Four new faces headline Dust2’s Team of the Month for October

At the beginning of each month, Dust2 commemorates the best players inside the North American Counter-Strike scene by awarding five domestic talents over the three major competitive layers as members of Dust2’s Team of the Month.

This monthly award is handed out to the most impressive tier-one professional North American talents, as well as the best players inside of the second tier, most notably teams competing in ESL Challenger’s League. Lastly, to highlight the next best upcoming talent inside of the scene, at least one spot is given to the best player in ESEA Advanced over the month.

The aim of this award is not only to continue to spread the good word of some of the best players in the scene today but also to give a platform of discovery to rising talents who may dominate the servers of tomorrow. As a part of the mission to improve our coverage within the scene, monthly recognition of the best players across the region comes as a natural step in growth.

In our efforts to continue highlighting the performances of the region’s best talents, it is only right that the coaches receive the proper spotlight. Accompanying the five players chosen for the Team of the Month will also be the Coach of the Month, to ensure the mind behind the talent gets its deserved recognition.

Starting off this month’s list is FURIA’s Rafael “saffee” Costa, who is hitting a career form entering the Major. He came alive at the Americas RMR, ending the event with by far the best rating at 1.48. Despite his team falling short from the Legends spot, saffee was on a different level for the event. Although he slipped against BIG in the Major opener, he rallied back in FURIA’s win over 00 Nation. saffee should serve as a key component in a successful FURIA run in front of the home crowd.

Joining us for the fourth time is Canada’s finest import, Keith “NAF” Markovic. NAF was pivotal in Liquid’s finals run in Pro League and in their success grabbing the Legends seat at the Major through the Americas RMR. Event ratings of 1.11 and 1.20 respectively have him comfortably sitting as yet again one of the best players in the region on the month.

Making his TOTM debut this month, Nouns’ Jeorge “jeorgesnorts” Endicott put his name on the map after eye-popping performances at the Americas RMR. Although his team fell short, his LAN performance was headlined by his 36 frag showing against Imperial. His efforts at the RMR and both ECL seasons ended his month with an impressive 1.14 rating.

AWPer Adam Andersson was incredibly active in his ventures for fnatic Rising, ending the month with 41 maps played and one of the best K/D differences on the month at +139. He ended four of the five events played with a 1.12 rating or higher, giving proof to the strides made by the growing AWPer over in Europe.

Rouding out the players portion is Alvin “Alvin” Bui, representing Villainous inside of Advanced, and now ECL. He has been one of the many catalysts for the lineup’s success in the ADV playoffs, helping the team make the finals. In October, Alvin had one of the best ratings in the world at 1.23 (min. 15 maps).

Earning the second coaching honors inside the TOTM is ATK’s Daniel “sprayxd” Kogan. He helped his team to an incredible showing on the month, winning ECL S42 and ending the month with a 21-9 map record.

Dust2’s Team of the Month for October is:

• Rafael “saffee” Costa

• Keith “NAF” Markovic

• Jeorge “jeorgesnorts” Endicott

• Alan “WolfY” Andersson

• Alvin “Alvin” Bui

• Daniel “sprayxd” Kogan (Coach)

TOTM all-time leaders:

• Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken: 4

• Keith “NAF” Markovic: 4

• Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt: 3

• Eduardo “dumau” Wolkmer: 2

• William “spek” Smith: 2

• Michael “Swisher” Schmid: 2

• Damian “daps” Steele (Coach): 3