Top 20 players of 2023: KSCERATO (19)

KSCERATO bulldozed his way into the Top 20 Players of the Year ranking by 1xBet despite a hard year for FURIA, showcasing his stellar quality in the face of adversity.

Top 20 players of 2023: Introduction

In his fourth consecutive year as a Top 20 Player of the Year, Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato dips down to his lowest personal placing, 19th, despite putting up numbers similar to those he had when he was a top 10 player in the world in 2022. The difference, this year, is that FURIA didn't play up to their usual standards, reaching the top 8 of a Big Event only once and thus leaving their star with the smallest sample size of anyone in the year-end list of best players.

Team struggles didn't stop Brazil’s top rifler from putting up exceptional numbers once again, but he could not prove his worth in the big games against top opposition, so his superb ratings against elite sides took a back seat as they mostly occurred in group stages and lower prestige matches.

After appearing on the list every year since 2020, KSCERATO is well on his way to becoming a mainstay name, even if FURIA have at times failed to keep up the pace with the best in the world. The fact that he managed to sneak his way into the 19th spot despite a year in which good results were generally hard to come by is a testament to his quality.

The past two years in particular, after play left the online realm for good and the LAN circuit returned, have been KSCERATO's breakout beyond becoming a top player at the highest level, and have cemented him as an elite rifler who can contend with the best in the world. Win or lose, the 24-year-old has become a stalwart for FURIA and Brazil's polestar.

A more in-depth look into KSCERATO's early career history, backstory and previous appearances in the Top 20 Players of the Year ranking can be found in his previous POTY articles:

- Top 20 players of 2020: KSCERATO (18)
- Top 20 players of 2021: KSCERATO (15)
- Top 20 players of 2022: KSCERATO (9)

KSCERATO

2023 Tournament stats

TournamentEvent	Team (place)	Rating 2.0 (in team)	ADR	KPR	DPR	Impact	KAST	Award
EPL S17	(9-12th)	1.23 (1st, +17%)	83.6	0.74	0.56	1.19	75.2%	EVP
IEM Rio	(5-6th)	1.21 (1st, +14%)	80.0	0.72	0.56	1.16	75.5%	EVP
BLAST Paris Major	(15-16th)	0.97 (1st, +23%)	71.0	0.54	0.62	0.95	64.9%
IEM Dallas	(9-12th)	1.22 (1st, +18%)	79.2	0.70	0.53	1.08	80.0%
Gamers8	(9-16th)	1.19 (1st, +23%)	83.9	0.76	0.72	1.20	78.9%
ESL Pro League S18	(13-16th)	1.27 (1st, +18%)	85.0	0.78	0.57	1.24	76.0%
Thunderpick WC	(9-12th)	1.00 (3rd, +2%)	69.8	0.60	0.65	1.04	67.9%
Elisa Masters Espoo	(1st)	1.19 (1st, +9%)	80.9	0.73	0.60	1.07	80.1%	EVP
BetBoom Dacha	(5-6th)	1.20 (1st, +24%)	83.6	0.80	0.63	1.24	72.6%

5%+ above average

5%+ below average

Closer than 5% to average

Did FURIA’s hangover from losing a Major semi-final series in front of their home crowd to HEROIC, their last match of 2022, seep into the new year? "I believe that it did not interfere with our results at the start of the year," KSCERATO says of a shaky start to 2023, although from that moment on that starting five would never quite soar to the heights of a Major semi-final. Or any semi-final for that matter.

Individually, KSCERATO didn’t skip a beat and put up his highest rating of the year in the seven maps he and his team played at the IEM Katowice Play-in — sadly, an event that doesn’t carry much weight in the Top 20 Players of the Year ranking. This showing also foreshadowed the way most of the year would develop, as his 1.33 rating, 1.29 impact, 87.7 ADR and 77.1% KAST were not enough to get FURIA beyond the iconic event’s preamble. A best-of-one stomp against Permitta, the hometown underdogs, was not enough of a confidence booster as best-of-three losses followed against BIG and IHC.

