About a year ago, the French scene was experiencing the most significant crisis in its history. After years at the top, no French team was in the top 10 in the world. Only the new G2 team led by Ex6TenZ was in the top 15, a flattering ranking as the line-up pitifully exited the 2018 DreamHack Open Valencia, after a sluggish loss to Luminosity Gaming. At the same time, Envy's French adventure ended quietly, as the organization simply freed all its players to focus on the American market. In the summer of 2018, three quarters of the top French players were either teamless or benched.

Six months later, the scene started to get back on track. Without yet reaching the top level, several projects were taking shape. At the end of 2018, Vitality, who started from the bottom, joined the international top 30 and replaced Happy with ALEX. G2 relaunched a dynamic by picking up maLeK, JaCkz and Lucky. LDLC finished the year as the best French team, thanks to its superb performances in the fall, including a top 5/6 at IEM Chicago. Finally, 3DMAX ended the season on a high note, with a win in the ESEA MDL Global Challenge and a qualification for the Pro League. This upward trend was confirmed at the Major with the honourable results of Vitality and G2, which both qualified for the New Legends Stage in Katowice.

Carried by a red-hot AmaNEK, LDLC took the IEM Chicago by storm (Photo : ESL)

So, one year after the crisis, six months after the hopes, what is the state of the French scene as the mid-season summer break begins?

Vitality, started from the bottom, now they're here

For the first time in the history of the CS:GO French scene, a team that started at the very bottom reached the very top. Bogged down in open online qualifiers in the fall of 2018, NBK’ team managed to make it through to become a regular guest in big tournaments during the first half of 2019. This linear progression was accelerated after the recruitment of ALEX and its passage as the in-game leader on the attacking sides.

Coming out of a respectable performance at the Major, Vitality reached the quarter-finals of the StarSeries i-League Season 7 and won the Charleroi Esports. Stabilized around 10th place in the world, they took advantage of a period of more than a month without LAN competition to arrive undercover at the beginning of the summer and take everyone by surprise. On their first tournament, they won cs_summit 4 by defeating ENCE, NRG and Team Liquid. The following week, Vitality failed in the quarter-finals of the DreamHack Masters Dallas, creating doubts about their real level. This doubt was swept away shortly after, with another LAN victory in the ECS season 7 Finals. After that, the team followed with a victory in the final of the ESEA MDL Europe, a second place at ESL One Cologne and a top 4 at IEM Chicago, failing again against the best team in the world, Team Liquid.

In Cologne' cathedral, Vitality ascertained its status as the second best team in the world.

There is no doubt that Vitality is the best French team right now, and probably the second best team in the world. Carried by a masterful ZywOo and led by the NBK/ALEX/XTQZZZZ trio, Vitality impresses at every appearance with a solid mappool and individual performances that are finally consistent. After the 2018 mess, one can only rejoice to see legends like RpK, apEX or NBK at the highest level. For the latter two, the story must have a very special flavour remembering the difficulties they experienced when they were lingering on G2's bench.

Most Valuable Player: ZywOo

How can we not talk about ZywOo's meteoric rise to stardom? Announced as the next star of the French scene, he did better than that, maintaining a stratospheric level against the entire international top. s1mple dubbed him as his closest competitor and the old aAa prospect is now part of the discussion when we talk about the best players in the world. Just like that. Special mention to ALEX, who came in quietly to replace Happy and who has established himself as Vitality's strategic leader. Rejuvenating the team's attacking sides, he also gained confidence and found back the aggressiveness that made him one of the best LDLC players. 

Good Times, Bad Times for G2

G2 had a turbulent start to the year. After the failure of the Ex6TenZ/SmithZz experiment, the organization decided to completely trust the new coach, maLeK. He started by giving the lead back to shox, before bringing back two players he had coached a few weeks earlier at 3DMAX: JaCkz and Lucky. The first appearances of this new five were still hesitant, between an honest run at the Katowice Major and a surprise defeat against Windigo in the semi-finals of the WESG World Finals. It was at this moment that a final, crucial change occured, with the replacement of bodyy, the last survivor, with shox, of the 2016 run, by AmaNEk.

While not necessarily improving in the stability department, this transfer brought more firepower and strategic vision to a team that desperately needed it. Indeed, on some occasion, G2 looked like a team finally ready to go and get in the top 5, with solid automatisms, skilled players and an interesting mappool. This was the case during the group phase of the ESL Pro League or online qualifying for the DreamHack Masters Dallas. Unfortunately, these promises were usually followed by disappointments, especially during the multiple online qualifiers for the ECS finals.

And then, recently, a spark. After an encouraging quarter-final in Dallas, G2 rode the popular fervour of Montpellier and reached the final of season 9 of the ESL Pro League. Carried by an on-fire kennyS, the team finally made a stand at a top-tier tournament, fulfilling the promises seen in previous months. We have to be honest, we really want to get excited about G2: who, in France, doesn't want to see shox and kennyS regain their former glory? Who doesn't want to keep seeing JaCkz open bombsites with Deagle one-taps? Who doesn't like to see AmaNEk drive his opponents crazy with his lurk timings?

