Counter-Strike Hall of Fame 2026: Rambo Is One of Three Americans on the Ballot

Ronald "Rambo" Kim is a first-time nominee for the Counter-Strike Hall of Fame, alongside fRoD and Ksharp. Four of 10 will be inducted in…

Ronald "Rambo" Kim, a 42-year-old veteran of Counter-Strike's earliest LAN events, is a first-time nominee for the HLTV Hall of Fame, dust2.us reported.

He is one of three Americans among the 10 players up for the Class of 2026.

HLTV says the class will be inducted at the HLTV Awards in Belgrade, Serbia, on January 9, 2027. Pley (pley.gg) reports that only four of the 10 nominees will make it in.

The ballot reaches back to the original game, well before Counter-Strike 2.

Rambo's route from CPL to Cloud9

Kim competed at Babbage's CPL 2000, one of the game's first major LAN events.

He won CPL titles in 2001 and 2002 with X3 Blue and 3D. He also took World Cyber Games medals in 2004 and 2005, per dust2.us. HLTV puts the WCG results at two gold medals.

He later joined LA compLexity for the Championship Gaming Series in Counter-Strike: Source. He won several standalone events there before retiring as a player in 2010. Then he left for years.

He came back to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as a coach, working with the Korean team MVP PK, then compLexity, then Cloud9. His last job in the game was head coach of Cloud9.

HLTV's write-up credits Kim with remarkable consistency at LAN events and a strategic mind. It also covers the other Americans on the ballot.

Two Americans on their third ballot

Danny "fRoD" Montaner and Kyle "Ksharp" Miller are both nominated for the third time.

HLTV calls Miller the first true North American star, built on a flashy AWP (the game's sniper rifle) and quick reflexes.

He helped X3 and Team 3D win back-to-back WCG golds, one WCG silver and two CPL titles.

Montaner took over as the region's standout AWPer. HLTV points to his performance in compLexity's ESWC 2005 win, which made him one of the best players in the world.

It adds that he stayed at an elite level for several years, even after returning from the CGS.

The rest of the ballot

Filip "NEO" Kubski, a Pole who now coaches Astralis, is on the ballot for the first time. Pley (pley.gg) says a rule named after him blocked him until now.

That rule barred a player from induction for his playing career while he was still active elsewhere in the game, such as coaching. HLTV repealed it this summer.

HLTV's case for Kubski covers both eras of the game. In the pre-CS:GO years he was voted Player of the Decade for the 2000s by HLTV users.

He won WCG three times, ESWC twice and the IEM World Championship twice. In CS:GO he won a Major, collected two MVP awards and 11 notable trophies. He has since added four trophies as a coach.

Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen is nominated for the second time. He is the only player to have attended all 19 CS:GO Majors. He won five of them.

Kenny "kennyS" Schrub is on his third ballot after being passed over in 2024 and 2025. He retired in May 2023 with 10 MVP awards.

The other second-time nominees are Ola "elemeNt" Moum Rasmussen, Keun-Chul "solo" Kang, Abdisamad "SpawN" Mohamed and Jorgen "XeqtR" Johannessen.

Earlier classes and eligibility

The inaugural Class of 2024 was all Swedish. It was made up of Tommy "Potti" Ingemarsson, Emil "HeatoN" Christensen, Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg and Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund.

Yegor "markeloff" Markelov, Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer and cogu made up the Class of 2025, which was inducted in January.

HLTV overhauled the eligibility rules ahead of these nominations. A CS:GO or CS2 player must now have gone 18 months without a big event and a year off any main roster before he can be nominated.

The Hall of Fame Committee has 12 members. Four of them represent North America: Trevor "gfmidway" Schmidt, Jason Lake, Jason "moses" O'Toole and Stephanie "missharvey" Harvey.