We only have a few more positions left to fill in our Top 20 players of 2010 list and the next one belongs to Sergey "starix" Ischuk. The man who put together the best team of 2010 stunned the world with his amazing performances in the second half of the year.

Basic information

Player: Sergey "starix" Ischuk
Team: Na´Vi
Age: 23

Team achievements in 2010:

1st - IEM4 World Championship, ESWC, WCG, Arbalet Cup Dallas, DreamHack Winter, Arbalet Cup Best of Four, Arbalet Cup Asia
2nd - Arbalet Cup Europe, ASUS ENC
3rd - GameGune, IEM5 Global Challenge Shanghai, ASUS Summer

Stats from major LAN tournaments in 2010:

Kills per round: 0.78
Deaths per round: 0.58
Rating: 1.19 (?)
Maps played: 127
MoM: 25 times top rated in a match
Best tournament: Arbalet Cup Dallas
Best map: de_train
Most notable stats: 2nd best DPR (0.58), best player on de_train (1.30 rating), 3rd most consistent (76% of matches above 1.00 rating)

In late 2009, Sergey "starix" Ischuk was asked to build a new Ukrainian top team that would be capable of competing with the world's best. As we all know by now, he did a flawless job, putting together five great individual players who became even better as a team. Ischuk was the only one in the new lineup who really had any notable international success in the past, as he finished 3rd at WCG 2007 with Amazing Gaming, although despite that he wasn't considered a star player in the international waters. During 2010 he brought his game to the next level, perhaps even more than his teammates did, and undoubtedly became one of the best players in the world.

Ischuk wasn't considered a star at the beginning

Already in his first event in 2010, the IEM4 European Championship Finals, Ischuk announced that he will be someone the audience should keep an eye on in the future. Even though his team, with the name KerchNET, finished only 5th, Ischuk was the 7th best rated player of the event with a great 1.17 rating. He achieved that thanks to being the key man for his team on several occasion. Firstly, during one of the biggest comebacks of the year, as KerchNET managed to make up for being down 3-13 against mTw by winning all the remaining rounds and taking the match 17-13, Ischuk was leading the charge in the second half with a 22-5 score. After that, he led his team to two more victories, with man-of-the-match performances against Alternate in the group stage and mousesports in the first map of their relegation match.

During his team's first title-winning campaign at Arbalet Cup Asia in Kazakhstan, Ischuk wasn't that instrumental, only being the team's 4th best player, but also the 7th best at the event with a solid 1.09 rating.

A month later, Na´Vi conquered the world in Germany at IEM4 World Championship, although Ischuk displayed just an average performance with a 1.01 rating. He didn't help his team's cause much, but he still ended up breaking even so he didn't disappoint either.

At their next event, Arbalet Cup Best of Four on home turf in Kiev, Na´Vi retained their title of the best in the world leaving behind SK Gaming and fnatic. Ischuk was solid with a 1.07 rating, although never excelling but playing well in almost every match.

Arbalet Cup Europe followed in Sweden, and it was the only event during the year where Na´Vi lost the final, as fnatic got the better of them after three maps. Ischuk played excellent in this tournament, although still as the team's 3rd best with a 1.16 rating, but he continued showing consistency with 8 of 11 maps rated above 1.00. We also saw one of his highlight rounds of the year during this tournament, as he recorded an impressive ace against forZe:

Ischuk's deagle/AK47 ace against forZe at Arbalet Europe

Turning point for Ischuk in June

In June, Na´Vi came to Sweden again, this time for DreamHack Summer, where they were stopped already in the quarter-final after losing two close maps to SK. This tournament marked the turning point in the form of Ischuk, as he took his game to the next level, from being consistently good to being consistently great. Despite his team's early exit, he recorded an impressive 1.29 rating after playing well in each of his 5 maps, while being his team's best player in 4 of them. Especially notable is his performance against SK in the 2nd map of the quarter-final, as he kept Na´Vi in the game on several occasions, especially in overtime, and ended up being the top rated player despite his team's 20-22 loss.

