Top 20 players of 2011: Neo (1)

The 1st place on our Top 20 players of 2011 list and the title of Player of the Year belongs to Filip "Neo" Kubski. The Polish superstar impressed the most throughout the year, being the most consistent and one of the most dominant players. He excelled in other aspects as well, while accumulating four MVP awards and helping his team to four major titles.

Basic information

Player: Filip "Neo" Kubski
Teams: Frag eXecutors, AGAiN, ESC Gaming
Age: 24

Team achievements in 2011:

1st - e-Stars Seoul, WCG, Xperia PLAY, SEC, ASUS Summer
2nd - IEM5 World Championship, ICSC7, ICSC9
3rd - IEM5 European Championship Finals, ICSC8

Stats from major LAN tournaments in 2011:

Kills per round: 0.82
Deaths per round: 0.60
Rating: 1.24 (?)
Maps played: 80
MoM: 28 times top rated in a match
Best tournament: Xperia PLAY
Best map: de_dust2
Most notable stats: 4x MVP, shared 2nd best rating (1.24), most consistent player (78% of maps rated above 1.00), 3rd best fragger (0.82 KPR), 2nd most dominant, most times top rated (28 maps), 5th best entry killer

Ever since his team Pentagram stepped into international waters in 2006 by winning WSVG London, and more importantly World Cyber Games, Filip "Neo" Kubski has been considered one of the best in the business. That is testified with his award for e-Sport Player of the year in 2007, as well as nominations for it in the next two years.

2010 was somewhat less successful for the team, as they struggled to find their game following the first permanent lineup change in years. Kubski was as usual their best player throughout the year, and although he wasn't at the level of the previous years, he still made it to the 7th place on our Top 20 of 2010.

The start showed what we will see from him in 2011

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
IEM5 European Championship Finals (3rd place)	1.33 (1st)	+18%
MVP nomination Selected for All-Star lineup Best rating (1.33) Best fragger (0.87 KPR) Most consistent Hardest to kill (0.53 DPR) 2nd best K-D difference (+92) 2nd most dominant 2nd best entry killer 3rd best clutcher (7x won 1vsX) 5th best AWPer (0.17 awpKPR)

The Poles showed at the very beginning that they planned on turning their luck around in 2011, as they had an excellent performance at IEM5 European Championship Finals. Although they finished only third in the end, they had a flawless group stage performance followed by a never-closer loss to mTw in the semi-final and a win over Natus Vincere in the 3rd place decider.

Kubski was the main reason for such good display of his team, as he was statistically the most impressive player of the event. He had by far the highest rating of all players (1.33) and he achieved that with one of the most amazing displays of consistency throughout the year, having a rating above 1.00 in each of his 10 maps, while 9 of those were above team's average. In addition to that, he was one of the most dominant players, one of the best clutchers and also entry killers. Naturally, that performance earned him an MVP nomination, but he came a close second in the vote behind fnatic's Richard "Xizt" Landström, who led his team to the title.

AWP -4 by Neo against mTw in the semi-final of IEM5 Europe

1vs4 against Czech Republic in CB NC XIV

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
IEM5 World Championship (2nd place)	1.21 (1st)	+17%
MVP of the tournament 2nd best rating (1.21) 2nd most kills (247) 3rd best fragger (0.80 KPR) 3rd best K-D difference (+56) Most dominant (23x 3+ kills) 2nd best in pistol rounds

Frag eXecutors went a step further at IEM5 World Championship, this time making it to the final after wins over fnatic and SK Gaming, although they ended up losing to the defending champions Natus Vincere.

Kubski was once again the obvious star of his team, having the event's 2nd best rating (1.21) and being the most dominant player. He particularly excelled in the quarter-final victory over fnatic (47:32 score, 1.41 rating), as well as in the semi-final against SK Gaming (67:50, 1.15 rating). Thanks to leading his team to the final with those performances, and also doing great in the group stage, he was later named the MVP of the tournament.

Neo's highlights from IEM5 World Championship

1vs5 against France in CB NC XIV

Shortly after, they attended ICSC 7 finals where Natus Vincere once again got the better of them, this time in an even more exciting final that stretched over three maps. Kubski continued with his great form, being the team's best and the third best rated player of this event with a 1.14 rating.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
Xperia PLAY 2011 (1st place)	1.32 (1st)	+15%
MVP of the tournament Best rating in playoffs (1.31) 4th best fragger (0.86 KPR) Most kills (320) Best K-D difference (+111) 2nd most consistent 3rd best clutcher (8x won 1vsX)

Xperia PLAY was the tournament where the Poles would finally climb to the top, defeating TCM-Gaming, mTw and SK Gaming on their road to their first title in 2011. Kubski had his best performance of the year on this occasion, which was more than enough for securing his second MVP award.

