$10,000 Fantasy Spring season comes to an end

After six months of play, the second season of HLTV’s Fantasy League has concluded, with sekaniramelanir claiming the grand prize of $5,000 after accruing 307 points throughout the 32 fantasy games.

The season began in January with Funspark ULTI 2021 Finals being the first event with a Fantasy game, which was won by the user ILHY, and recently came to an end at the last tournament of the season, IEM Cologne, with the Fantasy game won by Purpleee.

HLTV spoke to the top three players to hear their experience throughout the season and to learn a bit more about the most successful Fantasy minds.

At the start of the season, all three individuals had very different goals for the competition. The eventual winner, sekaniramelanir, said that he wasn’t really paying attention to season leaderboards up until May. “After that, my focus switched to getting the most points each game instead of risking to win skins in a single one.”

Third-placed Aiaiaiaiaai began the season with high aspirations and hoped for a finish in the top ten, while UnfriendlyV‘s main goal was “to help some of the newcomers understand and improve their performance alongside him throughout the season” while achieving a top ten finish himself. His countless Fantasy threads on the forums, alongside his Youtube channel, became a staple of the Fantasy community during 2022.

Once the season started to draw to a close, all three admitted to feeling a bit nervous. The eventual winner sekaniramelanir recalled: “Last games I definitely felt the pressure when creating my fantasy teams. I actually made spreadsheets with data to help me decide on the best player combination.”

The season ended with the top three being within six points of each other, with the final game of the season proving to be the deciding one. Aiaiaiaiaai talked about his regrets in the incredibly close ending of the season. “If rain kills one more guy on Nuke against Movistar Riders it would trigger my top of the scoreboard booster, and I think it would get me first place.”

“I came back from FaZe-NAVI finals in Cologne to my hotel room, checked the fantasy page and was shocked to see my nickname in first place,” said sekaniramelanir about his winning moment. Already looking forward to the future of Fantasy, he finished the interview with the promise to try and defend his title in the next season.

An interesting thing to note is that none of the three most successful players placed in the top three at any individual event in the Spring season, instead relying on their consistency to rack up good points at each event.

Here are the final standings for the Top 10 in the Spring season:

1. sekaniramelanir – 307 points – $5,000
2. UnfriendlyV – 302 points- $2,000
3. Aiaiaiaiaai – 301 points – $1,000
4. ZyraReflex – 293 points – $300
5. Hart762 – 290 points – $300
6. ethanolo – 287 points – $300
7. beaumonde – 286 points – $300
8. dBo – 286 points – $300
9. Robshot – 285 points – $300
10. salmann – 285 points – $300

You can find the full standings of the season on the main Fantasy page.

Stay tuned for a new Fantasy season starting after the end of the current player break. Let us know how you fared in the second season, and put any thoughts or feedback on Fantasy in the comments below!