Top 20 players of 2024: NiKo (4)

NiKo breaks the record for most consecutive Top 20 appearances as he makes the 2024 list, powered by 1xBet and SkinClub, after another year of strong individual play.

Top 20 players of 2024: Introduction

Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač is one of the most polarising figures in the history of Counter-Strike, but there's no doubt that he makes a strong case as one of the franchise's all-time greats and the G.O.A.T. rifler.

Rifling, Deagling, AWPing, IGLing. NiKo is capable of doing it all, and doing it well. Yet the conversation surrounding him is often about what he has not accomplished, his failure to win a Major title a stick that has been repeatedly used to beat him with.

The debate about NiKo's career is endless, but it's undeniable that he has been an elite-level player since 2016, when he made his first appearance in the HLTV Top 20 while being a hard carry for MOUZ. Over the years, he has commanded big transfer fees, the first being a reported $500,000 deal that took him to FaZe in 2017.

It was with the North American organization that NiKo established himself as a global icon and began to challenge for the biggest trophies. But in October 2020, after a barren period in which success was hard to come by, the Bosnian moved to G2 in a deal rumored to be worth up to $1 million.

The team's AWPing struggles made NiKo's first year on G2 challenging, but everything changed in January 2022 with the arrival of then 16-year-old wonderkid Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov.

NiKo instantly formed a deadly duo with the Russian AWPer, though it would take nearly a year for that partnership to begin to yield fruits.

In 2023, G2 were in the conversation for Team of the Year after winning both Katowice and Cologne, and NiKo's dramatic, last-minute snub of Falcons appeared to set the team up for a bright future. But it turned out that 2024 would be NiKo's final year donning G2's colors.

You can read a more in-depth look at NiKo's career in his previous appearances on the top 20 list:

Top 20 players of 2016: NiKo (11)
Top 20 players of 2017: NiKo (2)
Top 20 players of 2018: NiKo (3)
Top 20 players of 2019: NiKo (11)
Top 20 players of 2020: NiKo (4)
Top 20 players of 2021: NiKo (3)
Top 20 players of 2022: NiKo (5)
Top 20 players of 2023: NiKo (2)

With m0NESY and NiKo leading the way, G2 passed their first test in 2024, the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, but it wasn't without its challenges. Their two stars were the only ones who finished the event with above-average ratings as the team dropped two series to Natus Vincere before sealing qualification for the Spring Finals with a 2-0 victory over the new-look Liquid.

IEM Katowice was the first heartbreak for G2 in 2024. Entering the tournament as defending champions, they were upset by ENCE in their second match in Poland but still made it to the playoffs rather comfortably. Their quarter-final clash against FaZe ended in disaster as they couldn't even claim a map in a series dominated by Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants and David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský.

NiKo had strong peaks in the group series against Monte and HEROIC, but his timid performance against FaZe (0.78 rating) ruined his case for an Exceptionally Valuable Player (EVP) mention.

"Obviously, I was very disappointed after the loss to FaZe," NiKo said. "I felt like I didn’t show up at all, it was pretty tough to play, I think FaZe was very strong at the time, so it was a hard match for us and me.

"But I don’t even know what our expectations at the time were. We weren’t doing that great as a team. But I felt like I made some progress individually at that event considering how things had gone beforehand."

It didn't take long for G2 to exact revenge on Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's troops. Just a week later, NiKo showed his best form (1.51 average rating) as G2 went 3-0 in the Europe RMR after beating Into the Breach, Eternal Fire and FaZe.

Next up was the Copenhagen Major, one of the lowest points of the season for NiKo. A 1.86 rating in the 13-3 thrashing of FURIA was incredibly promising, but he struggled to find consistency in his game after that and posted below-averaged ratings on half of the maps he played, which contributed to his 1.09 event rating — a far cry from m0NESY's 1.35.

G2's tournament run at the Major was ended by Natus Vincere in the semi-finals, and NiKo had to be kicking himself after the match because of his uninspired displays on the two maps his team had lost, both of which came down to the wire.

