Top 20 players of 2024: iM (16)

As the first Romanian to ever make the list, iM secures the 16th spot on the Top 20 players of 2024 ranking by 1xBet and SkinClub after hitting impressive peaks in NAVI's grand final streak.

Top 20 players of 2024: Introduction

Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan makes the list for the first time in his first full year with NAVI, and becomes the first Romanian to do so at 25 years of age after having played the game for half his life.

As a teen, iM took his first Counter-Strike steps already in 1.6, but like for many around his age, it would take some time before he started taking the game as anything more than just a way to pass the time. He only played fun mods like zombie mode, he says, and didn't get into the competitive side of the game until Counter-Strike: Global Offensive rolled around.

He picked up the new game at the turn of 2013 and quickly got into matchmaking, where he went from Silver to Global Elite in about a year. When there was nowhere further to grow within the game itself, iM turned to FACEIT and began to climb there, finding new people to play alongside from his home country as he went along. By 2015 he began to pop up with various local mixes in qualifiers for regional competitions and started working his way up the shaky local scene.

"Our scene is like, you play a tournament and if nothing works or you don't win it, you're making a change. We were changing all the players every time. It was a mess. And it's still like this," iM laughs as he explains his first steps on the competitive scene.

The country's best team, Nexus, began to notice the young iM making waves on the pug leaderboards and in various local mix-teams after some time, and he was soon approached by the captain. "BTN told me back then that I needed some experience before Nexus, so I started to play with the second-best Romanian team. After they needed some changes in Nexus, I got an offer from them."

iM ended up playing for the country's biggest organization for around three years, but for the first half of that time, it was going nowhere. "I was not doing well," he says. "I was pretty bad, I think I was nervous and I got kicked, which I think was fully fair. I went into the second-best Romanian team again and we started to beat Nexus, so then Nexus called me back.

"We had a decent period, but then they wanted to kick Blytz — this is my side of the story — and bring in sXe, but sXe only wanted to come with cosmeeen. So they kicked me, too. I think that kick was not fair at all. After two months, they basically called me again for the third time," iM remembers, outlining the typical dramas of a small local scene.

The third time turned out to be the charm. iM finally started to find his confidence when he rejoined Nexus in late 2019, and it quickly became apparent that he was outgrowing the local scene along with the other star of the team, AWPer Adrian "⁠XELLOW⁠" Guță. During 2020 he played more than 200 maps and averaged a 1.15 rating, so it was only a matter of time before he got scouted by an international team. GamerLegion's coach, Ashley "⁠ash⁠" Battye, took note of the rising hotshot, and it didn't take long for iM to say yes to the offer to leave his home team.

"GamerLegion actually contacted me before I went there in 2021. The first offer was before this Flashpoint tournament [in 2020]. I didn't want to go, but obviously, this wasn't the best decision. The second time, I went instantly when they called me."

It was a crucial step for iM to experience playing in an international roster. "I still remember that I was full nervous. My English was... I'm not sure if it was bad, but I was too shy to speak it," he says. "But I think it went pretty smooth. Outside of the game I was shy as fuck, but inside of the game I was still the same guy, speaking a lot, putting people on the map, calling and stuff."

But not much else changed for him in the first year with GamerLegion, who back then featured a Swedish core. It was still the same European tier-two grind, whose highlight only came some 15 months later, in mid-2022, when the team won the final open qualifier for PGL Major Antwerp's European RMR. iM got his first taste of the big leagues then, but it ended just as quickly as it began, and it was particularly painful for iM.

"We lost fucking 0-3 in Bucharest! It was my first time and it was in Bucharest, where I was born," he explains with bitterness in his voice, laughing as he remembers that he only had to travel for about 10 minutes from his home to the hotel where the RMR took place.

The RMR exit marked the end of the Swedish core and ushered in a new era for GamerLegion. Out went Alfred "⁠RuStY⁠" Karlsson, Sean "⁠eraa⁠" Knutsson and Patrik "⁠Zero⁠" Žúdel, and in came Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand and Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek from MOUZ's main team and academy, respectively. The only question mark was the final player, and with qualifiers for the next Major's European RMR, IEM Rio, about to begin, there was no choice but to try out the options during the competitions.

Karol "⁠rallen⁠" Rodowicz played in the first open qualifier as GamerLegion went out in the quarter-finals, and they turned to Nicolas "⁠Keoz⁠" Dgus for the next two. Despite next to no practice, the team made their third attempt stick and secured their place at the RMR after picking up wins over Apeks, Sashi and Forward, with new addition acoR in red-hot form and iM in tandem.

