As we enter the upper half of our list, we have another Swedish player and of the best fraggers of the year at the 10th spot. Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl donned the colors of Lions and fnatic throughout 2011 and displayed even better performances than the year before when he finished 12th on our top 20 of 2010.

Basic information

Player: Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl
Team: Lions, fnatic
Age: 22

Team achievements in 2011:

1st - DreamHack Winter, IEM6 GC Guangzhou
2nd - MSI BEAT IT Russia, Adepto BH Open, IOL FINAL4
3rd - /

Stats from major LAN tournaments in 2011:

Kills per round: 0.80
Deaths per round: 0.63
Rating: 1.18 (?)
Maps played: 63
MoM: 11 times top rated in a match
Best tournament: IEM6 GC Guangzhou
Best map: de_train
Most notable stats: 4th best fragger (0.80 kills per round), 3rd best rifler (0.66 kills per round), 8th best entry killer, 2nd best in pistol-rounds

In the last few years, Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl has surely been one of the most successful players out there, initially gaining his glory as a member of fnatic's dominating 2009 lineup. In 2010 he joined SK Gaming and became the team's best player in the short period he was there, but in July he moved back to fnatic in one of the most controversial transfers in the history of CS.

Even though fnatic recreated their 2009 lineup at that point, they weren't able to fully return to their old path, so at the end of 2010, Ståhl left the team along with Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund and Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg. The latter two ended up joining SK Gaming, where Ståhl wasn't able to follow them due to the issues surrounding his earlier transfer, so he ended up becoming a new member of Lions.

His 2010 performance overall earned him the 12th place on our top 20 ranking, and it was expected that he would lead his new team Lions to bigger success in 2011.

Starring for Lions, then returning to fnatic once again

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
IEM5 European Championship Finals (Quarter-final)	1.16 (2nd)	+12%
All-Star nomination 3rd best fragger (0.82 KPR) Best entry killer 3rd most consistent

Lions' first tournament in 2011 was IEM5 European Championship Finals in Kiev, Ukraine. They started off brilliantly, going undefeated in their group, defeating Natus Vincere and drawing with fnatic, although that wasn't enough for the top spot due to having worse round difference than their fellow Swedes. In the relegation match mTw was too strong for them, so they ended up 5-6th, but the team showed a very good performance overall and had to be satisfied with the result.

Ståhl himself had a great debut, even though he wasn't the best rated in his team he had a very good 1.16 rating. He played well in every match, was one of the best fraggers of the tournament and was the best entry killer, which resulted in his first All-Star nomination.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
IEM5 World Championship (Group stage)	1.11 (1st)	+16%
All-Star nomination

The next campaign for the Swedes was at the beginning of March at IEM5 World Championship. It didn't go as well as before, as even though they managed to defeat Natus Vincere once more, Lions lost to Koreans redCode in the last round which deprived them of a spot in the playoffs.

Despite ending the tournament after group stage, Ståhl stood out as one of the event's top players once more, getting an All-Star nomination. He was his team's best player and he particularly shined in their only two wins, versus Evil Geniuses and Natus Vincere.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
Xperia PLAY 2011 (Group stage #2)	1.29 (1st)	+18%

A month and a half later, Xperia PLAY was the next tournament where we would see Lions in action. They left disappointed once more, as a loss to Online Kingdom in the first group stage set them up for a group of death in the next stage, containing SK Gaming and fnatic. They lost to both of those rivals and were knocked out of the tournament without reaching playoffs again. Ståhl continued playing great and being Lions' best player, this time with a 1.29 rating without disappointing in any match.

Gux's deagle action at Xperia PLAY

What followed next for Ståhl was a return to fnatic for his third spell with the team, as he was called to join after Marcus "Delpan" Larsson left to SK. Along with him, Manne "manne" Nordqvist was added in place of Faruk "pita" Pita, and fnatic would show their new lineup at DreamHack Summer soon after that.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
DreamHack Summer 2011 (Quarter-final)	0.98 (3rd)	+7%
5th best in pistol-rounds

In his first tournament back with fnatic, Ståhl didn't achieve much more than what he managed with Lions in the previous months, as they had a shaky group stage campaign and were then stopped easily by Natus Vincere in the quarter-final of DreamHack Summer. Ståhl had his worst rating of the year on this occasion (0.98), but still played above team's average in almost every match.

4-kill round against Moscow Five at DH Summer

In the IOL FINAL4 tournament that also took place at DreamHack Summer, fnatic finished in second place behind SK Gaming, while Ståhl showed why he was brought back as the team's best with a 1.09 rating.

Still, it was overall a disappointing weekend for the Swedes and they decided to bring back Pita in place of young Nordqvist. The change came just in time for a trip to Pita's home country Bosnia & Herzegovina where they took part in Adepto BH Open. The team finished 2nd behind Natus Vincere, while Ståhl confirmed that bringing him back was the right choice, being the team's best with an excellent 1.39 rating.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
GameGune 2011 (4th place)	1.45 (1st)	+11%
MVP nomination Selected for All-Star lineup Best rating (1.45) Best rating in playoffs (1.42) Best K-D difference (+111) 2nd best fragger (0.92 KPR) 2nd hardest to kill (0.47 DPR) 5th best in pistol-rounds

After having about a month to practice with the new lineup, fnatic went to Spain for GameGune. They started off well, reaching the Upper semi-final without giving away more than 8 rounds to any opponent, but there they met their arch-rivals SK Gaming and lost 11-16. Despite that, they were expected to get back on track through the lower bracket, but they surprisingly lost to ESC Gaming 14-16 in the Lower final and finished the tournament as 4th.

