HLTV Top 20 Players of 2021: HObbit #6

Gambit Esports‘s veteran Abay “HObbit” Khasenov is ranked 6th on the HLTV top 20 players of 2021. The Kazakhstani is the first Gambit member to be included in the Top 20 list.

The CIS lineup, together with HObbit, dominated the first half of the year and remained competitive for the remainder of the year, winning six tier-1 events. Two MVP awards and nine EVP awards were given to the 27-year-old for his contributions to his team’s victory.

Why was HObbit the 6th best player of 2021?

HObbit’s exceptionally high floor and consistency allowed him to make a triumphant comeback to the top 20 after four years, placing him sixth this time. As a result of his consistency and as one of the cornerstones of Gambit’s success, HObbit was awarded two MVP awards and nine EVP nominations throughout the year, making him the player with the third-most such honors in 2021. However, some of those honors were given out in smaller events, like the MVP award at the first CIS RMR. Furthermore, his peaks were significantly less outstanding in general when compared to other players in contention for the top 5, which contributed to his lack of progress in the rankings. On the other hand, his consistency and floor were the reasons he outperformed his predecessors on the list, as he had a 1.12 or better rating in 13 of his 15 tournaments.

HObbit was one of the players in 2021, who had a solid map 74.5 percent of the time, having a 1.00+ rating (7th most frequent). On average (82.4, #7), he was one of the top damage dealers, with a lot of assists (0.16 assists per round, #4). His excellent utility utilization (6.3 damage each round, #10) contributed to his high damage output.

The goal [for 2022] stays the same – to get better and stronger than I was in 2021.
Abay “HObbit” Khasenov

The excellent play in Big matches, where he averaged the joint-5th best rating of 1.14 over 65 maps, solidified HObbit as one of 2021’s great players, including matchups like the IEM Katowice grand final against Virtus.pro and the aforementioned DreamHack Masters Spring semi-final vs G2.

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