David "Dawy" Bibik has risen to take the top spot on the prospects list after the graduation of Adrian "xelex" Vincze.
He leapfrogged previous #2 Klimentii "kl1m" Krivosheev — the subject of our latest spotlight — after shining at the EWC open qualifier to complete a journey to #1 that started for him in the very first edition of Prospects last year.
Seven players have remained in the list throughout all 11 rankings, though that includes four of our top five, and Dawy leads the way as a veteran of the list. The Ukrainian rifler was as high as #2 in January before falling out of the top ten and now climbing all the way back to the top of the mountain.
Aleksey "xeedo" Mikulich of K27 is the only top-five player who joined the list late, breaking into it in January and embarking on a steady upwards journey to his new highest spot of #2.
Those two are followed by kl1m and the Swedish pairing of Liam "MaiL09" Tügel and Alex "poiii" Nyholm Sundgren.
It's notable that new Liquid sniper Georgi "Jorko" Mitev breaks into the top ten, having impressed thus far. Gleb "gr1ks" Gazin is also in the top ten, returning after a few months away, after averaging a 1.58 rating to send BIG into the EWC main event.
Zhassulan "Botpa1" Assembek (#22), highlighted last month for his form locally, is at it again too with a 1.39 rating en route to another trophy for Omega. Teammate Aldiyar "Aldikon" Alim (#29) was also on song this month with a 1.43 rating at a separate Kazakh LAN win.
Other big climbers include Zolbayar "tikuak" Chimedtseren, who is bedding in at The MongolZ, and Philipp "tex1y" Moskvitin after he recorded a 1.27 rating at Moscow Cyber Games.
Down under, Kalan "sliimey" Lorenzo continues to perform a head above the rest with a 1.36 rating in August and he breaks into the top 20 as a reward.
Egor "ayuki" Ershov of Nuclear TigeRES is making moves after he helped his side win NODWIN Clutch Series 10 and performed well on LAN over the last month in general.
Also keep an eye on new entrant Andrii "tired73" Hlushko, a 17-year-old Ukrainian with 4293 FACEIT ELO and a 1.26 rating in the last six months.
Graduates
Two of our top ten from August depart, in the form of xelex and Jason "JBOEN" Boe Nielsen.
We also will no longer be seeing Andrey "AW" Anisimov, Su "Zero" Jingshen, Vladislav "lattykk" Vydrin, Abdurakhim "mo0N" Issa, or João "Ltz" Bonetti.
Now that graduations happen each month, you are less likely to see our prospects at tier one events. These youngsters no longer have the luxury of bedding into tier one while remaining in the list, so it is less likely they come away with crazy ratings against the best teams in the world.
Instead, most of our highlights will be at smaller LANs, or events like EWC's humungous last chance qualifier. By keeping the list fresh, we are also reducing the quality at the top end.
But this is a deliberate trade off, and it should make for more interesting monthly updates. If you need a reminder of our criteria, here they are:
HLTV Prospects criteria, as of August 31, 2026:
Under 21 years of age
Fewer than 50 maps at Big Events
Fewer than 50 maps in a top 20 team vs a top 20 team
Fewer than 100 maps in a top 30 team vs a top 30 team
Fewer than 300 maps in a top 50 team vs a top 50 team
Fewer than 1000 career maps
Note: Eligibility is now updated for each monthly ranking
Stat Attack
For this month's scatterplot, we're looking at some brand new metrics.
We now have access to round swing data per round, which means we can use stats like 'rounds with negative swing' or 'rounds with more than 20% swing' to see which players are consistently impactful.
We chose 20% because when a player ends the round above that mark, their team wins 90% of rounds. We chose 0% because, well, you can guess.
tired73 is the first name to jump out, after brilliant work for WBT — though he is yet to play a top 50 team in an official.
It's interesting to see players like Kristian "kralle" Jensen stand out in the explosive round-winning 20%+ metric, but also end more than 54% of rounds with a negative impact on the round outcome. It's no surprise plenty of orange aggressive riflers are in this quadrant, playing for high reward with plenty of risk too.
Our purple passive riflers skew left, with players like Daniel "syph0" Ageyev ending less than half of rounds with a negative swing while holding up as fairly explosive too.
AWPers tend to do well overall, with Vladimir "b1st" Krasikov and forgotten man Alimzhan "Alkaren" Bitimbay closest to tired73 in the top-right corner.
Top Picks
It's finally time to pick MaiL09 as a player ready to make a move. After being so good in Alliance, he's finding it a bit harder in Metizport but there are good signs from Challenger League that he is adapting to Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz's system. Another few months, and the FACEIT prodigy will be ready for some Big Events.
xeedo is one of many Russophone star openers in this list, but in a congested market he is flying his colors well and seems as sure a bet as any.
