Top 20 players of 2013: NBK (5)

As we enter the final quarter of our Top 20 of 2013 ranking by eSportsventure.com, we have Nathan "NBK" Schmitt at number 5. The 19-year-old Frenchman was a crucial member of VeryGames on their rise to the top in the second half of the year, with MVP-worthy performances at both RC EMS One Summer and Fall and with the world's best success rate in 1-on-1 situations.

Basic info and history

Nathan "NBK" Schmitt first started playing CS:Source in 2008 and it didn't take him long to advance to the very top. After getting his first local LAN experience during 2009 with a team called DREAMRAR, he was picked up by VeryGames in February 2010 when he was still only 15 years old.

Despite his young age Schmitt quickly became one of the best players in the game and he helped his team win countless titles over the years. Even though VeryGames made plenty of lineup changes since then, his place was never in jeopardy, as together with Kevin "Ex6TenZ" Droolans he turned out being a core member of the team.

In 2012 when they decided to switch to CS:GO, Schmitt was one of the most vocal members of the community asking everyone to give the new game a chance and hoping for the 1.6 and CS:S communities to unite.

Although his team was unable to get the better of NiP, Schmitt continued with his play from CS:S, being one of the best fraggers in the world and helping VeryGames get 2nd place at every event they attended in those late months of 2012.

But even though they kept reaching the grand final of every tournament, VeryGames weren't satisfied with getting second place, and in January they made a lineup change after Cédric "RpK" Guipouy retired.

Rising Belgium star Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom was the one joining, but despite a good start for him individually, the team was still not making progress. What more, they went a step back, not even reaching the final in their first few events.

The first indication that the team is still not where they would like to be was the 3rd place in Fnatic FragOut League, when Virtus.pro got the better of VeryGames in the semi-final. And then a few weeks later, they would experience their first serious setback on LAN.

Mad Catz Vienna was the occasion when the Danes of Anexis beat the French-Belgian squad both in the group stage, and later in the semi-final, leaving them in a battle for 3rd place against ESC Gaming. Although they did beat the Poles and didn't go home empty handed, VeryGames also showed some weaknesses by drawing against ALTERNATE in the group stage, as well as by losing a map and playing a very close series against Na`Vi in the quarter-final.

NBK couldn't have been happy with a 3rd place finish in Vienna

Schmitt started that event in great form, being the team's best in both group stages and in the marathon first map against Na`Vi (57:45 score, 1.19 rating in a 34-30 win). But that seemed to have tired the young Frenchman, so he didn't do as well for the rest of the tournament, finishing second in his team with a 1.12 rating.

RaidCall EMS One cups online weren't going great either, as VG lost to their countrymen Imaginary and LDLC.com before finally edging the latter to win Cup #4.

But winning an online cup was much different than playing at Copenhagen Games, which was their next event. After topping their group despite losing one map of their series vs.  Lemondogs, VeryGames weren't favored by the playoff draw which saw them meet NiP already in the upper bracket quarter-final.

In their first LAN clash with the Swedes with the new lineup, they weren't able to put up a fight that everyone was hoping for, losing 11-16, 2-16 and heading early to the lower bracket. Eventually they beat Epsilon, Curse.NA and Quantic, but then same Danes from Vienna stopped them in the lower bracket final with a convincing 4-16 score, marking it the lowest yet 4th place for VeryGames.

Schmitt was less impressive than before, having only the team's 4th best 1.05 rating, not excelling much and doing especially badly against NiP with only 12 kills in the whole series.

He would bounce back and play well to help the team win Mad Catz Birmingham afterwards, although without facing any major competition, but then another clash with NiP followed at RaidCall EMS One Spring Finals.

NBK during the NiP match at RC EMS One Spring Finals

Once again VeryGames weren't able to do it, even though the second map of the series hinted they were at least getting closer (3-16, 14-16). Schmitt again didn't do so well against the Swedes, but thanks to his great play in the series with Anexis in the quarter-final (63:42 score, 1.32 rating) he ended up with an above-average 1.05 rating.

Then out of nowhere, he would suddenly have his best performance of the year two weeks later when the team traveled to Dallas, Texas for ESEA Season 13 Global Finals. While the team finished in a disappointing 3rd place yet again, losing to NiP (14-16, 14-16) and Quantic (20-22, 14-16), Schmitt was one of the brightest stars of the tournament.

NBK shined at ESEA Season 13 Global Finals

With 0.92 kills per round he was by far the best fragger of the entire event, and not only that, but his great play was the main reason VG came so close to beating NiP as he was the best player of the series (63:43, 1.52 rating).

