HLTV Award Show: Nominees for the final categories

Having revealed the nominees for the panel vote yesterday, this article will concern the final set of awards that will be handed out at the HLTV Award Show 2022 by 1xBet on January 14. These awards did not use the expert panel, instead being decided by HLTV staff.

The list is in full:

– Highlight of the year
– Rookie of the year
– Women’s player of the year
– Women’s team of the year
– Team of the year
– Player of the year

Though the team of the year and highlight of the year were awarded last year, this is the first year that they will be incorporated into the red carpet Award Show in Stockholm. There are also completely new awards, including the women’s player and team of the year, as well as an official award for the rookie of the year.

Ilya “⁠m0NESY⁠” Osipov‘s AWP 1v4 vs. MIBR on Inferno
Robin “⁠ropz⁠” Kool‘s Ace to force OT vs. G2 on Inferno
Helvijs “⁠broky⁠” Saukants‘ 1v4 AWP ace clutch vs. Astralis on Nuke

m0NESY burst onto the tier one scene at BLAST Premier Spring groups with this clutch against MIBR, a flashy and stylish way to announce your arrival.

This highlight had substance to go with its style, a ropz ace at 14-15 in the IEM Katowice grand final to take the game to overtime.

Finally, broky‘s 1v4 against Astralis with some quick noscopes and playing around with the squeaky door on Nuke’s lower bombsite rounds out the list.

This is the first time we are awarding the rookie of the year title officially, meaning several parameters had to be laid out to establish what a ‘rookie’ really is. A degree of context is always needed for something like this, but our general rule of thumb was the following:

– Fewer than 50 maps versus Top 20 opposition
– No appearances at the Legends stage of a Major
– Fewer than 20 weeks in the Top 20 of our ranking

Once we have decided who is eligible, HLTV staff come up with a shortlist and sift through it in the same way we decide the Top 20 list. The nominees for this year, in alphabetical order, are the following:

Ilya “⁠m0NESY⁠” Osipov
Robert “⁠Patsi⁠” Isyanov
Igor “⁠w0nderful⁠” Zhdanov

Though all three this time around are teenagers, there is no age requirement for this award; it is all about tier one experience. As such, 26-year-old Dion “⁠FASHR⁠” Derksen was eligible this year, and Alvaro “⁠SunPayus⁠” Garcia was very close to being considered as well.

m0NESY‘s nomination needs little explanation. The 17-year-old was signed for big money by G2 and rarely looked uncomfortable against the very best players in the world. After Rasmus “⁠HooXi⁠” Nielsen‘s arrival as in-game leader, he was given more responsibility and his performance went to a new level, even grabbing an MVP at BLAST Premier World Final.

Patsi and w0nderful are products of the Spirit pipeline, both excelling under the tutelage of Major specialist Leonid “⁠chopper⁠” Vishnyakov. Patsi is a space creator in the ilk of Mareks “⁠YEKINDAR⁠” Gaļinskis, finishing the year with 1.29 Impact and 0.16 opening kills per round. w0nderful is more withdrawn, a more passive AWPer than m0NESY shown by his 43% survival rate and 75.5% KAST — but his 0.73 KPR shows that he packs more than a punch too.

Another inaugural award for 2022 is the women’s player of the year. ESL Impact brought LAN competition back to the women’s game, offering a spotlight for a new generation to shine.

Ana “⁠ANa⁠” Dumbravă
Olga “⁠Olga⁠” Rodrigues
Ksenia “⁠vilga⁠” Kluenkova

vilga, a veteran from the dominant Secret fe side, once again found success in 2022 as Nigma Galaxy collected three LAN trophies at ESL Impact’s season finals and ESL Impact Valencia. She was a key part of their success, posting 1.47 Impact across those three LAN tournaments and 89.1 ADR.

Olga bettered that with a 1.54 Impact rating and 98.3 ADR at those three LAN events, the ultra-aggressive spearhead of FURIA fe finding unparalleled success in the early round. Where Nigma Galaxy took all three LAN trophies, Olga‘s FURIA fe went home with three silver medals; but Olga shone throughout.

ANa is the superstar AWPer of Nigma Galaxy, posting a 1.39 LAN rating and a 1.27 rating if we include all matches. At those 3 LANs, she opened up a kill-differential of +167, meaning she scored 8 more kills than deaths per map.

As we said in the player’s section, Nigma Galaxy reigned supreme for 2022 by winning all three ESL Impact LAN tournaments. They boasted a 22-10 win-loss record in all competitions, that becoming 18-2 when we restrict their results to LAN.

Nigma Galaxy
FURIA fe
CLG Red

FURIA fe were Nigma Galaxy‘s closest competition on LAN, losing in three consecutive finals. They were strong in local competition, placing 1st in all but one HLTV-recorded online competition they entered.

CLG Red are a similar story, dominating locally but falling short once they arrived at LAN. In fact, they recorded a 22-0 record online in 2022, not even losing a single map in HLTV-recorded competition on home soil.

The team of the year is based on ranking gains over 2022, using three-man cores as the deciding factor rather than the organisation. For more details, here is the corresponding article from 2021:

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Top 10 teams of 2021

Using those metrics, these are the three teams to make 2022’s podium:

FaZe
G2
Natus Vincere

FaZe spent 25 weeks at the top of our rankings this year, Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen‘s squad elevating themselves after ropz‘s arrival to monopolise elite events in the first half of the year. Natus Vincere were their closest competition in that period, losing several close finals and claiming the #1 spot on more than a few occasions. G2 also make the top three, spending time in the top three after their grand final appearance at IEM Katowice and after their win at BLAST Premier World Final.

There are no nominees for this award just yet, given that it is automatically awarded to the #1 player on our Top 20 list, with the three nominees being the top three of that list. That kicks off tomorrow, with our traditional countdown finishing at the HLTV Award Show on January 14th in Stockholm.

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Top 20 players of 2022: Introduction