"I wasn't the best individually in those first couple of months of the season, I'd say," NiKo lamented. "I think my consistency was not there. The first three months, including Katowice and some other big events, my individual level was not there, I would play well a couple of games and then I would have a disastrous series. I'm happy that I played well against MOUZ, but again against NAVI, I had an issue maintaining that level.

"When you lose a semi-final of the Major, it's always going to be disappointing. It was not as bad as when we lost to FaZe [at the Shanghai Major], but it was still pretty bad. The thing is that we did not play really well throughout the Major. We barely got out of the Elimination Stage.

"Against NAVI, after the comeback we made on the CT side of Ancient, we felt we could climb back and secure overtime at least. But it was overall a rough period for the team. We were not doing amazing, and our confidence was not the highest."

After the Major came a trip to Asia for IEM Chengdu, which brought NiKo his first EVP award of the year. It was another case of a tournament where the Bosnian struggled in the latter stages, posting a 0.95 rating in the semi-final against MOUZ on account of below-average ratings on the two maps his team lost. Still, that doesn't take away from the good work he had put in before, especially against HEROIC and Virtus.pro, and from his solid 1.16 event rating.

"He is not back, just yet. But NiKo is, finally, on the right path," HLTV wrote at the time. But the following event, ESL Pro League 19, would be another where the Bosnian went through peaks and troughs in form.

NiKo had a quiet start to the tournament as G2 beat TYLOO and then dropped series to The MongolZ and M80. With his team on the brink of elimination, NiKo finally found his groove and hit a purple patch of form, wowing everyone with a 2.26 rating against Falcons on Anubis and a 2.49 rating against BIG on Ancient, where he had a ridiculous ace on the CT side.

However, his nagging issues came back to haunt him in the quarter-final clash against MOUZ: After posting a 1.52 rating on Inferno, he went missing in the other two maps as Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek's troops ran out 2-1 winners before eventually lifting the trophy. NiKo left Malta with a respectable 1.15 rating, the highest on G2, but still insufficient to earn an EVP mention.

G2's winless run came to an end at IEM Dallas in the unlikeliest of circumstances. With Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen missing the event because of his sister's wedding, the team turned to Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip, giving the North American his first taste of LAN competition in over two years.

Read more

NiKo on practice with Stewie2K: "He was playing from 3-10 AM"

The conditions were less than ideal for G2: Not only were they playing with someone who had been out of tier-1 for a long time, but also HooXi's absence meant NiKo had to take up calling duties. But against all the odds, they went all the way in Texas, beating teams like MOUZ, FaZe and Vitality en route to the title.

NiKo was slow out of the gate with below-average ratings in his first two maps but improved as the tournament went on. He had an impressive 1.32 arena rating and was a second star to m0NESY in the team's title-winning campaign to earn his second EVP award of the year.

Of the three tournaments G2 won in 2024, this was by far the most special. "Even though the event was not that huge or anything, what we did was just amazing," he reflected. "Beating Vitality was the highlight of the year and it will stick in my heart forever."

He added: "That run was crazy. It's probably one of my favorite trophies. Everything happened so fast and unexpected. Even bringing Jake as a stand-in, it was decided a couple of weeks beforehand. We only had, like, five days of practice, he had, like, 150 ping as well, so it didn't look promising. We were going to the event just trying to take it step by step, take one game at a time, and then we would see what happened.

"I honestly believed from the start. I told the guys on G2, like, 'If you're going to Dallas, we've got to practice with Jake. I don't want to travel for like 15, 20 hours and not practice a single map with the guy.' We had a couple of events after Dallas with HooXi, but I felt there was no point in going if we were not going to practice.  I would say practice paid off in the end, even though it was not the best.

"The event was just crazy. After we beat MOUZ, we started believing that we could go to the playoffs. That was our main goal. I believed magic could happen in the playoffs because of Jake, the crowd and everything. Once we got to the arena, every game that we played, every round, it was just so exciting and we enjoyed every moment of it.  We had goosebumps every time we entered the stage. Everyone was cheering for us. There was a crazy energy inside the arena. This was a very important trophy for me, one that I will remember forever."