Ståhl had a magnificent display ending up as the tournament's best rated (1.45), which was also the highest rating anyone achieved at a major tournament during entire 2011. He was also the best rated in the playoffs, the second best fragger and had the best kill-death difference of the tournament. Particularly impressive was his performance against k1ck in their first playoff match, as he overran the Portuguese team with a 37:8 score getting his year-high match-rating of 2.51.

Gux's ace in the last round against k1ck

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
e-Stars Seoul 2011 (7-8th place)	1.01 (3rd)	0%

Another not so successful adventure followed in Korea at e-Stars, as fnatic finished in a disappointing 7-8th place, losing to SK Gaming in the upper bracket again and then to WinFakt in their last match. Ståhl had a mediocre performance getting a 1.01 rating just as his team's average. 

This tournament turned out to be the final one in the career of fnatic's longest standing member Harley "dsn" Örwall, as he decided to retire and forfeit his place of the team's main AWPer to Michael "Friis" Jørgensen.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
IEM6 GC Guangzhou (1st place)	1.25 (1st)	+13%
MVP of the tournament 3rd best rating (1.25) Best fragger (0.86 KPR) Most kills (177) Most consistent Best entry killer 4th best in pistol-rounds

fnatic's first test after the latest lineup change was in China at IEM6 Global Challenge Guangzhou. After an initial loss to Anexis in the group stage, the Swedes went on to overcome WinFakt and mousesports and win the event. That was Ståhl's first title of the year, and he had a huge influence on it, as he was voted the MVP of the tournament.

He was his team's best with a 1.25 rating, was the best fragger of the tournament, as well as most consistent player and best entry killer, so the MVP title surely went to the right place.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
ESWC 2011 (Group stage)	1.10 (4th)	-3%

The team however wasn't able to continue with the good form from China, as they fell in the group stage at ESWC. Despite playing well in 3 of their 4 maps and ending up with a solid 1.10 rating, Ståhl disappointed in the crucial clash, when fnatic lost to Alternate on stage, which turned out to knock them out of the tournament.

The time for redemption came a month later when they attended MSI BEAT IT Russia and finished in second place. Despite losing to Moscow Five in the final, fnatic was surely satisfied with their campaign, especially with defeating Natus Vincere in the semi-final. Ståhl was one of the most impressive players at the tournament, ending up with the best rating of 1.31.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
DreamHack Winter 2011 (1st place)	1.08 (3rd)	+1%
All-Star nomination

In fnatic's last appearance at LAN tournaments in 2011, they managed to win their 3rd title of the year (Ståhl's second) by defeating Lions in the final of DreamHack Winter. Ståhl had an overall inconsistent performance, doing well up until the semi-final, but then showing poor form in 5 of his last 6 maps. However, in the second map of the final he exploded recording a 32:12 score (2.03 rating) as fnatic brought the score back to 1-1 in maps. He ended up with a solid 1.08 rating, third best in the team, and also received another All-Star nomination as an important part of the title-winning campaign.

1vs4 pistol-round in the final of DH Winter

One of the best fraggers of the year

Similarly to 2010 when he was a member of SK Gaming in the first part of the year and then returned to fnatic, Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl played for Lions until June, and then once again came back to fnatic.

During his time in Lions, he didn't achieve much, only one quarter-final campaign at IEM5 European Finals, but he was the team's best player, getting two All-Star nominations during that time.

After he transferred to fnatic, he had significantly more success, winning titles at IEM6 GC Guangzhou and DreamHack Winter, as well as getting second place at MSI BEAT IT Russia. He also excelled individually, being fnatic's best player several times, especially at IEM6 GC Guangzhou where he was chosen as the MVP of the event, but also at GameGune where he was the top rated player of the event and was selected for the All-Star lineup.

Overall, he stood out in several aspects, starting with being one of the best fraggers with 0.80 kills per round in major tournaments (4th best) and also being the 3rd best rifler (0.66 rifle kills per round). In addition to that, he was the 8th most successful entry killer and 2nd best rated in pistol-rounds.

Considering all of that, he certainly earned a spot in the top 10, but compared to the rest of the upper half, his MVP title came at the least important event and he didn't really shine in his team's big matches, so the 10th place seems like the perfect one for him.

Recommended demos of Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl in 2011:

Opponent	Map	Event	Score	Demo
fnatic	nuke	IEM5 Eu Finals (Group stage)	27:22	HLTV
forZe	nuke	IEM5 Eu Finals (Group stage)	20:10	HLTV
Na´Vi	tuscan	IEM5 World (Group stage)	26:12	HLTV
EG	nuke	IEM5 World (Group stage)	27:9	HLTV
eu4ia	tuscan	Adepto BH Open (Quarter-final, map 1)	27:8	HLTV
k1ck	train	GameGune (Upper round 1)	37:8	HLTV
x6tence	nuke	GameGune (Lower semi-final)	34:15	HLTV
Anexis	tuscan	IEM6 GC Guangzhou (Group stage)	33:20	POV
TeG	inferno	DH Winter (Group stage)	24:19	POV
Lions	dust2	DH Winter (Grand final, map 2)	32:12	HLTV

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Will fnatic be able to continue where they left off during 2012? What should we expect from Ståhl in the future? Tell us what you think about that and his place in the ranking.  

If you want to check out the entire ranking, go to our Introduction article as it will be updated daily until we complete the list. Stay tuned to HLTV.org as tomorrow we will bring you our number 9.