Martin "trace" Heldt had an incredible year individually and he was at the center of every major success that his team achieved during 2010. Therefore, mTw's star player is placed 3rd on our Top 20 players of 2010 list.

Basic information

Player: Martin "trace" Heldt
Team: mTw
Age: 21

Team achievements in 2010:

1st - DreamHack Summer, EPS Nordic II, EPS Nordic III, Cph Games
2nd - WCG, DreamHack Winter, SEC, fnatic PLAY BEAT IT finals
3rd - ESWC, Arbalet Cup Europe, ASUS ENC

Stats from major LAN tournaments in 2010:

Kills per round: 0.82
Deaths per round: 0.59
Rating: 1.24 (?)
Maps played: 100
MoM: 27 times top rated in a match
Best tournament: DreamHack Summer
Best map: de_nuke
Most notable stat: 2nd best rating (1.24), best entry fragger, best player on de_nuke (1.38 rating)

Martin "trace" Heldt joined mTw in September of 2009 as a replacement for Jonas "whimp" Svendsen. After another lineup change, mTw finished the year rather successfully with a 3rd place at WCG and two second places at DreamHack Winter and Arbalet Cup Europe. Heldt was the Danish team's best player at each of these tournaments, which made many already consider him one of the best in the world, even though he was only playing at the top for a few months. During 2010 he needed to prove his worth and he completely justified and perhaps even surpassed the expectations.

The best in mTw from the start

Just like for many other teams and players, the first event of 2010 for Heldt and mTw was IEM4 European Championship Finals in Brühl. However, they attended the tournament with a stand-in and ended up with 2 wins and 3 losses in their group, not enough to make it to the playoffs. Heldt himself continued with his form from 2009 and was the team's best player with a very good 1.15 rating (8th best at the event). He especially excelled in the close match for 7th place against MYM, when he posted 36-18 and 33-16 scores in his team's 21-17 and 16-13 victories, respectively.

At the IEM4 World Championship, mTw appeared with their full lineup, but that did not bring improvement as they lost 4 of their group stage matches. Heldt put up a good fight in some matches, but still ended up having his worst tournament of the year with a 0.97 rating, even though he was the second best in his team.

The next big tournament for the Danes was Arbalet Cup Europe which took place in Stockholm, Sweden. They finished in 3rd place after an unconvincing campaign where they lost two matches in the second group stage, but still grabbed the playoff spot. Heldt was mTw's best player on their road to their first medals of the year, recording a 1.11 rating (6th best of the tournament). His brightest performance came in their decisive match for 3rd place against Ukrainian side PinG when he was the best overall in the 2 maps with a 1.54 rating.

A month later, again in Sweden, this time taking part in DreamHack Summer, mTw went two steps further and won their only international title in 2010. The award for MVP of the tournament was given to mTw's Danny "zonic" Sørensen, but Heldt was practically equally impressive as his teammate, recording an unbelievable 1.52 rating. He played incredibly well in practically every match, recording ratings above 1.50 in 7 of his 9 maps, but most importantly he did it in their most decisive clashes. His best performance was against SK in the semi-final when he had an impressive 1.76 rating overall in the two maps, as well as in the first map of the final against H2k in which he was top rated with a 28-14 score. He was also extremely successful in clutch situations, winning 10 rounds when he was left 1vsX.

Shortly after that, ESWC followed in France, where mTw continued with great play, even though they were stopped in the semi-final by Na`Vi and they had to settle for a 3rd place finish in the end. Heldt continued with excellent form, recording a 1.27 rating, third best at the event. His best performance was against k1ck in the first group stage, when he had one of his best matches of the year with a 42-13 score. He also excelled in the quarter-final clash against FireGamers and later in the 3rd place match against Frag eXecutors.

Heldt showing his clutchness by winning a 1vs3 pistol round at ESWC

Upon their return from ESWC, mTw took part in the fnatic PLAY BEAT IT finals online tournament, where they finished in 2nd place, behind their opponents from DreamHack Summer final, H2k. Heldt once again ended up as his team's best rated player, although this time he didn't excel in the latter stages of the tournament. In his first few matches, he recorded a couple of impressive performances, against Lithuanian team iNey having a 35-11 score and against Swedish mix-team AgatoN 35-16.