ESL Pro League Season 17 came next and its drawn out group stage was the perfect setting for FURIA to pick themselves up. And so they did, the Brazilians won four out of their five matches and qualified for the first round of the playoffs, where they took out fnatic. The run ultimately ended in the second round of playoffs against a dominant FaZe, who went on to win the Intel Grand Slam at the event in Malta. KSCERATO’s only bad showing was in that last match, which barely put a dent into his EVP-worthy 1.23 rating, 1.18 impact, 83.6 ADR and 75.4% KAST.

2022 KSCERATO looking over 2023 KSCERATO at IEM Rio; both put up incredible numbers to become Top 20 players

FURIA looked well on the mend when they beat TeamOne, Evil Geniuses, Liquid, and paiN to top the BLAST.tv Paris Major’s Americas RMR. KSCERATO was, as usual, the highest-rated player on his team with a 1.25 at the qualifier. Lose or win, KSCERATO racked up the numbers.

The next Big Event after Pro League for FURIA was a return to home soil, IEM Rio 2023, where KSCERATO and company hit their peak this year with a top 6 playoff appearance. The Brazilians opened up in style with a victory against fnatic and revenge over a FaZe who were starting to teeter, blinded by the glare of their newly acquired IGS gold bars.

Tides quickly turned, though, and a loss to Cloud9 in the Group B final gave way to a clash with HEROIC, who once again played the spoiler and put an end to FURIA’s run in Rio in front of the home crowd. KSCERATO, generally brilliant, only went silent in the decider maps of the two series his team lost, but was still good for a 1.20 rating, 80 ADR, and his second EVP of the year.

Losing to Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller and company in Rio again was one of the year’s toughest moments, but nonetheless something to be cherished. "It’s always good to play in front of the Brazilian crowd," KSCERATO says of his home fans. "It’s a completely different energy."

KSCERATO’s only sub-1.00 rating outside of play-ins this year came on the biggest stage amid a teamwide collapse at the BLAST.tv Paris Major. A team-best 0.97 rating in an 0-3 exit spelled trouble for the Brazilian side as they were unable to put up 10 rounds in any of the maps played in three matches against Monte, Ninjas in Pyjamas and G2.

"It felt like a lightning bolt struck all of a sudden and the next thing you knew, it was raining," KSCERATO says about his team’s short time in France. "That’s what happened. I felt like a bot, every mid-round decision we made was wrong and it was hard to go out like that, especially because it was the last CS:GO Major. But it is what it is."

IEM Dallas marked Rafael "⁠saffee⁠" Costa and André "⁠drop⁠" Abreu’s last event with FURIA, a final send-off before the summer transfer season. There, the Brazilian team once again finished in 9-12th place, missing out on the playoffs. An opening loss to OG was followed by a thrashing of Nouns, but MOUZ put an end to the Brazilian squad’s run in North America. KSCERATO was back to his normal self, though, and once again led his squad with a 1.22 rating, 79.2 ADR and 80% KAST.

KSCERATO was thrilled to have his idol, FalleN, join the team

Play returned at IEM Cologne after the summer break, but FURIA’s ongoing struggles meant they would have to earn their berth through the play-in, a feat easier said than done as seen previously in Katowice. This time around Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo and Marcelo "⁠chelo⁠" Cespedes were in the lineup and the new roster started off on the right foot with a best-of-one victory over Grayhound.

Any initial hope was quickly quelled when the first victory wasn't followed up. FURIA stumbled against Monte, one of the breakout teams at the Paris Major, and were knocked down to the lower bracket. It was the top Mongolian side, this time under The MongolZ's banner, who once again ended the Brazilian team’s aspirations of making it to an ESL Pro Tour Championship. They were first denied entrance to the hall of heroes and now the doors of the cathedral were slammed shut.

There were, however, things to look forward to with the roster change despite it not working wonders immediately. "FalleN’s addition to the team was made with a change of scenery in mind," KSCERATO says of how shaking up the team helped him grow in the second half of the year. "For me, it made me understand in many ways what my role in every situation was and it was also very cool because FalleN is my idol."