The Polish superstar had by far the most kills at the event (320), was the team's best with an excellent 1.32 rating, played well in all 14 of his maps, and most importantly played impressive in the knockout stage (1.31 playoff-rating). Before the playoffs though, he also had one stand-out performance, securing a draw for his team in the match with mousesports by winning a 1vs3 situation in the last round.

After that, he shined in their victories over TCM (43:19 score, 1.49 rating) and mTw (95:70, 1.31 rating, 28% above team), as Fx's best in both encounters, and in the end did very well in the final, as second best rated against SK (42:31 score, 1.16 rating).

Neo's Xperia PLAY highlights

A funny ace against RG-Esports during ICSC 8

Kubski's 2 highlight rounds from EPS Poland II final

Frag eXecutors were later forced to skip DreamHack Summer, as well as GameGune in July, although in the meantime they attended a more nearby tournament for them, ICSC 8 finals. However, the two and a half month break left its trace, as they weren't very successful, succumbing to SK Gaming's improved lineup in the semi-final. Kubski was still as usual the team's best and one of the event's best with a 1.16 rating.

They attended ASUS Summer a month later, and managed to come out on top of the event after an exciting semi-final match against Lions and an easier final versus DTS. Kubski was a close 2nd in his team with a 1.28 rating, 3rd best of the tournament.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
e-Stars Seoul 2011 (1st place)	1.24 (1st)	+11%
MVP of the tournament 2nd best rating (1.24) 3rd best fragger (0.80 KPR) Best K-D difference (+32) 3rd most dominant (10x 3+ kills) 3rd hardest to kill (0.59 DPR) Best clutcher (6x won 1vsX)

Their next major event was e-Stars Seoul where they returned to the top of their form and once again defeated SK in the final. Kubski was named the Most Valuable Player of the event for the third time in 2011, after another tournament-winning performance.

He ended up as 2nd best rated of all players with a 1.24 rating, but most significantly he put in a man-of-the-match performance in the final. In the second and deciding map against the Swedes, which Frag eXecutors won 19-17, Kubski shined with a 38:23 score (1.60 rating, 50% above team average), in what was one of the best individual performances of the year in a grand final.

winning a 1vs4 against TyLoo at e-Stars

4-kill round in the 19-17 win over SK in e-Stars final

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
SEC 2011 (1st place)	1.16 (3rd)	+1%
MVP nomination Selected for All-Star lineup 5th best K-D difference (+39) 3rd best entry killer

The Golden Five continued their impressive form, winning their 3rd major event in a row, SEC, that took place on their home soil in Poland. They overcame Moscow Five, Fear Factory and in the end Natus Vincere in an impressive fashion.

Kubski for the first time in 2011 wasn't the team's best rated player, but he still had a very good 1.16 rating and was a big influence on the victory. After a shy group stage performance, he upped his game in the playoffs, especially in the final where he ended up top rated against Natus Vincere (52:34 score, 1.43 rating). That playoff performance earned him his 5th MVP nomination in as many tournaments, but this time the award went to his more impressive teammate at this event, Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
ESWC 2011 (4th place)	1.07 (2nd)	+3%
All-Star nomination

After their SEC success, it was officially confirmed that the team had as suspected left the Frag eXecutors organization in search of better financial support and that they would spent the next period under the name AGAiN. The next big event in line was ESWC, where their form wasn't on the same level anymore, even though they managed to repeat their performance from 2010 and finish 4th.

Just like most of his team Kubski wasn't on the usual level, as he recorded his year-worst 1.07 rating, although still above team's average as their 2nd best. He did stand out at the beginning of the tournament though, as the most responsible for topping their group, with man-of-the-match performances against their main contenders Lions and ESC Gaming, and that eventually earned him an All-Star nomination.

Their next tournament was MSI BEAT IT Russia where they had another unspectacular performance, finishing in 5th place following a quarter-final defeat to Natus Vincere. However, Kubski was back to being the star of the team with a 1.21 rating, which also made him one of the best at the event (5th).

