Top 20 players of 2021: stavn (16)

Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund’s consistency and timely peaks land him in 16th place in the top 20 players of 2021 ranking, powered by GG.BET.

Top 20 players of 2021: Introduction

stavn discovered Counter-Strike as do many who have older siblings, by watching them play before picking it up themselves, and it was with no other than with his older brother Jacob "⁠dragonfly⁠" Lund that the young Dane joined his first team, walkover, with whom he traveled around Denmark playing and sleeping in sports halls around the country.

One of the key events in the youngster’s development was PowerLAN 2016, where stavn was playing in the BYOC tournament while all of the big Danish organizations played the main event. He got to play his first match against a bigger team there, Tricked — who were playing from the VIP area as opposed to the main hall —, and Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller took some time to stand behind the 14-year-old and watch him.

Not long after that, stavn and his teammates were scooped up by Fragsters, and it was during that time that the young Dane started to turn heads. He was even named one of the five players to watch at the WESG 2017 EU & CIS Regional Finals, although he and his teammates floundered against tougher opposition at the event in Barcelona.

The team continued to flourish, however, with not only stavn but other Danish upcomers in Lucas "⁠Bubzkji⁠" Andersen and Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali also making waves. They started to make bigger and bigger events, such as DreamHack Open Austin, where they even reached the playoffs. They followed it up with another playoff finish, this time at DreamHack Open Valencia, and played at StarSeries i-League Season 6.

"I would say I definitely believed I could come far back in Fragsters. Approximately when we joined Fragsters, I also sacrificed education after finishing primary school to pursue my dream. I think our team was pretty good back then and we had a lot of potential.

"We showed decent results on LAN at a few Dreamhack Opens, but in the end I think we lacked more of a ‘grind mindset’ and were at times taking it a bit too easy if we did a good result. It's obviously funny to be playing with refrezh again. He is really skilled on the server, but also such a nice guy and we also had a good relationship back in Fragsters."

In 2019 the team lost Bubzkji and refrezh, but just three months later it was stavn’s turn to get a shot at moving up when HEROIC handed the 16-year-old a trial, instantly propelling him to a new level when the team qualified for IEM Sydney through the GG.BET Sydney Invitational.

After not being able to make it far at Big Events for some time, HEROIC brought on cadiaN and Johannes "⁠b0RUP⁠" Borup after the summer of 2019. With them, stavn went on to win his first international event, DreamHack Open Atlanta, where the young Dane ended with a 1.12 rating.

"I would describe Casper [cadiaN] as a really close friend of mine. I can still remember the day I first met Casper at the office. He was joining in on a trial period/as a stand-in, helping us out in a qualifier. He just had such a great vibe from the first minute when we were playing and I remember we were on a sick win streak with him.

"Back then we already clicked pretty well. We share a lot of the same game philosophy, and we just understand each other in a special way on the server together. Outside of the game we also have our fun together, we share a lot of the same humor and have interests in similar things."

HEROIC started off 2020 with trips to two LANs, DreamHack Open Leipzig and the ICE Challenge, in London, but it was during the online era that came due to worldwide lockdowns stemming from the coronavirus pandemic that they were really able to hit their stride. The Danes came runners up at DreamHack Summer Europe before winning ESL One Cologne Europe, where stavn was an EVP, and finished third in ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe.

The team struggled with consistency, but won one more title, DreamHack Open Fall, and stavn earned another EVP in a year that pushed his career to a new level as HEROIC briefly hit first place in the world ranking and he was named the 12th best player of the year for his important contributions in the team’s various successful runs.

"I have been through a lot in Heroic by now. Both good and bad. I've also been through a few roster-changes at this point, and sometimes, I think it's funny that I'm the youngest in the organization but also the guy who has been in it for the most time. I certainly feel at home in Heroic and I enjoy working with my team and the people in the organization."

