being particularly brutal. Thankfully, this past weekend saw a much stronger NiP fall in the Group A decider match against an admittedly worthy opponent of Fnatic, with NiP losing both maps 14-16.

There was much to be seen that was comforting: f0rest playing well, Finnish sniper allu having an impact, and GeT_RiGhT still displaying dedication and talent at a high level. However, the team still lack depth to their strategies and executes and one previously monstrous player has gone rather mute: friberg. In a season where many entry-fraggers struggle (more on that in Cloud9), friberg s poor statistics can be chalked up to a changed metagame yet there is still truth in the fact that the star of ESL One Cologne 2014 has taken a dip in his performance.

Takeaway #5: The rise of Na`Vi

Na`Vi can be arguably classified as part of the new trifecta of elite teams, with the other two being Fnatic and TSM. After fiddling around with variations of lineups for nearly two years, and always bringing tantalisingly close results bar a gold medal, the 2015 Na`Vi lineup with flamie and seized is a surefire winning one.

The rise of Na`Vi began with the team s victory at ESL PL Winter, continued with their win at StarSeries XIII, and was cemented with the team s closely fought victory over Cloud9 at ESWC. Despite a tendency to occasionally throw away comfortable leads—as well as a healthy grouping of fiery tempers on the team—Na`Vi continue to deliver high class strategy and play in CS:GO.

At DreamHack Valencia, the Na`Vi lineup looked a little shaky however this Russo-Ukrainian-Slovakian team were still able to make a deep playoff run and take a map off champions TSM in the semifinals. GuardiaN may be perhaps the most consistent player in terms of statistics that the game has yet to see (the only other contender who comes to mind is Fnatic star olofmeister) and he finds ample help from fragging duo Edward and seized when necessary.

The final cog in the Na`Vi machine was flamie and it was the Russian s exceptional clutch plays and solid holds that turned Na`Vi from a tier-two team into a tier-one team. However, at the FACEIT finals, flamie was notably absent, even going 34-51 in the semi-finals against TSM. Na`Vi will need all the firepower it can get if it wants to rack up more gold.

Takeaway #6: Full-on Fnatic

Has the world s current top team taken a dive? All five players on Fnatic are still capable of peaks of CS:GO greatness and if Fnatic s decider match victory against NiP is any indication, the team still function on a focused and disciplined level.

However, it can be argued that Fnatic have found a kryptonite in two teams (although it remains to be seen if the reason is merely the effect of being at the top and having all teams gun for the top dog), which are TSM and Cloud9.

The former team makes sense, as the elite Danish squad is Fnatic s near rival in terms of teamwork, raw skill, and map precise play. A best-of-one series is always up in the air in this case, and depends on which players are ready to go out of their minds with insane plays.

Cloud9 however, are a bit of a surprise, and a pleasant one at that. The charismatic American team (sporting one Canadian in the form of shroud) took Fnatic to the wire on multiple maps (as well as winning one) at the $500,000 finals of the ESL ESEA Pro League. This resiliency against Swedish skill returned in the semi-finals this weekend when Cloud9 trounced Fnatic 2-0, including in an overtime thriller on de_train, a map which is quickly becoming a point of contention for these two teams.

Fnatic seem to have no issue yet, although two players previously known for deep game-impact, JW and flusha, can be seen to go under at times. KRIMZ, once the most complete CS:GO player, is also more subdued as of late. Yet with olofmeister still turning most team s defenders into Swiss cheese on his T sides, Fnatic are still up there among the very best, locked in a slightly disadvantageous struggle with TSM.

Takeaway #7: No time like now for North America

Cloud9 survived the turbulent NA Shuffle and resurrected with a significantly buffed roster. Three grand final finishes in three weekends is no small joke in a scene as diverse and vibrant as the CS:GO one, and if entry-fragger and recent retiree fREAKAZOiD can pick up on a few more frags, then this team will have no discernible weakness for the most part.

Communication issues have been smoothed out (at least as past weekends POV s have demonstrated) and the team looked even more in sync in Valencia. Skadoodle is making a viable campaign for the best AWPer in the game (although GuardiaN and KennyS would still like a word) and shroud is finally playing a comfortable and consistent carry role.

The CEVO finals may just be Cloud9 s chance to do North America a favour and finally bring home the 1st place finish, assuming the team can surmount regional rivals, Na`Vi, and Virtus.pro (with the final team being a particular thorn for Cloud9).

Takeaway #8: The era of TSM

TSM successfully defended their FACEIT 2015 League trophy and took another first place finish into the vault. The team have been stable with no real roster changes in 2015 and karrigan s role as an IGL is now indisputably better than that of old leader, FeTiSh.