However, history taught us to be cautious with G2. A few weeks later, they were eliminated in the group stage of IEM Chicago with a mind-boggling defeat against MiBR, who was playing with their coach, zews. After starting the tournament well, beating MiBR easily and pushing Team Liquid to their limits, the Frenchies collapsed in the decisive match. As eternal optimists, we will remember above all the level of play on the first day, reminding of what we saw in Montpellier, and we hope to be able to mark the defeat against the Brazilians as an accident. If so, G2 could have high hopes for the next Major, where they will arrive as outsiders capable of beating anyone. This dark horse status could be a huge advantage to prove that this time, French CS is really back.

Most Valuable Player: kennyS

The magician is back. After an annus horribilis in 2018, kennyS took advantage of the changes at G2 to get back on track and establish himself as the star of G2, a status he should never have lost. In Montpellier, he reminded everyone why he was the best sniper in the history of the game, with insane flicks and top tier performances. And how can you resist these images of the player moved to tears in front of his audience at the end of the semi-final? kennyS is back, and that's good news for G2, for the French scene and for CS:GO in general. Special mention for AmaNEk, who replaced bodyy in early spring. Like ALEX, he came from LDLC with this ability to participate in the calling department. Today, he leads the way on most maps, finally freeing our national shoxie from the burden and perfectly relaying maLeK's vision to his teammates.

If you didn't feel anything at that moment, you probably don't have a heart (Photo : HLTV.org)

Heretics, the calm after the storm

After the dismemberment of the LDLC line up that surprised the whole world at the end of 2018, 3DMAX positioned itself as the obvious team for 3rd place on the French scene, not armed enough to fight with the best but far too strong to be considered as a subtop team. An intermediate rank, a springboard team for aspiring players, as evidenced by the transfer of JaCkz and Lucky to G2. The problem with this position is the instability of the line-ups, and 3DMAX couldn’t avoid it.

After the departure of the two players mentioned above, davidp’ men entered a period of instability lasting several weeks, multiplying players’ tryouts to find the right five. If the pick of hAdji quickly became obvious to replace JaCkz, the quest for a fifth player was more complicated. At first, former-EnVyUs DEVIL seemed to be favourite, playing for a while as a stand-in, before being replaced in May by LOGAN, the ex-LDLC player. At the same time, 3DMAX withdrew as their main sponsor, leaving the players without an organization as they competed in the ESL Pro League. Finally, these structural and line-up problems persisted until July, when hAdji left the team for Windigo and was replaced by jeyN. Then, the five players finally signed with an organization, Heretics, ending more than 6 months of instability.

In terms of results, these adventures have certainly influenced the performance of the players, who have alternated between interesting and disappointing results. On the positive side, they have a record of good results in European Tier 2 and 3 online leagues: victory in the Huntwave League and VulkanBet Invitational, runner-up in Season 2 of the LOOT.BET HotShot Series or a top 3/4 in Season 1 of the same tournament. However, one cannot ignore the many failures that have marked the path of JiNKZ's teammates, especially during online qualifications for international LANs: the European Closed Qualifiers of  IEM Sydney, DreamHack Masters Dallas, ESL One Cologne, Open Qualifiers for IEM Chicago, ESL One New York and, especially, the European Minor, have all ended in failure. Even the LAN appearances couldn't boost the morale of the former 3DMAX: in the Pro League, despite a red-hot Maka, they didn't win a single map while, in Tours, their initial victory against G2 was not confirmed, with losses against AVANGAR and then G2, in the decisive match.

We know how difficult it can be to emerge from these online qualifications, as Vitality can attest, having reached the Minor during the last Open Qualifier. Nevertheless, Heretics' progress will require a newfound regularity during these qualifications. That's also how LDLC got on everyone’s screens at the end of last year, snatching a spot at the Chicago IEMs through the limbo of online tournaments. Especially since, on paper, no one doubts the ability of this team: davidp has shown that he is a brilliant leader, able to break in and integrate new players quickly, Maka and LOGAN are two of the most promising prospects on the scene while JiNKZ, in roles that are not always easy, holds his rank. We are still wondering about the newcomer, jeyN, even though his first games showed some good things. More than that, we hope that their integration into Heretics will finally allow them to find the stability they need to reach a new level and approach a top 30 that doesn't seem that far.

For Maka and davidp, the goal is to, at least, get back in the European Minor (Photo : HLTV.org)

Most Valuable Player: davidp

While Maka continues to impress and improve, the last six months of davidp have earned him a lot of respect. In a scene that is still looking for dominant in-game leaders, the Belgian has established himself as the beacon of the old 3DMAX, absorbing the constant changes and integrating an impressive number of new players since the departure of JaCkz and Lucky. If Heretics still lacks stability, no one would dare say that the team is not going anywhere strategically. As an added bonus, davidp has more than respectable statistics considering its role, even allowing itself to be the player with the highest 2.0 rating during the FrenchFrogs period.