A little over a month later came the RMR itself. Much better prepared with a bootcamp behind them, GamerLegion continued to surprise. They entered the qualifier with a quadruple-overtime loss to FaZe, then beat Aurora, before another overtime affair against Spirit sent them on the brink of elimination. Another tough matchup in G2 was next, and GamerLegion were about to go out with a whimper after a 3-16 loss on the opener, but they decimated the favorites on Mirage and locked down the close Inferno decider with the acoR-iM combination proving lethal once more. B8 awaited in the 2-2 deciders, and GamerLegion got the job done there 2-0.

"If you look back, it was unexpected and crazy. We just went there to play it because we qualified with just two days, with nothing. We ended up 1-2 and we started with the mentality that they have more to lose than us, and we hit a shocker," iM recalls.

Making the Major was an achievement in itself, but, high on confidence after making such a run happen after just over one month together, GamerLegion looked to do one better in Rio. But despite a 2-0 start, another shocking win over Vitality included, the young squad couldn't make it to the Legends Stage, as they went 0-6 in maps in the next three series to falter at the final hurdle. Still, playing in front of the Brazilian crowd, and against the home favorites, was an experience iM will not forget.

"Rio is in my top crazy tournaments because it was one of the first with a crowd. We played the first game against 9z, we won it against the crowd, but it was not that bad, there were not so many people and not that loud, but after that we played FURIA," he says.

"When we played FURIA, I still remember, I'm looking at isak, isak is looking at me, we are both looking at one guy flipping us off. He was fat, small, flipping us, showing us his tits and stuff like this. We were laughing, like, 'What the fuck is this?' Every move we made, it was zero chance because they'd scream and be loud. I think it got into our heads and we lost it, we had zero experience with the crowd, with anything, and they were better as well and smashed us."

Things would go from 0 to 100 very quickly for iM after that. Fast-forward six months, GamerLegion returned to the Major cycle in Paris after qualifying in much less dramatic fashion compared to the last time around, but the Major itself was a different story. Two BO1 losses to start the Challengers Stage meant GamerLegion had their backs against the wall from the get-go, but it all clicked once they got into the series. MOUZ fell by the wayside, then OG, both wins spearheaded by iM, and while he cooled down in the final showdown against OG, the rest of the team picked up to complete the run from 0-2 to 3-2 and advance to the Legends Stage.

iM put on the performance of his life from there on. After an opening loss to NAVI, GamerLegion picked up three straight wins over 9INE, fnatic and Apeks as iM went 1.35 rated in the Legends Stage. A few days later, in a packed out Accor Arena, the Romanian wiped the floor with Monte in the quarter-finals before GamerLegion picked up the biggest scalp of the Major in the semi-finals, against HEROIC, with iM putting on another carry performance.

"We knew the scene at that time was a bit weak. Everyone could beat everyone. It was all about confidence and having nothing to lose. We were just enjoying the moment. Everyone was willing to go first, not afraid to die," iM says as he recalls the surprise run at the Major. "I remember that ash was taking pauses and he was not saying anything tactical, he was just saying 'guys, you are very good, just do your thing.' I think it was after a clutch or something like this, and he paused just to tilt the opponents or something like this."

By then the Romanian stood ahead of Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut in the MVP race, averaging a staggering 1.44 rating before the final. The Frenchman and the rest of Vitality were a nut too tough to crack, however. They dealt iM his first map in the red to start the grand final on Overpass, and despite his 2.00-rated CT side on Nuke, the favorites put on a CT masterclass of their own to stop GamerLegion in their tracks.

The MVP slipped through iM's fingers, but he had an inkling that this performance was going to be his big break.

"So many times I had good tournaments when I was in Nexus and GamerLegion, but no one was calling me. I was a bit tilted seeing people going through and having their chances, and I didn't have a chance, and after the Paris Major I was so happy. I was like, 'bro, if now there is no offer, there will never be one.'"

And that it was. Several offers came, including one from NAVI that iM had never seen coming, because the Ukrainian organization had never fielded an English-speaking roster up to that point. "I was fully shocked when NAVI called me. I was expecting international teams, obviously, because I couldn't speak Russian."

iM did not hesitate for a moment, and went on to join NAVI alongside Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius and Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen in the organization's massive summer rebuild. His excitement was immeasurable. "At that time I remember having this in mind that I'll play with s1mple, the best player in the world, the best player in CS:GO. It was crazy. I don't even have the words to describe what I was feeling, I was fully excited to play," he says.

