Top 20 players of 2022: blameF (12)

blameF makes his third consecutive appearance in the top 20 players of the year ranking. He first reached it after the pandemic year, 2020, during his time in Complexity, with a stellar sixth place only behind the big three AWPers Mathieu “⁠ZywOo⁠” Herbaut, Oleksandr “⁠s1mple⁠” Kostyliev, and Nicolai “⁠device⁠” Reedtz; as well as Nikola “⁠NiKo⁠” Kovač and the fifth best player of the year, Denis “⁠electroNic⁠” Sharipov. He fell to 13th place in 2021, a year spent mostly with the aforementioned European combine until signing for Astralis in November, the team in which he played the final three LAN events of the year.

This time around, in the first full year of LAN play since 2019, blameF betters his mark compared to 2021 by one spot and finishes in 12th place despite Astralis undergoing turmoil with numerous player and coaching changes amid a slew of poor finishes. But even such a tumultuous year couldn’t slow blameF down, a feat made all the more impressive considering he changed T-side roles throughout the season while finishing 17 events in the green (16 with over 1.10) when counting everything he played—even those events which didn’t count for the top 20 of 2022 players of the year list—with the exception of open qualifiers.

For a more in-depth look at his early career, check out blameF‘s top 20 articles from 2020 and 2021.

Astralis started off 2022 with a fairly different lineup than it would go on to end. Philip “⁠Lucky⁠” Ewald and Kristian “⁠k0nfig⁠” Wienecke were both in the team, the former manning the AWP and the latter creating space and fighting for map control with rifles, while Alexander “⁠ave⁠” Holdt stood behind the team. Their first event of 2022 was the FunSpark ULTI 2021 Finals, played online, which set the tone for a shaky start of the year. The Danes played three series that went the way against K23, fnatic and Entropiq, losing to the two Russian teams and only beating the British-Swedish combine. blameF made a mark despite the 5-6th place finish with a 1.26 rating and a 1.33 impact rating, which got him his first VP (valuable player) mention of the year.

Play remained online for the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, where the Danes blundered and were relegated to the Showdown in 9-11th place. blameF and company suffered two losses at the hands of OG and two more from BIG, while edging past Natus Vincere in overtime and comfortably defeating MIBR. Once again it was Astralis’ big man who topped the boards with a 1.13 rating.

Astralis then flew to Poland for the all-important IEM Katowice, which they would have to start from the play-in. That’s where blameF posted his lowest rating of the year, 1.02, in the first of three out of the 17 events in which he wasn’t the team’s top performer. The team worked as a unit and won their two matches, once again against MIBR and then taking revenge on BIG to secure passage into the tournament’s group stage. blameF went back to smashing his opponents, posting a 1.12 rating—the team’s second-highest—and 1.18 impact, but it was not enough to advance to the Spodek. An opening loss to FURIA forced a lower bracket run which ended after victories over ENCE and fnatic could not be followed up against G2.

Astralis struggled from the get-go in 2022, missing out on the IEM Katowice playoffs

The next event on the calendar, ESL Pro League Season 15, was where blameF earned his first important individual accolade of the year, an Exceptionally Valuable Player (EVP) mention. The event in Düsseldorf, Germany, also marked a first for Astralis as a team as they dropped Lucky and ave in favor of Asger “⁠Farlig⁠” Jensen and Martin “⁠trace⁠” Heldt. This first outing was a success for the Danes who not only survived the group stage with three wins and two losses, but also beat Entropiq in a three-map series to reach the quarter-finals. They fell to FURIA in the round of eight in blameF’s worst game of the tournament, but he had already done enough to secure astounding numbers including a 1.23 rating, a 1.21 impact rating, 87.1 ADR and 74.9% KAST.

The good times didn’t roll and Astralis’ form remained precarious. They did make it to the PGL Antwerp Major, but just by the skin of their teeth, in one of the RMR’s Swiss group stage 2-2 decider matches as opening best-of-one victories over ASG and ENCE in Romania gave way to best-of-three losses to Players and G2. blameF shone throughout the tournament with a 1.13 rating, but the final match, against HEET, was k0nfig’s territory as he tore through the Frenchmen. By the end of the event the two shared 1.13 team-high ratings.

blameF earned one of two EVP mention in 2022 at ESL Pro League Season 15

blameF was Astralis’ top performer at every single event of the year henceforth, starting at the lesser BLAST Premier Spring Showdown. But blameF’s 1.39 rating, 1.48 impact rating and 92.9 ADR were not enough to get his team through the finish line as they lost the final series to ENCE—a series which blameF finished with a 1.40 rating, 70 kills and 97.1 ADR.

blameF then posted his biggest numbers on the biggest stage, when Astralis flew to Belgium for the first Major of 2022. He averaged a superstar 1.42 rating with an even higher 1.46 impact rating alongside year-high markers of 99.1 ADR and 77.8% KAST. Alas, two victories over IHC and MIBR were not enough for the Danes to advance to the next stage of the Major as they fell to Vitality, Spirit and Liquid.

