We are now approaching the end of 2022 and now can analyze how the current world’s best teams and players have played the entire season. The year started with Natus Vincere on top of the HLTV’s world rankings after an impressive 2021’s performance, and then it was FaZe Clan’s turn to dominate the scene with their dominant wins at IEM Katowice, PGL Major Antwerp, and IEM Cologne.
As for the last major event of the CS:GO competitive stage, G2 Esports managed to move to the top 3 in the world rankings, only behind Heroic and Outsiders. All things considered, it seems like the “chair” is up for grabs with no clear favorite.
That said, who has been the highest-rated individual player so far this year? We will leave you with the top 5 in this article. And following the results, there is no doubt that the usual contenders Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut are to be found at the very top.
The Top 3 Highest-Rated Performers In 2022
Here is a list of who we think are the best performers of this season so far. As mentioned above, this year’s top three seem much more a tighter race than the last couple of years. Nevertheless, it is no surprise that such favorites as s1mple, ZywOo, and sh1ro stand at the top.
3. Sh1ro
Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov was the breakout player of the year. With an incredibly entertaining and aggressive AWP style, he averaged a 1.22 rating throughout 2022, while helping NAVI to win the IEM Dallas in May and reach the Semifinals of ESL Pro League Season 16 in August.
The 21-year-old C9’s sniper was in second place on the world’s chart, behind the Ukrainian S1mple. The former scored a rating of 1.25 but held fewer cards than the NaVi’s AWPer.
2. S1mple
Many of us would have thought that s1mple would have been number one on the list of the top players. Even though he was on fire in 2021, he has fallen short to ZywOo this year, at least by csgo player rankings. And this is why he stands in the top 2 CS:GO players for 2022. But the official world rankings are yet to come, so there’s a chance that Natus Vincere’s superstar s1mple will get the trophy once again.
A rating of 1.25, K/D 1.34, impact 1.37 just to mention a few of his stats this year. He is the first most coveted AWPer in the game. Without Oleksandr, who knows where NaVi would be.
1. ZywOo
The individual level of Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut is not debatable though. The 21-year-old Vitality riofler still belongs to the top of the ranking at the moment of writing, with a rating of 1.27, K/D 1.38, and impact 1.44, among other stats of this year.
With him, Vitality placed as winners at ESL Pro League Season 16 and runners-up at the BLAST Premier: Spring Final. The French team is looking solid for the upcoming IEM Katowice. ZywOo is currently the best performer in his team and is still growing as a player. Keep a very close eye on him during 2023 and follow his progress on the best esport online betting sites.
Can S1mple Win the Award?
Chances are that s1mple will net the player in the world trophy this year once again as he scored a 1.25 rating throughout the season, according to HLTV, while leading his team to the Grand Final of PGL Antwerp Major and winning BLAST Premier: Spring Final.
As mentioned above, only C9’s star sh1ro has the same rating as Oleksandr. But the latter finished ahead of Dmitriy based on performance, legacy, and longevity. Time will tell who will be named the top but we can say that we are tipping the Ukrainian AWPer to take another award.
Performances of NaVi’s 2022
As for the entire 2022 season, Natus Vincere won only the BLAST Premier: Spring Final, which is seven less than in 2021. Apart from it, the team finished 2nd in both PGL Major Antwerp and IEM Cologne. At IEM Katowice, the Ukrainians lost to G2 in the Semifinals, and they took places below the fifth at all other tournaments.
According to their results, we can’t say that NaVi failed but the team at least played much worse than expected. That said, a team’s overall performance doesn’t affect individual rewards that much. For example, ZywOo lifted the title despite winning only twice in 2020 and once in 2021.
Three Times Award Winner
If the Ukrainian AWPer gets the world trophy this year, it will add to other individual trophies he has won thus far playing in the shooter, including the best world player in 2018 and 2021, among others.
At the moment of writing, four CS:GO players took the Top-1 twice at once: Get_right, Coldreza, ZywOo, and S1mple himself. So, Oleksandr has a chance to break the record and become the first to win the award for the third time. On top of that, he will overtake ZywOo as his main rival. Over the last four years, only these two AWPers have shared the first and second places.
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