The first months put a damper on that excitement, though, as iM struggled to come to grips with the transition. In his first three tournaments under the NAVI banner, the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, IEM Cologne and Gamers8, he averaged a 0.96 rating despite playing many of the same roles he enjoyed in his previous team.

"The beginning was a bit rough. We started with a bootcamp and we were playing a lot, in total like 11-12 hours a day plus if you wanted to play FACEIT as well. It was so exhausting," iM explains about the beginnings with NAVI. "I learned a lot in a short period of time with Justik and Aleksi. It was a tough time because you have to adapt to a new system, a new meta because in GamerLegion we had a totally different vision. We weren't tier-one and tier-one thinks differently. It was a huge difference to step up from tier two, playing out of anti-strat all the time."

iM only started to find his feet as the year was coming to a close, amid some big changes. His 1.10 rating in a run to second place at ESL Pro League S18 sparked his return to form, and after Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev took a break and was replaced by Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov amid the arrival of Counter-Strike 2, the Romanian spacetaker ended the year with two events well in the green — a big injection of confidence after his rough beginnings in tier one.

Natus Vincere started the year 2024 a little earlier than most teams, as their lacking Valve ranking meant they had to traverse the closed qualifier for the PGL Major Copenhagen Europe RMR in mid-January. But they could rest easy as they did so without too much drama. Virtus.pro provided the only resistance in their 3-0 run.

BLAST Premier Spring Groups came a few days later, where NAVI once again brushed off the opposition, including two of what would become many wins over G2 in the year, to qualify for the Spring Final. In the soft entry to the year, iM continued his solid form from the end of the previous, putting up a 1.21 rating in the RMR qualifier and a 1.12 rating in Copenhagen.

He would then suffer his first drop below 1.00 at IEM Katowice, mainly because of a rough opening loss to Spirit, where a disappearance act from the whole team on Ancient and Mirage caused their drop to the lower bracket. From there iM was solid if unspectacular as NAVI struggled through matches against Apeks and Eternal Fire, before they were eliminated at the hands of the then-new Falcons in the playoffs decider.

The Copenhagen Major RMRs were next, where Natus Vincere went 3-1 to qualify. Α loss to Virtus.pro was the only blip on their resumé. As one of several top teams to skip IEM Chengdu, iM and company had over a month to prepare for the Major itself, and that ended up paying dividends.

By then nothing suggested there was a Major-winning run in NAVI's future, and this seemed far-fetched even by the end of the Elimination Stage. They squeezed through after two failed attempts to convert their 2-0 start, another bad loss to Spirit and one to a struggling Cloud9 team seemingly showing they had some ways to go before they could reach for the title. iM, too, was in dire straits, disappearances in the two matches against the Russians put him on a measly 0.78 average rating in that stage.

But something finally clicked for NAVI after they locked in that third win in the Elimination Stage over paiN. iM was still far off his peak but was a decent contributor in every map win, while jL put on one carry performance after another. NAVI passed Eternal Fire in the quarter-finals, then edged past G2 in a jL and iM-powered 13-11 Ancient decider, and FaZe fell by the wayside at the final hurdle as Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy put on a masterclass on the Inferno decider to win the Major title.

"If we win the Major and I'm the last on the scoreboard, no one cares," iM had said in an interview with HLTV after the quarter-finals. It was a comment he was getting ridiculed for at the time when most expected NAVI to falter by the next match, but, in the end, the Romanian got the last laugh.

"Fuck those stats! Like I said many times, in my opinion I did my job because we won. If we had lost, maybe I can say something about it. I knew that I tried to do my job as best as I could — if I cannot shoot at least I can go out and die and find some info, sometimes it is like this," iM laughs. "If you cannot shoot, do something else. You cannot stay in the back and try to kill and lose the round. What's the point?"

After the massive success, Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy tried to prepare the team for the inevitable drop and set up more modest goals for the team instead of always reaching for the stars. "B1ad3 was saying that after he and b1t won the Major they had a bit of a slump, because they were thinking that they were the best team in the world because they won it. He didn't want to repeat the same mistakes because he had done this before," iM shares.