With HooXi back on the roster, G2 had the chance to build on their Dallas trophy at the BLAST Premier Spring Final. However, passport issues meant that m0NESY had to sit out the team's first match, a 2-1 loss to Spirit.

The Russian AWPer arrived in London just in time for the elimination series against Vitality, but his return was not enough to prevent his team from crashing out of the tournament in last place.

With so many issues, it was no surprise that NiKo delivered one of his worst performances at this event, averaging only a 1.03 rating.

The end of the first half of the season brought a double roster change as HooXi made way for Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski and Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković for Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa.

The duo debuted at the Esports World Cup, where G2 reached the final without too much trouble, defeating The MongolZ, Spirit and Virtus.pro along the way. Facing Natus Vincere, however, proved to be too tall of an order as they were defeated 2-1 in the tournament decider, losing to Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's charges for the fifth time in 2024.

There were plenty of positives for NiKo in the tournament as he posted a team-high 1.32 rating. The MVP medal ended up going to Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy in a tight race until the end.

"I think that getting malbs was a clear upgrade for us and a big reason why we started playing better," NiKo said. "Snax was also a very good for us, as could be seen later on in the season. But another big reason why we started playing better is that I think I got better as well throughout the season. I began to contribute more to the team and help us get to the next level, basically.

"Yes. we made the finals at that event, but it was not like it was a crazy run. It was only three games. Against NAVI, we had a chance to win. We were joking, like, 'We've got a new lineup now. There's no way we're going to keep losing to them.' But they were good at the time. It was very hard to play against them, but I felt we had a small chance of winning it on the second map, I think we lost some stupid rounds in the second half.

"I would say the changes were good, and the guys were a great fit for the team."

NiKo kept that rich vein of form and put in a 1.23 rating as G2 cruised through their BLAST Premier Fall group after dismantling Ninjas in Pyjamas twice and beating FaZe in a three-map series.

Things were looking up heading into the next Big Event, IEM Cologne, but G2 began their campaign on the wrong foot as they were upset by SAW in two maps. They used that loss as fuel and went on a tear, destroying Spirit, Astralis and paiN to lock up a playoff spot, with NiKo ending the group stage with a whopping 1.43 rating.

And then, NiKo surprisingly went missing when his team needed him the most. Things didn't come off for him against MOUZ on stage as he posted a series-low 0.83 rating in the quarter-finals, which brought his tournament rating down to 1.30.

"I'm not really sure what the reason was," NiKo said about his frequent struggles in the latter stages of events. "There were a couple of important games where I did not play up to my level. I'm not really sure if it was just down to me or maybe the team as well. We hadn't played our best, either.

"But this was definitely something I was thinking about at the time, how to improve and so on. It was just frustrating that I couldn't show up in these couple of games that were really important for us to make deeper runs.

"In Cologne, we actually felt we had to go further. We had started playing better and better after losing to SAW. I felt we were better than what we showed against MOUZ. The previous two times, like against FaZe or even NAVI, I don't think we felt we were better than our opponents.  I don't think we were that confident going into the games against some of those teams that we had lost to earlier.

"I think I lacked consistency a lot throughout the season. Hopefully, that's something I will improve going into the next one."

It was around that time that a report linked NiKo with Falcons once again. Less than a year after snubbing the Saudi organization, he was now reportedly all set to make the move, though the transfer would only be completed after the Shanghai Major.

With almost four months left in the season, everyone was focused on making the most of the time they had left together.

"I told the guys as soon as I could, and I think they took it well," he said. "I would say there were no bad feelings as you could see on camera and everything. They understood and respected my decision. I'm not in their skin so I don't know how they felt. Maybe that's a question for them, but I don't think it had a huge impact on us going into events. I would say they handled it well.

"I told the guys, 'Even though I'm leaving, I'm still here to win as much as we can until I leave.' I gave more than a hundred percent. I think they did the same. And I think some of those moments gave us strength to lift some trophies. I'm proud of the boys and how they handled everything. It just sucks we couldn't complete our run at the Shanghai Major."