What the hell is going on with LDLC ?

We can only sympathize with LDLC. Best French team at the end of last year, they were prey to more powerful organizations that methodically butchered their composition, leaving only devoduvek as the last survivor the Chicago adventure. At the beginning of April, the management decided to relaunch a new project around Happy, MAJ3R and SIXER. This trio of veterans, completed by xms and rodeN, displayed its ambitions: to go to the Major and return to the top. Unfortunately for them, after four months together, the first evaluation seems far from the initial claims.

On the positive side, the victory in the ECN finals in Montpellier is particularly noteworthy after a complicated season. There, on LAN, LDLC easily disposed of TheDice and showed a level of play that offered some hope to followers. Hopes that have faded more recently with their consecutive failures to qualify for ESEA MDL Europe. These results crown a nightmarish spring for Ozstrik3r's men. Since their first appearance at Charleroi Esports, the team has played 18 official matches recorded on HLTV.org for 6 wins and 12 losses. Worse still, if some failures against teams from European subtop, such as Tricked or Sprout, are understandable, other results leave one speechless: we think in particular of the losses against SuperJymy, Vexed or even BLUEJAYS recently.

LDLC' victory at the ECN Finals in Montpellier, one of the few glimmers of hope since they created the new project (Photo : ESL)

So what's wrong with LDLC? First of all, an obvious argument, that of time. It's “only” been four months that this five has been together, and we suspect that rebuilding a project from scratch takes time, especially when it's composed of players who have been kept away from the top of the scene for several months before joining this team. Nevertheless, time does not excuse everything, and it is often difficult to see the coherence of the project on the server. Sometimes interesting, as in their victory over experts, the team then seems to lose all confidence in their game and individual skill on the next match, the next map or even the next round. Some people mention the rodeN case, who’s been struggling hard since he joined LDLC, but the problems seem more profound than one player taken individually. Especially since, at the level LDLC plays right now, we can think that names as prestigious as Happy, MAJ3R and SIXER should "be enough".

The conclusion may seem harsh, but it is more a matter of frustration than anger. Frustration to see such legends at this level, frustration to imagine the potential that this composition could have to compete for the place of the 3rd French team, frustration to see such a mythical tag struggling in the depths of the European subtop. There is no doubt, however, that the players are the first to be disappointed and that they will take advantage of the summer break to take all the necessary measures and, finally, regain their rightful place.

Most Valuable Player: SIXER

In the general slump of LDLC, SIXER is probably the main beacon of hope. After years of playing in unsuccessful projects, forced into roles that were not always relevant, SIXER is finally taking on a carry role that suits it so well. Naturally, the team results do not allow him to reach statistical peaks but, for the moment, he has established himself as the main asset in terms of firepower. Able to play sniper and rifler as well, never reluctant to sacrifice himself for the team, he will undoubtedly be the keystone to carry out the LDLC project in the coming months.

What about the French subtop ?

It's all very well to talk about the great teams, Cologne, kennyS and the resounding exploits of our stars, but what about what's going on underneath? It has to be said that the answer is: not much. The only team that seems to be doing well is TheDice, one of the few stable teams at that level. After a prestigious victory at the Gamers Assembly, TheDice won the ECN regular season despite the presence of the LDLC ogre. An anomaly that was quickly rectified during the big LAN final, where XpG’ teammates got obliterated, losing 16-3 16-2.

Behind them, we find ex-aAa and their trio MetaL/wallax/waneG, never far away when it comes to shining on the local scene. Finally, we are looking forward to the first releases of the new Make Your Destiny line up. Around the veterans flex0r and MAIDHEN, bramz and especially Misutaaaa are already on the radar of the followers to be the next players who could make it big. We will also keep an eye on the bodyy project announced in mid-June, with devoduvek, to1nou and matHEND.

On the European scene, in addition to LDLC, ESEA Advanced has seen several French teams trying to shine, without much success. The Boys In Blue of Mistou and Lambert have the best record, with 8 wins and 8 losses, scoring 34th place. Behind them are well-known names: the former composition of Make Your Destiny, ex-aAa, Fearoth’ Smoke Criminals or Supermood, fxy0 and Uzzziii’ team, who finished second-last.

Now on holiday, our French stars will be keen to recharge their batteries before the start of the new season. For Vitality and G2, this return to competition will mean the StarLadder Major in Berlin, BLAST Moscow and ESL One New York. A step below, Heretics and LDLC will continue to scour online qualifications. Davidp players will also have the opportunity to keep their spot in the ESL Pro League during the relegation tournament. A busy start to a season which, we hope, will see the upward trend movement of the scene, which began in the fall of 2018, continue.