The coach's wisdom was of no help. NAVI's next outing at ESL Pro League saw them go through to playoffs with wins over FlyQuest and BIG, but losses to Complexity and FaZe caused them to drop out in round two, in 9th-12th place. One of the team's toughest exits of the year followed at IEM Dallas, with Spirit and HEROIC sending them home in groups.

After NAVI followed up a Major win that many called a fluke with two disappointing results, calls for heads resumed. iM was seen as underperforming in favorable roles, and he received the brunt of that pressure. "Overall this year I got a lot of hate. Maybe I'm not watching others getting hate, but I've never seen anyone getting as much hate as me," he says. "Sometimes it gets into my head, but I try to throw it away. At one point you realize that people will write shit about you because they're baiting you, or they have mental problems, and you just need to care about your team, your family and close ones."

"Usually I go on sport mode on HLTV. It's helpful, actually, it's very good," iM goes on, explaining that he has learned to block out the noise, even if it's not always simple. "People still go very far, actually. I got a lot of messages on Instagram, on my old photos, on my girlfriend's photos... I don't even want to know if someone else from my family got some messages."

It took a change of mindset and another bootcamp for NAVI to work their way out of the rut. "I think it was Dallas when we bombed out and we had a big talk that we need to prove ourselves again, try to put the Major in the back of our minds and try to focus on the next tournaments, how to become better, and to have this feeling that you want to win," iM remembers.

And things would very quickly take a turn for the better again. Two weeks after Dallas, NAVI traveled to London for the season finale at BLAST Premier Spring and began to rediscover their form. Astralis, FaZe and Virtus.pro fell in front of them as they reached the final, where their big nemesis, Spirit, dealt them their fourth consecutive loss in the matchup dating back to the start of the year.

All in all, it was a solid tournament from iM, whose 1.04 rating was more of a testament to his volatility than overall contribution. The Romanian averaged a solid 1.14 in maps won leading to the title match, but an up-and-down final brought him back down and caused him to miss out on his first EVP of the year.

The runner-up finish heralded an impressive return to form from NAVI, who then came back from the break picking up exactly where they left off. They reached another final at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, beating FURIA and two top five opponents in FaZe and MOUZ on the way, before they met the third top five team in the final, the new-look G2, who were fresh off the additions of Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa and Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski. Although the matchup changed, it remained favorable for Aleksib against his former squad, and NAVI secured their second title of the year in Saudi Arabia.

Volatile as ever, iM found his impact in the playoffs, but still ended the event on another middling 1.04 average rating. It was the third such performance in a row, but he'd soon start finding some of the consistency he'd been missing all year.

The Romanian's uptick began in the second BLAST Groups, where he went 1.17 in a labored run that saw NAVI secure their place at the Fall Finals despite two close losses to the new Liquid. IEM Cologne was next, and iM kept up his form as NAVI made it to their third consecutive grand final. He averaged a team-leading 1.41 rating in the group stage wins against paiN, Astralis and SAW on the way to the semi-finals, and put up a 1.18 in a narrow win over MOUZ. Vitality were a step too far, but iM provided the most resistance in a tight final, especially in overtime losses on Nuke and Mirage.

"If I have to pick a favorite game in a final, I have to pick the Vitality one at IEM Cologne," iM says. "It was so fucking intense. I still remember it, people screaming left and right, a lot of overtimes, coming back... It was crazy."

iM earned his first Exceptionally Valuable Player mention for his troubles in what was statistically his best performance of the year, one that came at one of the Super-Elites — 1.23 rating, 0.79 KPR, 1.24 Impact, 1.06 kills and 108.7 damage per round win.

The second came at the next event, ESL Pro League Season 20, as Natus Vincere not only made it to another final but this time secured the win. iM's blistering start in groups pushed NAVI straight through to the quarter-finals, where they broke their losing streak to Spirit with jL putting on a masterclass with iM and b1t in tandem.

G2 once again fell at the hand of their former in-game leader's squad, with jL once again at the forefront. It came down to a best-of-five showdown against the surprise of the tournament, Eternal Fire, who proved a tough nut to crack — but crack they did, with iM crucial in a 13-11 map two equalizer on Anubis (1.85 rating) and the following close Ancient (1.25). With another map like that in the final, he might have pipped jL to the MVP as the Lithuanian slowed down, but instead came away with a top-two EVP mention.

