Top 20 players of 2021: KSCERATO (15)

World-class quality and exceptional fragging throughout the year lands Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato the 15th spot on the top 20 players list, powered by GG.BET.

Top 20 players of 2021: Introduction

KSCERATO dove headfirst into Counter-Strike in 2009 with his brother, Kauan "⁠kNc⁠" Cerato, grinding the game as he developed his talents through the echelons of Brazilian Counter-Strike, committed so much so to the game that he would skip school to play at a LAN house. Continued participation at local LANs in São Paulo helped to further add experience to his game through to 2015, when he attended his first notable event, r1seCup, losing to a Dexterity roster that featured Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David.

It wasn't until 2018, though, that KSCERATO made a momentous career jump, joining FURIA's academy project alongside Vinicius "⁠VINI⁠" Figueiredo. The pair played for the roster for a little over a week before being promoted to the organization's main team, where they would go on to remain inseparable for nearly four years, initially making a name for themselves in the South American scene. Despite some struggles in qualifying for international events, that FURIA lineup secured a number of local titles and became a dominant team in the region, culminating in an Americas Minor qualification for the FACEIT London Major before they made the move out to Miami to have the opportunity to regularly face top competition.

FURIA started out by attending smaller tournaments in North America

Middling results followed the team's North American migration, although they remained a stable presence in tournaments despite not securing event qualifications nor winning them, still regularly out-placing some of the region's best rosters. It wasn't until they swapped Guilherme "⁠spacca⁠" Spacca for Rinaldo "⁠ableJ⁠" Moda Junior that notable results began to crop up in 2019, with the team qualifying for their first Major, IEM Katowice, where they would go on to be eliminated in 12-14th place during the Challengers Stage.

The FURIA name was elevated to a global level later in the year as the team impressed with deep placements at DreamHack Masters Dallas and ECS Season 7 Finals, notably beating a dominant Astralis twice in the group stage of the latter event to make it to the playoffs. The stellar rifle work of KSCERATO and Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos to back up the relentless aggression from Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan made the team stand out and quickly become a fan favorite in a meta that was defined by Astralis' slow, methodical approach to Counter-Strike, one dominated by tactics and thorough grenade usage that most teams were trying to emulate at that point.

Unsurprisingly though, FURIA's boisterous style didn't hold up in repeat top tournament appearances, and their trajectory dropped off in the following months until Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles took the place of ableJ. The addition of the Brazilian AWPer provided the backbone FURIA needed to catapult themselves further up the rankings, his stable presence and star potential proving key in 2020 as FURIA dominated teams in North America after play moved online due to the coronavirus pandemic. The team took home three notable titles in the region over the course of the year and began to showcase world-class potential in their European tournament appearances toward the end of the year, one which KSCERATO ended as the 18th best player.

HEN1 was a key factor in FURIA’s 2020 success

KSCERATO

2021 Tournament stats

TournamentEvent	Team (place)	Rating 2.0 (in team)	ADR	KPR	DPR	Impact	KAST	Award
BLAST Global Final	(7-8th)	1.18 (1st, +18%)	81.3	0.73	0.58	1.04	75.2%
cs_summit 7	(5-8th)	0.98 (4th, -2%)	74.5	0.63	0.67	0.88	68.2%
IEM Katowice	(7-8th)	1.24 (1st, +13%)	85.0	0.75	0.59	1.22	75.8%
EPL S13	(3-4th)	1.16 (1st, +6%)	78.8	0.74	0.60	1.09	73.9%	EVP
DHM Spring	(5-6th)	1.16 (1st, +14%)	81.0	0.76	0.64	1.23	69.4%	EVP
IEM Cologne	(9-12th)	1.29 (1st, +27%)	93.9	0.85	0.66	1.40	72.9%
EPL S14	(17-20th)	1.30 (1st, +27%)	89.4	0.85	0.60	1.35	74.5%
PGL Major	(5-8th)	1.15 (1st, +11%)	76.7	0.72	0.59	1.31	66.5%

5%+ above average

5%+ below average

Closer than 5% to average

2021 kicked off with a massive setback to a burgeoning FURIA as HEN1 took his leave to link up with his brother, Lucas "⁠LUCAS1⁠" Teles, eventually going on to join O PLANO. FURIA, looking to explore other avenues for the roster's future, pivoted towards an international lineup with the signing of Paytyn "⁠junior⁠" Johnson from Triumph, a North American AWPer who had been making a name for himself alongside Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince, who had joined Liquid just five months prior.

