IEM5 World C'ship: Top Players

IEM5 World Championship ended a few days ago, and just like last season, Na´Vi came out on top. But let's now take a look at individual performances and see which players were the stars of this major event. Also, we will once more conduct a vote for MVP and All-Star lineup of the tournament, so make sure to have your voice heard.

The fifth season of ESL's Intel Extreme Masters has come to an end last weekend. The 12 teams from all around the world who managed to qualify throughout long online and offline competitions met in the one of the biggest events of the year, IEM5 World Championship during CeBIT in Hannover, Germany.

After 5 days of intense battles we saw the Ukrainians Natus Vincere lift up the trophy for the second season in a row after defeating Frag eXecutors in the final. 45 maps were played overall and we saw 60 players take part, so now it is time to look back at the best performers and pick out the Most Valuable Player and the All-Star lineup of the tournament.

Best rated players

14) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Danylo 'Zeus' Teslenko Na´Vi 0.68 0.66 1.02

2 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.56 vs EG (Group stage, inferno)

Na´Vi won their 8th international title since forming the team in the end of 2009, in what was their 9th final. Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko, the team's captain and in-game leader, was one of the most deserving for such success in most important matches during last year. In addition to preparing the team tactically and making the right calls during the game, which he did brilliantly once more, he excelled by being top rated in the first map and shared-best overall with a 1.33 rating in their clash for the trophy against Frag eXecutors.

However, during the earlier parts of the tournament, he didn't excel much, with the exception of the team's first match, against EG, when he led the scoreboard with a 25-14 score.

13) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Jakub 'kuben' Gurczynski Frag eXecutors 0.68 0.60 1.05

1 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.87 vs SK (Semi-final, dust2)

Frag eXecutors made it one to the final of a major event for the first time since August 2010 when they won e-Stars. They were unable to win in the end, but they still made it one step further than during the IEM5 European Finals two months ago. This time only two of their players stood out, first of which is Jakub "kuben" Gurczynski.

Gurczynski has certainly been in great form at the start of this year, as he put in a great performance in the previous tournament in Kiev too when he had an excellent 1.13 rating (8th best of all players, 3rd best of his team).

He once again excelled, especially in the knockout stage of the tournament, having the 4th best playoff-rating (1.18). His biggest impact was in the very close semi-final battle with SK Gaming (best rated during the 3 maps with 1.31), especially in the deciding 3rd map when, along with having some crucial plays, he recorded an impressive 34-14 score in a 16-14 win. He was also the one who put up the most resistance against Na´Vi in the final (1.06 rating, highlight from that match) and he played well against fnatic in the quarter-final (1.11 rating, including this highlight in the first round of the match).

Also, just like in his previous tournament, Gurczynski was one of the hardest players to kill, sharing the 2nd least 0.60 deaths per round. He was excellent on the Counter-Terrorist side, having the 2nd best CT-rating of 1.30.

12) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Harley 'dsn' Örwall fnatic 0.75 0.68 1.06

0 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.53 vs Na´Vi  (Group stage, dust2)

fnatic didn't repeat their success from Kiev where they surprised everyone by winning the event with their new lineup, this time ending their campaign in the quarter-final. But one of the constants throughout the two tournaments for them has been their longest standing member, Harley "dsn" Örwall.

He was fnatic's best player throughout the group stage, playing well in every match, which helped them secure a spot in the playoffs. Örwall also ended up being the 2nd best entry killer of the event.

11) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Danny 'zonic' Sørensen mTw 0.73 0.62 1.08

0 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.90 vs TCM (Group stage, train)

mTw was statistically the best team at IEM5 World Championship, as they dominated most of their group stage matches and later put up a very solid performance in the playoffs. They endured a close semi-final loss to Na`Vi, which only left them with the 3rd place medals after beating SK Gaming in their last match.

One of their key players was Danny "zonic" Sørensen, who somewhat improved his form compared to the European Finals. He rarely excelled, but he put up a good fight in almost every match, even when his team was losing. In the end he was one of the players who won the most clutch rounds at this tournament (5, including 3 times 1vs2 and a 1vs3) and was the 4th best entry killer of the event, which normally isn't his main job in the team.

10) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Sergey 'starix' Ischuk Na´Vi 0.70 0.60 1.08

1 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.70 vs redCode (Group stage, dust2)

The 4th best player in 2010, Sergey "starix" Ischuk, still hasn't found his form from the second half of last year when he was named the MVP of two major tournaments (Arbalet Dallas and DH Winter), but he was once again a big reason for his team's success.