G2 returned to Malta for another edition of ESL Pro League, this time breezing through their group with victories over KOI, 3DMAX and MIBR. Unfortunately for the team, NiKo's level went down a notch in the playoffs, as he averaged a 0.97 rating in the 2-1 victory over Liquid and the 2-1 loss to Natus Vincere, who were once again a thorn in G2's side.

G2 finally broke their NAVI curse in their next stop, defeating Aleksib's troops 3-1 in the grand final of the BLAST Premier Fall Final in Copenhagen to lift their second trophy of 2024.

It was a tournament to remember for NiKo, who was sensational in the semi-finals against Vitality and also delivered strong performances in the first two maps of the final. He slightly dropped off afterwards, but that didn't stop him from nailing down another EVP award, with the MVP medal once again going to m0NESY.

G2 came crashing down back to earth in Rio de Janeiro. The team's decision to skip practice after Copenhagen proved costly and resulted in a swift elimination following losses to HEROIC and Eternal Fire. It was also a statistical anomaly from NiKo, who posted a career-worst 0.51 event record.

Later that month, it became clear that NiKo was on his way out of the team when Alban Dechelotte, G2's CEO, said the organization "could have" kept the Bosnian on the roster if it wanted to. The rest of the season became a farewell tour of sorts as NiKo tried to add more silverware to G2's cabinet before moving to Falcons.

With the Major just around the corner, G2 made a quick stop in Singapore for the BLAST Premier World Final. Unlike in Copenhagen, they didn't even have to deal with Natus Vincere, who crashed out early in shocking fashion, while Vitality were attending the event with a stand-in. This left Spirit as G2's main threat to the title, and their favorable record against the Russian side certainly instilled confidence in Snax's troops.

It would have been hard to imagine a worse way to start a tournament than losing 13-0, but G2 went from strength to strength after that initial blow by Liquid and hardly seemed troubled in the rest of the tournament, capping off a fantastic run with a 3-0 demolition job of Spirit, who couldn't reach double digits on any map.

With key peaks but also some poor maps, NiKo once again had to settle for an EVP award as m0NESY claimed the MVP medal, the fourth in his young career.

And NiKo wasn't bothered that his teammate was taking the spotlight and collecting individual accolades. "It's hard to get MVPs when m0NESY plays the way he does," he said. "So I didn't mind him getting the MVPs because he was carrying our asses the entire year. And he was the biggest reason we were making playoffs most of the time.

"I  felt a bit bad throughout the season that I couldn't help him more, especially the first couple of months, that we didn't build on his performances. I felt we could have won much more if I had played a bit better or if we had done some better things early on.

"His improvement in CS2 has just been impressive. I knew it was just a matter of time before he showed his level. He started showing this level the moment he joined G2 and we started playing together. Not constantly, but in practice. We could see his potential. I'm really happy that he has managed to unleash his full potential, and I think he can do more with even more experience. He's definitely one of my favorite teammates ever, and I wish him only the best."

It was business as usual for G2 in the Europe RMR as they qualified for the Shanghai Major with a 3-1 record, with NiKo at the heart of the action with a team-high 1.18 rating.

G2 recovered from a defeat to The MongolZ in their opening match of the Major as they ran over BIG, 3DMAX and FaZe, dropping only five rounds per map on average in those three matches. They then edged past HEROIC in a close three-map affair to set up a rematch against karrigan's troops in the semi-finals.

But this wasn't the same team G2 had defeated days earlier but rather a completely different beast as FaZe went into classic playoff mode and shattered NiKo's dream of winning a Major title in his farewell tournament with a clean 2-0 victory.

"Losing to FaZe was definitely the most painful moment," said NiKo, who picked up his sixth EVP of 2024 in Shanghai. "Not just of this year, but the last couple of years. This was definitely one of the toughest moments in my career."

