Top 20 players of 2024: w0nderful (11)

w0nderful makes his top 20 debut in 11th place of the 2024 ranking by 1xBet and SkinClub thanks to many high-level performances that helped drive NAVI's successful year.

Top 20 players of 2024: Introduction

Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov makes his debut on the HLTV Top 20 players of the year list just outside the top 10, capping a fine year with Natus Vincere in which he won the first notable LAN events of his career. The individual accolade marks an important step in a journey that began when he was just four years old. "When I was four or five years old, I watched my uncle play CS," the Ukrainian AWPer recalls. "When he went to work I could play CS and that's how I got acquainted with 1.6."

In playing from such a tender age w0nderful set himself up for success, and by the age of 14 he was playing his first HLTV-recorded officials. w0nderful states he wasn't chasing a pro career per se, but that by simply investing his all into the game, it came naturally. "I didn’t do anything to get into competitive CS, I was just playing. I love the game, I love to watch and to play, and I got invites for some teams. That's how I got here."

w0nderful began his career in earnest with Project X, playing alongside other Ukrainian talents, most notably Dmytro "⁠SENSEi⁠" Shvorak, who would go on to form part of the infamous Akuma lineup. w0nderful quickly established himself as one of the hottest prospects in the region, winning a couple of regional events, Binance Super Cup 2020 and ROG Winter Cup 2020, and showing the chops to hang with solid tier-two squads like Winstrike and SKADE.

The young Ukrainian moved to Trasko after Project X folded, where he would truly forge his name as a potential future star. w0nderful racked up insane numbers during his time there, utterly dominating tier-three online events and serving as the shining light whilst his team faltered playing higher-level opposition.

"It was an amazing time for me as a player," w0nderful says looking back on his time in Trasko. "I was playing 24/7 and played a lot of HLTV games, where I showed how I was playing. We couldn’t beat good tier-two teams, but I got so much experience from that time."

w0nderful's career hit a stumbling block early in 2021. The core of Trasko were picked up by HellRaisers at the end of 2020, representing w0nderful's most notable organizational support to date. With the young AWPer seemingly ready to take tier-two by storm the next year, the war in Ukraine resulted in HellRaisers putting their CS division on hold and releasing the entire team.

"There's nothing I can say about it," w0nderful reflects. "We played not so much, and as soon as we could fix and improve our game in HellRaisers, the war in Ukraine started and HellRaisers cancelled our contracts."

Eventually, after patiently waiting for the right opportunity, w0nderful got his chance. Spirit had just catapulted themselves into the top five of the world ranking following their memorable run to top four at PGL Major Antwerp, but had parted ways with arguably the most vital component of that run, AWPer Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov. w0nderful thus had big shoes to fill upon his arrival in by far the biggest team he had played for to date.

w0nderful immediately proved he had what it took to step up to tier-one play, even if the team did not enjoy much success. The Ukrainian provided his team with a solid and efficient AWPing presence in his first event, IEM Cologne, being among the top eight players for AWP kills per round and deaths per round.

Then, w0nderful posted some highlight maps even in defeat at ESL Pro League, such as a valiant 1.22 against NAVI on Nuke and a 1.20 against Vitality on Vertigo. There were some struggles for the youngster, he was poor in a loss to fnatic and unspectacular in their series wins at Pro League, but the ability to hang at the top level was clear to see.

With some time to bed in, w0nderful's performances became more consistent, and Spirit began to grow as a team. After some decent results in online play and a win at Flow FiReLEAGUE Global Finals amongst lesser opposition, where w0nderful decimated the field with a 1.52 event rating, Spirit came into the IEM Rio Major in good shape.

w0nderful was in fine form as his team battled through the Legends Stage with a 3-2 record, posting positive ratings in most of the maps he played and providing steady fragging output with his sniper. He could also not be blamed for Spirit's exit at the hands of HEROIC in the first round of the playoffs, as he made a thoroughly valiant effort to keep his team competitive on the first map of Vertigo as his teammates crumbled around him.

w0nderful was strong at IEM Katowice too, carrying his team past BIG before being the only player offering any resistance as his team were knocked out by Liquid in the group stage lower semi-finals. He was also excellent at ESL Pro League, once again his team's best player as they suffered another group stage exit.