"It was pretty weird. I indeed had my best performance of the year, but the team chemistry was pretty bad. We lost stupid rounds, had bad crossfires and couldn't hold bombsites. I don't have an explanation for my performance, maybe the American hype ? :D"

With a number of 3rd place finishes behind them and with still not being able to beat NiP after Virtus.pro had already done it that month, VeryGames decided they had to make a lineup change. A few weeks after returning from Dallas, Kenny "kennyS" Schrub was removed, while they welcomed back Richard "shox" Papillon, who previously played in the team during the CS:S days.

"[ESEA Season 13 Finals] also showed that kennyS lacked experience in those clutch situations when you have to keep your head cold, and we probably reached our maximum level with that lineup, and therefore had to make some changes to improve our T-game rapidly."

After an adjustment period, which included skipping DreamHack Summer and having some mediocre results in RaidCall EMS One Summer cups, the team managed to qualify for the LAN Finals in Cologne, Germany.

Their LAN debut started shakily, with Copenhagen Wolves evening the series at one apiece, but VG came out on top eventually (16-12, 12-16, 16-6). After overcoming another Danish side in a tough semi-final, fnatic (21-17, 16-11), they would meet Virtus.pro in the final instead of the expected clash against NiP.

NBK was on fire in the final against Virtus.pro

And there Schmitt would show that his play in the US was not just a coincidence, but that he belongs at the very top. He ended up having one of the best grand final performances of the year, getting 61 kills and only 30 deaths for a 1.74 rating in what (largely thanks to him) ended up looking like an easy final (16-8, 16-11).

Coupled with his solid play in the previous two series, Schmitt wound up putting in an MVP-worthy performance in VeryGames' second title-winning campaign, having the event's third best rating of 1.22.

"Although we had a tough semi-final as well against Fnatic, we had time to rest. Virtus.pro and NiP played for hours and then had to play the grand final, and we had a big edge thanks to that coming into the game.

I think it's always better not to face NiP, but the result would probably have been the same - we all played out of our minds at this event. The event overall was amazing, triumphing for the first time above NiP and Virtus.Pro was amazing.

I mainly tried to surprise with my gamestyle, being adaptive and changing my positions while relying mainly on pure aim. I tried to be ready aim-wise every time, but it also made me be quite inconsistent [during the year]. So I mainly focused on deathmatch, and playing all the teams as if they were equal in level."

There was still the matter of defeating NiP, which VeryGames would worry about only after returning from their summer break. Their next outing would be one and a half months later when they found themselves in Cologne once again, this time for the grand final of the third Mad Catz event where they ended up easily defeating fnatic (16-8, 16-5).

At the start of September they would finally win a map, but not the match against NiP in a FACEIT Cup final. Still, a week later at DreamHack Bucharest history would repeat itself, and VeryGames would head on home with a 5th-8th place finish after another convincing loss to the Ninjas (10-16, 2-16). Schmitt himself was unable to replicate his form from the previous two events, and he ended up having his worst performance of the year (0.82 rating).

NBK's eco round clutch against k1ck in SLTV StarSeries VII online stage

But after that disappointment the team finally found the formula and defeated NiP in the semi-final of MSI Beat it European Finals (16-8, 16-7), with Schmitt as one of the main protagonists by being the best fragger of the series (47:32, 1.36 rating).

Not two weeks later they would repeat that feat, besting NiP in the upper bracket semi-final of SLTV StarSeries VII Finals (16-14, 16-6), finally breaking the curse that spanned back to DreamHack Valencia in September of 2012 and saw them lose 16 maps in a row on LAN.

Schmitt was again one of the main contributors in this victory (40:36, 1.13 rating, 8 entry kills), although he later didn't impress much agaisnt Astana Dragons when the team clinched another title, seeing his teammates Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom and Richard "shox" Papillon pave the way for that.

"We started being better individually while facing them. We managed to adapt to their way of thinking in the clutch situations, and we started winning almost all of them, giving us the edge in the games. They generally won over us before thanks to that, and it just turned around, while we were still analyzing their game" – Schmitt on what was the key to finally defeating NiP.

They would repeat that success at RaidCall EMS One Fall Finals, Schmitt's favorite battleground, as he was back to being the team's top player with another perhaps MVP-worthy performance. With 0.85 kills per round he was the second best fragger of the tournament, and he once again helped VeryGames top NiP, this time in the grand final (5-16, 16-14, 16-6).

