Top 20 players of 2021: b1t (9)

Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy's performance at 2021's biggest events and in Big matches propelled him to the 9th spot during his rookie year on the Top 20 player ranking by GG.BET.

Top 20 players of 2021: Introduction

b1t established himself as a prodigy-level talent to emerge from the CIS region in 2021, and his path, unlike most players, hasn't been rooted in multiple years of grinding Counter-Strike at a professional level.

After gaining an early interest in the franchise from watching his uncle play when he was little, b1t picked up CS:GO casually, mostly focused on playing the game with friends in pick-up games as he honed his own abilities. His first recorded matches on HLTV didn't come until May 2019 when he took part in the CIS Minor open qualifiers for the StarLadder Berlin Major with NOTBAD at the age of 16, with whom he managed to secure a berth to the closed stage. There, the team fell in their opening round to Vega Squadron, but managed to claim the scalp of EXTREMUM before being eliminated by Unique.

Even then, though, b1t didn't have a set goal to become a professional player, but rather was focused on incremental improvements in his own game. When the opportunity arose in May to apply for NAVI's esports camp, where Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy and Amiran "⁠aMi⁠" Rehviashvili were scouting players for NAVI Junior's first roster and offering a training course for players, b1t sent in an application and became one of the ten players selected out of 1,900 applicants to attend the organization's esports camp.

“I was playing FACEIT with friends and someone dropped the [NAVI] application link, and somehow it ended up with me applying through it.”

In September, b1t would prove worthy of signing to the team and joined NAVI Junior alongside Kirill "⁠Gospadarov⁠" Gospadarov and Ivan "⁠kapacho⁠" Koplenko. An additional four players were added on a trial basis, including Eugene "⁠Aunkere⁠" Karyat and Oleksii "⁠Topa⁠" Topchiienko, and that lineup would go on to form the core of the team that would compete in a number of tournaments over the following year.

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As they remained ineligible to participate in a majority of top events due to potential clashes with the main roster, the team primarily took part in DreamHack Open qualifiers, various standalone cups, and a number of Relog tournaments, including Malta Vibes and Nine to Five events. The addition of Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov also came about early into 2020, but the young AWPer was moved to a substitute position not long after and was intermittently added in for tournaments during the year. Through playing with the NAVI Junior roster in these events and turning his focus from college to competing, b1t's growth was exponential, helped by the assistance of the team's coach, aMi.

“I got in the right hands, so new perspectives opened up for me, because I started to play a lot, stopped going to college and of course I gained team experience. At that moment there was also Amiran, who definitely left a mark, for which I am grateful to him.”

His mechanical ability, game sense, and excellent aim quickly made b1t standout from the pack, and by the end of 2020, he got the call up to Natus Vincere, with the organization asking him to join the roster as they looked to implement a rotating lineup the following year, testing the use of different players on different maps.

“I understood the responsibility [of joining the main roster], and I was a bit joyful.”

For b1t, 2021 got off to a slow start as he became the sixth man on Natus Vincere's lineup, initially replacing Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev only on Inferno in the team's first three events of the year. His debut showing against Liquid at the BLAST Premier Global Final set what might be the expected tone for any young newcomer to Counter-Strike's top echelon as he ended up on the receiving end of a battering, ending his first Inferno showing with a 0.63 rating, but steady improvement immediately followed. Natus Vincere were able to bounce back in the lower bracket, and although b1t still went negative against Complexity (0.93 rating, 12-15 K-D), he had respectable ratings in a rematch against Liquid (1.12) and in the grand final against Astralis (1.18), playing a part in helping Natus Vincere clinch their first title of the year.

“[My goal for 2021 was] winning everything that is possible.”

He played only a single map at each of NAVI's next two events, BLAST Premier Spring Groups and IEM Katowice, showing solid form against FaZe in the former and having a middling performance at the latter as Liquid once again gave Natus Vincere trouble. Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov's troops still qualified for the Spring Finals by topping their BLAST group, but were unable to make it any further than 5-6th in IEM Katowice as Russian rivals Gambit saw to the elimination of NAVI in the first round of the playoffs.

ESL Pro League Season 13 marked the addition of further responsibilities for b1t, who now also took over for flamie on Mirage and Overpass. Despite strong showings against Cloud9 and MIBR, b1t struggled to maintain top form against other top teams in the event, and Natus Vincere fell flat in their matches against FURIA, Gambit, and Complexity to exit the event in 9-12th place. It was then that the organization made the decision to bench flamie and integrated b1t into the roster full-time, bedding the 18-year-old into the lineup as they looked to maintain consistent form and re-establish a five-man squad after Valve ruled that swapping out players during Regional Major Ranking (RMR) events would affect teams' points.

DreamHack Masters Spring was b1t's first true opportunity to showcase his complete capabilities, unleashed from the chains of being a substitute at last. A tournament that features eleven of the world's twelve best teams is a formidable battleground even for tenured players, but b1t did not lose a beat and remained a stable and steady presence for Natus Vincere, helping them secure their second title of the year and his first as a fully integrated member of the squad. There were still some growing pains as he adjusted to the level of competition in the event, but he had particularly standout series against Virtus.pro (1,35 rating) and in the grand final against Gambit (1.19 rating), earning him his first Valuable Player (VP) mention of the year as Natus Vincere found early success following the roster change.