Growing pains were apparent in Germany, though, as Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan and FalleN were feeling each other out and finding a way to not completely lose the team’s essence while also adopting some of the veteran in-game leader’s vision. There was no quick fix in sight.

"Some maps we play more the way FalleN plays, and some maps we play more my way," arT told HLTV on the ground in Cologne. "It depends on the map and the way we approach rounds. Some strategies are more 'freestyle', if you want, and some are more Imperial style. It's not just one-sided, it's a mix between both things and we help each other to complement each others' calls and strats."

Read more

arT: "We're putting FalleN in some spots where he can be more aggressive"

FURIA then traveled to Saudi Arabia for a measly best-of-three series against Natus Vincere in the Gamers8 single-elimination bracket. KSCERATO led the way as usual, posting a 1.45 rating on Nuke to go up 1-0, but after losing Mirage the decider was a landslide victory for Natus Vincere, who took it 16-4 and put FURIA out in 9-16th place. KSCERATO ended his single-series, three-map tournament with a 1.19 rating.

KSCERATO sent off CS:GO in style at ESL Pro League Season 18 even though FURIA were far from finding their best form. Two losses in four matches in the group stage, to Movistar Riders and Astralis, put FURIA up against the ropes in the last chance stage, but victories over Grayhound and GamerLegion saved the team from disaster and got them through to the first round of playoffs. Lo and behold, FURIA just became the first victim in MOUZ’s world-beating playoff story as the Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek-led team completed the five-match gauntlet to lift the last trophy in CS:GO history.

Interestingly, all of FURIA’s matches at Pro League were 2-0 or 0-2, which made KSCERATO’s sample size at the event 14 maps, and he once again posted by far the team’s best numbers with a 1.27 rating, 85 ADR, 1.24 impact and 76% KAST. As happened several times throughout the year when KSCERATO failed to rise to the occasion — this time in the match against MOUZ, a thrashing by the Europeans in which he ended last with a 0.48 rating —, FURIA crumbled.

KSCERATO is riding the wave of CS2's launch with a positive outlook

FURIA’s CS2 debut was not the most glamorous, as it happened online in the Roobet Cup and Thunderpick World Championships. Out of the two, only the latter had weight in the Top 20 Players of the Year ranking, and it was the one in which the Brazilians flopped. After a 3-4th finish in the Roobet Cup, Nicholas "⁠guerri⁠" Nogueira’s men failed to make it out of the groups with two losses to BIG and a single victory against Nouns. KSCERATO had little impact and ended with a bang average 1.00 rating.

Regarding the new release, KSCERATO was, and is, excited about starting anew, even when there are hurdles to clear early on. "I love this game and I have been playing it for 15 years," he says. "No matter how painful it was, I have been through other transitions, always with open arms. I think that, yes, the game has several areas that require improvement, but it’s still playable. CS:GO was ten times worse at the beginning."

CS2's release also caused a seismic shift in the transfer market as teams tried to put together outfits with sights set on the upcoming PGL Major in Copenhagen. A player of KSCERATO's quality was not immune to interest, which he got from Liquid.

The North American organization was in the throes of an overhaul after dropping Aleks "⁠Rainwaker⁠" Petrov, Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm, Robert "⁠Patsi⁠" Isyanov and coach Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele from the active roster, but after a denial from KSCERATO they settled for Brazil’s most interesting up-and-coming player, Felipe "⁠skullz⁠" Medeiros, instead of the finished product.

Read more

KSCERATO on Liquid: "They invited me, but for now the best was to stay with FURIA"

If the rumors affected KSCERATO, it surely wasn’t visible on the server when FURIA landed in Helsinki to play Elisa Masters Espoo, a Medium Event. An opening best-of-one victory against Complexity was followed by a two-map loss to Apeks in which KSCERATO went completely missing, but from there on out both FURIA and their star rifler soared over MOUZ, HAVU and got revenge on Apeks to lift the trophy.

Funnily enough, it was the first time FURIA lifted an international trophy since 2019 at an event of similar characteristics, Arctic Invitational, also in Finland. "Thirsty for trophies as always," is all KSCERATO had to say about finally taking home silverware.