That tournament served as a preparation for Arbalet Cup in Dallas, where the Danes traveled to next. Once again their only loss in the tournament came against Na`Vi, this time in the quarter-final, so they had to settle for a 5-6th place. Heldt had another impressive showing, finishing as the top rated player of the event with a 1.44 rating. He played consistently well, rated above 1.00 in 8 of 9 matches, including what was probably his best showing in the year when he had a 2.55 rating in the match against BURNING to determine 5-8th placement. Apart from that, he also played well in his team's quarter-final match against Na`Vi, during which he won 6 clutch rounds, 2 of which were especially significant in the second map when he brought his team into overtime.

From May to August, Heldt also played for the Danish national team in ASUS ENC, which he led to bronze medals as their best rated player and the 2nd best rated of the event. Apart from playing great throughout the competition, he also had several exquisite performances, namely against Germany with 30-9 score in a 16-4 second map win, and also against Poland with a 26-9 score in the relegation match that brought his team to the LAN Finals.

At Samsung Euro Championship in Berlin, mTw finished 2nd behind SK, while Heldt did not excel, although he was still quite solid with a 1.12 rating and he had one of his highlight rounds of the year.

Pistol-round ace by trace against TeG at SEC

The Danes also managed to end up victorious in EPS Nordic II, as they finished their postponed final match against fnatic at the end of September. Heldt was the 4th best rated player of the league and the best from his team with an excellent 1.19 rating. He particularly stood out in a couple of matches of the regular season, firstly against SK when he had a 26-10 score during a 16-8 win, and later in a 16-2 win against Norwegian squad Lions when he had his second best rating of the year of 2.51 with a 26-5 score.

mTw traveled to United States once more after Arbalet Cup Dallas, and this time they took part in World Cyber Games. After strolling through the playoffs all the way to the final, they were again held up by the Ukrainians Na`Vi after a very close match, having to settle for the 2nd place in one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year. Heldt had another great tournament overall, finishing with a 1.22 rating, a very close second in his team. He showed his best during the first round of playoffs against Romanians Earthquake and also in the quarter-final clash against Evil Geniuses.

A nice 4-kill round by Heldt at WCG group stage match against K29

A few weeks later, on their home turf in Denmark, mTw took part in DSRack LAN #3 followed by Komplett Gamer Challenge #2. They were knocked out of both tournaments by their domestic rivals Full-Gaming, firstly in the semi-final of DSRack, after which they finished 4th due to losing to Lions in the 3rd place decider, while Heldt had a solid tournament with a 1.15 rating. At KGC #2, mTw per expectations reached the final of the Danish playoff, but were again stopped by Full-Gaming after a very close encounter. Heldt himself had an impressive run of form, playing well in each of his team's 6 maps, especially during the first map against Full-Gaming, as he posted an incredible 41-22 score while his team was defeated 16-19. He finished as the top rated player of the tournament with an excellent 1.35 rating.

A lineup change followed in mTw, as they decided to bring in their long-term rival Timm "ArcadioN" Henriksen. In November, they successfully finished with their online stages of EPS Nordic III and IEM5 European Championship, qualifying for the LAN Finals of both. In IEM5, Heldt played well in almost every match, finishing with a great 1.24 rating, even though he was only the 3rd best in his team. The LAN Finals of EPS Nordic III were held at the end of November and mTw once against finished as the best Scandinavian team, defeating Lions in the final. Heldt was, just like in season II, the top rated player from his team with a 1.24 rating, and he could probably be called the MVP of the league as he played well in practically each match.

At the last tournament of the year, DreamHack Winter, mTw once again ended up facing Na`Vi in the final, and once again losing to the Ukrainians. Heldt had a great tournament as his team's best player and overall 3rd best rated at the event (1.25 rating), shining on several different occasions. The first time was in the first round of the playoffs against Full-Gaming, when he posted an amazing 26-4 score. After that he excelled in the second map of the semi-final against Lions, having a 30-13 score in a 16-12 win. Lastly, he put up a great fight against Na`Vi in the final, recording a 28-17 score even though his team lost 11-16 in the 2nd map.