Whilst w0nderful was playing well, something wasn't quite working for the team. His form took a hit right at the end of his tenure as the team failed to qualify for BLAST.tv Paris Major, and his 0.86 rating at Europe RMR B was one of his only in the red for Spirit.

Spirit opted to completely overhaul the squad after their RMR debacle, bringing in a trio of players from their academy side, including Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets, with w0nderful being one of those to make way. It was an awkward position for the young AWPer to be in. He had been Spirit's best player statistically throughout his tenure, had shown he had the chops to carry at tier-one, but the team hadn't quite been able to function effectively and he was left by the wayside by virtue of the academy players' excellence, rather than through much fault of his own.

This time, it wasn't long before w0nderful found himself a new home. Sprout made w0nderful the centerpiece of their new roster, and the Ukrainian repaid that faith in spades. He tore up the server match after match to the tune of 83 ADR, 1.26 impact and a 1.29 average rating. The team struggled to consistently find the success to match w0nderful's superlative level, although they did hit some solid peaks in winning European Pro League Season 10 and taking second in CCT East Europe Series 2.

"I liked it so much," w0nderful says of his time in Sprout. "We didn’t play a lot of practice, we were just playing a lot of officials and I was feeling the game. It was very fun and productive for me."

With w0nderful annihilating tier-two in the way he was, it seemed inevitable that a better side would quickly snap him up. The coming of CS2 provided w0nderful with a golden opportunity that he did not expect to come around.

"It was my dream to join NAVI," w0nderful states, and against the odds, it was a dream he would fulfill before turning 20. The coming of CS2 brought with it a waning of motivation for Natus Vincere's star player, Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev. That waning motivation and subsequent break opened up a spot in the roster that seemed like it would be filled for years to come. w0nderful was the man Natus Vincere turned to in their search for a replacement for the generational talent of s1mple. "I just woke up in the morning and saw a message of my dreams. I was so happy, I never expected to join NAVI."

Joining Natus Vincere might have been a dream for w0nderful, but it didn't come without challenges. The most obvious challenge was the pressure he faced in replacing CS:GO's greatest player. "I tried not to think about it," w0nderful admits. "I think it doesn’t matter who you replace. I want to play, to improve, and get experience to show my best CS." He admits that, in the wake of joining, much of the pressure he felt depended on Natus Vincere's results. "When you are winning, you don't feel it, but when you are losing, you get tons of hate."

Life in a Natus Vincere jersey didn't exactly begin ideally for w0nderful. He shone in defeat against Cloud9 in his first series in the fabled black and yellow jersey, comfortably the best player on the team, but in general his form was patchy across BLAST Fall Final and BLAST World Final. Natus Vincere exited both tournaments in the playoffs without looking likely to make a serious run at the title.

Expectations were not all that high for Natus Vincere coming into 2024. On paper it seemed the team lacked firepower, particularly as Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan had struggled badly to justify his transfer from GamerLegion, and results had been generally lacking since the organization's pivot to a European roster.

Nevertheless w0nderful and Natus Vincere began the year in decent form, with the AWPer putting up solid numbers as his team breezed through the PGL Major Copenhagen closed qualifier and BLAST Spring Groups with minimal fuss.

Natus Vincere's first real test of the year came at IEM Katowice, and w0nderful dutifully rose to the occasion. After Spirit knocked Natus Vincere down to the lower bracket, the Ukrainian produced one of his best map performances in a Natus Vincere jersey to date, racking up 28 kills and 120 ADR to hard-carry his team to a narrow 13-11 win over Apeks. He cooled off for the rest of the series, but came back to life and was the best player on the server as Natus Vincere edged past Eternal Fire.

Falcons ended Natus Vincere's run before the playoffs, but w0nderful could hardly be blamed. He produced another special Ancient performance in an opening map defeat, earning 110 ADR on his way to a 1.77 rating, but his team slipped to a narrow defeat before crumbling on the final map. Regardless, w0nderful's 1.20 tournament rating, 81.8 ADR and 0.81 KPR made him one of the best players of the event, and his 1.15 impact rating was impressive too, something that would not always be the case throughout the year.