The first CIS RMR event of the year, EPIC League, was a step back for NAVI as they exited the tournament in 5th place, although technical issues also plagued the tournament and cheating accusations were leveled by multiple teams at Akuma — a Ukrainian lineup that sent NAVI down to the lower bracket of the event, leading to their eventual elimination. Still, b1t's development continued, and he added two more VP mentions to his name with his showing at EPIC League and the ensuing BLAST Premier Spring Finals, where Natus Vincere would make a run to the grand final before falling to Gambit.

Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov's men continued to be a thorn in side of NAVI in the StarLadder CIS RMR, beating them once in the group stage and then in the upper bracket of playoffs, but Natus Vincere were beginning to truly find their footing with b1t as he was establishing himself as a clear third star for the team under Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov. They were able to claim revenge against Gambit in the grand final, a tournament win that marked b1t's first EVP mention as he ended the event with a 1.13 rating and 0.58 DPR, and his form only elevated as the first half of the season neared its end.

LAN play returned at IEM Cologne just ahead of the tournament break, and b1t continued to impress as he made his international offline debut at an Elite event. NAVI went on an undefeated run through the group stage and playoffs, picking up wins over Renegades, Vitality, Astralis, FaZe, and G2 en route to lifting the trophy as b1t earned his second EVP award thanks to a 1.22 tournament rating and 1.15 impact rating, his consistently high peaks and precise rifle work (0.50 headshots per round) against some of the best teams in the world proving him more than worthy of the accolade.

“I tried to think only about the game, there were a few nerves, because we trained and played a lot.”

Despite a return to online play for ESL Pro League Season 14 in August, NAVI continued to rack up tournament wins, although b1t's form wavered in some of the matches as he recorded a handful of negative ratings to end the event with a 1.04 rating and a markedly lower 0.93 impact rating. Even with the young talent struggling for consistency, Natus Vincere were able to top their group to advance to the playoffs of the event, where they beat ENCE in one-sided fashion before narrowly surviving intense series against HEROIC and Vitality to take home another title, one which also crowned them champions of Intel Grand Slam Season 3.

NAVI carried their momentum into their next two online events, BLAST Fall Groups and IEM Fall CIS, topping the former to qualify for the LAN finals and finishing as the runners-up to Gambit in the latter, booking their Legends spot at PGL Major Stockholm as b1t earned his third EVP mention of the year (1.14 rating, 1.16 impact, 0.59 DPR).

A nearly month-long break followed as Natus Vincere waited for the Legends Stage of PGL Major Stockholm to get underway, offering ample practice time that the team clearly made good use of as they headed to Sweden in superb form. The team seemed indomitable as they battered HEROIC, Virtus.pro, and Ninjas in Pyjamas in the Swiss stage to advance directly to the playoffs, where they completed a historic run by securing 2-0 wins over Vitality, Gambit, and G2 to become the first team to win a Major without dropping a map. b1t, playing at his first Major and first tournament in front of a crowd, ended the event as the fifth-highest rated player overall, mustering a 1.27 rating over ten maps and posting stellar numbers all around, including a 1.23 impact rating, 0.50 DPR, and 81.4 ADR as he was once again named an EVP.

b1t stepped up even further as the team looked to close out the year undefeated on LAN, heading to Copenhagen for the BLAST Premier Fall Final. There, he recorded no negative ratings over ten maps as he helped NAVI lift yet another trophy, posting his highest average rating of the year at 1.32 and finishing third overall on the leaderboard — only sitting below s1mple (1.39) and Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut (1.36). Although it was played behind closed doors, BLAST Premier World Final was no different in terms of results as, although b1t had two poor maps, he continued to be a consistent force, averaging a 1.10 rating as Natus Vincere lifted their fourth consecutive LAN trophy to close out the year.

Asked what motivates him now that he has demonstrably won everything there is to win in his rookie year alone, b1t was adamant that there is still much to learn, and more titles to take home:

“I really want to have a deep understanding of the game, I want to improve my skills, get better day by day, and of course, thereby help the team win.”

Why was b1t the 9th best player of 2021?

b1t lands the ninth place spot in his rookie year after putting up great performances throughout NAVI's tournament appearances, distinguishing himself from other players at the most competitive events of the year. He averaged a 1.21 rating across five Elite events, the sixth highest overall, picking up four EVP awards in the process while being in contention for the MVP at the PGL Major, IEM Cologne, and BLAST Premier Fall Final.

A key part in earning those titles and what helped made b1t an MVP candidate was his play in Big matches as he put up a 1.11 rating in 60 maps (9th highest) of playoffs or latter halves of tournaments, and he was one of only two players with a decent sample size who improved in those numbers compared to their average.

He also had excellent round-to-round consistency (73.0 KAST, #8) and demonstrated incredible rifling ability, showcasing pinpoint precise aim as he ended the year with the highest headshot percentage (67.1%) and joint-highest headshots per round (0.46), all while remaining elusive on the server as he was one of the hardest players to kill with 0.59 deaths per round (#7).

However, while he never had a bad event, his first half of the year was not particularly impressive, with mostly average displays both before and after he became a starter. That contributed to him being the lowest fragger and having the joint-lowest rating within the Top 20, which hindered him from contending for a higher spot despite putting up great numbers to close out the year.

Bold prediction by GG.BET

b1t became the fourth player to tip 16-year-old m0NESY as his Bold prediction heading into 2022, a pick that comes as no surprise considering their brief time together on NAVI Junior and their continued pairing in pick-up games since.

The AWPer has demonstrated superstar potential and will face his first true test against tier one competition as he debuts for G2, getting thrown directly into the deep end of professional play — an experience that b1t can surely relate to after the last 12 months, and one that he believes m0NESY will also overcome.

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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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