Ischuk played very well in the group stage, particularly in his team's 3 wins (against EG, redCode and fnatic) which sent them to the playoffs. He didn't disappoint later on either, having some key rounds in key moments, such as winning two 1vs2 situations in the second map of the final. Ischuk was also, as we are used to from last year, one of the players with the lowest amount of deaths per round, sharing the 2nd best 0.60.

9) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Johan 'face' Klasson SK 0.72 0.60 1.10

1 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.60 vs Frag eXecutors (Semi-final, nuke)

Another one of the members of our Top 20 list from last year, Johan "face" Klasson, stepped up during this tournament and helped SK get to the playoffs for the first time with their new lineup.

Klasson wasn't always playing great during the tournament, but when he did, he was crucial. He especially excelled in the group stage draw against Na`Vi, which caused us to reminisce about his previous match against the same opponent at WEM 2010, when he almost singlehandedly turned the score around to his team favor. He also had an excellent performance during the semi-final loss against Frag eXecutors (team's best with 1.07 rating during the 3 maps), particularly doing well in the 2nd map with a 29-15 score. Additionaly, during his last map of the tournament, against mTw in the 3rd place decider, he recorded this highlight round. Klasson was also the 5th best entry fragger of the event and he was one of the hardest to kill with 0.60 deaths per round.

8) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Marcus 'Delpan' Larsson fnatic 0.73 0.64 1.10

0 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.38 vs Lions (Group stage, nuke)

The best awper of the European Finals, fnatic's Marcus "Delpan" Larsson, was in similar form in Hannover and was on this occasion his team's best player overall.

His AWP was once again impessive, and he showed it both during the group stage and in their only knockout stage match against Frag eXecutors. In that quarter-final encounter, Larsson recorded 19 kills with the big green during the first map, the most by any player at any (non-overtime) match at this tournament. Although not as successful as in Kiev, being the 5th best awper this time, he had an excellent 0.26 awpKPR. Also, interestingly he had the best Terrorist-side rating of 1.18, which is quite impressive for an awper.

7) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Oliver 'minet' Minet mTw 0.76 0.62 1.13

1 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.71 vs UMX (Group stage, train)

One of the players who is showing the most signs of improvement at the beginning of the year is mTw's Oliver "minet" Minet, as after being the team's best of the rest at the European Finals, he played even better this time around.

Minet was one of the most consistent players at the event with the rating above 1.00 in 8 of 11 maps. He was his team's best player in both of their playoff matches, with a 1.06 overall rating in the semi-final against Na´Vi and 1.09 against SK in the 3rd place decider. He was also the best clutcher of the event with 6 clutch rounds won (3x 1vs1, 2x 1vs2, 1x 1vs3).

6) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Yegor 'markeloff' Markelov Na´Vi 0.76 0.60 1.13

2 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.68 vs coL (Quarter- final, train)

The most consistent player of 2010, Yegor "markeloff" Markelov showed the same consistency once more, never disappointing and having a rating above 1.00 in 10 of 12 maps. During the last year he was the best awper too, and that title also belonged to him at this tournament. With his favorite weapon, Markelov recorded a very impressive 0.37 kills per round (116 total, by far the most), while recording at least 10 kills with it in 8 of his 12 maps.

His best matches were in the playoffs, in the second map of the quarter-final against compLexity (20-6) and the first map of the semi-final against mTw (26-17). Also, in the first map of the final against Frag eXecutors he had his best awp performance with 18 kills.

Furthermore, Markelov was very successful in pistol rounds and as an entry fragger, recording the 5th best pistol-round rating (1.44), and 8th best entry-kill rating (1.13). Per usual he was also one of the hardest to kill, sharing the 2nd best 0.60 deaths per round with several other players.

5) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Martin 'trace' Heldt mTw 0.78 0.59 1.18

3 x MotM, Highest rating: 2.65 vs TCM (Group stage, train)

mTw's first star and overall the 3rd best player of 2010, Martin "trace" Heldt again ended up as one of the top rated players at the event, after being 2nd best at the European Finals.

He had an incredible start of the tournament, recording a 1.51 rating during the group stage, what was the main reason for his team's dominant performance that secured them a direct passage to the semi-final. His display against TCM was the best individual performance of the tournament, as he recorded an unbelievable 2.65 rating. In comparison to that, he slightly disappointed later on, but still had some important moments in their fight for 3rd place and he finished the event with an excellent 1.18 rating.