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
DreamHack Winter 2011 (Quarter-final)	1.16 (1st)	+9%
All-Star nomination 3rd most consistent

The trend continued at DreamHack Winter where they had another early exit, this time courtesy of Lions in the quarter-final. Kubski was the team's best with a 1.16 rating, mainly thanks to playing above team's average in 5 of 6 maps, which also earned him another All-Star nomination.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
WCG 2011 (1st place)	1.33 (1st)	+14%
MVP of the tournament Best rating (1.33) Best fragger (0.89 KPR) 2nd best K-D difference (+76) Most dominant (23x 3+ kills) Most consistent 2nd most kills (249) 4th best entry killer

At the beginning of December, prior to WCG, the Poles finally found a home in ESC Gaming, who signed them as their new squad for the next season. That would turn out to have a very positive influence on the team, as they won the final battle of the year against SK Gaming in the last match of World Cyber Games and therefore won their 4th title, which in most opinions cemented them as the best team in 2011.

While winning his and the team's 3rd WCG gold, Kubski was once more the main star of the event, ending the year the same way as he started it, as best rated with a 1.33 rating. The difference this time was that his team came out victorious and that he was selected as the MVP of the event.

He was the most consistent player of the event with 10 of 11 ratings above 1.00, was the most dominant player and the best rated in the playoffs (1.25). Most importantly, he once again played well in the final, as best rated of the first map (28:19 score, 1.51 rating, 48% above team) and second best rated overall in the SK match.

The most impressive player of 2011

Despite missing a few events during 2011, the current ESC Gaming team established themselves as the best in the world by most accounts, thanks to winning 4 major titles, three of them by defeating their main rival SK Gaming in the final. The best player in their team and the one who had the most influence on their success was just like during the previous years, Filip "Neo" Kubski.

Kubski was named the Most Valuable Player of 4 major tournaments, three of which were in his team's team title-winning campaigns (Xperia PLAY, e-Stars and WCG), and the other was one of the most competitive events of the year, IEM5 World Championship. In addition to that, he was nominated for MVP on two more occasions, at IEM5 European Championship Finals and SEC, and he also played well enough to be nominated for All-Star lineups at the remaining two events where his team didn't shine, ESWC and DreamHack Winter.

Perhaps the most important fact about Kubski is that he was by far the most consistent player of the year, being rated above 1.00 in 78% of his maps, while he was also the 2nd most dominant in regard to amount of rounds with 3 or more kills (only behind Karl-William "kalle" Haraldsen).

Aside from his shared second best 1.24 rating, it also must be mentioned that he was the 3rd best fragger overall with 0.82 kills per round, the 5th best entry killer (second best among the players in the Top 20 list) and was top rated more often than anyone else (on 28 maps).

His 4 MVP titles are also unmatched by anyone, and when we add to that his impressive performances in many big matches throughout the year, such as the e-Stars final, the SEC final, the playoffs at IEM5 WC, the playoffs at Xperia PLAY and the WCG final, it made him the prime candidate for the number 1 spot on our list and the title of Player of the Year 2011.

Recommended demos of Filip "Neo" Kubski in 2011:

Opponent	Map	Event	Score	Demo
MYM	nuke	IEM5 European Finals (Group stage)	24:11	POV
SK	inferno	IEM5 European Finals (Group stage)	30:13	POV
Czech	inferno	CB NC XIV (Group stage)	42:11	HLTV
M5	inferno	IEM5 World (Group stage)	23:9	POV
UMX	inferno	IEM5 World (Group stage)	33:17	POV
fnatic	dust2	IEM5 World (Quarter-final, map 1)	30:17	POV
TCM	inferno	Xperia PLAY (Quarter-final, map 2)	25:8	HLTV
mTw	nuke	Xperia PLAY (Semi-final, map 3)	42:25	POV
FF	dust2	EPS Poland II (Grand final, map 2)	45:23	HLTV
SK	dust2	e-Stars (Upper final)	27:12	HLTV
SK	inferno	e-Stars (Grand final, map 2)	38:23	HLTV
Na´Vi	train	SEC (Grand final, map 1)	28:14	HLTV
ESC	nuke	ESWC (Group stage)	24:15	POV
Virtus.pro	dust2	WCG (Group stage)	41:16	HLTV
SK	dust2	WCG (Grand final, map 1)	28:19	HLTV

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What did you think about Filip "Neo" Kubski's performance in 2011? Do you think he deserved the title of Player of the Year, and if not, at which position would you place him instead?

With this we have finalized our countdown of the Top 20 players of 2011 and we hope you enjoyed the previous 20 days with us, whether you agree with the list or not. If you want to check out the entire ranking, go to our Introduction article and as always, stay tuned to HLTV.org in the future.