NAVI were inevitable. After a run to the final in London, a title in Riyadh, another final in Cologne and a title in Malta, they were due another second place, and that they got, in the BLAST Premier Fall Final. In Copenhagen, they first extended their streak against G2 in groups but then it came to an end in the final, where two bad maps from iM cost him another award by a sliver after a great tournament otherwise.

But he wouldn't fret for long — if the law was to be believed, NAVI were on course for another win, after all. With the team complaining of burnout after the long run of events and always making it deep, it seemed as if the streak would run its course at IEM Rio, but iM and company had one more left in them.

Despite a labored run in which they lost to FURIA and just narrowly escaped elimination after a Dust2 comeback against HEROIC in the semi-finals, they emerged on top by championship Sunday after a tough series against MOUZ in the best-of-five.

iM's 1.13 rating for the event was somewhat underrated by his disappearance in the FURIA game, and he had the peaks to show for it, including a 1.94 map in the quarter-final against Virtus.pro and a team-leading 1.24 rating in the grand final affair. Thanks to those peaks, he edged out two of his teammates to claim the MVP medal, the first in his career.

Although NAVI would finally get some rest after this last victory, with the BLAST Premier World Final more than two weeks away, it looked as if the break took the wind out of their sails. In Singapore, one-sided losses to Astralis and FaZe sent them packing in last place as iM recorded his second event deep in the red.

NAVI hoped they'd turn the ship around by the time the Perfect World Shanghai Major rolled around, but it didn't go according to plan. They passed the RMR without too much trouble, with MOUZ dealing them their only loss, but at the Major proper a couple of weeks later they didn't turn up in their best form.

It was clear something was wrong as they struggled against MIBR in their second match and got stomped by Spirit in the third to go 1-2 after the best-of-ones. They passed their first elimination game against GamerLegion, with iM leading the way against his former team, but faltered in the 2-2 match to a resurgent HEROIC to miss out on the playoffs. After so much success so quickly, the year ended in a huge disappointment for NAVI.

"The worst feeling was probably the one I had when we didn't manage to qualify for this playoff in Shanghai. I was fully demolished," iM recalls.

"The biggest learning we got from Singapore and the Major was that we aren't the best team right now. We need to prove again that we belong there," he says about the disappointing finish.

Why was iM the 16th best player of 2024?

iM reaches the 16th spot on the Top 20 players of 2024 after hitting several impressive peaks in NAVI's run of six consecutive finals appearances in the second half of the year.

"It's a nice feeling. I didn't expect to make it because of my first six months of the year, it was rough, but I'm happy to be here."

He started off that run with a top-three EVP mention in NAVI's runner-up finish at IEM Cologne and added another just a few weeks later at ESL Pro League Season 20 as his team's second-best player in the run to the title. His biggest individual achievement then came at IEM Rio, where he edged out jL and b1t to the MVP, the first in his career.

iM earned these awards in large part thanks to his performances under the lights as one of the best arena (1.06, 15th) and big match (1.07, 13th) players from the group around him. His exceptional impact on wins also played a crucial role: 1.00 kills per round win (16th), 103.5 damage per round win (10th), 71.1% win rate after a kill (1st) and 84.8% after a multi-kill (2nd), and a kill in 62.8% of NAVI's round wins (11th).

But to come with his high peaks, iM had a rather poor floor, as his PGL Major Copenhagen and BLAST Premier World Final dips showcase. That also put him among the lowest-rated players in the top 20 across all event categories: 1.09 overall, 1.07 at Big Events, 1.03 at Elite events and 0.93 at Majors.

And for his impact on wins, he was also very volatile with his deaths often leading to losses and boasting the lowest KAST of all players in the top 20 (70.3%).

"We're very satisfied," iM says as he looks back at a year with four trophies. "It's been a crazy year. Very grateful for that. A lot of experience from the finals, a lot of emotions because we played on so many stages, so many playoffs, different crowds on different continents... So crazy."

Bold prediction by 1xBet

iM put the spotlight on his compatriot and fellow former Nexus member Mădălin-Andrei "⁠MoDo⁠" Mirea, who is currently plying his trade as OG's AWPer.

"He's a very nice guy, he kinda grew up in the same way I did in Nexus and then going into an international team," iM says about his pick. "He has a lot to prove, he wants to learn more and more every day, even when I'm playing FACEIT with him he's asking stuff about something even though he's an AWPer and I'm a rifler. A lovely guy to play with, and also outside of the game we got to play tennis."

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Stay tuned to our Top 20 Players of 2024 ranking and learn more about how the players were selected in our introduction article.