HEROIC had been slumping since the end of 2020 after a good year that saw the Danes soar all the way to the top of the rankings, although no roster changes were made going into the new year. They got a semi-final finish at cs_summit 7, losing to fnatic in the playoffs as stavn bagged his first VP award with a 1.10 rating and 80,7 ADR, but it wasn’t until after IEM Katowice, the first big online event to kick off the year, that the Danish squad decided changes were necessary following a 9-12th place finish in what ended up being only one of two events below average for stavn. He ended up with a 0.98 rating across three matches, the opening victory over BIG and the following losses to Spirit and Gambit.

"We had a really good 2020 with b0RUP and niko, but towards the end of the year our level already began to decrease. Prior to IEM Katowice no roster changes were in the making. We tried to improve our game and come back to our previous level, but I think everyone on the team knew that we probably needed some kind of change if we were to succeed again.

"I think it was a bit hard giving up b0RUP and niko when we had such a great year. We won two big trophies, and I think I can speak for all when saying that back then it was the best year for all of us CS-wise. With that said, I was confident bringing in refrezh and sjuush would help us get to the top again.

"I personally had a change in my role on the team. I got some new spots on CT, but most notably I went from lurking to taking map control on the T side. I think it helped me widen my knowledge in-game even more and understand timings better, but it took some time getting used to."

Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck and refrezh gave HEROIC an immediate boost and the team went back to winning ways at ESL Pro League Season 13 right off the bat, bagging the trophy without recording a single loss in eight matches, including the best-of-five grand final against Gambit. stavn didn’t shine the brightest as the third-highest rated player in the team with a 1.09 rating, but he still managed to bag an EVP mention with strong showings in the quarter and semi-finals against Ninjas in Pyjamas and FURIA.

"We started out really good with refrezh and sjuush, and I think we went on for 1.5 months without losing a single series. Winning ESL Pro League felt really good since a lot of people were questioning the roster change we made prior.

"I guess you can call it a bit of a honeymoon period, but it's not everyday that a new team goes out to win a tournament without dropping a single map. We were pretty confident we would keep performing, but every team has their upswings and downswings at times."

Then came the single-bracket BLAST Premier qualifier, the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, where HEROIC failed to make the main event as they got knocked out by Gambit in the semi-finals, but the Danes were back in action at DreamHack Masters Spring where after three one-sided victories against paiN, BIG and Astralis they sat squarely in the semi-finals. stavn’s rating had been well in the green throughout the event, and he even scored 1.38 and 1.18 ratings in the two first maps against Natus Vincere in the semi-final bout before he and his team fell just short in the third map, Inferno, losing 13-16 as stavn himself fell short of average with a 0.92 rating in the decider. Despite ending in 3-4th place, stavn’s 1.15 rating and 1.12 impact with 80.7 ADR landed him a VP, the first of four consecutive ones through IEM Cologne.

Flashpoint 3, the Regional Major Ranking tournament, came next and stavn didn’t let the foot off the gas as he hit a 1.10 rating with 81 ADR in his team’s fourth-place finish with victories over the likes of Complexity, Vitality and Astralis before bowing out to Ninjas in Pyjamas in the lower bracket final.

Two slow events for stavn ensued, one to close the first half of the year and the other to open the return to LAN during the second half of 2021. At IEM Summer the whole team had a drop in form as a routine opening best-of-one victory over Imperial quickly turned into a 9-12th place finish following losses to Evil Geniuses and Ninjas in Pyjamas, with stavn sitting at a 1.04 rating by the end of it all.

"I think every team and player had some sort of jitters, if not, then at least a big excitement, before returning back to the first LAN after a long time with only online CS. Personally, I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves mentally because we really wanted to show the world that we could do the same as we had previously done online.

"In the beginning we didn't really have our usual good and calm communication, as we would have online, and we didn't really 'feel the game.' l think we were too afraid to take the risk and play on our gut instinct sometimes. So it took us a LAN or two to get used to it. We also had a lot of talks with our mental coach Troels Robl, which really helped us a lot."