Despite a streaky event attendance record (which should be solved now that the team have survived Danish exams season) and the unfortunate best-of-one blunders that led TSM to finish dead last at ESL ESEA Season 1 finals, TSM are still definitely the second-best, if not the best team in the world.

Proof is in the pudding, and the TSM pudding is preferably served with a dose of Danish hygge, which one experiences when watching the team play pitch-perfect Counter-Strike. It s frightening how coordinated the team can be at times, and with previous choke issues appearing less and less frequently, this is the team to watch for the second half of 2015.

The FACEIT League 2015 Stage 2 finals at DreamHack Valencia saw eight teams enter and one emerge victorious. Truly, no team finished in what might be called a static and stable result for said team, and each team is currently expectant of a better future or dejectedly watching its performances suffer. Such is the state of current CS:GO in a way, and the flux and volatility in itself are things well-worth watching for those who don t even play the game.

The vast majority of CS:GO players are focused on getting better at aiming. Being able to click on heads really well is the sexiest aspect of the game—everyone wants to be like KRiMZ or GeT_RiGhT and wire impossible, highlight reel-worthy headshots.

In actuality, the vast majority of CS:GO players would benefit most from focusing on improving the way they move, on adopting new techniques, on learning how movement influences accuracy, when and when not to crouch, and so on.

Movement is an easy thing to take for granted, but like most areas of Counter-Strike, movement is its own discipline, something that takes a mixture of techniques, knowledge, and intuition do do well. Forcing yourself to sit through a few minutes of video tutorials can unlock some epiphanies about bad habits and how to take your game to the next level. To that end, I've collected some recommended videos on movement below.

Strafing and shooting

Crouching vs. walking

How to throw grenades quickly

How to bunnyhop

Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) are the royalty of CS:GO. Four of the five active members were the core of the lineup which went 87 straight maps before losing offline. The dynasty that won its first 10 offline tournaments. The legends that placed top four in their first 31 tournaments. Even since then, they have continued a legacy of top placings, having made the final of all five CS:GO majors, winning  ESL One Cologne in August of last year. Still, they are a special team, which comes up with magic in big matches. Yet this is not an NiP that is the best team in the world or close to it.

Problems in the pyjama province

It is still routine for NiP to place top four, practically, but the days of GeT_RiGhT and company taking home trophies seem so far away. In 2014, with their classic lineup, they won three big titles. In 2015, they have failed to win a single big trophy in eight attempts, thusfar. NiP are still a special lineup, capable of playing the majority of the top teams closely when everything comes together. The primary problems for NiP are that they still tend to lose those nail-biters against the elite teams and that the dangerous landscape of the top end of the competition scene means they typically need to beat two strong teams in series to win a trophy. In short, even NiP's best is currently not enough to take a title from a FNATIC, TSM or EnVyUs, the teams they're most likely to face in a final.

Waning personnel power

The only questions asked of the old lineup were of support player fifflaren's play, since he was often the statistical sore thumb standing out among players who were all close to the best at their positions. The players who replaced him, in particular the explosive but erratic AWPer Maikelele, found that scrutiny transferred to them. The arrival of allu, the consistent and efficient Finnish sniper, has shown us, however, that NiP's problems no longer lie with the fifth man. Allu has been a model of regularly excellent performance, leaving us to look at the other four and ask who is failing to deliver a championship performance in their role.

Shockingly, the first place one must consider is with one of the stars, as aim master f0rest, still one of the world's best pistol players, has routinely stumbled in big games and found himself lacking a star level impact on his team's fortunes. With allu and GeT_RiGhT both posting good numbers, the third star has been very much waning in the last few months. Beyond f0rest, issues can be observed with both former in-game leader Xizt and friberg. The former has been slumping for at least the last few months, though he does still win some memorable clutch rounds, and the latter just had possibly the worst tournament of his career with NiP's group stage elimination at Gfinity Spring Masters II.

Trying everything

NiP have been aware their results are not up to par and attempted numerous changes. They switched up some of their most famous CT postions on maps. They've brought in former 3DMAX player and CS veteran natu as their new coach. Finally, they've even shifted the in-game leadership role to lurker GeT_RiGhT. So far, each change has had mixed results, often working somewhat early on and then leveling back off to a similar effect later. Unless big results come, one cannot help but feel that Xizt will return to holding the reigns, much as the Ninjas did revert some of their positional changes.

