The first HLTV Prospects Top 50 of this season begins with Adrian "xelex" Vincze in first place after he won BLAST Bounty Season 2 with MOUZ.
31 players graduated from the last series, including perennial ranking-toppers Kacper "xKacpersky" Gabara and Džiugas "dziugss" Steponavičius as we updated eligibility over the summer.
From August onwards, however, graduation will be handled month-to-month as players break our eligibility limits rather than waiting six months season-to-season.
This should help keep the top ten more fresh in each update, and prevent players fans are already familiar with lingering in the ranking. So while xelex is at top spot for now, he may not stay there for long as MOUZ pick up more maps against top opposition.
Players like Jason "JBOEN" Boe Nielsen, who turned 21 since the end of Season 2, will also be phased out as the new system bites next month. Here's a reminder of the full criteria:
HLTV Prospects criteria, as of August 1, 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
As we go down August's list, Klimentii "kl1m" Krivosheev, who is still teamless after a great loan at MIBR, is in second while David "Dawy" Bibik sits in third.
K27 duo Aleksey "xeedo" Mikulich and Daniil "qw1nk1" Kabilov both make the top six, while Swedish stars Liam "MaiL09" Tügel and Alex "poiii" Nyholm Sundgren are both in the first seven.
JBOEN and Georgi "Jorko" Mitev earned big moves over the summer to FaZe and Liquid, respectively, and made good starts which sees them fly up the ranking.
Plenty of other prospects made a dent on LAN this month, from Alisher "tasman" Marat in Kazakhstan to Vladimir "b1st" Krasikov in Russia or Kalan "sliimey" Lorenzo in Australia.
22 of our top 50 were not in last month's ranking update, and the highest climber of our fresh faces is Zhassulan "Botpa1" Assembek (#21), who has been in stellar form for Omega with a 1.20 LAN rating over 20 maps in the last month.
In terms of regional representation, Western Europe has Roman "n0te" Hamze, while Marsborne teammates Bogdan "ogwizard" Savula and Chance "WUMBO" Boyer fly the flag for North America.
Russia leads the way with 15 representatives, with Denmark on eight, Kazakhstan on six, and then Ukraine and Brazil with four.
Players who just missed out on the top 50 include Rūdolfs "rud" Osmanis, Yeray "Joey" Serrano Pérez, Andrii "tired73" Hlushko, and Emir "rim3" Dönmez.
Stat Attack
For this month's scatterplot we decided to look at how our Prospects perform depending on if their team won or lost the round.
AWPers like b1st, Aldiyar "Aldikon" Alim and Alimzhan "Alkaren" Bitimbay (in a fairly small sample) are strong in round wins but poor in round losses, suggesting some costly deaths.
Then our more passive riflers do well in losses, such as the likes of Egor "ayuki" Ershov and Martin "nut nut" Holm Vestergaard, without contributing too heavily in terms of KPRW.
In the top right, we have players who have high output in round wins without throwing their lives away in losses: kl1m, sliimey, Dawy, and Vladyslav "St0m4k" Lykhoshva being the pick of the bunch.
Top Picks
St0m4k also gets a mention in our Top Picks per role section, having been released by HEROIC Academy. He is in action at Stake Pulse for 9INE but is still formally a free agent with a 1.16 rating in the last three months.
Botpa1's work in Kazakhstan sees him make it too, while we've gone for Julius "Junyme" Meyhoff as our early bird AWPer after some good showings for G2 Ares.
Our top picks are the Russophone trio of Ilya "flouzer" Selifonov, Daniel "syph0" Ageyev, and b1st, who all boast ratings above 1.10 against top 50 teams and on LAN in the last six months.