KSCERATO was, as usual, his team’s best in Finland, and as as a champion it was almost expected that he would be the MVP, but his 1.19 rating, 80.9 ADR and 80.1% KAST was not enough to edge out Tim "⁠nawwk⁠" Jonasson (1.28 rating), in the race for the individual accolade. This was, then, the 24-year-old’s third and final EVP of the year.

Not the biggest trophy in the circuit, but FURIA lifted silverware at the end of the year

FURIA traveled to the United Arab Emirates to round out 2023 at BetBoom Dacha, the controversial event which pushed mid-round gambling ads and invited the team it owned to compete. Unfortunately for the arT-led squad, they got donked on twice. Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets, the up-and-coming Russian phenom, got 1.48 and 1.76 ratings in Spirit's two victories over the Brazilians.

Despite the two losses KSCERATO still averaged a 1.20 rating by the end of FURIA's run, which also counted a 1.22-rated series in a 2-0 victory over Astralis. In the end, the 5-6th place exit in the eight-team tournament despite KSCERATO putting up numbers along the way was a microcosm of FURIA’s 2023 as a whole.

"It was a lot better than the first half, for sure," KSCERATO says of the second half of the year, with its small patches of sky between the clouds, which was a relief for the Brazilians when all was said and done. "I think that the change to CS2 brought with it a reset that I really needed after the first six months. Good game."

Why was KSCERATO the 19th best player of 2023?

Looking at KSCERATO’s statistics presented without context would make anyone wonder how on earth he is only the 19th best player of 2023 with a 1.25 rating against top 5 teams and 1.18 against top 10 teams. He showed up against the best when he got the chance, but those chances came few and far between when taking into account that he had by far the lowest sample size against teams of that caliber out of anyone in contention for a spot in the top 20, and generally the quality of his sample was also the worst of the field due to FURIA only making it deep into two tournaments all year.

That said, superb overall stats and high quality play from all angles were enough to get Brazil’s star rifler into the Top 20 Players of the Year ranking even with such a diluted and small sample size. And during the very few chances KSCERATO had to make a run for special mentions, he did so, with two Big Event EVPs at ESL Pro League Season 17 and IEM Rio, a near-EVP at ESL Pro League Season 18, and an EVP that fell just short of an MVP at Elisa Masters Espoo.

"Absolutely," KSCERATO answered when asked if he could have reached last year's heights if FURIA had managed to be a bit more stable in making it to playoffs at events. "Reaching the playoffs and winning tournaments is the result of hard work. I believe we played few maps because we were [often] knocked out early in groups. Even so, I’m happy to be in the top 20."

Other notable statistics for KSCERATO were his 2nd place in maps with 1.15+ rating (59.6%), 3rd in KAST (75.4%) and Big Events rating (1.21), 4th in CT rating (1.27), 6th in ADR (81.1) and rating (1.19), and 9th in maps with a 1.00+ rating (74.9%).

KSCERATO also stood out in deaths per round (0.58), placing 11th on the list; utility damage per round (6.57) and rounds with a kill (48.8%), 13th; damage per round win (101.1), 14th; KDD (+332), KPR (0.72) and T rating (1.12), 15th; round with a multi-kill (17.9%) and kills per round win (0.99), 16th; and he was 20th in impact rating (1.13).

Bold prediction by 1xBet

noway

KSCERATO picked fellow countryman Kaiky "⁠noway⁠" Santos as his bold prediction. The 18-year-old joined Imperial in October and has been on a tear in Brazil averaging a 1.19 rating since joining the team. He was also the highest-rated player at the CBCS Invitational 2023, and a crucial figure in his team winning the tournament.

An honorable mention went out to Matias "⁠HUASOPEEK⁠" Ibañez Hernandez, 9z's 20-year-old Chilean rifler. The 9z Academy player was sent out on loan to Flamengo in August, but was swiftly recalled to the Argentine organization in October to replace his countryman David "⁠dav1deuS⁠" Tapia Maldonado in the first team.

Stay tuned to our Top 20 Players of 2023 ranking, a new player is released daily at 20:00 , and take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the players were selected.