We've then gone for Alkaren, who had a dire time with HEROIC due to visa issues but has all the same potential he had when they signed him and is getting rid of his ring rust on loan with CYBERSHOKE.
For our maverick picks, we've turned to NA for Chance "WUMBO" Boyer, then back to Europe for ayuki as a closer and tired73 as a sniper.
HLTV Top 50 Prospects: August 2026
David "Dawy" Bibik
Aleksey "xeedo" Mikulich
Klimentii "kl1m" Krivosheev
Liam "MaiL09" Tügel
Alex "poiii" Nyholm Sundgren
Daniil "qw1nk1" Kabilov
Georgi "Jorko" Mitev
Vladimir "b1st" Krasikov
Gleb "gr1ks" Gazin
Daniel "syph0" Ageyev
Danila "kashl1d" Dronov
Ilya "flouzer" Selifonov
Roman "Mokuj1n" Petrushenko
Martin "nut nut" Holm Vestergaard
Zolbayar "tikuak" Chimedtseren
Philipp "tex1y" Moskvitin
Kalan "sliimey" Lorenzo
Alimzhan "Alkaren" Bitimbay
Vadim "tO0RO" Arkov
Vyacheslav "slaxejezzz" Vinokurov
Kristian "kralle" Jensen
Zhassulan "Botpa1" Assembek
Alisher "tasman" Marat
Egor "ayuki" Ershov
Roman "n0te" Hamze
Artur "pleynnn" Syzdykov
Nikolai "Nikodeon" Sørensen
Maxim "SquEzxc" Grebenko
Aldiyar "Aldikon" Alim
Jan "cej0t" Dyl
Emil "sL1m3" Stolz
Artem "Flierax" Khioara
Bogdan "ogwizard" Savula
Alexandr "oz1k" Sevastyanov
Simon "sSen" Solnæs Iversen
Denis "m1QUSE" Karpovich
Lukas "Beccie" Bauder Balcells
Julius "Junyme" Meyhoff
David "bl1x1" Stepanyants
Aleksandr "AquaRS" Kovalev
Andrii "tired73" Hlushko
Jakub "Kunai" Gieremek
Vladyslav "St0m4k" Lykhoshva
Pedro "pepe" Almeida
Shengxuan "chengking" Zu
Diogo "diozera" Oliveira Nunes
Artur "hitori" Palyants
Chance "WUMBO" Boyer
Rickson "Rkzinho" Ribeiro Dias
Iago "deemO" Henrique
How HLTV Prospects works
weightedRating: Weighted rating against top 50 teams in the last 6 months
formRating: Recency-weighted rating in the last 180 days
roundWinRating: Contributions to round wins in the last 6 months
weightedLAN: Weighted rating on LAN in the last 1000 days
playoffRating: Weighted playoff rating, based on event tier in all of CS2
evpPoints: EVP score at notable events
Age: Days old. Means a 16yo with the same stats outscores a 20yo
Bold Predictions: How often a player has been shouted out by a top 20 pro
FACEIT ELO: Ranking points on matchmaking platform FACEIT
Recent spotlights
- kl1m
- xelex
- poiii
- dziugss
- koala
- Krabeni
- cobrazera
- xKacpersky
Danila 'kashl1d' DronovPast 3 months
CYBERSHOKE
Alimzhan 'Alkaren' Bitimbay
Daniil 'alpha' Demin
Vladislav 'H4SAN4TOR' Tuchin
Emil 'nota' Moskvitin
Roman 'Mokuj1n' Petrushenko
Vladimir 'pixel' Lukyanov
Adrian 'xelex' VinczePast 3 months
Georgi 'Jorko' MitevPast 3 months
Jakub 'Kunai' GieremekPast 3 months
Kalan 'sliimey' LorenzoPast 3 months
K27
Aleksey 'xeedo' Mikulich
Timur 'clax' Sabirov
Daniil 'X5G7V' Maryshev
Danila 'kashl1d' Dronov
Daniil 'qw1nk1' Kabilov
Gregory 'balblna' Oleinick
Philipp 'tex1y' Moskvitin Past 3 months
David 'bl1x1' StepanyantsPast 3 months
Roman 'n0te' HamzePast 3 months
Martin 'nut nut' Holm VestergaardPast 3 months
Liam 'MaiL09' TügelPast 3 months
Daniil 'qw1nk1' KabilovPast 3 months
Daniel 'syph0' AgeyevPast 3 months
Klimentii 'kl1m' KrivosheevPast 3 months
Su 'Zero' JingshenPast 3 months
