{"id":15222,"date":"2023-08-20T19:25:09","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T19:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/news\/cs-2\/iem-cologne-who-were-the-best-players-and-stat-leaders"},"modified":"2023-08-20T19:25:09","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T19:25:09","slug":"iem-cologne-who-were-the-best-players-and-stat-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/news\/cs-2\/iem-cologne-who-were-the-best-players-and-stat-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"IEM Cologne: Who were the Best Players and Stat Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

As IEM Cologne comes to a close, the last event of its kind in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive history, BLIX goes over the best players in each department at the German event. Through underdogs and superstars, prospects and returning legends, and international and domestic squads, the event showcased a plethora of talent and saw incredible plays across all teams. These are the key players who made IEM Cologne 2023 worth watching and those we’\u0099ll hope will do the same as the scene transitions into Counter-Strike 2.<\/p>\n

All stats used in this article were gathered on HLTV.org<\/a> and refer to the main event of IEM Cologne exclusively.<\/p>\n

Highest-rated player<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Taking G2 back to the top step of a tier-one event after months of inconsistency was no easy task, and it took an incredible Nikola ‘\u009cNiKo’\u009d Kova\u00c4\u008d performance to secure the team’\u0099s first title in six months. The Bosnian superstar recorded a tournament-leading 1.35 HLTV rating across fourteen maps, with a staggering 1.41 on the much harder offensive side. While NiKo’\u0099s status as the game’\u0099s leading entry player is not the subject of any debate, his ability to reach higher and higher peaks as a rifler has possibly never been seen before in the history of Counter-Strike.<\/p>\n

Total kills<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Thanks to a deep run that saw Astralis survive three elimination matches and only lose out to G2 in the semi-finals, Danish superstar sniper Nicolai ‘\u009cdevice’\u009d Reedtz takes the crown in the total kills department with 313. The two-time Major MVP returned from his hiatus as good as ever and seemed further rejuvenated by the new Astralis roster, recording the third-highest rating in Cologne and pairing it up with impressive stats in multi-kills and clutching. While the Danish quintet is still far from a true contender, device’\u0099s consistency spearheaded an impressive run.<\/p>\n

\"Device'\u0099s Device’\u0099s return to the Cathedral of Counter-Strike became one of his recent best performances (Image Credits: ESL | Adela Sznajder)<\/span><\/div>\n

Kills per round<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Taking the crown in the kills per round category, edging out both NiKo and device, is G2’\u0099s sniping prodigy Ilya ‘\u009cm0nesy’\u009d Osipov. Since joining the team from NaVi’\u0099s junior subsidiary, the AWPer has shown to be capable of hanging with the big boys, especially as a consistent performer in his team’\u0099s best runs. His performances landed him at the second spot among the event’\u0099s best players, and the young Russian also dominated in the fewest deaths department, showcasing his great survivability even when compared to notoriously passive players like Benjamin ‘\u009cblameF’\u009d Bremer.<\/p>\n

Multi-kill machine<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cloud9’\u0099s run to the playoffs, despite being weakened by Timur ‘\u009cbuster’\u009d Telepov standing in for Sergey ‘\u009cAx1le’\u009d Rykhtorov, impressed many and was seen as a sign of excellent things to come from the CIS superteam built around Denis ‘\u009celectroNic’\u009d Sharipov’\u0099s leadership. The key factor in the run was however, as always, sniper Dmitry ‘\u009cSh1ro’\u009d Sokolov, the 22-year old ending the event as the fifth highest-rated player and recording a multi-kill in an astonishing 55% of rounds.<\/p>\n

\"Despite Despite failing to capture a big title since IEM Dallas 2022, sh1ro’\u0099s performances will allow him to fight for a spot among the best players of 2023 (Image Credits: ESL | Adela Sznajder)<\/span><\/div>\n