Heldt has also been impressive with the AWP lately since Christoffer "Sunde" Sunde was removed from the team, and in this event he finished as 2nd most successful with the big green (0.27 awpKPR). He was also the 4th best pistol round player (highlight from one of those), 6th best entry fragger, had the 5th most kills per round (0.78), the best DPR (0.59) and was great in clutch situations (won 3x 1vs1 and 3x 1vs2).

4) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Ioan 'Edward' Sukhariev Na´Vi 0.78 0.60 1.19

3 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.78 vs fnatic (Group stage, dust2)

Similar to last season at IEM4 World Championship, the best rated player from the winning team Na´Vi was Ioan "Edward" Sukhariev.

He hasn't been in the best shape prior to this tornament and after his unimpressive start in the group stage, it didn't seem like he is back yet. But, he stepped up impressively, starting with the last and deciding group stage match against fnatic when he recorded his best rating of the event (1.78). After that, he didn't have a single bad performance, and furthermore was by far best rated during the knockout stages (1.27 playoff-rating). He was top rated overall in each of his team's playoff matchups, the quarter-final against coL (1.34), semi-final versus mTw (1.18) and shared best-rated in the final against Fx (1.33, take a look at this highlight of his in that match). Looking at it more closely, his three best individual performances were in the last maps of each of those encounters, meaning he always stepped up when it was most needed.

Sukhariev was one of the best fraggers of the tournament with a KPR of 0.78 (4th best) and was one of the players who were hardest to kill with a 0.60 DPR.

3) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo compLexity 0.83 0.63 1.21

2 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.97 vs mTw (Group stage, nuke)

After showing signs of his skill at ESWC and WCG last year, the latest Brazilian superstar Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo went full out in this tournament and showed us his best performance at a major event until now. However, that wasn't enough for some more notable success, as compLexity got knocked out in the quarter-final.

Toledo was the player who carried his team the most at this tournament, with a rating 25% better than his team's average. His best performance was in his team's key match at the end of group stage against mTw, when he recorded a 1.97 rating. He was also the only bright spot in his team against Na´Vi in the quarter-final, while doing some amazing work with the AWP.

He ended up as the shared 2nd best awper of the tournament with an excellent 0.27 awpKPR. In addition to that he was the 2nd best fragger overall with a great 0.83 KPR and was by far the best entry fragger of the tournament, which certainly brought his team many rounds.

2) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Filip 'Neo' Kubski Frag eXecutors 0.80 0.62 1.21

5 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.93 vs Moscow Five  (Group stage, inferno)

Filip "Neo" Kubski was the best rated player at his previous tournament in Kiev when Frag eXecutors finished 3rd, and the MVP title slipped from his hands. He continued with impressive form, this time as the 2nd best rated player at IEM5 World Championship.

Kubski was 17% better than his team's average and was top rated on 5 occasions, more than any other player. He played excellent in several matches of the group stage, as well as later when he showed an amazing performance in the quarter-final against fnatic (1.41 rating in 2 maps, including two amazing rounds - highlight #1 and highlight #2). He also did great in the semi-final against SK (1.15 rating), especially in the 3rd map where he brought out the AWP and had 12 kills with it to help his team to a close 16-14 win. In the final he wasn't on the same level, but he still had some great rounds, including this highlight.

He ended up having a 1.17 playoff-rating (5th best) and was the 6th best awper of the tournament (0.15 awpKPR). Kubski was also amazing in pistol rounds with a 1.57 rating (2nd) and did great as an entry killer (7th best; in the first map against fnatic he opened up 8 rounds with the first kill, more than any other player in any other match). He also won 6 clutch rounds for his team (5x 1vs1, 1x 1vs3) and had the 3rd best KPR (0.80).

1) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund SK 0.84 0.64 1.23

3 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.62 vs mTw (3rd place decider, inferno)

In his first tournament with the new team a few months ago, Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund didn't have much success, dropping out already in group stage. This time SK Gaming played with a stand-in, but nevertheless managed to improve and started out by topping their group. However, after that they lost to Fx in the semi-final and then to mTw in the 3rd place decider.

Despite the team's average record in the end (5 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses), Alesund managed to be the event's best rated player. Just like throughout most of last year when he was one of the most consistent players, he practically didn't have any bad performances and was top rated on 3 occasions. His best match was the 3rd place decider against mTw, where he put up amazing numbers, especially in the 3rd map with a 55-36 score despite the team's 24-26 loss. He finished that match with an impressive 1.42 rating in 3 maps and was surely not the reason for not getting the medals in the end. He also excelled in the group stage, which helped his team secure the direct spot in the semi-final.