"We were all a bit sad because Henrique was a fundamental piece of our team besides being like a family member to us all, but life is just like that, everything has an ending and a renewal. The team restart with junior was also an incredible experience for us.

FURIA were not able to field their new addition for the first two tournaments of the year, BLAST Premier Global Final and cs_summit 7, using academy player Lucas "⁠honda⁠" Cano as a substitute for junior due to passport issues. Although the team were left without their primary lineup, KSCERATO still showcased considerable form to kick off the year, earning his first Valuable Player (VP) mention despite FURIA's last place exit at BLAST with a 1.18 tournament rating over six maps versus G2 and Evil Geniuses.

KSCERATO fared worse individually during cs_summit 7, one of only two negative events he had in the year, but he was quick to bounce back once junior made his appearance on the lineup for IEM Katowice. There, the 22-year-old Brazilian secured another VP mention as he averaged a 1.24 rating and managed a 1.22 impact rating as FURIA beat FaZe and Ninjas in Pyjamas en route to a 7-8th place finish, falling in the lower bracket final of the group stage to eventual finalists Virtus.pro.

junior’s addition brought about a language change for FURIA

FURIA, despite starting to show a struggle to adapt to a change in language to English, improved upon their results at ESL Pro League Season 13, where KSCERATO was named an Exceptionally Valuable Player (EVP) as he scored a 1.16 rating, beating the likes of Natus Vincere, FunPlus Phoenix, G2, and Astralis en route to a 3-4th place finish.

"To be honest it [the language change] was great for me, I could improve my English skills with junior and I realized that English communication could be more objective than Portuguese. I treat competition as 'just one more tournament' because I believe that helps mentality and we don't feel so pressured anymore. Therefore, EPL 13 wasn't different back then."

KSCERATO's only other negative event of the year followed soon after, the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, where FURIA scored an opening victory over MIBR before falling in a three-map series to Gambit, missing out on a chance to play in the Spring Final. Further missteps followed in Spring Sweet Spring 1 and the IEM Summer closed qualifier, but the team once again turned up to their next Big Event, DreamHack Masters Spring, where KSCERATO was once again a difference-maker for his side in a 5-6th place finish.

He was a key component in wins over paiN, Complexity, and Vitality as FURIA recovered from an opening loss in the event to make it to the playoffs, where they were eliminated by a Natus Vincere who had just benched Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev and brought Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy into the roster full-time. Despite the early playoffs exit, KSCERATO's form throughout the event earned him his second EVP mention of the year, averaging a 1.16 rating and 1.23 impact rating over 10 maps — 0.13 higher than the next highest-rated FURIA member.

KSCERATO maintained a consistently high level throughout the year

The end of the first half of the season also marked changes to FURIA's lineup as they benched junior and returned to an all-Brazilian lineup, with honda temporarily returning to the server after sitting behind the team during practices and matches for most of the year. junior's final event with the team was cs_summit 8, the first North American Regional Major Ranking event of the year, where FURIA finished as the runner-ups to Liquid to put themselves in contention for a spot at PGL Major Stockholm and one in which KSCERATO finished with a respectable 1.12 rating.

The swap in of honda failed to bolster FURIA's results upon the return to LAN at IEM Cologne ahead of the tournament break as FURIA picked up only a single win at the event, beating Renegades, but KSCERATO individually flourished. Despite 0-2 losses to Vitality and HEROIC, the Brazilian star still ended the event with a 1.29 rating and 1.40 impact rating, netting himself yet another VP mention as he was a shining beacon for FURIA despite their early exit, which KSCERATO pins on the team recently swapping out players.

"We had just switched junior for honda and the team needed time to adapt."