Best assist-man<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Another side that will be pleased by their performance is ENCE, the international lineup reaching back-to-back finals in IEM events but failing to get across their last hurdle, G2, in Cologne. While their best performer was undoubtedly Spanish sniper Alvaro ‘\u009cSunPayus Garcia, ENCE relied on individuals stepping up all across their run. The unsung hero was Pawe\u00c5\u0082 ‘\u009cdycha’\u009d Dycha, as the Polish player only truly shone in the team’\u0099s opening match and ended the event with an impressive 64 assists, narrowly beating out Vitality’\u0099s IGL Dan ‘\u009capEX’\u009d Madesclaire.<\/p>\n

Best all-rounder<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While G2’\u0099s run was spearheaded by standout performances from NiKo, m0nesy and Nemanja ‘\u009chuNter’\u009d Kova\u00c4\u008d, Australian support Justin ‘\u009cjks’\u009d Savage has once again highlighted his incredible individual talent in Cologne. The former Renegades star recorded a kill, an assist, survival, or trade in 77.8% of his rounds in Germany, edging out his team’\u0099s Bosnian duo thanks to impressive consistency. Furthermore, jks also led the event in support rounds, a clear demonstration of his key role in enabling his team’\u0099s superstars. When G2 are firing on all cylinders, the Australian is the team’\u0099s much-needed safety net.<\/p>\n

\"jks'\u0099s jks’\u0099s G2 won both IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne in 2023, establishing themselves as one of the best rosters in the modern era of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Image Credits: ESL | Michal Konkol)<\/span><\/div>\n

Headshot machine<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One of the most talked about teams in Cologne were TheMongolz, the Mongolian outfit surviving a tough play-in bracket and almost taking down the world’s #1 Heroic despite having recently made two roster changes. While AWPer Usukhbayar ‘\u009c910’\u009d Banzragch stood out more, the player taking the crown in the headshot percentage category was the team’\u0099s 16-year-old prospect Ayush ‘\u009cmzinho’\u009d Batbold. The younger brother of former member Baatarkhuu ‘\u009cbart4k’\u009d Batbold, mzinho has shown a high individual level but also composure in clutch situations and a feisty attitude which made him the target of Casper ‘\u009ccadiaN’\u009d M\u00c3\u00b8ller’\u0099s banter.<\/p>\n

Clutch master<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Taking the first spot in the ‘\u009cclutches won’\u009d leaderboard with 12 is a familiar face in this list, Cloud9’\u0099s sh1ro. The AWPer has been regarded as an elite player in clutch situations ever since his debut at the highest level, matching Oleksandr ‘\u009cs1mple’\u009d Kostyliev’s record for most in an event at IEM Katowice 2021 and finishing both 2021 and 2022 as the best clutcher in tier-one Counter-Strike. His impact was also felt in Katowice, where he recorded three clutches more than the closest rival, GamerLegion’\u0099s Isak ‘\u009cisak’\u009d Fahl\u00c3\u00a9n.<\/p>\n

Entry fragger<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Putting your team in a man-advantage situation early in the round is a key factor in Counter-Strike, with AWPers usually at the forefront in both CT and T-side plays. While traditional entry fraggers have been returning to the top of the international scene in recent months, with both NiKo and MOUZ’\u0099s Dorian ‘\u009cxertioN’\u009d Berman appearing in the leaderboards, it was two snipers who took the crown in this department. Vitality’\u0099s Mathieu ‘\u009cZywOo’\u009d Herbaut, the best player in the world in 2023, dominated the opposition with 0.17 opening kills per round, while MONTE’\u0099s Volodymyr ‘\u009cWoro2k’\u009d Veletniuk won his opening fights 73.9% of the time.<\/p>\n

\"ZywOo ZywOo couldn’\u0099t capture the title in Cologne, but the Frenchman ended the event with another exceptional individual performance (Image Credits: ESL | Adela Sznajder)<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As IEM Cologne comes to a close, the last event of its kind in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive history, BLIX goes over the best players in each department at the German event. Through underdogs and superstars, prospects and returning legends, and international and domestic squads, the event showcased a plethora of talent and saw incredible plays<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":15223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[202],"class_list":["post-15222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cs-2","tag-iem-cologne-2023"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}