The next tournament for Na´Vi was ESWC in Paris, France. After a tough fight in the second group stage and two losses against home teams BURNING and Fair Frag, they entered the playoffs and moved past fnatic, mTw and in the end SK Gaming to snatch the gold. Ischuk continued with impressive form, recording a 1.21 rating (3rd in his team, 9th best at the event) while being rated above 1.00 in 11 of 12 maps, as well as winning 7 clutch rounds (1vsX situations) for his team. His best performance was in the 3rd map of the semi-final, when he was heavily involved in his team's 16-1 crushing of mTw.

The next trip for Na´Vi was their first one across Atlantic, as they attended Arbalet Cup Dallas. Ischuk exploded there and displayed one of the best tournament-performances that we saw all year. He started out impressing in the group stage against a lower-level domestic team eXult, putting up a 38-5 score. He continued in the playoffs, being top rated in both overtime wins against mTw in the quarter-final, having scores 38-26 and 39-27. In the semi-final against EG, he was even better and once again top rated overall (1.52 rating in 3 maps), while he had his best match of the year in the second map, with a 27-5 score (2.42 rating). In the final he continued being the best player during both maps, with 30-20 and 24-13 scores and leading them to another big trophy. He finished the tournament with an incredible 1.42 rating, after having kill-death difference of +10 or better in 10 of his 12 maps (match history at Arbalet Dallas). In addition to that he won 11 clutch rounds, so in the end it was not even the smallest surprise that he was named the Best Player of the tournament, and he established himself as one of the very best in the world following this performance.

Ischuk's 4 awp kills in the semi-final against EG

At GameGune only a few days later, Na´Vi and Ischuk weren't on the same level, but they still finished 3rd and he still continued with great performances. He had a rating above 1.00 in 7 of 8 matches (1.22 overall), although he was only the 3rd best in his team this time.

Their first trip to China followed as they took part in IEM5 Global Challenge Shanghai. Ischuk was back to being his team's best player while Natus Vincere finished in another 3rd place. He once more displayed great consistency, playing well in 7 of 8 maps, while being top rated in 4 of them. His best and most important performance came in the match for 3rd place against TyLoo, as he recorded a 32-15 score in Na´Vi's close 16-13 1st map win.

Ischuk also played for the Ukrainian national team during ASUS ENC online stage as well as at the LAN Finals in Cologne. He didn't stand out much during the online stage, but he was his team's best player in the semi-final encounter against Russia, having a 1.20 rating in their 3-map clash. Overall in the competition he finished with a modest 1.05 rating.

At a domestic tournament at the end of August, ASUS Summer, Na´Vi finished third while Ischuk had an average display, recording a 1.06 rating without any mention-worthy performances.

Another big tournament followed one month later, and the Ukrainians headed to United States once more, this time to compete at the World Cyber Games. They crossed all of their obstacles and finished in 1st place once again, re-affirming their spot at the top of the world. Ischuk was one of the best players at the tournament, finishing with a rating of 1.28, second best rated in his team. His best performance was against Lions in the first round of the playoffs, when he recorded a 24-5 score in Na´Vi's 16-2 second map win.

Na´Vi visited China again in November, this time attending WEM. They finished in a disappointing 4th place, while Ischuk had his worst rating of the year (0.99), although he was rated above 1.00 in 3 of his 4 matches.

At the IEM5 European Championship which took place online as a qualifier for the LAN Finals in Kiev, Na´Vi won their group without problems. Ischuk was very good overall with a 1.20 rating, especially in the match against Power Gaming when he put up a 27-8 score during a 16-4 win.

At the last big LAN tournament of the year, DreamHack Winter, Na´Vi walked away with another trophy for 1st place, while Ischuk received his second award for the best player of a tournament during 2010. He was again the epitome of consistency, rated above 1.00 in 10 of 11 maps, while he showed his best when it mattered the most – in the final. He played amazingly against mTw at the very end of the tournament, recording a 1.74 rating overall in the two maps of the final, with scores of 26-10 and 32-15 and claiming the MVP award after that.