That would not be the last change for FURIA either as they added André "⁠drop⁠" Abreu to replace honda after the break, but they were not granted an emergency transfer to use the newcomer for ESL Pro League Season 14. On top of that, they were unable to use honda as his mother tested positive for COVID-19 prior to him leaving home for the tournament, and the team were forced to use head coach Nicholas "⁠guerri⁠" Nogueira instead in an event they ultimately exited in during the group stage. Once again though, KSCERATO put on a masterclass for FURIA in the 12 maps they played (1.30 rating, 89.4 ADR, 0.60 DPR), earning his fourth VP mention of the year thanks to stellar fragging against some of the world's top teams.

"In my opinion all this changing of players was a bit exhaustive."

drop joined FURIA in August but was unable to play in EPL

FURIA then returned to North America, where they failed a bid to qualify for IEM Winter following a loss to GODSENT in the grand final of the closed qualifier, but their focus was on bigger things — IEM Fall North America and making it to the Major, which they did in firm fashion after topping the regional event to secure a berth directly to the Legends Stage. There, KSCERATO continued to star for FURIA (1.15 rating, 1.31 impact rating) as they secured a playoff spot, beating MOUZ, Liquid, and Entropiq — one of only two wins over CIS teams that FURIA picked up throughout the year — en route to the Avicii Arena, where they had their Major run brought to an end by Gambit in the quarter-final.

"I believe CIS teams are the most evolved squads in terms of gamestyle and aim. There's a lot of players missing some big tournament experience to evolve even more."

"We all believed we could reach the playoffs but we knew that wasn't going to be easy, we tried a lot of new things pre-Major and we had a great preparation that magnified our confidence. Playing in an arena again was surreal. Reaching the quarter-finals at the Major stage this year was a unique experience, we had our Brazilian crowd there cheering for us and it was really special."

"Also, spending time with other players and having that chance to talk about the game mentality was extremely important for my development. The environment there was incredible and welcoming, everyone was trying to give their best at the game, and at the same time, we shared ideas, experiences, and tactics."

FURIA took to the stage in Stockholm to close out the year

Why was KSCERATO the 15th best player of 2021?

KSCERATO makes his second entry on the top 20 players list, improving from his 2020 placement of No. 18, thanks to world-class quality and stellar numbers at most of the tournaments he attended throughout the year. He was the fourth-highest rated player at Big Events, averaging a 1.20 rating, and improved upon that with a 1.22 rating at the three Elite events he attended, IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne and the PGL Major.

On average, he was also one of the best fraggers, placing sixth in both kills per round (0.74) and multi-kill frequency (18.8% of his rounds), and he ranked 11th in damage dealt per round (81.0). Particularly, his performance on the T side stood out, being the only player within the top 20 with a higher rating on the attack (1.17, 4th highest), and he was also consistent map-to-map, sitting above a 0.85 rating 88% of the time. He also carried that form into Big matches, averaging a 1.18 rating, although chances for FURIA to face top teams were few and far between as they ended the year only having played 18 maps against them.

Another factor that was key in KSCERATO standing out from the pack was his high skill floor, regularly bringing a strong level to the majority of the matches he played that helped to earn him EVP mentions at two events, and VP mentions at five others, although a lack of high peaks meant he was never really contending for MVPs. Ultimately, KSCERATO ended up at 15th on the list as he had the fewest total maps played (86) and attended only eight events, which combined with his low peaks left him trailing some more battle-tested competition.

Bold prediction by GG.BET

try

KSCERATO's bold prediction

A regular recurring feature in the Top 20 player ranking series, the Bold prediction segment returns in 2021, this time around requiring players to choose a player that is under the age of 20 and has yet to play in a top 20 team.

KSCERATO picked Argentinian AWPer Santino "⁠try⁠" Rigal as his bold prediction for next year amid reports pointing towards the young talent joining 00NATION as a part of coldzera's new project. "An excellent AWP with a great mentality and good consistency," KSCERATO said of the 17-year-old, "but he needs more experience to evolve."

The Brazilian rifler also gave the nod to two other talents, FURIA Academy member Lucas "⁠decenty⁠" Bacelar and 1win's Denis "⁠deko⁠" Zhukov, saying the former is a very good player but needs to evolve to be excellent, while stating the latter is "really special."

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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