Top 20 players of 2023: blameF (16)

A superb fragging output and impressive performances against the world's elite help the Dane appear in this year’s Top 20 Players of the Year ranking by 1xBet.

Top 20 players of 2023: Introduction

Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer makes his fourth consecutive appearance as a Top 20 Player of the Year, but this time secures his lowest placement during his tenure in tier-one competition. The Dane's first entry came in 2020 when he reached No. 6 in the rankings under the Complexity banner, which remains his best placing to date. He then placed 13th in a year where he transferred to Astralis in November, leaving behind the Complexity project to join a team under the leadership of Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander.

blameF improved by one position in 2022 in his first full year with the Danish organization and placed 12th despite Astralis' roster turmoil and lack of deep runs at tournaments. Much of the same can be said about his 2023 as the Danish team once again churned through players and rebuilds through the year. That again left Astralis without a big trophy, but blameF kept up his incredible individual performance despite those struggles. The 26-year-old finished every 2023 event with a positive rating, even those that didn't count toward this ranking, and remained a rock for his side throughout the year.

For a more in-depth look at blameF's early career and backstory, you can read through his previous appearances in our Top 20 ranking:

- Top 20 players of 2020: blameF (6)
- Top 20 players of 2021: blameF (13)
- Top 20 players of 2022: blameF (12)

Astralis started the year with a vastly different roster to the one they have now. The team was still led by gla1ve, and the legendary captain was joined by franchise players Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz and Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth, alongside blameF and Christian "⁠Buzz⁠" Andersen. The latter was signed at the start of the year, and the team went into their first tournament, BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023, with uncertain expectations.

blameF and his team started the season well by progressing to the Spring Final, and the 26-year-old was already in imperious form. He helped his team overcome Ninjas in Pyjamas (1.39 rating) and OG (1.31) in the knockout stage to secure Astralis' progression, topping the server in both games.

Astralis returned to online play due to missing out on an IEM Katowice spot, winning CCT North Europe Series 3 and qualifying for the BLAST.tv Paris Major European RMR. Next came ESL Pro League Season 17, where blameF averaged a 1.12 rating despite Astralis bombing out in 17-20th place. He starred in both of their victories against ATK (1.22) and Spirit (1.29), but his team wasn't able to progress through the group after a deciding loss to Liquid.

Next came Astralis' biggest disappointment of the season, as they recorded a 1-3 record at the BLAST.tv Paris Major European RMR in Copenhagen and thus missed out on a Major spot. blameF once again put up decent numbers, however, averaging a 1.10 rating across the event while also starring in their solitary win against Spirit (1.30).

"It was a pretty rough time in Astralis," recalls blameF. "We had so many roster changes, and it felt like the next one was always coming." The lack of a Major spot cost Xyp9x his life on the team and the Danish veteran was temporarily replaced by academy player Alexander "⁠Altekz⁠" Givskov. The new-look Astralis had a quiet debut and placed 2nd in the $333,000 Brazy Party 2023 online tournament before making their first LAN appearance shortly after.

IEM Dallas was their penultimate tournament of the spring season, and Astralis started the North American event well by beating Liquid and Cloud9 to start their campaign. Losses to ENCE and MOUZ then meant they exited the tournament in 5-6th place, all while blameF continued to perform and put up a 1.11 average rating.

BLAST Premier Spring Final, the final event before the summer break, perfectly summed up blameF's season up to that point. Astralis failed to record a single victory and bowed out in last place after losses to FaZe and Complexity, but blameF was still a powerhouse inside the server. He was the only Astralis member to have a positive rating in the loss against FaZe (1.02) and topped the server in the elimination series against Complexity (1.40).

"We tried our best to have a good ending to the season in Dallas and Washington, but at the time, there were plenty of rumors that Staehr was gonna join the team, so I think everyone knew that we wouldn’t keep playing with this team further on," blameF said about the final two events before the break.

The summer break was a busy period for Astralis, who removed gla1ve and Altekz from the active roster and replaced the duo with Johannes "⁠b0RUP⁠" Borup and the much-awaited signing of Victor "⁠Staehr⁠" Staehr. The shake-up also had a profound impact on blameF, as he returned to the IGL role he last fulfilled in the Complexity days. In an interview with HLTV at BLAST Fall Groups, the Dane talked about the switch and admitted that he expected his fragging output to suffer. "I am giving a lot of my positions away to some of the new players in the team because they are supposed to shine in those positions, so I definitely feel like my fragging will take a hit," he said before their debut.

Read more

blameF on becoming IGL: "I know my individual level is going to take a hit"

A hit to his individual level was far from what happened, though. Astralis started the season at the BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023, where they progressed to the Fall Final. They lost the first two games but bounced back with victories against Complexity and Liquid. blameF finished the event with a 1.33 average rating, his highest at a LAN event during the year until that point, and was particularly impressive in the victory against the North American squad (1.74).

"I was asked by the remaining players on the team and Astralis management to be the IGL when we came home from our tournaments in America, and I was fine doing that," blameF says about his return to the role. "I have always been very comfortable calling, even though it’s been a couple of years since I did it last, and if my teammates thought it was the best solution for the team, then I am happy to do it."

