Top 20 Players of 2022 in CS:GO: B1T (16th Place)

B1t’s career began when he became one of the ten players selected from 1900 candidates by NAVI Junior’s Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodensky and Amiran “aMi” Rekhviashvili in September 2019. In this process, preference was given to b1t, a player with technical abilities whose mastery of every rifle in the game becomes evident after a few rounds.

In the times preceding the WePlay Academy League, b1t and NAVI Junior plied their trade in open qualifiers. He was the highest-rated player in the academy, even surpassing Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, who joined the team at the beginning of 2020, and the call-up to the Natus Vincere main roster was not far off.

Initially, he was the sixth man and only played on Inferno (excluding mid-game substitutions on Overpass). During this period, b1t’s future success was far from certain: his raw mechanics were less useful against top-tier opposition, but his slow start eventually turned into steady improvement.

During ESL Pro League Season 13, b1t took Egor “flamie” Vasilyev’s place on Mirage and Overpass. This was a sign of trust, confirmed by the decision to make b1t the permanent fifth player after the Valve ruling that discouraged six-man rosters. The new Natus Vincere, despite b1t’s shaky start, didn’t take long to start performing.

Victories at DreamHack Masters Spring and StarLadder CIS RMR lay ahead, with b1t earning an EVP at the latter. Soon, CS:GO returned to LAN at IEM Cologne, beginning a streak of wins for both b1t and his team. Another EVP there foreshadowed the events to come: he earned three more EVPs as Natus Vincere won every LAN they participated in, finishing 2021 as undisputed world champions.

It was the year of the rookie, achieved by few, on par with Mathe “ZywOo.” B1t won every LAN he participated in, including the PGL Major in Stockholm, the first event with a live audience since before the pandemic. Nerves seemed to have no effect on the resilient Ukrainian teenager.

He ended the year in 9th place in our Top 20, with a 1.21 LAN rating for the year, which ranks 5th among all players. He was the third prong of the trident, one that even Poseidon himself could be proud of, fighting alongside Denis “electroNic” Sharipov and Alexander “s1mple” Kostylev to create one of the deadliest cores of all time. The era of 2022 arrived.

But that was before the war. It’s impossible to talk about Natus Vincere in 2022 without mentioning it, the shadow and asterisk over their decline. The news came at IEM Katowice, where b1t had his second-worst event of the year. Natus Vincere had beaten Nikola “NiKo” Kovac (G2) in three playoff series at the end of 2021, but in Katowice, that record was shattered. m0NESY, making his LAN debut for G2 after leaving NAVI Junior, and Nemanja “huNter-” Kovac caused havoc as the invulnerability of Natus Vincere was shattered.

“It’s obvious that the war affected everyone, and we lost too many heartbreaking finals and matches. But I don’t like to speculate – what happened, happened.”

The next stage for b1t was ESL Pro League Season 15 in Düsseldorf, a studio LAN where b1t took advantage of a generous group draw and achieved a rating of 1.29 in the group stage. Even in this group, which included #27 Complexity, #48 Evil Geniuses, and #137-ranked AGO, b1t didn’t just farm the lower level: a rating of 1.42 proved decisive as Natus Vincere defeated Heroic in a direct shootout for 1st place in the group.

The reward for this placement was a quarter-final match against the high-flying champions of IEM Katowice, FaZe, where b1t’s performance dropped to a rating of 0.83, resulting in a convincing 0-2 defeat. His performances in the group stage were enough for an EVP, a sign of life despite his struggles in Katowice. But his ordeal against FaZe – the replacements of Natus Vincere as the world’s best team – was a worrisome sign.

B1t was a middle-of-the-road player when Natus Vincere qualified for the Antwerp Major, but upon arrival in Belgium, he was on fire. He ended the Legends stage with a rating of 1.43 as Natus Vincere defeated G2, BIG, and Ninjas in Pyjamas. Despite the 3-0 record, his rating wasn’t greatly inflated due to the overtimes; a 1.30 rating in overtime against G2 and a 1.49 rating in a 2-0 loss to Ninjas in Pyjamas in overtime prove this.

“PGL Major Antwerp became [my best memory of 2022] and a great tournament for us, but it’s a pity we couldn’t win the final.”

He returned to earth in the playoffs with a more reasonable but still impressive rating of 1.08 against Heroic and 1.14 against ENCE. On the other side of the bracket, FaZe also made it to the grand final, setting up a clash between the two best teams in the world.

On the day FaZe once again emerged victorious, not only b1t faced difficulties. His rating of 1.04 was higher than that of electronic and s1mple in the grand final – his team simply couldn’t compete with the unleashed Howard “rain.” “” Nygaard and the FaZe clan. b1t, a contender for MVP before the final, had to settle for his first EVP.

The Major turned out to be for Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov, and the addition of Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev soon followed after electronic took the lead in the game. With electronic moving to more central positions to ease his calling, and the loss of aggressive Boombl4 in favor of the more supportive sdy, b1t’s role underwent minor but significant changes.

However, none of this mattered at the spring BLAST Premier finals. Natus Vincere were on fire, recovering from a defeat on the opening day against OG and taking the trophy home. The defining match was the quarter-final against FaZe, where the trident of Natus Vincere was in full force. b1t recorded a rating of 1.48 in a 2-0 victory, but he still remained the third-best player on the team by rating.

Lisbon provided a strong foundation for the new Natus Vincere. electronic, despite his new role, showed no signs of slowing down, and sdy was a reliable support alongside Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy. Zalutskiy. b1t also felt comfortable in the new lineup, and B1ad3’s contribution was as noticeable as with Boombl4.