Kristian 'kralle' JensenPast 3 months
Alliance
Simon 'twist' Eliasson
Sean 'eraa' Knutsson
Jonatan 'bobeksde' Persson
Markus 'upE' Johansson
Arvid 'avid' Åberg
Simon 'Hawk' Vävinggren
João 'Ltz' BonettiPast 3 months
Pedro 'pepe' AlmeidaPast 3 months
Iago 'deemO' HenriquePast 3 months
Emil 'sL1m3' StolzPast 3 months
Zolbayar 'tikuak' ChimedtserenPast 3 months
Nikolai 'Nikodeon' SørensenPast 3 months
WBT
Andrii 'tired73' Hlushko
Mykhailo 'svemyy' Sverchkov
Kyryl 'marat2k' Samsoniuk
Daniil 'fl1peR' Salamakha
Darii 'NxStep' Stepovyi
Lukas 'Beccie' Bauder BalcellsPast 3 months
Jan 'cej0t' DylPast 3 months
Andrii 'tired73' HlushkoPast 3 months
Julius 'Junyme' MeyhoffPast 3 months
Alimzhan 'Alkaren' BitimbayPast 3 months
Simon 'sSen' Solnæs IversenPast 3 months
Aldiyar 'Aldikon' AlimPast 3 months
Abdurakhim 'mo0N' IssaPast 3 months
Zhassulan 'Botpa1' AssembekPast 3 months
Chance 'WUMBO' BoyerPast 3 months
Bogdan 'ogwizard' SavulaPast 3 months
Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzPast 3 months
Andrey 'AW' AnisimovPast 3 months
Liquid
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Georgi 'Jorko' Mitev
Viktor 'flashie' Tamás Bea
The MongolZ
Zolbayar 'tikuak' Chimedtseren
Garidmagnai 'bLitz' Byambasuren
Sodbayar 'Techno' Munkhbold
Usukhbayar '910' Banzragch
Dugarsuren 'DarkMeister' Ireedui
Erdenedalai 'maaRaa' Bayanbat
Egor 'ayuki' ErshovPast 3 months
Jason 'JBOEN' Boe NielsenPast 3 months
BIG
Gleb 'gr1ks' Gazin
Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz
Jon 'JDC' de Castro
Josef 'faveN' Baumann
Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer
Sebastian 'xenn' Hoch
HEROIC
Ludvig 'Brollan' Brolin
Linus 'nilo' Bergman
Tim 'susp' Ångström
Antonio 'MartinezSa' Martinez
Christoffer 'Chr1zN' Storgaard
Joonas 'doto' Forss
Vladimir 'b1st' KrasikovPast 3 months
Vladyslav 'St0m4k' LykhoshvaPast 3 months
Artem 'Flierax' KhioaraPast 3 months
Nuclear TigeRES
Egor 'ayuki' Ershov
Arseniy 'senka' Kozlovsky
Denis 'm1QUSE' Karpovich
Timur 'z1k4' Askhadulin
Ilya 'flouzer' Selifonov
Vadim 'Polt' Tsyrov
David 'Dawy' BibikPast 3 months
Alexandr 'oz1k' SevastyanovPast 3 months
Maxim 'SquEzxc' GrebenkoPast 3 months
Vladislav 'lattykk' VydrinPast 3 months
Denis 'm1QUSE' KarpovichPast 3 months
Gleb 'gr1ks' GazinPast 3 months
Alex 'poiii' Nyholm SundgrenPast 3 months
Aleksey 'xeedo' MikulichPast 3 months
Vyacheslav 'slaxejezzz' VinokurovPast 3 months
Metizport
Liam 'MaiL09' Tügel
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz
Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora
Maciej 'F1KU' Miklas
David 'forsyy' Bílý
Vincent 'vinS' Jozefiak
Artur 'pleynnn' SyzdykovPast 3 months
Shengxuan 'chengking' ZuPast 3 months
Roman 'Mokuj1n' PetrushenkoPast 3 months
Alisher 'tasman' MaratPast 3 months
Aleksandr 'AquaRS' KovalevPast 3 months
Artur 'hitori' PalyantsPast 3 months
Vadim 'tO0RO' ArkovPast 3 months
Ilya 'flouzer' SelifonovPast 3 months
Diogo 'diozera' Oliveira NunesPast 3 months
Omega
Zhassulan 'Botpa1' Assembek
Sanzhar 'def1zer' Talgat
Darkhan 'adai' Jeksenbai
Aldiyar 'Aldikon' Alim
Damir 'dan4o' Kulshenbayev
Rickson 'Rkzinho' Ribeiro DiasPast 3 months