Bold Predictions for 2024: Who are they?

19-1-2024 15:00

One player stood above the rest in this year's bold predictions by the Top 20 Players of 2023.

nilo has the world's attention going into 2024 as the most predicted player to break out

Bold predictions have become one of the most fun traditions to stem from the Top 20 Players of the Year ranking. The best players in the world are asked to name a player they think will break out at the top level, with the condition that they must be under 20 years of age and have not played in a top 20 team in the world ranking.

This prediction game has been a fun way to put the spotlight on up-and-coming talent. Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool, David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský, Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund or Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato are some of the players who have gone on to star and reach the Top 20 Players of the Year list in their own right after getting a shout in the bold predictions.

frozen was picked as a bold prediction in 2016, aged 14, by Magisk

This year's predictions were heavily weighted in favor of former Young Ninjas player Linus "⁠nilo⁠" Bergman, who is now donning the Metizport jersey alongside Erik "⁠ztr⁠" Gustafsson — Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz's bold prediction in 2020. The Swede got the nod five times, picked by Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut, stavn, Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants, Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač, and Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller.

He follows in the footsteps of Daniil "⁠headtr1ck⁠" Valitov in 2022, with seven picks, and Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov, who got six shouts in 2021, with the main difference being that he is not an AWPer. The young Swede already impressed back in the first season of the WePlay Academy League, in 2021, with a 1.21 rating in the regular season, but was dropped from the team after being unable to attend the LAN finals. He rejoined in 2022 and posted a 1.19 rating in the lower rungs of European online competition before being signed by Metizport.

Far behind was Paavo "⁠podi⁠" Heiskanen, the only other player to get multiple nods with picks from Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and Guy "⁠NertZ⁠" Iluz. The Finnish AWPer is part of ENCE's youth system and has posted a 1.17 rating since joining ENCE Academy in July 2022. "I have played a couple of FACEIT games against him and he played really well. I think he has potential and he has a chance to prove himself as well," the world's second-best player in 2023, NiKo, said of the youngster.

Podi was the only other player in the list to get multiple picks

Some players decide to put the focus on their region. ropz, for instance, picked Estonian countryman Andreas "⁠aNdu⁠" Maasing, currently in GL Academy, while Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev gave a shoutout to Adam "⁠froz1k⁠" Nahornyi. The 15-year-old Ukrainian, formerly of NAVI Junior and now a part of NAVI Youth, thus makes the prediction list two years in a row, as he was Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken's obscure pick in 2022.

Other players seeking out their countrymen are Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov picking Spirit Academy rifler Kirill "⁠Magnojez⁠" Rodnov, Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard choosing William "⁠sirah⁠" Kjærsgaard , Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif going with Alexander "⁠Altekz⁠" Givskov — who already showed some potential in a brief stint with Astralis —, Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi pointing out Doron "⁠Zax1e⁠" Prizent, and KSCERATO going with Imperial's 18-year-old talent, Kaiky "⁠noway⁠" Santos.

Artem "⁠r1nkle⁠" Moroz, who was ropz's bold prediction in 2022, is back this year as Twistzz's pick. His most memorable moment came in the BLAST.tv Paris Major's RMR, when he AWPed his way to a 1.20 rating in B8's failed bid to make the Major. m0NESY also picked a young Ukranian player, the three-time FPL winner Danyyl "⁠synyx⁠" Mazur.

r1nkle was a bold prediction two years in a row

Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García and Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer had a secret handshake, deciding to go with two long shots. Their hipster picks, the boldest of the bold, were two young poles: Kacper "⁠xKacpersky⁠" Gabara and Kacper "⁠Bambosh⁠" Szlachta. The latter was called up to 9INE, where he is playing with the likes of Miłosz "⁠mhL⁠" Knasiak and Kamil "⁠KEi⁠" Pietkun, after the previous roster was bought out by ENCE at the tail end of 2023.

device went with a safer pick, Romanian rifler Laurențiu "⁠lauNX⁠" Țârlea, who is currently on loan from Falcons to BLEED, while frozen picked former MOUZ NXT player Bram "⁠Nexius⁠" Campana, who is now about to debut on LAN with OG at BLAST Premier Spring Groups.

The full list of bold predictions is:

Cool predictions

2024-01-19 15:01

Magnojez will be the best out of those

2024-01-19 15:02

1 reply

+1 i'm surprised only sh1ro picked him

2024-01-19 18:19

If ZywOo and NiKo picks someone you know they are good.

2024-01-19 15:03

3 replies

Yo le noob, Zywoo probably doesn't even know who nilo is, it's his agency (Prodigy) that told them nilo, because he is signed with them.

2024-01-19 16:44

2 replies

If it's true, it's little sad I think

2024-01-19 18:18

same then

2024-01-19 22:17

Zax1e future top 1

only Altekz and Nexius playing for RMR tho

2024-01-19 15:05

Sign podi asap

2024-01-19 15:06

nilo the goat confirmed

2024-01-19 15:09

Kaspersky XD

2024-01-19 15:10

nah, no one will make it far, should've picked deko

2024-01-19 15:13

Launx lmao

2024-01-19 15:15

Believe on Niko, his bold predictions always turn out to have good performances the following year So podi is the guy to watch either he'll be promoted to the ENCE first team or he'll get a chance in a top tier team

2024-01-19 15:25

5 replies

Niko predicted sergej and jimpphat too. If hades doesnt perform and ence dont make it to the major i can see podi getting a promotion

2024-01-19 15:38

predicted m0nesy and flameZ also. whoever he chooses is destined to have a great year ahahha

2024-01-19 16:38

Actually natu said in his stream like week ago that it was already really close that they would have promoted him to main roster, but probably management wanted to secure RMR and Katowice play-in spots. So they don't have to grind open qualis and closed qualis. Probably +podi at some point.

2024-01-19 16:20

but imagine that this roster is actually performing well. how will they do it? The best thing to do would be to renew his contract and put a huge release clause in it, so that if he leaves, he leaves for a good price.

2024-01-19 16:41

Yeah. natu said that there has been interest from other orgs already, but podi wanted stay in ENCE academy. But depends alot how well hades/current roster plays.

2024-01-19 16:51

Did NiP just let nilo leave and join metizport? Lmao

2024-01-19 15:28

Some of them are 20 yo...

2024-01-19 15:31

nowayzao >

2024-01-19 15:35

so much nilo

> Bram "⁠Nexius⁠" Campana, who is now about to debut on LAN with OG at BLAST Premier Spring Groups. What about IEM Sydney? He got to semis with Mouz. :[ edit: now that i think about it they could've meant debut with OG, which would make sense. Lfg nexius though <3

2024-01-19 15:46

Nilo better carry Swedish CS

2024-01-19 15:50

⁠lauNX⁠ is in retirement house already r1nkle good pick

2024-01-19 16:00

not so sure about that ,my guy is grinding the game and if zonic wanted him in falcons to stay but the arabs decided to fuck him hard, I think he is on the right path

2024-01-25 15:44