For our teams to continue to progress, we always need to be looking to the future and toward our new talent in the UK CSGO scene.
This article contains a listing of the talented youngsters from the UK and Ireland, for the sake of narrowing it down, it contains only those up to the age of 18. My writing is of course subjective as I’ll be giving my opinion on the players throughout, but this does not mean it is without any statistical backing.
I have used a simple system for each player, ranking their apparent current skill and level of competition, alongside a rating of their potential with some justification in each case.
My intentions for this guide are purely positive and my hope is that the article will be seen as useful to teams and to those featured in the article.
Owen “smooya” Butterfield
Age: 18
Team: Epsilon
Mentioning ‘smooya’ in this article was inevitable, as he’s more than made a name for himself in recent times. He’s undoubtedly our best young player at this time, and continues to improve as he reaches a higher level of competition with Epsilon.
Most recently Epsilon have qualified for the Gfinity Elite Series playoffs with ‘smooya’ performing well throughout. Already competing at such a high level he surely has the ability to take himself deeper into European competition in the near future.
His role is main AWP, in which he thrives on an aggressive style and opening kills.
My Rating: 95 Potential: 100
Zaki “Danceyz” Dance
Age: 18
Team: –
After picking up Danceyz, CeX were a force to be reckoned with. Although perhaps he was still finding his footing in the CeX roster with a few inconsistencies, he has shown to be a player capable of a match winning performance. ‘Danceyz’ was outstanding at epic21 with Radix and I think there is still plenty of time for improvement. In comparison with others such as ‘smooya’ or ‘jenko’ featured in this list he has been competing at the top level a relatively short time. Danceyz may be known for his AWP plays, but is also a strong rifler, having shared the AWP role with his teammate ‘hemzk’.
My Rating: 85 Potential: 100
Will “mezii” Merriman
Age: 18
Team: XENEX
Having watched ‘mezii’ myself at i60, I could instantly tell why he played a huge part in Dog Gaming’s run to the Final. He looked like a player confident in his own ability, and he had every right to be. My only concern with placing him on this list is the lack of times that I’ve seen him competing lately, with the team now XENEX not featuring in any of the online leagues.
‘mezii’ can pull out game winning performances, but it seems that he might be most comfortable at LAN as the team struggles online.
My Rating: 80 Potential: 90
Ross “Trials” Campbell
Age: 18
Team: Infused
‘Trials’ has climbed the ranks in the UK scene rapidly in the past months, he has shown to be a reliable member of Team Infused in Gfinity after he took over from ec1s. He is certainly lacking the top level experience at the moment, but if he can find real consistency we could be seeing much more of him at the top. ‘Trials’ is a rifler, aggressive on the terrorist side and a strong anchor on ct.
My Rating: 75 Potential: 90
Dilans “lainNy” Feldmanis
Age: 18
Team: SMOKECRIMINALS
Unfortunately there isn’t a huge amount of information on ‘lainNy’, he’s currently living in Ireland and competing in ESEA Main with a European team. What caught my eye is his raw skill, he clearly shows talent for the game in a pug environment, and his statistics in the league were good for his first attempt at Main level competition, not quite outstanding. I think he’s someone who could be molded into a top level player in the near future.
My Rating: 70 Potential: 90
Man Ho “MrHui” Hui
Age: 18
Team: –
Perhaps not always a star player in IGI, ‘MrHui’ has shown good performances both at LAN and online as part of this long-running and relatively young lineup. He appears to be a good all-round individual, dangerous on a force buy and a gunround. Much like ‘wh1sk’ he doesn’t currently show any signs of a big breakthrough but the potential is there.
MrHui is a rifler and very useful on a force buy.
My Rating: 70 Potential: 85
Nathan “wh1sk” Alderson
Age: 18
Team: mYinsanity
I have to rate Nathan similarly to lainNy, he definitely possesses talent for CS and has great aim, but whether or not he could become a complete player and make the jump to a higher tier is yet to be seen. He performed well in ESEA Main with the UK lineup mYinsanity, who made the playoffs this season.
‘wh1sk’ is a rifler who utilises his excellent aim.
My Rating: 65 Potential: 85
Jake “jadam” Adams
Age: 18
Team: LondonLYNX
A recent addition to LondonLYNX ‘jadam’ has already proved to be a skilled player, however I don’t believe that ‘jadam’ has the star potential that those above have shown, he would seem to be more of a role player in the team. He’s a smart player and I could still see him progressing greatly from where he is now.
My Rating: 55 Potential: 75
Jake “Jake^^” Charlesworth
Age: 18
Team: Causing Mayhem
Jake is at this time very much unproven and perhaps unorthodox, both himself and his team’s style of play is far from tactical.
He has been seen regularly carrying his team through UK Open this season, including stepping up in the playoff games taking them all the way to the semi-finals and a top 4 finish. Definitely lacking experience, but displaying the raw skill that would lead me to believe he could go much futher. The real test will be if he can maintain his level of play against tougher opponents.
Jake is a versatile aggressive player, using both the AWP and rifle.
