In a few days, HLTV will finish preparing the list of last year’s top 20 players. Making it into this top testifies to the highest grade of skill. It’s really hard to get into the top 20, but you’re already well aware of that. Now, the CS.MONEY Blog is going to tell you five facts about the HLTV rankings that you most likely didn’t know.
Record-breaking number of appearances in the rankings
This is the ninth year in a row that HLTV has determined the best players. No player has entered all the rankings. However, one of the pros only missed one year. That’s Nicolai dev1ce Reedtz. It was only in 2013 that the former Astralis member and Ninjas in Pyjamas star didn’t make it into the top 20. What’s more, he ended up among the year’s top 5 players an impressive 6 times. This kind of stability is the envy of literally every eSports pro!
Once on top
Here’s the list of the best players over the eight years, in chronological order: Christopher GeT_RiGhT Alesund, Olof olofmeister Kajbjer, Marcelo coldzera David, Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev, and Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut.
In this list, olofmeister can boast a unique “achievement”: while all other pros have become the top-1 player twice, the Swede has only accomplished this once, in 2015. Back then, olofmeister represented Fnatic. It was an amazing year for him, with two golds in Majors and a playoff appearance in yet another Valve tournament. A well-deserved first place for the Swedish CS legend.
By the way, s1mple has a peculiar feather in his cap of achievements as well: he’s, so far, the only player to have occupied the first line of the rankings twice, but not in two consecutive years.
The nation’s pride
France, Sweden, Denmark, Brazil — players from these and other countries regularly pop up in the top. Many of them have made the rankings several times. Contrariwise, there are only a few players who are still the only representatives of their respective countries in the rankings. Right now, there are three such outliers: Özgür woxic Eker, Tsvetelin CeRq Dimitrov, and Florian syrsoN Rische.
Each of these three has only been ranked by HLTV once. Tsvetelin CeRq Dimitrov was number 18 in 2019, Özgür “woxic” Eker occupied the 12th line (also in 2019), and Florian “syrsoN Rische was the last in the top 10 of the year 2020.
A bold prediction
Traditionally, players in the top 20 make a bold prediction. The idea’s simple: they name a pro who will soon distinguish themselves and even join the ranks of HLTV’s best. Very often, these predictions turn out true; nevertheless, there was one case where a player fulfilled a prediction like that unbelievably fast.
Ethan Ethan Arnold was ranked 20th in 2019. In his bold prediction, he named Ludvig Brollan Brolin. He commented on his pick, “If he hasn’t done it [getting into the rankings] yet, that’s Brollan from Fnatic. He’s been playing insanely as of late.”
His prediction came true at a pace that challenges the definition of swift. Fact is, Ludvig Brollan Brolin was number 19 in that same ranking! As a result, Ethan holds the world record for the bold prediction that fulfilled the quickest. Besides, this record is hardly possible to break at all!
Step into the same river once
The HLTV portal has compiled its top nine times. With twenty players in each ranking, we could potentially have a list of nearly two hundred of the best players, but it’s actually a lot shorter than that. The thing is, players usually get into the rankings on multiple occasions. The number of players who’ve only been there once and that of regulars are about the same.
What’s more surprising is the case of Mikhail Dosia Stolyarov. The hottest player only made it into the top 20 once. It was in 2013, when he finished fourth. After that, Dosia has never been part of the top 20, although he even has a victory in a Major under his belt!
If we exclude the players from the first ranking, Lukas gla1ve Rossander has the biggest score in this category. He ranked eighth in 2018 and hasn’t since made it into the rankings ever again. However, a four victories in Majors are probably more important for the Dane than getting into the annual ranking.
It’s probably hard to find a more reputable individual CS:GO ranking than HLTV’s top 20. Every year, it propels fans of players and teams to turn their keyboards into dust while trying to prove to each other the fairness of the results.
In any event, we can’t help but note one curious trend: the world’s best clubs consistently provide three or even four players in the rankings. This was the case for Astralis, fnatic, the Brazilian SK lineup. It’s not a coincidence, though — it’s a direct correlation. Here’s a challenge for you: try making a bold prediction and pick five players who will definitely make it to the next top 20. Leave your picks in the comments section!