Next came arguably their best performance of the year at one of the elite events in Counter-Strike. Astralis attended IEM Cologne and had to start their journey in the Play-In stage, where they got the better of Liquid and Apeks to make the main event. There, they were met with a much sterner test and faced G2, who edged past the Danes in a three-map series.

That loss awakened something in Astralis, with the Danish team winning three series in a row to reach the playoff stage in Germany. blameF was at the center of it all, leading the way in their win against Ninjas in Pyjamas (1.50), and had impactful performances against MOUZ (1.21) and Natus Vincere (1.15).

Their success meant they faced off against arch-rivals HEROIC in the quarter-final stage, with Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller and company still at full strength at that point of the season. Astralis handled the test with aplomb and won the series in two maps to set up a rematch against G2, which gave them a chance for their first LAN grand final appearance of the year.

"Beating Heroic at Cologne was very special because it was one of the first events with me as a caller, and I think I called a great match. And obviously, the fact the match was played on stage in front of so many people made it even better."

Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and company proved too much to handle for Astralis in the semi-final, however, but blameF was still his team's best performer in the series with a 1.16 rating.

"I think we had a great start to our new lineup after the player break, we qualified for the Fall Final and finished top four in Cologne. I had a great time in Cologne, not only because of the result but also because I think we had great team chemistry and a lot of fun together. We worked hard and cut our summer vacation short to get a good start with the new team and it paid off," blameF said about the first two events of the fall season.

Astralis then attended ESL Pro League Season 18 with the wind in their sails and went on to qualify for the playoffs without much hassle. They once again lost their opening match, with blameF far and away the best performer against Ninjas in Pyjamas, before the Dane led the charge against ORKS, GamerLegion, and FURIA.

blameF couldn't help his team overcome Eternal Fire in the first round of the playoffs, though, despite once again being the only 1+-rated player on his team at 1.12. His impressive performance earned him his first EVP of the year despite Astralis' early exit, and he was far and away the highest-rated player at the entire event (1.39).

His second and final EVP would come straight after EPL at CS Asia Championships 2023, where blameF and his team made their CS2 debut. Things started well for blameF, who kept his individual impact in the new game, putting up a 2.27 in the best-of-one win against Lynn Vision. He then had a 1.40-rated series against ENCE to drag his team to the playoffs, where they were bested by MOUZ in a close-fought match.

Rumors of roster changes in Astralis grew louder by the minute after their escapades in China, and were more or less certain ahead of the BLAST Premier Fall Final. That showed in their performances, too, as they bombed out in last place after losses to Complexity and HEROIC, even though blameF finished every map with a 1+ rating.

After the Danish tournament, Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard and Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund were confirmed as Astralis players, and the timing gave the team just a few days of preparation before their debut. The transfer was also far from straightforward and received some backlash from the community, which no doubt contributed to another winless display. The tournament also coincided with blameF's worst LAN tournament rating in the year (1.05) to bring the season to a close.

"The last months have been very hectic. We got stavn and jabbi, but they came in at the same time as we had a lot of media obligations, so we had 4-5 media days in the week leading up to BetBoom, and it impacted our performance. I am just looking forward to next year when we get back into practice. I think we have a very solid lineup now, and I am very confident we will produce good results after we get some playing time together," an optimistic blameF said about the final event of the year.

Why was blameF the 16th best player of 2023?

blameF's raw numbers are simply breathtaking and make a good case for the Dane to be ranked even higher. The 26-year-old ranked second in CT rating (1.29) and maps with a 0.85+ rating (93.9%) as well as third in terms of average rating (1.20), damage per round (82.8), and grenade damage per round (7.98).

"I fight for a lot of map control on both CT/T sides, and I think that automatically gives me a higher chance of having higher utility ADR than others. Other than that, I always try to throw HEs where I know they are and not where I think they are, and especially use anti-strat to gather that information," said blameF about his nade prowess.

He kept up good performances against higher-ranked opposition, too, as he put up the 7th-highest rating against teams ranked in the top 10 (1.16) and was the 8th-highest-rated player at Big Events (1.18).

blameF's other notable statistics include his 2nd place in maps with a 0.85+ rating (93.9%), 4th in 3+ kill rounds (5.3%), 5th in Impact rating (1.20) and ADR in round wins (104.9), 9th in kills per round (0.74), and 10th in opening kill rating (1.14).

Ultimately, though, due to a small sample size, few deep tournament runs, and him garnering just one Big Event EVP all year, blameF could not place higher. He appeared at just one elite event in the form of IEM Cologne, and his lack of awards made it difficult for him to outmatch those above even when taking his raw numbers into account. He also had the largest saving percentage among top 20 players (19% of lost rounds).

Bold prediction by 1xBet

In his bold prediction, blameF went into the depths of the scene and picked out Kacper "⁠xKacpersky⁠" Gabara, a player with just nine recorded maps on HLTV. The duo have joined up to play FACEIT over the last few days, and the young Pole seems to have caught the eye of the Astralis IGL.

The 17-year-old Pole has recently stood in for Permitta against JANO and Project G and averaged a 1.09 rating.

"He is a player with great mechanics. He seems very serious about CS, and he has a very bright future if he keeps believing in himself," blameF said of his pick.

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Stay tuned to our Top 20 Players of 2023 ranking and take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the players were selected.