The future of the dynasty

This NiP does not look like the team of old in as much as it does not look capable of holding the number one spot in the rankings. With the right draw and collection of individual performances, they can still win a trophy or two, but even that will take some momentous fortune and is far from guaranteed. For NiP, this is the period in which they learn if they can live with being a top team but not the best. If FNATIC are not at the top, surely it will be TSM. If not TSM, then EnVyUs may rise again. The only thing which seems certain, is that NiP's time has passed, at least with this legendary core. Nothing lasts forever, in life as well as CS:GO.

Duncan "Thorin" Shields, also known as "The Esports Historian," has been involved in esports journalism since 2001. He writes for a number of sites on a freelance basis, provides on-camera analysis at CS:GO tournaments and produces YouTube interviews and commentary. Follow Duncan on Twitter and Facebook.

Valve deployed an update to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive this evening that adds Operation Bloodhound, a fresh set of community maps and weapon skins that you can pay $7 for the chance to play and earn.

Rails, Resort, Zoo, Log, and re-released versions of Agency and Season are included in the Bloodhound Access Pass, which also opens up two new campaigns, a continuation of the web of challenges players can complete to earn weapon skins or unlockable crates.

New maps are welcome, but the packaged metagame content is the least interesting aspect of CS:GO to me—I d much rather weapon unlocks be attached to an enhanced stats system that helps me understand where I m at as a player. Instead, Valve has added another layer of profile progression, Profile Rank. As you increase your Profile Rank, not only will your CS:GO profile evolve to show off your new title and icon; but the first time you rank up each week will earn you a weapon drop. It s weird that player profiles will have two pseudo-military ranks—one to measure their competitive skill, and another to measure how much they ve played across all modes.

Other than map tweaks, there are no stated changes to weapon balance or other aspects of CS:GO. I do like that the match timer for casual has been cut by 45 seconds to a more respectful 2:15, but otherwise the focus of this update is squarely on shoving more maps, monetized missions, and weapon skins into the game. But hey, the new Falchion knife (already listing at about $400 at the time of this post) has a cool animation, I guess.

To witness greatness in real-time is a rare gift. From Michael Jordan's second three-peat run with the Bulls to Gretzky's titles with the Oilers, many wish they could be transported back to see such feats unfold in their moment of taking place. The greatest lineup in CS:GO history may very well be the current FNATIC lineup, and it's far from done yet.

This five man FNATIC squad, completed late last June, has amassed a record which gives them a legitimate claim to the throne of the great Ninjas in Pyjamas, which seemed impossible to even approach. FNATIC has won 10 offline titles, made 13 finals and reached the top four in 17 out of 18 tournaments. Teams like LDLC (now EnVyUs) and TSM have had their moments, the latter perhaps still on-going, where they appeared to be the best team in the world, but the FNATIC train keeps rolling along and consistently gets deep in tournaments and then out-paces its rivals by being better against the field.

The personnel to dominate

The easy way to describe a historically dominant line-up like this would be to say that they're simply 'too good,' but in a sense that's accurate. FNATIC's success has come first and foremost as a result of having a line-up which is too good in terms of talent and the roles they can perform at a world class level in. In the early days of their initial run of dominance, beginning in October, they were led by the impeccable fundamentals of KRiMZ, locking down bombsites entirely and helping define a meta of CT-side dominance, which would sweep the entire top end of the CS:GO scene.

The sidekick at that time was JW, the impossible-to-predict and supremely explosive AWPer/rifler hybrid. With KRiMZ's providing a solid backbone to the team and the others being excellent team-players, JW was freed up to be the ultimate wild-card player, going where he pleased and finding the right moments from which to explode into opposing teams. While those two have had their moments and tournaments since, the new star of the team has been olofmeister, whose skill level is ridiculous. Olof is an all-around package player the likes of which has probably never been seen before in CS:GO, as he is one of the world's elite riflers and yet can also AWP as well as almost every primary sniper in the game.

Spurred on by olof's individual peak, FNATIC have been able to supplement his play with much-improved form by Flusha, the man whose dip in form late last year and early into this year partially accounted for FNATIC's brief drop-off. Flusha is not just the reliable clutch round player he built his career upon being but has recently also been topping scoreboards and even bringing some sniping into his game, successfully. FNATIC take the cliche "embarrassment of riches" and make it seem only apt to describe the luxuries they possess in terms of players. Take any other top five side in CS:GO and switch around which players will carry the team and you'll likely find yourself with a significantly worse team, while FNATIC are again winning titles and reaching finals again and again, even winning their major in the post-KRiMZ era.

