HLTV Top 20 Players of 2021: EliGE #19

HLTV.org ranked Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski 19th among the Top 20 players. The 24-year-old American plays with Team Liquid during 2021.

EliGE‘s lone notable event achievement last year was a third-place finish at IEM Katowice 2021. Simultaneously, HLTV.org named him an extremely valuable player (EVP) twice at Katowice and in the ESL Pro League Season 14.

Why was broky the 20th best player of 2021?

Unlike prior years, EliGE‘s place in the Top 20 was not definite nor predictable in 2021. However, he had several standout performances, including EVP performances at IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League Season 14, and he maintained consistency against top-tier opposition, rarely having a bad map (holding a 0.85 or above rating in 89 percent of his maps, 9th highest). He also had a 1.10 rating in his 40 maps against the top five teams, which was the 12th highest among all players, two significant elements that helped him stand out above the other strong opponents seeking a position on the list.

Despite a lower overall level than usual, EliGE was still able to contribute in areas where he had previously had a significant influence, such as inflicting a lot of damage (80.6 per round, #12) and earning opening kills (0.13 per round, #11). He also showed out in a few other statistics, with a 1.17 impact rating (tied for 13th highest) and one or more kills in 48.7% of his rounds (tied for 13th).

I was really shocked when I saw that I made it [into the top 20] this year because I don’t think I played up to that standard. There were a lot of things that didn’t go right in 2021 and I wish that I could’ve done things differently and found better solutions during it. However, I can’t change how it went and progression isn’t always a straight line up and 2021 was one of the years for me where I took a lot of steps backwards.
Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski

However, a lack of strong peaks, particularly in the five Elite LAN tournaments, combined with a 1.04 rating in Big matches prevented EliGE from placing higher than #19 this year, a long cry from his previous places and something he hopes to alter heading into 2022 with three new players by his side.

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