Next came the PGL Major in Copenhagen and everyone knows how the story went for Natus Vincere in Denmark. For w0nderful individually, the tournament was a mixed bag. He was virtually a non-factor during the preliminary RMR, finishing with a 0.99 rating, but his performances picked up during the Major.

w0nderful was in prime form to help Natus Vincere edge past G2 in a BO1, his 1.30 rating putting him atop the scoreboard, and he put up solid performances even in losses to Spirit and Cloud9. The young AWPer waned in their qualification bout, a routine 2-0 win over paiN, but his performance against G2 was enough to make him a key factor in Natus Vincere reaching playoffs.

In a tough quarter-finals bout with Eternal Fire, w0nderful was the deciding factor. He shone bright with almost 95 ADR across the series as he garnered a 1.30 rating and bagged a memorable ace in the process. He continued this form into the first map of the semi-finals, being the only player on his team to earn a positive rating as they clawed their way past G2 in overtime on Anubis.

Sadly for w0nderful, his form evaporated for the rest of the playoffs. Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius was the man to step up and seal the deal against G2, whilst Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy joined the Lithuanian at the top of the scoreboard in the grand final and put in some titanic performances. w0nderful was Natus Vincere's worst player in the grand final, his most memorable moment being a team kill on Inferno. Regardless of the disappointing end to the tournament individually, w0nderful was a key component of Natus Vincere's underdog run to the Major title, deservedly earning an EVP for his efforts against G2 and Eternal Fire.

Considering the context surrounding Natus Vincere's win, and the way in which they achieved it — with a 49.8% round win rate —, it is no surprise that the word "fluke" became almost singularly associated with Natus Vincere's triumph. For w0nderful, the community reaction to his team's success only fuelled his motivation for the rest of the year. "The main thought I had was that everyone will shut up when we win other tournaments." w0nderful states. "This feeling was motivating me so much."

Despite w0nderful's motivation, Natus Vincere suffered from a significant dip in form after the Major. They made the playoffs of ESL Pro League but were cast aside by FaZe in their first playoff game, and then exited IEM Dallas with a single win to their name. "Our game wasn't perfect," w0nderful reflects when looking back on Natus Vincere's post-Major slump. "Even after we won the Major we needed to work on a lot of things to improve our game. We needed time to come back much stronger."

Natus Vincere certainly had some time to work on their game following their early elimination in Dallas, thus they came into the final event of the season, BLAST Premier Spring Final, with a solid amount of practice under their belts. It paid off in spades as Natus Vincere made a run all the way to the grand final, dropping a single map along the way until a donk-inspired Spirit proved too much to overcome. Overall, it was a quieter tournament for w0nderful, but he still managed to find a highlight performance in the playoff qualification series against FaZe, where his 100 ADR in a 1.49-rated performance on the final map of Mirage sealed the deal in a hard-fought bout.

w0nderful's reflections on Natus Vincere "needing more time" to work on their game would prove prophetic after the player break. Natus Vincere were inconsistent in the first half of the year, enjoying the high of an unlikely Major victory as well as suffering the low of their early exit at IEM Dallas. w0nderful's season was much the same. He earned an EVP at the Major, but his overall numbers were nothing to shout about, and he suffered a couple of poor events. In the second half of the year, we would see a completely different team, and an even better version of w0nderful.

Natus Vincere took the mantra "start as you mean to go on" to heart in the first event of the season, the Esports World Cup. The European combine stormed to the title with wins over three of the top six sides in the world, and w0nderful was in prime form in doing so. He enjoyed one of his best events of the entire year and was firmly in the MVP race after a strong performance against FaZe in the quarter-finals and utterly dominant against MOUZ in the semi-finals.

w0nderful's teammates took over with their rifles in the final, but the sniper's performance was still to be commended, particularly his 0.81 KPR, high opening kill numbers (0.15 per round), and impact rating (1.26). Usually, much of w0nderful's success comes from being a steady fragging presence, but he was also immensely impactful in Saudi Arabia. He duly earned an EVP nod for his performance.

After making it through BLAST Fall Groups, Natus Vincere headed to Germany for IEM Cologne, where they would enjoy another successful tournament. The team added yet another grand final appearance to their resume, falling to Vitality at the last hurdle in what was a hotly-contested affair. w0nderful couldn't quite earn another EVP this time around. He struggled overall in the playoffs and in the final in particular, but a highlight map in the semi-final and a strong showing on Dust2 in the final meant he at least added a VP to his list of awards for the year.

"I felt very bad after losing this tournament," w0nderful states when looking back on IEM Cologne. "I experienced some mental problems as I got a lot of hate because of the final, but now I know how to work with this."