He added: "The Major was very tough. This was my last event, so there was a lot of pressure on me, but I think I did very well the majority of the event. The FaZe game was not the best from me. It was just tough to play against them. Sometimes, when FaZe hits this level of their game, where they constantly put pressure on you and they force you to make mistakes, it can be very tough to play against them. I think they played very well against us. And ropz had probably his best playoff performances of 2024. So that definitely helped them.

"It sucks that it ended the way it did. I really hoped for the perfect ending. That was my only goal since I decided to leave. It sucks but I'm still proud of how far we went.

"It hurt more than the Copenhagen Major because it was my last event and we felt we were in better shape. Even though Vitality had a good run in the RMR and in the Elimination Stage, I felt we were the best team in the playoffs. This is why it was harder, because it was basically in our hands. It was harder for me to accept it and get over it."

Weeks after the season ended, NiKo's transfer to Falcons was officially confirmed. He will begin the 2025 season with four new teammates, but his hunger for titles remains the same.

"I want to stay at the top," he said. "That is one thing I want to make clear. I'm here to make sure Falcons get to the top and start winning events, we share a common goal and I believe we can achieve it. I'm not here to join the retirement home or however fans want to call it. I'm here to win and I'm here to help them win. That is my goal. And I believe we're on the right track.

"I cannot anticipate what's going to happen in the future, but I will absolutely do my best to help them achieve those things. This is why I'm here. This is why they brought me."

Why was NiKo the 4th best player of 2024?

NiKo ties Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz for most appearances in the top 20 with his ninth consecutive placing and his seventh in the top five after another outstanding year of individual play. He also sets a new record for most consecutive appearances in the top 20. (device missed the 2022 edition before making his ninth appearance last year.)

"I didn't know about it until you asked me about it, but it would feel great [to beat device's record for most top 20 appearances]. Obviously, it's not like I'm competing against device or anything, but I just want to stay at the top as long as I can. This is my ultimate goal.

"I'm getting older and everything, there are kids coming up, they're playing more, they're hungrier, but so am I, and I believe I still have it. I'm happy with how 2024 went, and I think it will only get better in 2025. My goal is to stay at the top and I will do everything that I can to stay there. I'll be working harder because as you get older, you need to work harder to stay at the top. That is my plan. I will do everything in my power to get there."

His raw stats were only outmatched by the big three. He ended the year with a 1.16 average Big Event rating that held up at the most competitive events and as opposition got stronger, as his 1.15 rating vs. top 5 and 1.16 rating vs top 10 show, and as pressure increased, with a 1.16 arena rating, 1.16 in big matches and 1.19 in elimination matches.

This led to his six EVPs in G2's deep runs at IEM Chengdu, IEM Dallas, Esports World Cup, BLAST Premier Fall Final, BLAST Premier World Final and Perfect World Shanghai Major, and five more near-misses on awards thanks to his very high floor (a 1.09 rating or better at all but two tournaments).

While his biggest peaks weren't quite as high as Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius', NiKo was in the MVP race each of the four times he reached the final. He outperformed the Lithuanian in most ways otherwise thanks to a lot more standout events and only one sub-par in comparison and just as impressive play as jL deeper in tournaments, unlike Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov.

Fourth was always as high as NiKo could reach, simply as a result of being human. No one could hold a candle to the big three, who were on another planet in every aspect.

"Overall, I'm very satisfied with my rank," he said. "My goal was to be in the top 5. I would have been very frustrated if I did not make top 5 because I want to keep a top 5 streak for as long as possible. I was very glad when I heard that I got fourth place in the ranking.

"I would also like to take a moment to thank my fiancée, my family and all the fans that have supported me, I appreciate you all and it means a lot.

"We will keep improving and fighting."

Bold prediction by 1xBet

NiKo gave a shoutout to Dmytro "⁠jambo⁠" Semera, Passion UA's exciting young AWPer. The 20-year-old was in fine form at the Shanghai Major, where he had several crazy rounds, including a Desert Eagle ace.

"I think he's very versatile, even though he is an AWPer. I think he can do a lot of good things for the team."

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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.