Evil Geniuses proved to be one of the top international teams in 2010, while the first star of this American team was Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert. Being one of the world's best is not a new territory for him, as Gilbert was nominated for Best Newcomer of 2008 and for eSports Player of the Year in 2008 and 2009, and now he is ranked 11th in our Top 20 players of 2010 list.

Basic information

Player: Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert
Team: Evil Geniuses
Age: 20

Team achievements in 2010:

1st - MSI BEAT IT, ESEA-Invite S5, ESEA-Invite S6, ESEA-Invite S7
2nd - IEM5 American Championship Finals, WCG Pan-American Championship
3rd - Arbalet Cup Dallas

Stats from major LAN tournaments in 2010:

Kills per round: 0.80
Deaths per round: 0.66
Rating: 1.17 (?)
Maps played: 60
MoM: 10 times top rated in a match
Best tournament: Arbalet Cup Dallas
Best map: de_train
Most notable stats: 6th best KPR (0.80), 2nd best player on de_train (1.30 rating)

Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert became a part of Evil Geniuses in March 2008 when the organization, which only housed a Canadian team until that point, decided to venture into Unites States CS and sign the lineup of eMg, at that moment the best 1.6 team in USA. Following the CGS collapse later that year, EG decided to restructure their team by bringing in the compLexity team, but Gilbert's status was unaffected as he was the only player to remain from the old squad. And it seemed as a good decision, to keep hold of him, considering that he rose to international fame during 2008, being nominated for eSports Player of the Year as the representative of the North American region and also for Best Newcomer of the Year.

2009 was just as successful for him as he was again nominated for eSports Player of the Year and he proved himself as the best American player even after the return of the previously more famous players from CS:Source. In 2010 he was expected to continue making the most impact for his team and he did not disappoint at all.

4th in the world already in March

Evil Geniuses finished 4th in their first tournament of 2010, which was also one of the biggest of the year – IEM4 World Championship. They surprised everyone and won their group which propelled them straight into the semi-final, where they however lost to Na`Vi and later to SK. Gilbert was the team's best player at the event, mostly thanks to his consistency, despite some bad matches by his team in the playoffs. He ended up with a 1.05 rating, while his most memorable performance was against Frag eXecutors in the group stage. Gilbert drove his team to a comeback win after they were down 6-9 at the half, as he posted a 22-6 second half score to help his team overcome the Poles 18-12.

Just a week later, his team won their first ESEA-Invite title of the year in Season 5, while Gilbert had an excellent showing at the LAN Finals with a 1.27 rating.

During May, at Arbalet Cup Europe in Sweden, Evil Geniuses had to go home early as they didn't make it past the first group stage, while Gilbert himself was again the team's best rated player. Although, with a not so impressive 1.04 rating as he didn't excel in any match, but he didn't disappoint either.

ESWC in France was next for EG and they went home disappointed once more, after failing to make it past the second group stage, having some bad results overall. Gilbert was the team's second best player and was again the most consistent with 4 of 5 matches rated above 1.00, even though his team won only 1 of those. However, he finished with an average 0.99 rating, his worst of the year.

Impressive form in the second part of the year

Upon their return to United States, Evil Geniuses were in line to defend their ESEA-Invite title at the LAN Finals in Dallas. They ended up defeating Loaded in the final and being crowned champions of Season 6, while Gilbert was the best rated player of the event (1.34 rating).

The tournament with the second biggest prize purse of the year followed, Arbalet Cup Dallas ($80,000) and Evil Geniuses managed to finish 3rd at the event. Gilbert showed incredible form throughout the tournament, finishing as the 3rd best rated with an amazing 1.31 rating after what was definitely an MVP-worthy performance overall. He was again unbelievably consistent with 14 of 15 maps rated above 1.00, while his brightest moment was in the 3rd place decider against H2k. In the first map, which his team eventually lost 14-16, Gilbert had an amazing showing and one of his best matches of the year putting up a 35-18 score, which he then followed up with good play in the 2nd and 3rd map as his team won the 3rd place (1.40 rating in those 3 maps).

Travelling to Brazil next for WCG Pan-American Championship, EG ended up second placed behind FireGamers while using a stand-in. Gilbert was the 3rd best rated player of the event (1.29), as he played well in every match including the final. He was especially great against Made in Brazil in the Upper Bracket Final having a 24-7 score in his team's 16-3 win.