Transfer Updates
kl1m remains on G2 Ares' bench, with no news of a transfer forthcoming
MaiL09 is back on Metizport
Jorko took up post at Liquid
nut nut was transfer listed by ECSTATIC
Vladislav "lattykk" Vydrin was benched after 1win acquired TDK
Alkaren is back in action with CYBERSHOKE on loan
Zolbayar "tikuak" Chimedtseren was signed by The MongolZ
St0m4k, who's been trialling for 9INE, and the rest of HEROIC Academy were released
Jan "cej0t" Dyl moved to Phantom
HLTV Top 50 Prospects: July 2026
Adrian "xelex" Vincze
Klimentii "kl1m" Krivosheev
David "Dawy" Bibik
Aleksey "xeedo" Mikulich
Liam "MaiL09" Tügel
Daniil "qw1nk1" Kabilov
Alex "poiii" Nyholm Sundgren
Vladimir "b1st" Krasikov
Daniel "syph0" Ageyev
Jason "JBOEN" Boe Nielsen
Andrey "AW" Anisimov
Georgi "Jorko" Mitev
Danila "kashl1d" Dronov
Ilya "flouzer" Selifonov
Su "Zero" Jingshen
Gleb "gr1ks" Gazin
Vyacheslav "slaxejezzz" Vinokurov
Martin "nut nut" Holm Vestergaard
Vladislav "lattykk" Vydrin
Roman "Mokuj1n" Petrushenko
Zhassulan "Botpa1" Assembek
Kristian "kralle" Jensen
Abdurakhim "mo0N" Issa
Artur "pleynnn" Syzdykov
Kalan "sliimey" Lorenzo
Vadim "tO0RO" Arkov
Alimzhan "Alkaren" Bitimbay
Zolbayar "tikuak" Chimedtseren
Roman "n0te" Hamze
Maxim "SquEzxc" Grebenko
Emil "sL1m3" Stolz
Vladyslav "St0m4k" Lykhoshva
Alisher "tasman" Marat
Alexandr "oz1k" Sevastyanov
Nikolai "Nikodeon" Sørensen
Julius "Junyme" Meyhoff
Philipp "tex1y" Moskvitin
Aleksandr "AquaRS" Kovalev
Vladyslav "Tamefear" Yurchenko
Aldiyar "Aldikon" Alim
Simon "sSen" Solnæs Iversen
Jan "cej0t" Dyl
Pedro "pepe" Almeida
Egor "ayuki" Ershov
Bogdan "ogwizard" Savula
Artur "hitori" Palyants
Chance "WUMBO" Boyer
João "Ltz" Bonetti
Diogo "diozera" Oliveira Nunes
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 6 months
roundWinRating: Contributions to round wins in the last 6 months
weightedLAN: Weighted rating on LAN in all of CS2
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
Previous spotlights
- koala
- Krabeni
- cobrazera
- xKacpersky
- tomaszin
- Dawy
- kyousuke
- PR
- nettik
- xelex
- poiii
- dziugss
- Lake
- Chr1zn
- dem0n
- molodoy
- jambo
Džiugas 'dziugss' Steponavičius
Phantom
Jan 'cej0t' Dyl
Thomas 'TMB' Bundsbæk
Nico 'nicoodoz' Tamjidi
Kamil 'KEi' Pietkun
Kacper 'Kylar' Walukiewicz
Dawid 'lunAtic' Cieślak
1win
Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov
Andrey 'BELCHONOKK' Yasinskiy
Petr 'fame' Bolyshev
Artem 'ArtFr0st' Kharitonov
Konstantin 'groove' Pikiner
9INE
Emir 'rim3' Dönmez
Rasmus 'raalz' Steensborg
Tobias 'kraghen' Kragh Jensen
Maciej 'b1elany' Biliński
Alan 'flayy' Krupa
Danny 'BERRY' Krüger
Danila 'kashl1d' Dronov
FaZe
Jason 'JBOEN' Boe Nielsen
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken
Ryan 'Neityu' Aubry
Jakub 'jcobbb' Pietruszewski
Niclas 'enkay J' Krumhorn
Rūdolfs 'rud' Osmanis
