Most overrated CS:GO players
Elen StelmakhIn this material, we have decided to talk about the players, whose achievements are usually overestimated. Don’t think that we are talking about bad or even weak players. The community, which likes to elevate some players, considering information flows and clips with highlight moments, influenced the format of the material in some way.
Due to this, it is worth noticing in advance that we will talk about the players who had received objectively undeserved praise, due to which their achievements have become significantly overestimated compared to other representatives of the scene.
flameZ
One of the most overrated players of the past months. The 17-years-old Israeli started his career playing for little-known teams, including exDT and Team Finest. However, flameZ became widely known for his performance at FACEIT where he made it to FPL quickly. The player received the first wave of attention there, having become a part of Endpoint after that.
Since the moment, the rapid growth of the player has started in terms of the media component. All who were involved in the informational part of the industry started stating about the player’s genius, partly referring to the FPL streams. It can be assumed that flameZ is really good. However, the statistics of the young player demonstrates the opposite thing:
- The rate 1.00 against the opponents from the top 20
- The rate 0.96 against the opponents from the top 10
- The rate 0.91 against the opponents from the top 5
Some may argue that the team does not pretend on big achievements and the player had very few attempts to do so. However, Endpoint visited big championships a few times where it was beaten and was eliminated quickly. What is more, the main hope of the team and the scene in general always demonstrated a horrible performance:
- DreamHack Open Fall 2020 – the rate 0.96
- BLAST Premier Fall 2020 Showdown – the rate 0.96
- ESL Pro League Season 13 – the rate 1.02
It can be said that flameZ is pretty young. However, no one would have looked closely at the statistics, if the player had had a bit less attention. But four players from the top 20 have mentioned the Israeli as the main hope of the discipline on the outcome of the previous season. It is a very interesting observation but if there had been more Europeans in the rate, flameZ would have earned more points.
No one argues with the reputable opinion of the players but the statistic is a straight thing and it works not in the favor of the rising star. The tip of the iceberg was the invitation to OG, which tries to stay on the path of changes and assemble a battle-worthy roster. The fate of the player who will have to prove his validity, including the retraction of our words, will be decided in the nearest months, or a bit longer. But now, flameZ holds his place among those who are overestimated.
Nivera
This 19-years-old Belgian received his dose of glory at the end of the last year when he became the sixth player in Vitality. This attention is partly deserved – Nivera used to be the leader of the drowning team Heretics, which disbanded without its star. Besides, the brother of another «talent» from Belgium played the first championships confidently, despite his performances being only on Inferno, Dust 2, and later Nuke:
- BLAST Premier Fall Series 2020 – the rate 1.21
- IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Europe – the rate 1.29
- BLAST Premier Fall 2020 Finals – the rate 1.22
However, a rough patch began in Nivera’s career after that. And it can’t be said that the failures of the player happened together with the ones of the team because the French performed well at IEM Global Challenge 2020 and BLAST Premier Global Final 2020. However, Nivera’s statistics started declining at these tournaments (1.08 and 0.86, respectively).
Things are way worse in the ranked statistics where the Belgian has big problems. We want you to pay attention to the fact that the guy has played even more maps than flameZ:
- The rate 1.00 against the opponents from the top 20
- The rate 1.00 against the opponents from the top 10
- The rate 0.95 against the opponents from the top 5
What do we have in the end? Nivera has no team because Vitality has not found a proper use for its young player. The end of the story can partly be written off to Valve’s tricks. However, if there is mishutaaa whose situation is even worse on the roster, it means that the problem is not only with «the Big brother».
Plopski
The whole roster of NiP should be included here. However, if we consider the distance, Plopski was presented as the main hope of the whole Swedish Counter-Strike a year and a half ago. As a result, the player joined the roster of the young team, which plays pretty unstable. However, Plopski who was paid lots of attention at the beginning of his career does not play the leading role in the team.
Due to this, we offer you to take a look at the player’s statistics at big tournaments:
- ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe – the rate 0.99
- DreamHack Open Fall 2020 – the rate 0.99
- BLAST Premier Fall Series 2020 – the rate 0.97
- IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Europe – the rate 0.91
- BLAST Premier Fall 2020 Showdown – the rate 0.86
- cs_summit 7 – the rate 1.02
- BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021 – the rate 1.05
- IEM Katowice 2021 Play-In – the rate 1.44
- IEM Katowice 2021 – the rate 0.91
- ESL Pro League Season 13 – the rate 1.05
Plopski demonstrated a decent performance only at one championship, or rather the qualification. What is more, we think that the Swedish showed only one cool match (against Virtus.Pro on the map Overpass). And then, we see a slow decline to the basic results where the young player does not meet the expectations. If we take a look at the ranked statistics, the Swedish does well but not too well:
- The rate 1.04 against the opponents from the top 20
- The rate 1.04 against the opponents from the top 10
- The rate 1.04 against the opponents from the top 5
In this case, there is a concern that Plopski has already reached his optimal shape, which can’t fit the loud epithets, which were proclaimed during his transfer to NiP. We can only think that the 18-years-old player still has a future, however, there is not that much belief in such a team.
oBo
The 17-years-old American received his portion of glory, having joined Complexity in June 2019. Since then, the team has faced systematic growth, which led to a few big victories, and also a spot on the list of the best teams. However, everything was changed by the artistic move by oBo in autumn the last year. Then, the young player left the team on his own will, having gone to North America. And we want to stop at this moment.
