NAVI’s superstar Alexandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, has been named #1 on the list of HLTV Top 20 Players of 2021. The Ukrainian is ranked first, ahead of respectively Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, who are second and third, in the list.
s1mple helped NAVI to win 8 tier-1 tournaments in 2021, including the PGL Major Stockholm 2021. Furthermore, he was named the most valuable player in each of these titles (MVP).
Why was s1mple the best player of 2021?
As you can expect, there was never any dispute about who the greatest player of 2021 was, as s1mple’s level was unrivaled last year and was light years ahead of the competition.
The 24-year-old posted some otherworldly figures, including a 1.35 rating (#1), 0.88 KPR (#1), and 88.2 ADR (#1) as NAVI’s top player in every single event they attended, earning at least an EVP each time and a total of eight MVPs. He was able to achieve these results in part because of his unequaled floor level and consistency, averaging 1.21 or above at each event and achieving at least a 1.00 rating on 89 percent of maps (#1) and 76.0 percent KAST (#2). s1mple was also the most influential player overall, with a 1.43 impact rating, thanks in part to his ability to score multi-kills and opening kills, as he was the best at the former (23.6 percent of rounds) and at least one of the best at the latter, with the third-most opening, kills (1.15) and the third-highest success rate (66 percent ). You might even argue that the Ukrainian superstar is the greatest at opening since he would have the highest success rate after filtering out players with below-average opening efforts.
Also read: HLTV Top 20 Players of 2021: sh1ro #4
s1mple’s statistics are even more incredible when you realize that the more pressure he was under, the better he became, with a 1.40 rating in Big matchups. His largest peaks were at the year’s most prestigious tournaments, meaning he greatly outperformed his overall average (1.43) in the ‘Elite’ events alone, with his performances at the IEM Cologne and PGL Major Stockholm in particular ranking among the best of all time.
2021 was my best year, not just individually but team-wise as well. I tried to improve in all aspects, but the most important thing to me is consistency, which depends on each of my teammates, it’s the structure and plan of our team. I wouldn’t have surpassed my 2018 results without them. Also, I’ve established my own training system in the past 2 years.
Alexandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
With a resume like that, it’s possible to argue that this was the best year anybody has ever had in the game’s history. Given that s1mple had the highest floor, highest peaks, and most impact, as well as a record-breaking eight MVPs, this was possibly the most convincing #1 finish in Top 20 ever, topping Christopher “GeT RiGhT” Alesund’s strong year in 2013.
HLTV Top 20 Players of 2021: ZywOo #2
Vitality‘s player Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut had a fantastic year, putting up stats that were quite close to his first-place performances in 2019 and 2020, but he had to settle for second place in the Top 20 players of 2021. ZywOo only won one major event in 2021, the IEM Winter 2021. At the same time, the Frenchman was given one MVP medal and eight EVP awards.
Why was ZywOo the 2nd best player of 2021 behind s1mple?
In 2021, the French star received the second-highest rating, 1.29, placing him considerably ahead of the competition. This was because of his excellent fragging (0.81 kills per round, #2) and Impact rating (1.36, #2), as well as his high damage per round (84.4, #4), KAST (74.8 percent, #3), opening kills (0.14 per round, #5), and clutching (0.14 per round, #5). (4th most 1vsXs won in total 87, or 2nd most on average per round). He did win the standings in one area, pistol round rating, with a 1.46 average, which put him considerably ahead of the competition. His outstanding performance earned him one MVP award at IEM Winter and eight EVP awards, several of which were extremely strong and came from the year’s most competitive tournaments. His BLAST Fall Final performance was one of the best of the year, as he came within a whisker of winning the MVP award, and he repeated the feat in ESL Pro League Season 14.
Also read: HLTV Top 20 Players of 2021: Ax1Le #5
Despite not reaching the finals in either of the two BLAST $1,000,000 events, ZywOo was the 2nd best performance and the 3rd best in IEM Summer and DreamHack Masters Spring. Despite his team’s failure to go far in the playoffs, he was one of the best performers at the PGL Major.
We’re going into 2022 with a new international team and I’m excited and happy to be a part of it. The additions of zonic, Magisk and dupreeh bring a bunch of experience and new ideas, I can’t wait to go play on LAN with this team. We really want to win!
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut
Overall, another fantastic year for the French superstar, who would have been a strong contender for the top slot in many prior years, but this time there was no competition since s1mple was in a class of his own.
HLTV Top 20 Players of 2021: NiKo #3
Nikola “NiKo” Kovač finds himself in the third position in the rankings, despite his lack of tournament victories and MVP medals. Simultaneously, he and G2 finished in the top three in tier-1 competitions seven times and were awarded nine EVP awards.
Why was NiKo the 3rd best player of 2021?
NiKo completes the top three of the player rankings because of his exceptional consistency and influence throughout the year, placing second overall in damage done with 86.6 ADR and third in pure fragging with 0.78 kills per round and the second-highest proportion of unaided kills (85 percent). His strong multi-kill frequency (20 percent of rounds, #3), ability to open up rounds (0.15 opening kills per round, #4) and good clutching (64 1vsXs won, #9) all contributed to his Impact rating of 1.32 (#4). With the exception of ESL Pro League S13, he finished 12 of his 13 significant tournaments with a 1.15 or better rating, winning 9 EVP awards in the process, and was close to winning another three. He had one of the highest floors of the year, as well as some of the greatest peaks, thanks to his high number of very excellent and extraordinary performances.
Also read: HLTV Top 20 Players of 2021: HObbit #6
Most notably, his performance at the PGL Major was not only the greatest of the non-MVP displays but also better than most of those who did win a medal, owing to the event’s competition and importance, as well as NiKo’s exceptional level of play, which propelled G2 to the final. He also finished second in the MVP race at IEM Winter and third at IEM Cologne, two more ‘Elite’ tournaments. When it comes to those ‘Elite’ tournaments, he ended up with the third-highest average rating (1.26), albeit this drops to fourth if we add the following six most competitive tournaments (1.20 Big event rating). The frequency of 1.00+ rated maps (78 percent, #4) speaks to his consistency, while the frequency of very good maps (rated 1.30 or higher) speaks to his high peaks (44 percent, #3).
I don’t think I was ever this excited about my placement in rankings like I was for this one haha, because I knew that it would be a very close race for the 3rd spot. I was kinda expecting to be 4th, so once I received news that I’m 3rd, I was really happy.
Nikola “NiKo” Kovač
While all of this was enough to propel him to third place, there were two players who outperformed him.
Full List of the HLTV Top 20 Players of 2021
1. 
Alexandr “s1mple” Kostyliev – NAVI
2. 
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut – Vitality
3. 
Nikola “NiKo” Kovač – G2
4. 
Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov – Gambit
5. Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov – Gambit
6. 
Abay “HObbit” Khasenov – Gambit
7. Denis “electroNic” Sharipov – NAVI
8. 
Mareks “YEKINDAR” Galinskis – Virtus.pro
9. Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy – NAVI
10. Dzhami “Jame” Ali – Virtus.pro
11. 
Nikolai “device” Reedtz – NIP
12. Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač – G2
13. Benjamin “blameF” Bremer – Astralis
14. 
Keith “NAF” Markovic – Liquid
15. 
Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato – FURIA
16. Martin “stavn” Lund – Heroic
17. Russel “Twistzz” van Dulken – FaZe
18. 
Robin “ropz” Kool – FaZe
19. 
Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski – Liquid
20. Helvijs “broky” Saukants – FaZe
Source: HLTV.org