After the summer break came IEM Cologne, the much-anticipated return to LAN, albeit in a studio environment, where teams that had sky-rocketed during the hardest months of the pandemic in an online world would have to show if they could still hang with the best on location. HEROIC beat Spirit in an opening series that was too close for comfort, a tight three-mapper that went to overtime in the decider, but stavn and company were then handed a 0-2 loss by Astralis before bouncing back against FURIA. In the end, it was Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's FaZe who ended the Danes’ run in the group stage lower bracket with stavn averaging a middling 1.01 rating.

"Ever since my first LAN in a gym hall where you had your sleeping bag behind the PCs, with hundreds of other gamers in Denmark, I have always enjoyed it. There are so many emotions and you can really feel the tension. I always just remind myself that the game doesn't change whether you play at home or at LAN, you just need to enjoy the game and play with confidence and belief in yourself."

ESL Pro League Season 14, initially scheduled to be played in Malta, had to be moved online due to a large wave of the coronavirus's Delta variant, and HEROIC got right back into the flow of things with six straight victories, taking down the likes of Spirit, Vitality, Astralis and Liquid to make the semis, where they would face Natus Vincere. Two incredibly tight maps led to the decider, where stavn shone bright with a 1.22 rating in a heart-breaking loss in the 30th round. Despite the tough defeat, the Dane ended the tournament with an EVP-worthy 1.15 rating and 1.21 impact rating as well as 84.4 ADR.

"Hard to say if it it's the most disappointing moment, but losing the semi-final against NAVI in ESL Pro League season 14, where we were leading on the CT side of Nuke, the third map, losing some really stupid rounds that ended up costing us the game was really tough. We had the chance of denying them the Intel Grand Slam, but also winning ESL Pro League for the second time in a row."

HEROIC’s inconsistencies continued at IEM Fall Europe, the final RMR event held on LAN in Stockholm. Luckily, the Danes had plenty of points amassed and could afford their 12th place finish after a hectic group stage that saw Movistar Riders send the Danes to the 9-12th place bracket in the tie-breaker. After that HEROIC lost to BIG and OG. These tumultuous results had stavn ending the tournament in the red with a 0.95 rating, his second and last tournament below average in 2021, but with matches of little importance it didn’t do much harm to the team or his overall standing during the year.

"It was a hard time for the team during the ESIC case, but I think we were really good at not letting our results get impacted by outside noise. It's a horrible feeling, getting accused of something you haven't done, while Twitter is making judgements left and right. You have to remain professional and let ESIC handle the case. I'm glad we are past this and the truth came out. We just want to keep enjoying the game we love.”

After a lengthy and messy investigation into cheating allegations, HEROIC were finally cleared ahead of the biggest event of 2021, the PGL Major in Stockholm. stavn’s best run of the year and his highest peaks would come as the year closed and he shined brightest on stage under the spotlight. The 19-year-old led the way in the Challengers Stage posting a year-high 1.23 rating with 80% of his ten maps played ending with a rating of 1.15 or above, floundering only in two one-sided map losses to Copenhagen Flames and Entropiq. Going from 2-0 to 2-2 things started to get scary for the Danes, but stavn came alive in the decider map against Movistar Riders to lead the way in his team’s 2-0 victory with a 1.33 rating, ending the Major’s first stage with a 1.23 rating, 1.24 impact and 86.7 ADR.

"Winning ESL Pro League was incredible, but I think getting to the playoffs of a Major, finishing top 4, and finally getting a sticker, but most importantly getting to play in front of such a huge crowd with everything at stake, must be the highlight of the year."

stavn carried his good form into the Major’s main stage, where he posted a 1.15 rating across 11 maps, going negative in only two of those in HEROIC’s quarter-final victory over Virtus.pro. He was the top-rated player on his team at the event and he didn’t fret under pressure, finishing the devastating series that ended with a third-map overtime loss to G2 in the semi-finals with a 1.13 rating. stavn not only relished playing on the big stage, but thrived on it, putting on a display for thousands of fans gathered at the Globen Arena good enough to garner him his third and final EVP mention of the year.