Natus Vincere continued to build their impressive grand finals streak in their next event, ESL Pro League Season 20. w0nderful was in impressive form in the group stage, posting a 1.25 rating or better in each series to help his team ease into the playoffs. The AWPer's form was a little patchier at the business end of the tournament as he struggled on some maps, and a lack of peaks prevented him from grabbing another EVP award, but it was still a solid event and another trophy was added to his growing cabinet.

w0nderful returned to his EVP-earning ways at BLAST Fall Final as Natus Vincere made it five grand finals in five attempts. His server-leading efforts against G2 in the group final and FaZe in the semi-final garnered a 1.40 event rating leading up to the grand final. Leading the MVP race, w0nderful sadly collapsed in the grand final, putting up a 0.84 rating that left him at the bottom of the scoreboard. Regardless, it was another impressive event overall for the Ukrainian and one that was well worth an EVP nod.

Natus Vincere continued their immense streak at IEM Rio, where they bagged their fourth title of the year. w0nderful was utterly vital in securing said title, particularly in the playoffs, where he produced an impressive 1.30 in Natus Vincere's map wins. His highlight came in the grand final, where he led the way as his team overturned a 2-10 deficit on the final map of Ancient to the tune of nearly 100 ADR.

"We went to a good level," w0nderful concludes when reflecting on Natus Vincere's streak in the second half of the year. "We were living in the game, so that's why it was so successful." Regarding his own personal improvement, he identified the player break as a key component. "I’m still learning a lot of things, and sometimes you don't have so much time to relax after getting a lot of information. After breaks, you usually come back with full energy and a clear mind."

Natus Vincere's form could not last forever, and they were brought crashing back to earth at the end of the season. BLAST World Final was the worst event for both w0nderful individually and for Natus Vincere as a team, as they crashed out of the tournament in last place with a single map win.

Next came the year-ending Perfect World Shanghai Major, and Natus Vincere did not even get close to defending their title. The team made it through the RMR without much fuss, but struggled in the Elimination Stage and were eventually eliminated by HEROIC. w0nderful had some good moments, such as a 1.62-rated showing that hauled his team to a tight win over Liquid, but also some woeful lows, such as a three-frag map against Spirit that constituted his worst-ever LAN showing.

"I felt very sad," w0nderful states when speaking about the Major. "I at least wanted to be top eight, but how we played was bad, so we finished where we deserved." When reflecting on the reasons for Natus Vincere's drop off at the end of the season, w0nderful identified the flip side of "living in the game" as he mentioned previously. "We didn’t have so much time to rest all season."

Why was w0nderful the 11th best player of 2024?

w0nderful makes it to the top 20 players ranking for the first time after gathering four EVPs in Natus Vincere's impressive 2024.

His big peak, a near-MVP at Esports World Cup, was stronger than those immediately below him and when you add that to EVPs at the Copenhagen Major — where he was great in Natus Vincere's map wins —, BLAST Fall Final, and IEM Rio, his award catalogue became the big driving force behind him placing this high.

He was close to an EVP at four more big events, including IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne, which created a resume that put him firmly into the middle tier of the Top 20 players ranking. That case was helped by his solid 1.10 Super-Elite Event rating (16th) and high map-to-map floor (51.2% maps rated 1.15+, 11th).

"It’s my first time, so of course I’m very happy," w0nderful says of his inclusion on the list. "I want to get better every year and be in the top 5 at least."

w0nderful, however, was fairly low impact (1.04, 41st) and recorded among the lowest round win figures in the list, relying quite heavily on his excellent deaths per round (0.59, 3rd) to keep pace.

He also recorded the lowest rating in the top 20 against top ten teams (1.04, 23rd), and hit the same figure in arena matches (1.04, 16th). He only slightly improved under threat of elimination (1.07, 36th), which just kept him out of the top ten.

Bold prediction by 1xBet

w0nderful went for compatriot Eduard "⁠zeRRoFIX⁠" Petrovskyi as his bold prediction. The 17-year-old recently put himself on the map thanks to Passion UA's exploits at Perfect World Shanghai Major, where they narrowly missed out on an Elimination Stage berth.

"I chose zeRRoFIX because I like how he is playing and how he was carrying the team in the hard moments," w0nderful states. "He is very good guy, it's always fun to talk with him. I think he will have a bright future."