cadiaN named HLTV's #18 player of 2023

The earth takes another revolution around the sun and HLTV has begun to release their annual Top 20 list of players at the end of the year. Two days ago, HLTV revealed Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken to be the 20th best player of the year, ensuring North America kept a spot on the list. Earlier today, Casper "cadiaN" Møller was named the 18th best, meaning Liquid's revitalized 2024 roster will contain at least two Top 20 players.

Despite the only notable trophy in Heroic's 2023 cabinet being BLAST Spring Final, HLTV chose cadiaN for his strong clutching ability and, most notably, his performance on the biggest stages. Earning three Exceptionally Valuable Player nods, cadiaN proved himself at the "Super-lite" level, as HLTV put it, claiming two of them at the Paris Major and IEM Katowice. The Danish player surpassed a 1.15 rating at both those events, spearheading his team's deep runs.

On his level at the biggest stages, cadiaN told HLTV, "I like the pressure, the feeling of playing a game with a lot of intensity, walking out into a sold-out arena and feeding off of big pressure moments. It's also hard to continuously put in that amount of hours in a season when also IGLing and watching demos, preparing things for practice, reviews etc so when those big events come around I guess I naturally just prepare even more - and I try to keep my rituals the same."

Next year, cadiaN joins fellow Top 20 player Twistzz along with three-time recipient Keith "NAF" Markovic, two-time recipient Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis, and Brazilian youngster Felipe "skullz" Medeiros on Liquid. This is the Dane's first ever Top 20 award, which breaks a record as cadiaN is the oldest player to debut on the list at 28 years of age.