An all-round player

Even during the first few months of the year, when he didn't show particularly impressive form, Ischuk played consistently well. But ever since DreamHack Summer, he improved largely and became one of the best players in the world, recording a rating of at least 1.20 in 7 of the last 8 major tournaments in the year.

Ischuk impressed in basically every statistical category, making him one of the best all-round players in the world:

• 2nd least deaths per round (0.58), making him one of the hardest to kill in the world
• 3rd most consistent with 76% of matches rated above 1.00
• 2nd best in pistol-rounds, just behind his teammate Sukhariev with 1.38 pistol-round rating
• 8th best entry fragger
• displayed impressive ability to win 1vsX rounds (won 7 of them at ESWC, 11 at Arbalet Dallas and 7 at DreamHack Winter)
• best rated player on de_train (1.30 rating)
• 9th most kills with the AWP (291), although he didn't use it too often (0.08 awpKPR, only 11% of his kills)

He collected twelve medals, or rather finishes in one of the top three places in tournaments during 2010, making him one of the 3 most successful players in the year (along with his teammates Markelov and Sukhariev who also have silver medals from ASUS ENC). He was named the Best Player of Arbalet Cup Dallas and the MVP of DreamHack Winter. His performance at the tournament in Dallas was one of the most exceptional we had a chance to witness in the last year, along with Danny "zonic" Sørensen's display at DreamHack Summer and Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg's performance at GameGune.

As important to Na´Vi as his teammate Sukhariev, it was hard to put either of them in front of the other, but Ischuk gets the advantage due to being more consistent throughout the year, as well as being more dominant during his best tournaments Arbalet Dallas and DreamHack Winter.

Recommended demos of Sergey "starix" Ischuk in 2010:

Opponent	Map	Event	Score	Demo
mTw	train	IEM4 Eu Finals (Group stage)	28-19	POV
Alternate	dust2	IEM4 Eu Finals (Group stage)	24-15	HLTV
mousesports	dust2	IEM4 Eu Finals (Relegation, map 1)	25-15	POV
TyLoo	train	Arbalet Asia (Semi-final, map 3)	23-12	HLTV
anytime	train	DH Summer (Group stage)	25-13	HLTV
SK	tuscan	DH Summer (Quarter-final, map 2)	36-28	HLTV
Playzone	dust2	ESWC (Group stage #2)	26-21	POV
fnatic	train	ESWC (Quarter-final, map 1)	24-16	POV
mTw	train	ESWC (Semi-final, map 3)	18-5	POV
eXult	nuke	Arbalet Dallas (Group stage #1)	38-5	POV
mTw	dust2	Arbalet Dallas (Quarter-final, map 1)	38-26	HLTV
mTw	tuscan	Arbalet Dallas (Quarter-final, map 2)	39-27	HLTV
EG	train	Arbalet Dallas (Semi-final, map 2)	27-5	POV
EG	inferno	Arbalet Dallas (Semi-final, map 3)	21-7	POV
mousesports	dust2	Arbalet Dallas (Final, map 1)	30-20	POV
mousesports	inferno	Arbalet Dallas (Final, map 2)	24-13	POV
9ez	tuscan	IEM5 GC Shanghai (Group stage)	26-12	HLTV
TyLoo	inferno	IEM5 GC Shanghai (3rd place, map 1)	32-15	HLTV
Russia	inferno	ASUS ENC (Semi-final, map 1)	24-14	HLTV
Lions	inferno	WCG (1/8 final, map 2)	24-5	HLTV
Power	train	IEM5 European Championship	27-8	POV
mTw	inferno	DH Winter (Final, map 1)	26-10	HLTV
mTw	train	DH Winter (Final, map 2)	32-15	HLTV

If you missed our previous article about Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev 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 Sergey "starix" Ischuk in 2010? Does he deserve a place in the Top 4? 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 3 tomorrow.