This meant that Natus Vincere and FaZe were on equal footing at IEM Cologne. FaZe showed weakness for the first time all year, first at IEM Dallas, then in Lisbon, while Natus Vincere seemed to be on the opposite trajectory. The Ukrainian team was not as imperious in the group stage in Cologne as in Lisbon. b1t himself was sometimes hot and cold, but Natus Vincere did enough to top their group and advance to the semifinals against Astralis.

In this semi-final, b1t once again showed his prowess. Nuke was a classic steamroll for Natus Vincere, but Mirage became a real test. Trailing 3:12 at halftime to Benjamin “BlameF” Bremer, inspired by Astralis, b1t led NAVI to one of the best comebacks of the year. In a tight 19:17 victory, he racked up 37 frags and 120 ADR. Amid s1mple’s struggle, this was precisely what they needed.

The grand final was set: Natus Vincere vs. FaZe, to determine the best team in the world in the season’s final match. It was a chance for b1t to banish his Antwerp demons, for Natus Vincere to prove that Lisbon was a new dawn, not just a honeymoon. The match was a spectacle: five high-octane Counter-Strike maps between two true heavyweights.

However, it wasn’t the most pleasant memory for b1t. His demons returned, the icy veneer of the rookie who had won his first four Big events shattered. He ended the final with a rating of 0.89. In one of the closest and highest-quality finals of all time, his subpar performance was painful: a few more impactful rounds from b1t, and Natus Vincere could have walked away with the trophy.

“After the third map, we had a 30-minute break, which affected us badly. As for the fifth map, we lost two crucial clutch rounds, which hurt our economy, and we couldn’t close out the game despite having an advantage.”

After the summer break, Natus Vincere couldn’t regain their Cologne form. b1t also went into a slump. He finished ESL Pro League Season 16 with a rating of 1.00, falling to the newly formed G2. However, the real embarrassment occurred in the groups when Natus Vincere lost 0-2 (16-7, 16-10) to Endpoint – a moment that b1t called his worst memory of the year.

The IEM Rio Major didn’t see an improvement either. Strong maps against Bad News Eagles and BIG provided a brief respite – he even reached a 1.45 rating in the third map of the quarterfinals, lost to FURIA – but b1t was clearly not the player he had been before the break. A string of losses led to Natus Vincere being considered favorites going into the quarterfinals, but that was more a reflection of the teams that had been eliminated than those who feared Natus Vincere. It all ended at the BLAST Premier Fall Finals, where b1t dropped to a 0.88 rating, marking his worst LAN event ever.

Why the decline occurred is an interesting question, and there is no specific answer to it. The M4A1-S meta was part of it; the lower skill ceiling nullified the mechanical advantage b1t usually had. There’s also the reality that the war could have taken a toll: b1t and Natus Vincere rarely had stability in 2022, moving from place to place and event to event. electroNic, taking on IGL duties, was also accused of not fitting b1t into the adapted system as well as before. A new IGL also meant less one-on-one time with B1ad3, as Natus Vincere shifted their focus.

“I’ve said before, the M4A1-S needed to be nerfed. It was very unbalanced, especially when it had 25 bullets in the magazine. I’m just glad they nerfed it.”

“Of course, after 2021, every team started to watch and analyze us, and we’re trying to make changes to our game. I try to play diversely to make it harder for opponents to prepare.”

Whatever the reason, it didn’t seem to affect him at the BLAST Premier World Final. b1t finished the tournament with a 1.25 rating on the T-Side, making good use of the AK-47 against the M4A1-S. However, it wasn’t as simple as changes in CT weaponry; the emergence of aggressive rifler Andrey “npl” Kukharskiy from NAVI Junior on Inferno and Mirage also allowed b1t to become a cleaner closer. On Inferno, he was placed in Pit on the CT side and Apartments on the T side, averaging a 1.42 rating over two maps.
In 2022, b1t didn’t reach the same heights as his first year, but he’s not a one-season wonder. This young man’s career is just beginning.

Why did b1t become the 16th best player of 2022?

b1t wasn’t miles ahead of David “frozen” Čerňanský, but he outperformed him due to his peaks and more reliable deep runs in events. These deep runs certainly influenced b1t’s overall statistics, creating the impression that his year was worse than it actually was. With 74.6 ADR, 1.09 Impact, and a 71.7% KAST (percentage of rounds in which a player either had a kill, assist, survived, or was traded), his statistics are those of a solid but not superstar player.

Ultimately, it was his run of four very strong events in the middle of the year that allowed b1t to climb so high: 3 EVP awards at ESL Pro League Season 15, PGL Major Antwerp, and BLAST Premier Spring Finals, and just narrowly missing one at IEM Cologne. Even despite his slump in form after the summer break, he still earned an EVP or higher in 8 out of the 9 major events he participated in, which in percentage terms outpaces frozen and is 23% ahead of Lotan “Spinx” Giladi.

The impact of b1t is also not to be overlooked. Natus Vincere won 70.3% of rounds in which b1t got a kill, the highest among the Top 20 players. The same can be said for his multi-kill rounds, where the win percentage reaches an incredibly high 82.8%. His peaks were also higher and more frequent than those ranked below him: he achieved a rating of 1.30 or higher in 29.6% of maps.

However, his late-year decline prevented him from ranking higher, and his 16th position is more like 18a with frozen at 18b and Spinx at 18c. This represents a drop compared to his 9th place last year, and there was a noticeable decline as the sample size increased. Nevertheless, if a “down” year for b1t means earning 3 EVPs, VP, or higher at every elite event, with only one event being genuinely poor, then Natus Vincere should be very happy.