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
Georgi 'Jorko' Mitev
Marsborne
Adam 'freshie' Paterson
Nick 'nicx' Lee
Adam 'Grizz' Golden
Bogdan 'ogwizard' Savula
Chance 'WUMBO' Boyer
Hunter 'Lucid' Tucker
TDK
Kalan 'sliimey' Lorenzo
Philipp 'tex1y' Moskvitin
ECSTATIC
Martin 'Sinzey' Rian Christensen
Martin 'nut nut' Holm Vestergaard
Roman 'n0te' Hamze
Liam 'MaiL09' Tügel
MOUZ
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
Daniil 'qw1nk1' Kabilov
Daniel 'syph0' Ageyev
Klimentii 'kl1m' Krivosheev
Su 'Zero' Jingshen
Kristian 'kralle' Jensen
CYBERSHOKE
Alimzhan 'Alkaren' Bitimbay
Aleksandr 'glowiing' Matsievich
Daniil 'alpha' Demin
David 'bl1x1' Stepanyants
Roman 'Mokuj1n' Petrushenko
Vladimir 'pixel' Lukyanov
João 'Ltz' Bonetti
Pedro 'pepe' Almeida
Yeray 'Joey' Serrano Pérez
Iago 'deemO' Henrique
Emil 'sL1m3' Stolz
The MongolZ
Zolbayar 'tikuak' Chimedtseren
Garidmagnai 'bLitz' Byambasuren
Sodbayar 'Techno' Munkhbold
Usukhbayar '910' Banzragch
Dugarsuren 'DarkMeister' Ireedui
Erdenedalai 'maaRaa' Bayanbat
Zolbayar 'tikuak' Chimedtseren
Nikolai 'Nikodeon' Sørensen
Metizport
Liam 'MaiL09' Tügel
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz
Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora
Maciej 'F1KU' Miklas
David 'forsyy' Bílý
Vincent 'vinS' Jozefiak
MIBR
Linus 'LNZ' Holtäng
Lucas 'nqz' Soares
Breno 'brnz4n' Poletto
Felipe 'insani' Yuji
Carlos 'venomzera' Eduardo
Nestor 'LETN1' Tanić
Jan 'cej0t' Dyl
Andrii 'tired73' Hlushko
Julius 'Junyme' Meyhoff
Alimzhan 'Alkaren' Bitimbay
Simon 'sSen' Solnæs Iversen
Aldiyar 'Aldikon' Alim
Abdurakhim 'mo0N' Issa
Zhassulan 'Botpa1' Assembek
Chance 'WUMBO' Boyer
Bogdan 'ogwizard' Savula
Andrey 'AW' Anisimov
Liquid
Georgi 'Jorko' Mitev
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Viktor 'flashie' Tamás Bea
Kacper 'xKacpersky' Gabara
Egor 'ayuki' Ershov
Jason 'JBOEN' Boe Nielsen
Vladyslav 'Tamefear' Yurchenko
Vladimir 'b1st' Krasikov
Vladyslav 'St0m4k' Lykhoshva
David 'Dawy' Bibik
Alexandr 'oz1k' Sevastyanov
Maxim 'SquEzxc' Grebenko
Vladislav 'lattykk' Vydrin
Omega
Zhassulan 'Botpa1' Assembek
Sanzhar 'def1zer' Talgat
Darkhan 'adai' Jeksenbai
Aldiyar 'Aldikon' Alim
Damir 'dan4o' Kulshenbayev
G2 Ares
Julius 'Junyme' Meyhoff
Casper 'SHiNE' Wennerberg
Vilius 'tAk' Keserauskas
Artur 'hitori' Palyants
Juho 'yksjupe' Viitasalo
Viacheslav 'innersh1ne' Britvin
Gleb 'gr1ks' Gazin
Alex 'poiii' Nyholm Sundgren
Aleksey 'xeedo' Mikulich
Vyacheslav 'slaxejezzz' Vinokurov
HEROIC Academy
Artur 'pleynnn' Syzdykov
Roman 'Mokuj1n' Petrushenko
Emir 'rim3' Dönmez
Alisher 'tasman' Marat
Aleksandr 'AquaRS' Kovalev
Artur 'hitori' Palyants
Vadim 'tO0RO' Arkov
Ilya 'flouzer' Selifonov
Diogo 'diozera' Oliveira Nunes
K27
Timur 'clax' Sabirov
Daniil 'X5G7V' Maryshev
Aleksey 'xeedo' Mikulich
Danila 'kashl1d' Dronov
Daniil 'qw1nk1' Kabilov
Gregory 'balblna' Oleinick