Only a few days after Brazil, EG traveled to China for the MSI BEAT IT tournament, where they were again able to play with their regular lineup. This tournament managed to bring them their biggest success of the year as they defeated fnatic in the final, while Gilbert was the team's best rated player (1.18 rating). Consistent as ever, Gilbert was rated above 1.00 in 8 of 10 maps, while he also stood out in important matches, being the team's best in the semi-final against TyLoo and in the first map of the final against fnatic. He was also one of the best rated players at the event (4th) so all that should be enough for us to name him the MVP of the event, even though there was no such official award.

In the beginning of September, on their home turf in Los Angeles they participated in one of the biggest events of the year, World Cyber Games, once again with a stand-in, but also after a lineup change as Derek "dboorN" Boorn joined the team. They only made it to the quarter-final where they lost to mTw, but Gilbert himself performed great once again. He finished with a 1.20 rating as the team's best, performing well in their important first match of the group against FACE2FACE with a 29-19 score, as well as in the first round of the playoffs against Executioners with 19-3 in the first map.

At IEM5 American Championship Finals which followed, Evil Geniuses managed to qualify for the IEM5 World Championship in March 2011 by finishing second. Even though they lost to their Brazilian rivals compLexity in the final, Gilbert had another great tournament individually. With a rating of 1.25 in the end, he was the 5th best rated at the event and 2nd in his team.

In their last international tournament of the year, Gilbert and EG visited China again, this time to take part in Wolrd e-Sports Masters. They ended up as 5-6th, losing their first and third matches very convincingly to WeMade FOX and Na`Vi respectively. But their second match, which was against fnatic, was a real treat as they won 25-23 after 3 overtimes. That match was also one of Gilberts best of the year as he had an impressive 49-31 score considering how close the result was, which earned him a 1.61 rating. He ended the event with a great 1.14 rating overall, mostly thanks to that performance against fnatic.

Before the end of the year, EG still had to defend their ESEA-Invite title again at the LAN Finals of Season 7. They managed to win it for the 3rd time in a row and Gilbert was again great in the domestic competition finishing with a 1.23 rating.

The best American player in 2010

Overall in 2010, Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert didn't have any bad tournaments and was the best and the most consistent player of his team. He was also the 6th best fragger of the year with 0.80 kills per round. He particularly impressed during their biggest successes, which were winning MSI BEAT IT and getting 3rd place at Arbalet Cup Dallas, at both of which he recorded MVP-worthy performances. In addition to that, he finished 4th at the IEM4 World Championship, 2nd at WCG Pan-Am and IEM5 American Championship Finals, as well as won 3 ESEA-Invite titles.

Also worth noting is that his consistency was world-class, as he had a rating above 1.00 in 70% of his matches at major LANs, while only 7 other players were more consistent. Therefore, he certainly deserves a place among the world's best in 2010 and he is placed at the 11th spot of our list.

Recommended demos of Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert in 2010:

If you want to check out some of his matches that were mentioned in this article, you can find links to those demos right here:

Opponent	Map	Event	Score	Demo
Fx	train	IEM4 World (Group stage)	31-18	POV
SK	inferno	Arbalet Europe (Group stage #1)	17-9	POV
weTake	inferno	Arbalet Dallas (Group stage #1)	35-13	POV
BURNING!	inferno	Arbalet Dallas (Quarter-final, map 1)	18-11	POV
BURNING!	nuke	Arbalet Dallas (Quarter-final, map 2)	20-13	POV
H2k	tuscan	Arbalet Dallas (3rd place, map 1)	35-18	HLTV
MiBR	nuke	WCG Pan-Am (Upper final)	24-7	HLTV
TyLoo	tuscan	MSI BEAT IT (Semi-final, map 3)	29-17	POV
fnatic	dust2	MSI BEAT IT (Final, map 1)	27-19	POV
fnatic	train	MSI BEAT IT (Final, map 3)	18-13	POV
Executioners	train	WCG 2010 (1/8 final, map 1)	19-3	HLTV
Blight	train	IEM5 Am Finals (Group stage)	25-10	HLTV
coL	nuke	IEM5 Am Finals (Final, map 1)	35-29	HLTV
fnatic	dust2	WEM 2010 (Lower round 1)	49-31	HLTV

If you missed our previous article about Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl, click here or if you want to see who else is on the list when it is updated, head over to our Introduction article here.

What do you think about the performance of Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert in 2010? Does he deserve a place in the Top 20? What was your biggest impression of him this year? Feel free to leave a comment on this topic and stay tuned to HLTV.org if you want to see what the rest of the Top 20 looks like, as we will bring you number 10 tomorrow.