Trio of Liquid stars claim best ratings of the year for NA players
With the year coming to a close tonight, Dust2.us takes a look back at the best performing North American players on LAN and online in the month of December. Additionally, we will look at the players who received the highest rating over the course of the entire year.
For the purposes of this ranking, the offline events used to rank players include ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals, BLAST Pro Series Global Finals, and EPICENTER 2019.
After being edged out by fellow Liquid teammates Keith "NAF" Markovic last month, Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski has reclaimed his spot at the top of the leaderboard thanks to strong performances at EPL Season 10 Finals and the BLAST Pro Series Grand Finals.
A number of Evil Geniuses' players have also made their return to the top, with Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte claiming third place following a 1.17 rating at EPICENTER 2019 that helped to offset a recent spate of underperformances.
Outside of Liquid and Evil Geniuses, American ATK duo Ian "motm" Hardy and Ricky "floppy" Kemery managed to claim spots in the top ten thanks to dominating performances at Fragadelphia 14.
As for the online leaderboard, the list was dominated this time around by players competing in ESEA Advanced Season 32 playoffs and ESEA MDL Season 32 Relegation. Topping the list are the Thunder Logic duo of Sean "Inseaniac" Morrison and Andy "Andersin" Collins, who impressed in relegation with 1.43 and 1.24 ratings, respectively.
Below them is the remainder of the Thunder Logic lineup, alongside the former Faint roster. The lack of online maps this month potentially skewed the results, however they bode well for Thunder Logic as the team heads into their first season of MDL next year.
Looking back at the year as a whole, Liquid's dominance during the first half of the year is really put in context as EliGE, NAF, and Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken claim the top spots for North American players on LAN. Below them is the Evil Geniuses lineup, who after joining their new organization went on to claim titles at ESL One New York 2019 and StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8.
By virtue of the cut off for number of maps being 50, former NRG and Cloud9 IGL Damian "daps" Steele managed to claim the tenth spot with a 0.84 rating for the year. After a lackluster few months with Cloud9, he is likely happy to see 2020 as Gen.G look to make their mark on the scene.
As for player performances online in 2019, Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker and floppy managed to tie with impressive 1.21 ratings. yay's high rating is particularly interesting as he spent the first three months of the year on the sidelines while on Complexity's bench.
Coming up in a tie for second place are Chaos' Gage "Infinite" Green and Tyson "TenZ" Ngo. Although TenZ failed to make an impression on Cloud9, his online performances prior to joining the team cannot be understated, with the player notably claiming a 1.32 rating during ESEA MDL Season 32.
The remainder of the list is rounded out by familiar players to anyone who has been paying attention to the tier two scene, with veteran Riot Squad player Peter "ptr" Gurney notably having his best year ever.