Gods of Inferno

In two of FNATIC's early big international offline competitions they found key losses on inferno contributing to their elimination. That map would become both the home ground for FNATIC in the coming months and one of the most dominant maps of any team in the game's history. A team mastering a specific map is an often overlooked aspect of dominance. Ideally, it should be one that other elite teams play, ensuring it won't be banned, and then forces respect bans from lesser teams, opening the map pool even more for the dominant team. FNATIC's Inferno is the perfect example of such a scenario in CS:GO.

FNATIC have lost less than 10 times offline on inferno with this lineup, despite having played it at least 32 times. This was the map which both put all of the FNATIC players in their ideal positions, but also took advantage of the massively CT-sided meta of late 2014. Today, FNATIC still maintain their dominance in the map, despite the meta having shifted and teams racking up many more T-side rounds in a time when the Tec-9 is particularly strong.

Still going

While the great NiP lineup is long gone and they seek to establish a new championship team, FNATIC is still very much in the flow of their run of greatness. Winning their last two events and having made the final of four of their last five offline events, FNATIC are still the best team in the world and the best against the overall field of teams. Their last title came after a brutal 3:0 victory over Virtus.pro, a great CS:GO line-up in their own right, in the final of Gfinity Spring Masters II. FNATIC have more in the tank, so tune into their greatness at an upcoming CS:GO tournament.

When I launch CS:GO and my eyes wander over my ever-growing pile of Hours Played, a thought often eats away at me. I ve put hundreds of hours into Terrorisming and Counter-Terrorisming—thousands if you include Source and 1.6. I spend more time playing CS:GO than I do interacting with my loved ones. How the hell am I not a Counter-Strike master yet?

The truth is that getting better at Counter-Strike by only playing Counter-Strike can be a really slow, ineffective way to get better at Counter-Strike. Especially if you aren t taking the time to watch and analyze your own matches, it s possible to spend months or years making the same mistakes.

Fundamental parts of Counter-Strike are opaque. Which surfaces can and can t be penetrated, and by which weapons?  How do flashes work? Can a player that loses the first two rounds of a match afford an AWP? You have to be willing to do some homework and take in raw facts about the game, information that drives deeper realizations about how it can be played.

For me, that learning has opened up a better appreciation of CS. When I embraced it a long time ago, the game went from being about motor skills to being a chess match about money and clock management, scouting, feints, morale, reading audio cues, and play calling.

That said, there s an infinite amount of information you can lay eyes on to study. Below, I ve gathered a set of recommended videos for players who want to gain the confidence to play competitively or get over some of their existing matchmaking hurdles.

Rifle spray patterns, techniques

Rifles are the bread and butter of Counter-Strike at all levels, and understanding how they work (and their key differences) is equivalent to a basketball player working on their free-throws. CS:GO pro adreN is really direct in his advice ( Never crouch, it has no effect on your recoil ; You should never start off with a spray at this range ) and talks about how to manage shooting while moving.

Money management

The second of three videos in a series about CS:GO s economy, TheWarOwl digs into the mentality around buying and saving in CS in the early stages of a match, when adhering to certain guidelines is especially important. I like the way he compares the practice of predicting your opponent s economy to counting cards in blackjack.

Chokepoint timings

Counter-Strike is carefully tuned so that CTs and Ts have to rush out of their spawn points in order to establish map control. Playing with the timings (by, say, throwing a grenade at a certain spot to stop a rush) at these meeting points between is central to succeeding at CS.

Mouse sensitivity

The advice I give to everyone is to make your sensitivity as low as possible while still being able to turn 180 degrees consistently.

Flashbangs

For my money, flashbangs are the least-practiced, most misunderstood aspect of CS. So many players simply go through the motions of buying and carelessly throwing flashbangs without knowing whether (or how) effective they are against an opponent. My video from earlier this year touches on two basic techniques for flashbanging and breaks down the geometric rules that determine whether someone gets blinded by one.

Every highly-specific hobby you can imagine has a dedicated home on YouTube. Backyard metallurgy. 46-minute marathon Kinder Egg openings. Children in suits evaluating junk food. YouTuber ZaziNombies makes Lego game guns, and he's pieced together everything from the Scout's Force-A-Nature to a whole series of zappers from Destiny.

Joining that armory this week is Counter-Strike's iconic long gun: the AWP. ZaziNombies used about 1100 Lego pieces to put together a four-foot-long facsimile, including a convincing reconstruction of the AWP's optics that's mostly tires. You can tell he's done this before. The color is more mint than the AWP's classic olive drab, the plastic rounds seem smaller than the .338 Lapua that AWPs allegedly shoot, and the trivia ZaziNombies rattles off is clearly from a Wiki, but otherwise the resemblance is striking.