Best Canadian eSports Players
Canada has made up for lost time on the eSports scene over the last few years. Although we don’t have the same volume of competitive players as the United States, we have produced some noteworthy players who’ve helped put Canadian eSports on the map. Canada has also hosted major events over the years, including the biggest eSports tournament of all: The International. In 2018, The International was held at Rogers Arena in Vancouver and offered a prize pool of $25.5 million. Euro-based OG (ana, JerAx, Topson, Ceb and N0tail) won that tournament, but Evil Geniuses, who had Canadian player Arteezy, finished third. We’ll be focusing on Canadian players, starting with Arteezy, in this in-depth look at five of the best Canadian eSports players of all time.
Artour “Arteezy” Babaev
$2,586,117 Million in Earnings
The 26-year-old Artour “Arteezy” Babaev has earned more than any other eSport player in Canada, so simply has to feature on our list of best Canadian eSports players. He started playing DotA at a young age and by the time he was a teenager, he was putting in 10 hours a day. In 2013, Arteezy made the most of an opportunity when a player from Speed Gaming (Pittner “bOne7” Armand) was unable to attend the MLG Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship in Columbus. Arteezy stepped in and helped propel the team to an incredible upset win over the juggernauts Team DK.
Along with his teammates from S A D B O Y S (Fear, Universe, PPD and Zai) Arteezy joined Evil Geniuses in 2014 and won the first LAN tournament they competed in: the Monster Energy Invitational. Arteezy’s skill was apparent and they gained a reputation as one of the greatest Dota 2 squads of the time. Arteezy would bounce back and forth between EG and Team Secret, and eventually land with Canadian eSports team Shopify Rebellion, where he’s been since December 2022.
Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling
$2,008,582 Million in Earnings
The only Canadian eSport player beyond Arteezy to exceed $2 million in earnings is Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling—the current coach for Tundra Esports. While attending the University of British Columbia in 2010, Aui_2000 joined the school’s Starcraft Club. He switched to Dota 2 in his second year when he learned about the International tournament, which offered a $1.6 million prize pool.
By January 2015, Aui_2000 got his shot at the International. He was on EG and qualified directly. His play led to victories in the group stage and was crucial in the upper bracket finals. They won the tournament, defeating CDEC Gaming 3-1 in the Grand Finals. Days after the tournament ended, Aui_2000 was booted from the team and replaced by Arteezy.
After limited success forming his own team, Digital Chaos, Aui_2000 rejoined EG when Arteezy left, but it didn’t last long; he was let go again in 2016. After one year with Team NP, Aui_2000 transitioned to coaching. He started with Forward Gaming, and moved on to Newbee, before eventually ending up with Tundra. In 2022, he got to relive the glory of winning The International vicariously through the team he was coaching.
Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken
$1,274,593 Million in Earnings
Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken made a name for himself as an up-and-comer when he started his CS:GO career with Team Tectonic in 2015. His first stint with a big organization was with Team SoloMid (TSM) in 2016. Shortly after joining, he competed at his first S-Tier tournament: the Esport Championship Series Season 1. Twistzz’ prospects improved when he was released by TSM and joined Team Liquid. With his new team, he finished second at two significant events and then took home the victory at the Americas Minor Championship for ELEAGUE in 2017.
The peak of Twistzz’ career came in 2019, when Team Liquid was at the top of the world of CS:GO for half the year. They won the Intel Extreme Masters XIV in Sydney, the DreamHack Masters in Dallas, the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals and the ESL One: Cologne 2019, earning the Intel Grand Slam Season 2 award worth a million dollars in the process. That award goes to the first team to win four S-Tier events in a timeframe of 10 consecutive events.
Twistzz eventually moved to Germany to play with FaZe Clan, where he began to see results when they replaced Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer with Robin “ropz” Kool. In 2022, Twistzz became the first Canadian player to win a CS:GO Major.
Keith “NAF” Markovic
$1,201,782 Million in Earnings
Another Liquid team member, Keith “NAF” Markovic joined the CS:GO scene in 2012 with mouseSpaz. He bounced between teams and ended up with Liquid in 2015, but was removed from the active lineup. From there he went to Luminosity Gaming, but didn’t last long there.
NAF got his first taste of a major when he competed with OpTic at the ESL One: Cologne 2016. Months later, he won his first S-Tier tournament: the ELEAGUE Season 2. They beat Astralis 2-1 in the Grand Final for $400,000 USD in prize money. He was resigned by Liquid and was much improved the second time around.
Teamed up with Twistzz, NAF enjoyed massive success in 2019 when Liquid was the top CS:GO contender in the world. They racked up nine tournament victories worth $1.8 million and won the Intel Grand Slam Season 2. NAF and Twistzz were the only Canadians on the team, which was otherwise American. NAF is still on Team Liquid, and since that glorious 2019 season, his major accomplishment has been a second-place finish at the S-Tier event BLAST Premier: World Final 2022.
Williams “Zayt” Aubin
$1,333,631 Million in Earnings
Sherbrooke, Quebec native, Williams “Zayt” Aubin is the final player on the list and is by far Canada’s best Fortnite player. Zayt started entering local A-Tier Fortnite Summer Skirmish events in 2018 and had a lot of success. The Summer Skirmishes turned into Fall Skirmishes and he eventually made it to an S-Tier event at the Fortnite Fall Skirmish: Week 6 – TwitchCon Finals, but finished 41st.
His first major accomplishment was a victory at the S-Tier event ESL Katowice Royale – International Edition: Duos. He played with Rocco “Saf” Morales, who’d be his long-term gaming partner. He followed that up with a massive $750,000 fourth-place finish at Fortnite World Cup Finals – Duos—also with teammate Saf.
After three years of dominance, Zayt retired from Fortnite in January 2021, but returned after a few weeks with a new competitive drive. Unfortunately, it resulted in an eighth-place finish at the C2S5:FNCS – Grand Finals: NA East. Zayt announced retirement for the second time shortly afterwards.
These lists are made to be altered, so who will be the next name to join our best Canadian eSports players?