It was ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe. Complexity was confidently going to the playoffs, having good chances to compete for the trophy. However, the most interesting has just started. oBo stated his wish to go back home, having tired of playing in Europe. The organization headed by Jason Lake was good with that, offering the 17-years-old player to play till the end of the championship and have a rest. The team had found a common language, however, oBo wrote to his teammates from the airport about his soon flight the next morning.
Can the person, even though very young, be treated seriously who framed his team so badly? The whole professionalism was over with one act, which forced Complexity to live with the fact. Of course, the team was eliminated from ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe quickly, playing with a stand-in forcibly.
As a result, oBo was having a rest for some time, trying to find new strengths. Despite the player stating the desire to continue his career in North America, he accepted the offer from Evil Geniuses at the beginning of 2021, which, by the way, had a bootcamp in Europe.
With the new team, the American played at a few championships, having demonstrated not the most confident play. At ESL Pro League Season 13, his rate was 1.01, while three matches out of five can hardly be listed on oBo’s score:
- The match against Astralis – the rate 0.89
- The match against Liquid – the rate 0.56
- The match against Virtus.pro – the rate 1.08
oBo traditionally has bad matches against direct competitors, namely, the leaders of the scene. It will be enough to remember the numbers, which have left since his performance in Complexity. But is it worth it, considering oBo’s personal characteristics? The player definitely has not as much attention as he would like to have. However, the act combined with the increased interest during the rise of Complexity obviously puts oBo in one row with the other players, which have received significant overestimations.
xseveN
The 26-years-old Finnish player has become one of those who brought ENCE to the top of the scene in 2018. However, xseveN’s career has faced a decline since then. However, the Finn together with HAVU received higher attention at the beginning of 2021 because the team not only entered the top 20 of the rate but even showed an incredible play at a few championships.
Of course, xseveN was considered to be the main driving force of that progress. And if we look at the numbers, the player is definitely moving the team forward. However, the situation is pretty obvious in fact because there is a big difference between TIER-1 and TIER-3. The player shines bright in the matches against hREDS and Lilmix but xseveN faced big problems in matches against the teams from the top thirty:
- The match against Gambit – the rate 0.86
- The match against K23 – the rate 0.90
- The match against ENCE – the rate 1.04
The history continued even at the last big tournaments, in which the player participated:
- cs_summit 6 Europe – the rate 0.98
- DreamHack Open Fall 2020 – the rate 0.90
- Snow Sweet Snow 3 – the rate 0.94
It can be argued and said that the Finn has not that much attention. However, if we open any match with the participation of HAVU, we will realize how much the community loves xseveN. The story may sound unreal. But the difference between the player’s real skill and the expectations cannot be ignored.
Spinx
Another FPL star received his dose of glory during the recent ESL Pro League Season 13. The 20-years-old Israeli actually had two cool matches (against G2 and mousesports). However, a bad apple can be found here too. It is enough to watch these matches from a different perspective to see two failures (Vertigo against mousesports – the rate 0.30; Mirage against G2 – the rate 0.60).
Then, it is worth looking at the general statistics of matches in the group where things are even worse:
- The match against NiP – the rate 0.98
- The match against Vitality – the rate 0.95
- The match against FaZe Clan – the rate 0.81
The situation is similar to his countryman. The player can’t be evaluated based on the statistics in FPL, which has already turned into a professional version of matchmaking. Besides, Spinx was not able to lead ENCE in the first playoff round, having failed the match with Virtus.pro (the rate 0.98).
We can only think that the player has a future. However, the part of attention, which was paid to Spinx, was not deserved. It is pretty possible that the hype appeared during the sensational victories of ENCE but the prevalence of the player over the team is unacceptable in this case.
It is worth reminding one more time that we are not talking about bad or even weak players. No one has an objective to abuse or lower the abilities of one or another player. However, the portion of attention, which was received by the above-mentioned players, has to have the other side, the skeptical side. And that’s the idea of the material, which is made to retract the wave of imitation. We might make a mistake in some moments. However, there is logic in all the above-mentioned things, considering the events.
Elen Stelmakh is a creative individual dedicated to advancing gaming culture through articles and visual design. As a full-time EGamersWorld author and designer for a gaming website, Elen not only creates content but also infuses it with energy and creativity.