Confirmed what the end of 2009 suggested

At the end of 2009 it seemed that Martin "trace" Heldt had what it takes to be one of the world's best players and he proved that to be true during 2010. He was the focal point of practically every success of his team and was among the best players at most of the major events he attended.

Heldt recorded the 2nd best rating (1.24) of all players in major LAN tournaments during 2010, largely thanks to having the 2nd best KPR (0.82), but also being one of the hardest to kill with 3rd least deaths per round (0.59). Very significant as well is that Heldt was the best entry fragger, and at the same time one of the most clutch players, which he showed at several tournaments (10 1vsX rounds won at DreamHack Summer, 12 at Arbalet Dallas, 6 at DreamHack Winter).

His only major title of the year was DreamHack Summer, where he performed admirably and where he had the 2nd best rating by any player at any tournament last year, putting up an MVP-worthy performance. He also finished 2nd at WCG and DreamHack Winter, as well as 3rd at ESWC. In all of those tournaments, he recorded excellent ratings above 1.20, while he also had an incredible performance at Arbalet Cup Dallas.

As a part of the "big six" of 2010, he was placed 3rd above Ischuk, Sukhariev and Lindberg due to carrying his team the most out of them, also having the 2nd best rating overall, as well as being the best entry fragger in the world and one of the best clutchers.

Recommended demos of Martin "trace" Heldt 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
MYM	train	IEM4 Eu Finals (7th place, map 1)	36-18	POV
MYM	dust2	IEM4 Eu Finals (7th place, map 2)	33-16	POV
SK	tuscan	EPS Nordic II	26-10	POV
PinG	dust2	Arbalet Europe (3rd place, map 2)	22-9	HLTV
Lions	train	EPS Nordic II	26-5	POV
SK	dust2	DH Summer (Semi-final, map 1)	27-12	HLTV
SK	nuke	DH Summer (Semi-final, map 2)	24-10	HLTV
H2k	train	DH Summer (Final, map 1)	28-14	HLTV
Germany	nuke	ASUS ENC (Group stage, map 2)	30-9	HLTV
k1ck	dust2	ESWC (Group stage #1)	42-13	HLTV
FireGamers	train	ESWC (Quarter-final, map 2)	22-9	POV
Fx	train	ESWC (3rd place, map 2)	24-12	POV
Poland	nuke	ASUS ENC (Relegation, map 2)	26-9	HLTV
iNey	train	fnatic PLAY (1/16 final, map 1)	35-11	HLTV
AgatoN	train	fnatic PLAY (1/8 final, map 3)	35-16	HLTV
TAU	train	Arbalet Dallas (Group stage #1)	34-9	HLTV
Lions	nuke	Arbalet Dallas (Group stage #2)	32-14	POV
Finesse	tuscan	Arbalet Dallas (Group stage #2)	34-14	POV
Na`Vi	tuscan	Arbalet Dallas (Quarter-final, map 2)	35-30	HLTV
BURNING	nuke	Arbalet Dallas (5-8th decider)	28-6	HLTV
Earthquake	train	WCG (1/8 final, map 2)	25-7	HLTV
Full-Gaming	inferno	KGC #2 (Danish playoff final, map 1)	41-22	HLTV
plan-B	tuscan	IEM5 European Championship	21-6	POV
fnatic	train	EPS Nordic III (Semi-final, map 1)	22-8	HLTV
Full-Gaming	nuke	DH Winter (1/8 final, map 1)	26-4	HLTV
Lions	nuke	DH Winter (Semi-final, map 2)	30-13	HLTV
Na`Vi	train	DH Winter (Final, map 2)	28-17	HLTV

If you missed our previous article about Sergey "starix" Ischuk 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 Martin "trace" Heldt in 2010? Does he deserve a place in the Top 3? 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 2 tomorrow.