Alesund was overall the best fragger of the event with a 0.84 KPR and the most total kills (260). He also performed well in pistol rounds (7th best) and was the player who carried his team the most after coL's Toledo, having 19% better rating than his team. He was also the strongest CT-side player at the tournament with a 1.33 CT-rating.

Note: This ranking is based on Rating (read about it here). It doesn't necessarily represent an ordered list of the best players at the event, but instead singles out the ones who played well in their matches using the formula described in the page linked above.

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Top Awpers

#	Player	Team	awp Kills	awpKPR	% of kills
1.	Yegor 'markeloff' Markelov	Na´Vi	116	0.37	49%
2.	Martin 'trace' Heldt	mTw	73	0.27	34%
3.	Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo	coL	43	0.27	33%
4.	Jarosław 'pasha' Jarząbkowski	Fx	81	0.26	40%
5.	Marcus 'Delpan' Larsson	fnatic	44	0.26	35%

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Top Pistol Round players

#	Player	Team	PR KPR	PR DPR	PR Rating
1.	Bruno 'bruno' Ono	coL	1.07	0.43	1.63
2.	Filip 'Neo' Kubski	Fx	1.04	0.67	1.57
3.	Renato 'nak' Nakano	coL	1.00	0.50	1.55
4.	Martin 'trace' Heldt	mTw	1.00	0.68	1.45
5.	Yegor 'markeloff' Markelov	Na´Vi	1.00	0.58	1.44

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Top Entry-kill players

#	Player	Team	EKpR	EDpR	EK-Rating	Won%
1.	Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo	coL	0.17	0.09	1.43	64%
2.	Harley 'dsn' Örwall	fnatic	0.13	0.08	1.27	63%
3.	Faruk 'pita' Pita	fnatic	0.12	0.07	1.25	65%
4.	Danny 'zonic' Sørensen	mTw	0.12	0.07	1.24	63%
5.	Johan 'face' Klasson	SK	0.11	0.08	1.16	58%

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Honorable mentions

Several players from teams who didn't make it through the group stage excelled and deserve to have their performances recognized. Firstly, Moscow Five's Eduard "ed1k" Ivanov had a really impressive showing, recording a 1.19 rating, which was an amazing 41% better than his team's.

The Americans Evil Geniuses had a tough time in the group of death in which they finished on 5th spot and didn't qualify for the playoffs. However, despite of recording only one win, their member Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert impressed, especially against redCode when he almost singlehandedly won the match (score 29-8) and recorded a couple of incredible rounds (highlight #1 and highlight #2). In the 5 matches he played, Gilbert was also amazing in pistol rounds (2.20 rating) and as an entry killer (1.31 entry kill rating).

Lions' latest addition Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl also stepped up on several occasions, but it wasn't enough for his team to make it through. His performances in wins against Na´Vi and especially EG made him stand out, while he also did great as an entry killer with a 1.32 EK-rating.

MVP and All-Star lineup vote

It was hard to decide who to nominate and who not to nominate for the MVP award, but it ended up being 5 players. From the winners Natus Vincere, two players stood out more than the others throughout the entire tournament – Ioan "Edward" Sukhariev and Yegor "markeloff" Markelov.

The second placed Frag eXecutors were constantly led by Filip "Neo" Kubski, while the best player from 3rd place finishers mTw was Martin "trace" Heldt. We also had to include the best fragger and best rated player of the event, SK's Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund.

Na´Vi's Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko was by many considered the best player in the final, but he didn't play on the same level in the earlier parts of the tournament. At the same time, compLexity's Toledo played excellent in most of his matches, but it didn't help his team much as they finished 5-6th. Therefore, these two were omitted from the MVP nominations.

So, weigh your choices carefully between these 5 nominees and chose the Most Valuable Player of this tournament in your opinion. Also, we would like to remind you that we will be making a highlight movie with the winner's best frags after the results are known.

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We will also be choosing the All-Star lineup of this tournament, so go ahead and select the 5 best players in your opinion. Whether you want it to be a realistic squad where each player would have a role or simply the 5 best performers is up to you.

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Just like during our previous two votes, we will be having a separate poll for "experts" only, which will later together with the public poll decide the outcome of the vote. The experts will consist of players who took part in this tournament, as well as journalists from other websites which covered the tournament.

We will be announcing the results later this week after we've gathered enough votes, so stay tuned to HLTV.org to see who is the MVP of IEM5 World Championship and who will be in the All-Star lineup.