s1mple dominates in the group stage

Some upsets in the group stage of SLTV StarSeries XIII Finals almost turned the standings on their head, with Na`Vi going into the playoffs from 4th place and EnVyUs from 2nd.

It was FlipSid3 who came out of top as the only team that won 4 out of their 5 group stage matches, and it was in big part thanks to an incredible performance by their 17-year-old star Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev.

GPlay were another surprise of the tournament and they also had a star in the making stand out.

Here are the stats leaders after the first two days:

Click to enlarge

FlipSid3's s1mple sits on top of an astounding 16 of our 24 categories as he was the by far most impactful player, best fragger, AWPer and entry killer of the tournament so far.

With +11.8 round shares (estimated contribution in round wins minus round losses) he was twice as influential as the next on the list, and it amounts to over a half of FlipSid3's round difference (+21).

s1mple had a lot to be happy about during the first two days

To further demonstrate how well he played overall, he was the highest rated player in 4 of his 5 maps, including the 13-16 loss to Na`Vi.

While leading the event with 1.04 kills per round is impressive on its own, it's the impact he had in the rounds F3 won that really makes him stand out as a potential superstar.

In the 77 rounds FlipSid3 won at the event so far s1mple scored 110 kills (1.43 per round) and had only 29 deaths (the team won only 20 rounds when he didn't get at least 1 kill).

In terms of entry kills, he scored the first kill in 33 rounds and 28 of those times his team won. In fact, 36% of FlipSid3's round wins came after his opening kills – 28 of 77.

s1mple also has the most clutches at the event (5 total, three 1-on-1s and two 1-on-2s) and the most AWP kills – 0.60 per round, a number which rivals Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub's best days. He had at least one AWP kill in 42 rounds so far, and 32 of those FlipSid3 won.

WorldEdit and bondik provided great support

But even a performance like that wouldn't have been enough on its own for the Ukrainians to top the group standings, but thankfully he had superb help from Georgi "⁠WorldEdit⁠" Yaskin and Vladyslav "⁠bondik⁠" Nechyporchuk.

bondik was the team's highest rated player in the one map s1mple wasn't – the 16-12 win over GPlay, while WorldEdit was very consistent throughout all outings (contributed in 3rd most rounds overall, 71%).

dream3r making a name for himself

The other big surprise of the tournament has been GPlay's performance which resulted in their first playoff run at a bigger event.

Although each of their members had their moments or maps, it was the 18 year old Simeon "⁠dream3r⁠" Ganev that stood out the most as one of the best players of the event so far.

He ranks second in round win shares overall with 17.3 (of GPlay's 74) with an 85:25 score. He had at least one kill in 49 of those 74 rounds, got an assist or survived in another 17, while GPlay only won 8 rounds without him making any contribution (death without a kill or assist).

The youngster also showed off impressive aim, as he leads the tournament in headshots per round and total.

GuardiaN continues to excel, while Zeus and seized help out

Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács was per usual Na`Vi's key player and he once again stands high on the charts with a 1.22 rating, although he was less successful than usual in terms of opening rounds (20:17 entry score) and had an underwhelming performance in the surprising loss to Gamers2 on day one.

Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin and Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko were actually two of the most consistent contributors of the event so far on a per round basis, although they didn't make much direct impact. Na`Vi's in-game leader did, however, stand out as one of the most successful T-side entry killers with a 15:8 score.

Even across the board for EnVyUs

EnVyUs suffered two 14-16 upsets, against GPlay and FlipSid3, but they made it out in 2nd place and were fairly convincing in two of their three wins.

Nevertheless, it was a team effort overall, as different players stood out each map and in the end all five wound up with a positive kill-death difference.

Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon and Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey were the ones that contributed slightly more in their round wins, while Edouard "⁠SmithZz⁠" Dubourdeaux had the best match-performance (30:14 against HellRaisers) and was their most consistent contributor on a per round basis (a kill, assist or survived in 71% of rounds).

MICHU did well in his first big LAN with Gamers2

Out of the two teams that failed to make the playoffs, Gamers2 and HellRaisers, the one player worth singling out is Michał "⁠MICHU⁠" Müller from the Polish team.

He was the star of their big win over Na`Vi (31:16 score) and he was also the second most frequent fragger with at least 1 kill in 55% of the rounds, only trailing s1mple.

Additionally, the 18-year-old MICHU was the key ingredient in most of G2's round wins, scoring a kill in 42 of their 54 wins.

That concludes our quick review of the top group stage performers of SLTV StarSeries XIII Finals. Now it remains to be seen if s1mple's FlipSid3 and dream3r's GPlay will be able to continue surprising and overcome the big dogs, or will we see the expected final between Natus Vincere and EnVyUs.