NBK lifting the RaidCall EMS One Fall trophy

With no time to rest between the events, next up was ESWC where VeryGames came in superb form and were expected to snatch another title. However, despite beating NiP yet again in the semi-final (16-13, 19-16), they unexpectedly lost to their countrymen Clan-Mystik in the grand final (11-16, 12-16).

Nevertheless, Schmitt had another good event with a 1.14 rating, and he once again did well against the Swedes (46:40, 1.11 rating, 3 clutch rounds won). He was also responsible for one of the best moments of the tournament when during an 11-15 scoreline on the second map against the Ninjas, he clutched a 1-on-3 situation with only a pistol, allowing his team to make the comeback and clinch the series.

NBK's 1vs3 with a fiveseven in the ESWC semi-final [video by ESEA]

Before the culmination of the year at DreamHack Winter, VeryGames attended MSI Beat it in Beijing, China where they grabbed another title, defeating SK Gaming in the semis (16-8, 16-7) and fnatic in the final (16-12, 16-10).

The long trip perhaps affected VG's preparation for the $250,000 event in Sweden only three days later, as they would find themselves losing to compLexity already in the group stage 14-16. They still made it through to the playoffs, where another tough match up against Copenhagen Wolves awaited.

NBK during the Cph Wolves match at DH Winter

Having made it past the Danes by the skin of their teeth in the last map of the quarter-final (16-6, 5-16, 16-12), the Frenchmen were paired up with NiP already in the semis. But after besting the Swedes three times in a row on LAN prior to that, this time it would be a different story and NiP would come out winners in what was the most important clash between the two sides of the year (13-16, 16-6, 5-16).

Schmitt ended the year with a below average display in his team's 3rd-4th place campaign, having only a 0.93 rating and not really playing up to the standards he previously set.

"Dreamhack Winter was a disappointment for us this year. I, personally, didn't perform great, and we also had tough times as a team. We came so close to beating NiP even though they were in submarine mode, but ending up 3rd-4th was a huge hit. We could have worked harder and been more focused, but we realized our mistakes now, and it won't happen again."

Another important event in Schmitt's year was the announcement that VeryGames would be closing their doors at the end of 2013, and as we found out at the beginning of 2014 they would join a new organization named Titan.

"We will practice more next to each other, hopefully improving our teamplay and the team chemistry. Changes are pretty good after such a long time, and we will train harder than ever. Playing more deathmatch, training harder. Just doing the classic things that we did, but with more focus and assiduity.

Our goal is gonna be to improve as much as possible, obviously we will aim for the 1st place and we have everything we need to do that now thanks to Titan. Having a winning streak like NiP had is gonna be extremely hard but everything is possible!"

Why is he the 5th best player in 2013?

Nathan "NBK" Schmitt didn't have a great start in 2013, but he became VeryGames' second best player during their much more successful second half of the year.

Although he was the least consistent of all the players in the top six, his best performances at ESEA Season 13 Finals, RaidCall EMS One Summer and Fall were at a very high level that not many were able to match. He also played great in numerous big matches, especially during the winning streak against NiP, which all helped him get into the 5th place.

Schmitt didn't particularly impress in any statistical category, but he was very good in many – he one of the best aimers (60% headshot rate), clutchers (7th most clutch rounds won with 28), most dominant players (4th most rounds with 3+ kills, 148), T-side entry killers (10th) and pistol players (8th).

There were two things he did excel in, one of which was winning 1-on-1 clutches, at which there was no one more successful. Although he didn't find himself in those situations too often, only 19 times in his 96 maps, he outplayed his opponent 16 times for an incredible 84% win ratio.

The other one was his play on de_nuke, as he was a very close second with a 1.34 rating on that map, high above his overall rating of 1.11.

And as mentioned above in the article, he had one of the best grand final performances of the year, with his 1.74 rating against Virtus.pro at RaidCall EMS One Summer ranking third on the following list.

Bold prediction

Just like Richard "Xizt" Landström and a few others before him, Schmitt has named Na`Vi's youngster as the next big star in CS:GO.

Denis "seized" Kostin

"Na'Vi surprised back in 2010 and went on to dominate the scene with huge work, and seized can only grow better in such an organization, and I expect him to be in this top20 next year."

What did you make of Nathan "NBK" Schmitt's performance in 2013? Did he deserve to be in the top five?

As we close in on the final places, take a look at our entire Top 20 of 2013 ranking by eSportsventure.com to see if you missed someone.