HLTV Top 20 Players of 2021: huNter- #12

Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač has been ranked 12th on HLTV.org’s list of the Top 20 players of 2021. As a result, the Bosnian player became the first member of G2 Esports to enter the ranking.

huNter- and his squad did not win a single tournament, although they did finish in the top four eight times in major events. Individual contributions to team achievement have been recognized with five EVP medals for IEM Summer 2021, IEM Cologne 2021, IEM Fall 2021 for Europe, PGL Major Stockholm 2021, and IEM Winter 2021.

Why was huNter- the 12th best player of 2021?

huNter- is ranked No. 12 for the second year in a row, up from 13th in his first full year on the tier-one stage in 2020. The Bosnian star’s great fragging throughout the year helped him stand out and enter the Top 20 this time, as he averaged the fifth most rounds with a multi-kill (19.1%) and the tenth most kills per round overall (0.74) in 2021. He was able to maintain these stats through 179 maps in important tournaments and 82 versus top 10 opponents, a much higher amount when compared to players who had previously cracked the Top 20.

Also read: HLTV Top 20 Players of 2021: blameF #13

The top performances that garnered him five EVP mentions in total, three at Elite tournaments in IEM Cologne, the PGL Major, and IEM Winter, separated him apart from the players below him, making him the player with the most honors out of those listed on the list thus far. Finally, another element that helped huNter- appear thus high on the list and also helped him achieve the aforementioned honors was his excellent performance when the stakes were highest in the Big matches, when he averaged a 1.09 rating (#11) over 46 maps.

I don’t have any personal goals for 2022. I just want to win some trophies with the team and everything else will come itself. I want to help the team with everything I can to lift some trophies. Expectations, we didn’t talk as a team about what we can expect, but our bootcamp is starting soon and, for sure, we will talk and see what we can expect from each other and what you can expect from G2 in 2022. But one thing I can promise is that I will give my best like I was always doing, and everything else we’ll see.

Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač

On the other side, two mediocre BLAST tournaments at the end of the year and ESL Pro League Season 14 kept him from moving up a few spots, as did having the lowest rating versus top 10 teams (1.05) of any player on the list.