Daniel "syph0" Ageyev is the big story in this month's HLTV Prospects ranking after leading Nemiga to the CIS LAN Season 7 title.
The 18-year-old Kazakh, a Spirit Academy graduate who once trialled for Cloud9, also has 4558 ELO on FACEIT, which has helped him jump from tenth last month to second by the end of September.
There's a small reshuffle around syph0, with David "Dawy" Bibik retaining his number one spot and players moving up or down one or two spots below him.
Klimentii "kl1m" Krivosheev is a big faller, down five places as his inactivity starts to bite. He's overtaken by compatriots Danila "kashl1d" Dronov and Vladimir "b1st" Krasikov who both hit their Prospect ranking peaks inside the top seven.
As we go down the list, there's more big changes. Egor "ayuki" Ershov has climbed ten places after some strong online form, with Artur "pleynnn" Syzdykov (+9) and Nikolai "Nikodeon" Sørensen (+8) joining him in the top 20.
Zolbayar "tikuak" Chimedtseren and Vyacheslav "slaxejezzz" Vinokurov both struggled to maintain their tier two form after being signed to big teams, and tumble down the ranking as a result. The same is true for Roman "n0te" Hamze, further down.
Zhassulan "Botpa1" Assembek, meanwhile, has become a local LAN specialist. He has a 1.20 LAN rating in our six month period, winning four trophies, and went even better at iPlay Esports Halyx with a 1.39 rating.
There were also good LAN showings for Liam "MaiL09" Tügel in Prague, Georgi "Jorko" Mitev in Las Vegas, and Rickson "Rkzinho" Ribeiro Dias in Rio de Janeiro.
The CIS LANs in Moscow are proving to be a Prospect hotspot too, as Ilya "flouzer" Selifonov and pleynnn both exceeded 1.25 ratings. syph0, though, with his 1.25 playoff rating en route to the trophy, deserves the most plaudits.
Graduates
Kalan "sliimey" Lorenzo, Alisher "tasman" Marat, and Pedro "pepe" Almeida all graduated this month after turning 21.
sliimey was the Oceanic representative on the list since April, and is still averaging above a 1.20 rating in the last three months.
tasman has also been a staple on lists this year, competing with Botpa1 as to who can star the most in the Kazakh LAN circuit.
pepe never escaped the top 40, but made it into seven editions of the list before ageing out.
For a reminder of the criteria, see here:
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
We've got some new metrics for this month's stat attack, as we dive a bit deeper into round swing.
On the horizontal axis, we've got tiebreak swing, or swing when teams have the same amount of players. This includes openers in 5v5s and clutch wins in 1v1s, as well as the ones in the middle.
On the vertical, it's clawback swing (h/t btrams for the name), or swing when the player's team has a man disadvantage. The average is quite low for this one, as you'd expect given the inherent unlikeliness of turning these situations around.
AWPers like Gleb "gr1ks" Gazin excel in even situations, though the Belarussian is bottom of all 50 prospects when his team are in a disadvantage.
He's joined by Kirill "Kiryasoo" Solovkov, kashl1d, and b1st in that bottom right corner of players who are great in a 3v3 but unlikely to move the needle once their team falls behind, whether because of saving or lost clutches.
Riflers are spread out more evenly, though those with higher opening attempts actually score much better at clawback swing. This might be because of their explosive nature, or a more boring case of their swing coming earlier in rounds when you lose less win probability for a death.
Diogo "diozera" Oliveira Nunes is our clawback king, right alongside fnatic opener Volodymyr "mazay" Iorhachov. Number one Dawy is also great here, in third place.
In tiebreakers, MaiL09 is actually our top rifler, alongside the unfortunately benched duo of tikuak and slaxejezzz — and North American Chance "WUMBO" Boyer.