My Rating: 55 Potential: 80
Tom “jenko” Jenkinson
Age: 17
Team: Method
Certainly deserving of a place in this list, ‘jenko’ has been playing with Method for quite some time and put in some memorable performances. With such top level experience already at the age of 17 ‘jenko‘ is one of our best prospects.
He can use both the AWP and rifle effectively, and can often be seen winning pistol rounds single handedly.
My Rating: 85 Potential: 100
Tautvydas “HyPe” Paldavicius
Age: 17
Team: Playing Ducks
It’s fairly difficult to gauge where ‘HyPe’ is at right now. He’s currently competing at a very high level and holding his own. However when in the UK scene he didn’t seem to match up to the likes of ‘jenko‘ or ‘smooya‘, I think that perhaps he prefers to be more of a role player and not so much the star of his teams. Regardless, he deserves a good rating here for his statistics with Playing Ducks.
My Rating: 80 Potential: 95
Alfie “raY1” Scott
Age: 17
Team: Ablaze
What impresses me most is that he seems to be very dedicated to improving, he clearly has a real drive to play CS and it’s paying off.
He’s becoming a great player quickly, and is a key part of the Ablaze lineup. He’s been seen to play well online with the team throughout ESEA Main and was crucial to the teams 5/6th placing at i60.
‘raY1‘ is a rifler with outstanding aim, able to play multiple rifle roles effectively.
My Rating: 70 Potential: 85
Dominic ‘dOMM‘ Sulcas
Age: 17
Team: –
Last seen with Radix at epic21, he certainly wasn’t the star of a team boasting ‘ozzy‘ and ‘Danceyz’, but he shows good mechanical ability and has plenty of time for improvement, I could see him thriving under another experienced in-game leader.
‘dOMM‘ is also a rifler heavily reliant on aim.
My Rating: 70 Potential: 85
Adam “ec1s” Eccles
Age: 17
Team: –
‘ec1s‘ has improved vastly in the past year or so. He’s earned some chances in top teams but not really taken them yet, although I’m not aware of the reasoning, he was dropped from the Infused roster during Gfinity which leads me to believe there are some issues.
His rate of improvement is impressive and earns him a spot on my list, I think it’s still very possible for him to make it in the UK.
He’s a rifler, appears to be varied in style.
My Rating: 65 Potential: 85
Kory ‘Kryzih‘ Da Rocha-Hitt
Age: 17
Team: Ablaze
Another deadly rifler alongside ‘raY1’ in Ablaze. Kryzih was showing monster performances at epic21 despite the team dropping out earlier than they had hoped. Still plenty of scope for improvement, whether he makes any real progress in the UK will be dependent on the success of his team. Another strong aimer.
My Rating: 65 Potential: 80
Jamie “Jba” Fitzpatrick
Age: 17
Team: –
Not so well known by the community, ‘Jba‘ has preferred to spend his time so far in European teams, reaching as far as ESEA Main and putting up impressive stats. His playstyle is somewhat questionable as an aggressive main AWP, under good guidance he could be very useful to a team.
My Rating: 60 Potential: 80
Cole “Critiode”
Age: 17
Team: Apathy Reborn
A huge part in his teams run to the UK Open final, beating XENEX on their way. He has a long way to go to really prove himself however.
My Rating: 50 Potential: ?
Ryan “dox” Young
Age: 16
Team: –
I believe ‘dox‘ to have been the In-game leader for IGI, which is quite an unusual role for someone of his age. Despite taking on the duties of calling for his teammates he still is a valuable member of the team fragging wise, he is a reliable AWPer and to be competing at a decent level already at 16 he can only get better.
My Rating: 65 Potential: 95
Kyle “swaggy” Wilson
Age: 16
Team: Able Uprising
A good individual, playing well in ESEA Intermediate currently. Whether he has the other qualities to take him further in CS remains to be seen. I think that in future with a little more maturity he could be seen as a future prospect.
My Rating: 55 Potential: 80
Jacob “Little” Aitkin
Age: 15
Team: Caliber
Displaying real skill already, he’s certainly worth a mention. To better judge his potential we need to see him playing against better opponents than his current games in UK Open.
My Rating: 45 Potential: ?
Kirk “Tadpole” Stephens
Age: 14
Team: eDen
I think that ‘Tadpole’ can be seen as a real prodigy of the UK scene, unfortunately his faceit ban for cheating will make people hesitant to give him a chance. I hope to see him attending LANs with his new teammates in eDen and maybe there he can prove himself.
Until we see ‘Tadpole’ sticking with a team for a little while and competing more actively once his ban expires I can’t rate him too highly.
My Rating: 55 Potential: 100
Oliver “leaf” Jackson
Age: 14
Team: Dukes
‘leaf‘ has shown to be a capable player in this season of Intermediate, which is already impressive considering his age.
What I like about him is that he’s seemingly loyal, having stuck with the same roster for months. Just recently moving to a new team under the lead of ‘chron1c‘, which can only be good for his future. He has a long way to go but he’s showing good signs.
My Rating: 50 Potential: 85
