Counter-Strike had a busy year: Astralis became the first four-time major champion in the world, Natus vincere total restructuring has begun, GeT_RiGhT left the Ninjas in pajamasand North American organizations again began to open CS: GO rosters ahead of the launch of the Valve-approved franchise league. The only intrigue is who HLTV.org recognizes as the best player of the year. Until Western colleagues began to publish the traditional top 20, Cybersport.ru editorial staff chose their top three.
We didn’t have exact selection criteria: someone based on team success, someone on individual skill, others were interested in drama (one of the authors was very impressed with how karrigan built a game mousesports) Our top 3 was not unanimous: the candidates for getting into it were KRiMZ, and EliGE, and electronic, and ropzand even a 17 year old frozen. As a result, we determined the top three by a majority of votes.
Third place – s1mple ( Natus vincere)
For Natus Vincere and s1mple, the year was very difficult. A year ago Danil Zeus Teslenko He admitted that 2019 would be his last as a professional player, and everyone began to wonder what would happen to NAVI next. As a result, the season came out torn: the team won only one tournament – April StarSeries & i-League CS: GO Season 7at which Kostylev received his only MVP medal this year.
Despite team issues, s1mple spent an outstanding year anyway. For the 141 cards played, the average rating of a Ukrainian was 1.30 – according to this indicator, he took second place among all the xers of the world. Kostylev also confirmed individual mastery at a large sponsorship tournament 1v1, among whose participants were device, Niko and rain: in the finals s1mple beat NBK.
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Now NAVI are totally rebuilding, and s1mple is getting used to the role of captain under the guidance of an experienced B1ad3. Progress is noticeable, but the team has not yet been able to solve all the problems. The big question is, in what composition will NAVI play in 2023: if Guardian if it doesn’t take shape, then replacement cannot be avoided. Alas, s1mple can not concentrate solely on his game.
Although s1mple did not become the best this year, but still earned the most flattering words. It remains only to agree with Thorin:
“Perhaps s1mple deserves more respect than anyone in the history of Counter-Strike. He is the best player in the world, but by some miracle still does not lose motivation, despite the fact that his team does not win. This is the will! ”
Second place – Zywoo ( Team vitality)
In 2017, HLTV.org released material about a little-known teenager from France, whom she really wanted to see in her ranks. Team envy. ZywOo might have started tearing up the pro-scene before, but, as with the other FPL ropz star, Erbo chose to graduate first. In the summer of 2018, he finally received a diploma, and France held her breath: what team will ZywOo join in?
As a result, Team Vitality pulled out a happy ticket, which for more than a year Erbo has been dragging to titles exclusively by his own efforts. Little is known about the 19-year-old sniper (he almost does not speak English and does not give interviews), but this is not important: it is enough to know that ZywOo is the unconditionally strongest individual on the pro-scene that crushes absolutely everyone. And does it with any weapon.
How good ZywOo is is really hard to believe. Isn’t it a joke in due time G2 esports didn’t invite Erbo because considered him a cheater. ZywOo is the case when go kill tactics have every chance of success.
With all the merits (Erbo has five MVP awards this year – no one else has), ZywOo still has room to grow. how is recognized apEX, his partner has not yet fully adapted to the shooting range-1 level CS: ZywOo has problems with positioning. It turns out that Erbo is not yet at the peak of his form – it’s scary to think what this child prodigy is capable of.
First place – device ( Astralis)
Is it hard to be the best player in the best team in the world? Astralis has gone down forever in the history of Counter-Strike and e-sports in general, but the success of the Danes is primarily a team merit, and as a rule, it is not customary for a team to single out one.
This is the tragedy of the device, whose individual merits forever fade into the background. For five years now, Ridtz has regularly been in the top 20 of the strongest players in the world, and over the past four years, he has not dropped below fifth place. From year to year, now and then he went around it coldzera, then s1mple, and device had to be content only with command regalia.
So this year, the device “only” three times became the most valuable player in tournaments (one of which is in the Berlin Major) – you can’t compete with ZywOo. And it seems that by the end of 2019, the device will again be the second in the HLTV.org rating, as it was a year ago.
Years will pass – Astralis will be remembered by everyone, and Ridtz can remain only one of the five first-class Danish soldiers who made history. Device is not the best player of the year in CS: GO. He is simply the best. By itself.
“Success lies not only in the game, but also in being a great person outside of it, being a good friend and partner. It is important to love yourself outside the server, be happy and always develop, and the rest will come. You can be unfriendly, or you can be proactive. This is my motto in life. “
Text: Alexey lope Borisov
Other 2019 results in e-sports and games:
- Key events in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
- Dendi steals cheese, Arteezy guards the mountain. The most fun moments of 2019 in Dota 2.
- Russophobia and politics. The main esports scandals in 2019.
- The best games of the year according to Cybersport.ru.
- Nowhere without Ramses – we compose symbolic teams of the world and the CIS in 2019.
- Not only Sneaky is the best cosplay of 2019 according to Cybersport.ru.