HLTV Top 50 Prospects: September 2026
David "Dawy" Bibik
Daniel "syph0" Ageyev
Aleksey "xeedo" Mikulich
Alex "poiii" Nyholm Sundgren
Liam "MaiL09" Tügel
Vladimir "b1st" Krasikov
Danila "kashl1d" Dronov
Klimentii "kl1m" Krivosheev
Georgi "Jorko" Mitev
Ilya "flouzer" Selifonov
Daniil "qw1nk1" Kabilov
Gleb "gr1ks" Gazin
Philipp "tex1y" Moskvitin
Egor "ayuki" Ershov
Alimzhan "Alkaren" Bitimbay
Vadim "tO0RO" Arkov
Artur "pleynnn" Syzdykov
Zhassulan "Botpa1" Assembek
Nikolai "Nikodeon" Sørensen
Roman "Mokuj1n" Petrushenko
Alexandr "oz1k" Sevastyanov
Zolbayar "tikuak" Chimedtseren
Artem "Flierax" Khioara
Vyacheslav "slaxejezzz" Vinokurov
Aleksandr "AquaRS" Kovalev
Maxim "SquEzxc" Grebenko
Volodymyr "mazay" Iorhachov
Kristian "kralle" Jensen
Aldiyar "Aldikon" Alim
Kirill "k0gaSs" Emelyanov
Jakub "Kunai" Gieremek
Jan "cej0t" Dyl
David "bl1x1" Stepanyants
Dmytro "L1seYoung" Liebidynskii
Kirill "Kiryasoo" Solovkov
Roman "n0te" Hamze
Andrii "tired73" Hlushko
Andreas "anber" Brandt
Julius "Junyme" Meyhoff
Tiago "opdust" Simão
Simon "sSen" Solnæs Iversen
Bogdan "ogwizard" Savula
Diogo "diozera" Oliveira Nunes
Chance "WUMBO" Boyer
Rickson "Rkzinho" Ribeiro Dias
Artur "hitori" Palyants
Shengxuan "chengking" Zu
Iago "deemO" Henrique
Henrique "perez" Perez
Jae "74LOR" Webb
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
Georgi 'Jorko' MitevPast 3 months
Volodymyr 'mazay' IorhachovPast 3 months
Cloud9
Jae '74LOR' WebbPast 3 months
Jakub 'Kunai' GieremekPast 3 months
fnatic
Rodion 'fEAR' Smyk
Dmytro 'jambo' Semera
Nikita 'jackasmo' Skyba
Artem 'cairne' Mushynskyi
Volodymyr 'mazay' Iorhachov
Miks 'Independent' Siliņš
Kalan 'sliimey' LorenzoPast 3 months
Philipp 'tex1y' Moskvitin Past 3 months
David 'bl1x1' StepanyantsPast 3 months
Liam 'MaiL09' TügelPast 3 months
Roman 'n0te' HamzePast 3 months
Daniil 'qw1nk1' KabilovPast 3 months
Daniel 'syph0' AgeyevPast 3 months
Klimentii 'kl1m' KrivosheevPast 3 months
Kristian 'kralle' JensenPast 3 months
Dmytro 'L1seYoung' LiebidynskiiPast 3 months
Andreas 'anber' BrandtPast 3 months
Pedro 'pepe' AlmeidaPast 3 months
Iago 'deemO' HenriquePast 3 months
Zolbayar 'tikuak' ChimedtserenPast 3 months
Nikolai 'Nikodeon' SørensenPast 3 months
Henrique 'perez' PerezPast 3 months
Andrii 'tired73' HlushkoPast 3 months
Jan 'cej0t' DylPast 3 months
Kirill 'Kiryasoo' SolovkovPast 3 months
Julius 'Junyme' MeyhoffPast 3 months
Alimzhan 'Alkaren' BitimbayPast 3 months
Simon 'sSen' Solnæs IversenPast 3 months
Aldiyar 'Aldikon' AlimPast 3 months
Zhassulan 'Botpa1' AssembekPast 3 months
Chance 'WUMBO' BoyerPast 3 months
Bogdan 'ogwizard' SavulaPast 3 months
Kirill 'k0gaSs' EmelyanovPast 3 months
Egor 'ayuki' ErshovPast 3 months
Vladimir 'b1st' KrasikovPast 3 months
Artem 'Flierax' KhioaraPast 3 months
David 'Dawy' BibikPast 3 months
Alexandr 'oz1k' SevastyanovPast 3 months
Maxim 'SquEzxc' GrebenkoPast 3 months
Nemiga
Daniel 'syph0' Ageyev
Aleksandr 'KaiR0N-' Anashkin
Kirill 'Xant3r' Kononov
Nikita 'robo' Dushin
Beksultan 'khaN' Ospan
Anton 'boX' Burko
Spirit Academy
Vitaly 'VILBy' Zakharyuta
Kirill 'Kiryasoo' Solovkov
David 'Netrix' Kudziev
Nikita 's1nside' Besedin
Kirill 'k0gaSs' Emelyanov
Vladislav 'Flash_1' Bykov
Tiago 'opdust' SimãoPast 3 months
Gleb 'gr1ks' GazinPast 3 months
Alex 'poiii' Nyholm SundgrenPast 3 months
Aleksey 'xeedo' MikulichPast 3 months
Vyacheslav 'slaxejezzz' VinokurovPast 3 months
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
Rickson 'Rkzinho' Ribeiro DiasPast 3 months