"The day before the 2-2 game we had a really good and long team talk with Troels helping us to have the right mindset for the rest of the tournament. From there on we just felt really comfortable. Everyone was doing good plays, good comms, and it just felt amazing to be playing good CS to be honest.

"Losing to G2 in the semi-finals was obviously heartbreaking as we lost the series in such a close fashion on map 3. I think we would have had a good shot against NAVI in the finals considering the run we had, but getting a top 4 finish at the Major is definitely something we are proud of."

stavn had a minor dip in form at the BLAST Premier Fall Final, going down to a still strong 1.08 rating at the event that he and his team finished in fourth place. In front of a home crowd, HEROIC fell to world beaters Natus Vincere and their countrymen of Astralis, but also managed to take home meaningful wins against other struggling sides in FaZe and a disintegrating Liquid. Despite the 1.08 rating seeming like a dip in form it was still good for a VP as he was the team’s highest rated player with René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen, who was second-best, clocking in at 1.03 while the rest of the team were all below average.

HEROIC returned to Sweden for IEM Winter, which would be stavn’s last event of 2021, where he played three maps in the team’s last-place finish. He posted a match-high 1.56 rating in the best-of-one opener against GODSENT, nearly tallying 30 kills in an excruciating 13-16 loss to the Brazilians on Mirage, before ending his final series of the year, a close 0-2 loss to FaZe, with a 0.99 rating.

"I have been feeling good about my game for a long time and I'm really honored to be making this list for the second time in a row. All I care about is to do my best for the team and provide with what I can, both in and outside the server."

Why was stavn the 16th best player of 2021?

In the same way as last year, when stavn made the top 20 players of the year list for the first time, he was a very good all-rounder, rarely excelling in any specific way. Even within HEROIC it was hard for him to stand out as the team saw several players alternate as top performers from event to event, a usual occurrence in the Danish squad. But it was his ability to maintain a high enough level, as well as his timely peaks, that made him stand out enough to earn a place in the top 20.

Statistically, stavn stood out due to his high ADR at Elite events, where he was eighth overall with an average of 80.6 and he was just outside of the top 10 in assists per round, coming 11th with 0.14. His 1.07 rating at Elite events puts him in the top 20, being the 18th highest, and his 85.8% of maps with 0.85+ rating is also a worthy mention, the 13th highest of any player this year.

In terms of consistency, it was a rare occurrence for him to have a bad map as stated above in his 85.8% of maps with 0.85+ rating, and he never had a bad event as IEM Fall, his worst, was borderline with a 0.95 rating, and that was dampened by the fact that HEROIC had already qualified for the Major before he had a couple of bad series that weren’t of much importance to the Danish squad.

Regarding his peaks, his PGL Major EVP was more impactful than the best performances of anyone on the list before him, to which he also added solid EVPs at both of the ESL Pro League seasons. Furthermore, he had strong VP showings at DreamHack Masters Spring and cs_summit 7, which means he was a key performer in all five of HEROIC's top 4 finishes throughout 2021.

The combination of consistency and his high peaks was enough to get him up to the 16th spot, but the reason he couldn’t make it further in the list is that he didn't really excel in the most important matches, as he had a 1.04 rating across 31 maps in big matches and he didn't impress enough in the events not mentioned in the above paragraph to make it any higher.

Bold prediction by GG.BET

A traditional feature of the Top 20 players ranking series, the bold prediction by GG.BET segment returns in 2021 as players pick out one name from young up-and-comers who they think could make it big in the near future.

stavn is the first player to pick the biggest youth transfer of the off-season, 16-year-old Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov. The youngster just moved from NAVI Junior to G2, where he will be the main AWPer, at the same age stavn was when he got his trial with HEROIC.

"I have to go for m0NESY," stavn says, "I believe he has a really bright future and he is only 16-years-old. He did really well in NAVI Junior, and now he will finally get the chance to play for a world class team like G2. Maybe it will take some time for him to get used to playing tier 1 opposition, but I think that he will become super good with the right guidance from his teammates."

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Stay tuned to our Top 20 players of 2021 ranking and take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the players were selected. This year's ranking is supported by:

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