TOP 20 PLAYERS OF 2019: INTRODUCTION

January 13, 2020 Jeffrey Reynes

As 2020 has begun we are ready to announce the players who made the Top 20 players of 2019 list, set to be revealed one by one every day until January 20.

Starting January 1, every day at 03:00  we will count down from the 20th best player of the previous year up to the third-best player on January 18, before we close the list with the runner-up and winner announced at the same time on January 20. Each player will be revealed in an in-depth article describing their 2019 with focus on their individual performances, accompanied by an interview.

You can return to this article every day to check on the progress of the list, as we will update it here each time a player is revealed, all the way up to January 20 when the Top 20 comes to completion.

Top 20 players of 2019:

1. France Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut
2. Ukraine Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
3. Denmark Nicolai “device” Reedtz
4. United States Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski
5. Denmark Emil “Magisk” Reif
6. Russia Denis “electronic” Sharipov
7. Canada Keith “NAF” Markovic
8. United States Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte
9. Canada Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken
10. Estonia Robin “ropz” Kool
11. Bosnia and Herzegovina Nikola “NiKo” Kovac
12. Turkey Özgür “woxic” Eker
13. Finland Jere “sergej” Salo
14. Denmark Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth
15. Australia Justin “jks” Savage
16. Denmark Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen
17. Sweden Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson
18. Bulgaria Tsvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov
19. Sweden Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin
20. United States Ethan “Ethan” Arnold

With a record-breaking 22 Big Events having taken place alongside an abundance of smaller tournaments, there were massive amounts of data available to analyze and filter 2019’s actors to just the 20 best players.

This time, we will not be giving out any hints regarding the players featured, as many of you have already figured out some of the important aspects of the decision-making process and begun making accurate predictions of this year’s ranking.

As always, the list is solely based on measurable contribution on the server, which we consistently tracked through statistics and often rewarded with accolades at the most notable events — Most Valuable Player awards and Exceptionally Valuable Player mentions, announced over the course of the year —, which also plays a key role.

The history of the Top 20 players dates all the way back to Counter-Strike 1.6 in 2010, with 2012 omitted because of a transitional period to CS:GO. You can see the previous lists

Credits to: HLTV.org