donk FACEIT record could be broken by 16-year-old CS2 prodigy MaiL09

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 03/09/2025

A new Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) prodigy has emerged to potentially dethrone Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets.

16-year-old Liam ‘MaiL09’ Tügel has recently reached the number one spot on the FACEIT global leaderboards with a rating of 4,860.

Yes, the 09 represents his birth year; he was born May 30th, 2009.

The exciting Swedish prospect is on track to become the youngest FACEIT champion ever.

Should MaiL09 hold onto the top spot until the end of the season, he will impressively break donk’s record by six months and nine days.

donk has asserted himself as the greatest rifler in history and currently sits eighth in the FACEIT rankings.

It was donk who topped the Season 5 leaderboards with a total ELO of 5,283, putting him above Maksim ‘kyousuke‘ and Ilya ‘m0NESY‘ Osipov.

The Team Spirit player has now topped the FACEIT leaderboards for five consecutive seasons.

While donk has fulfilled his potential, MaiL09 has emerged as one of the most exciting young talents in CS2.

He is registered as competing in tournaments at the age of just 11 years old.

As a 13-year-old, he was invited to compete in the FACEIT Pro League.

He has competed in several regional competitions for multiple teams, including GODSENT and Johnny Speeds, before joining Metizport in July.

With Johnny Speeds, he helped the team win the Svenska Elitserien Spring 2025 back in June.

MaiL09 has played over 3500 FACEIT matches while maintaining a 57% win rate to claim the top spot.

His Metizport team are currently placed 79th in the Valve Regional Standings (VRS).

Consequently, it’s going to be tough for the team to reach the top 32 and qualify for the StarLadder Budapest Major in November.

Top six confirmed for BLAST Open Fall in London

While MaiL09 makes a name for himself on FACEIT, the next CS2 major is taking place this week.

The BLAST Fall Open is hosting three LAN days at the OVO Arena Wembley in London with six top teams.

Those attending the event should be aware of how to navigate tube strikes for BLAST Open London.

donk will not be competing as Team Spirit were eliminated by G2 Esports in the closed qualifiers.

Spirit lost the third map of the Lower Bracket final 11-1 in an embarrassing result.

Having won seven majors this year, Team Vitality are one of the favourites on Counter-Strike betting sites.

However, fellow semi-finalists FURIA also topped their group and could be an outside shout to win their first major of the year.

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

In my seven years of esports writing, I've introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I'm most proud of the latter.

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