“[The most disappointing moment of the year was] at the PGL Antwerp Major when we lost to Liquid. It wasn’t even close to being the most disappointing loss that year, but I remember after this match it was the lowest feeling for me personally. I was crying a lot when we came back to the practice room and everything just felt awful.”

The Major Challengers Stage 9-11th place was followed by another dismal performance at IEM Dallas, where Lukas “⁠gla1ve⁠” Rossander and company crashed out in 9-12th place. blameF salvaged a VP mention with his 1.18 rating in 6 maps, but it was at the following Medium Event, the Pinnacle Cup Championship, that he got his one MVP medal of the year. He did so despite losing to Heroic in the grand final as his 1.41 rating, 1.47 impact rating, 99.7 ADR and 78.7% KAST throughout the tournament were nonpareil. His performance was also exquisite in the playoffs, where he posted a 1.23 rating despite a lowly 1.03 in the grand final.

blameF’s 1.41 rating at the PGL Antwerp Major was the only 1.00+ rating in Astralis

Astralis made it to the semi-finals of the online Roobet Cup and blameF earned another EVP with his 1.33 rating and 1.43 impact rating. He had his best playoff performance with a 1.29 rating in the knockout matches, which included a 1.48 against Complexity, 1.37 against forZe, and 1.23 in the semi-final loss against FaZe.

The all-important IEM Cologne marked the end of the season, and although Astralis stumbled in their play-in opener by losing a one-sided 6-16 affair to 00NATION, victories over Complexity and BIG were enough to make the tournament’s group stage. blameF and company had their highlight moment of the year at the iconic event in Germany, clearing the group stage with victories over FURIA and Cloud9, although they were denied a straight berth into the semi-finals by FaZe.

blameF was once again his team’s stalwart, posting a 1.37 rating in the quarter-final match against MOUZ with 63 kills and 91 ADR before the Danes fell to Natus Vincere in the semi-finals. blameF’s impressive 1.29 rating (1.25 T-side rating, 1.33 CT-side rating) and 1.20 playoff rating by the end of it all was enough to earn him his third and final EVP mention of the year.

k0nfig and blameF were a deadly duo in Cologne and got Astralis to the semi-finals

The summer break didn’t sit well for the Danes, who returned to action with struggles online in the RMR’s open qualifiers and at the BLAST Premier Fall Groups. It took Astralis three tries to make it through the online qualifiers and at the group stage on home soil they were unable once again to make it to the Finals.

Astralis’ unraveling came at the second Pro League of the year, in Malta, right ahead of the Europe RMR which would take place right after on the Mediterranean island nation. The Danes ended the group stage with a 2-3 record and did not advance to the playoffs, falling in 13-16th place. It was then that the roster really started to shake up as k0nfig got into a fight and returned to Denmark injured before being dropped from the squad. Astralis Talent‘s Mikkel “⁠MistR⁠” Thomsen was brought on as a stand-in to compete with the main team at the all-important European RMR.

“[I’m looking forward to] some stability in the team. We had so many changes both players, staff and coaches in 2022, it was a bit confusing.”

The Danes fell 1-3 with a single victory over Eternal Fire and their three losses coming at the hands of Ninjas in Pyjamas, Bad News Eagles, and in a double 14-16 in the elimination match against forZe. Despite the lopsided exit with a 1-4 map record blameF remained positive with another 1.11 rating, although his KAST took a hit to a year-low 64.4%.

Astralis had a poor end of 2022 amid internal instability, although blameF continued to perform

k0nfig’s exit from the team was followed up with the removal of trace, who was substituted on an interim basis by the youth coach Peter “⁠casle⁠” Ardenskjold. This shook up the foundations of the team and blameF, who had changed his roles earlier in the year to make room for k0nfig as a space maker, returned to the core from the lurking positions on T-sides. The Danes once again made it to the Showdown final in hopes of qualifying to play at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, but were shut down by rivals Heroic.

“I think I have been very consistent as a CT player throughout the whole year, or actually throughout my whole career. As T, I don’t feel like I’ve had the best year. In the beginning of 2022 I was asked by the coach to change all my positions on T-sides to lurking positions so that k0nfig could be comfortable and continue as the guy in the pack taking map control. Obviously, I agreed to what the team needed from me despite knowing it was out of my comfort zone as I had never been playing on the extremities.

“I did my best, but I could tell that the impact I had was pretty low for a long period. After Casle came to the team he moved me to map control and made me one of the guys running in on set strats and I feel much more comfortable in this role. My impact on the T-side has been way better in the past couple months.”

As far as the top 20 player of the year events for blameF go, the season was over, although Astralis still made some moves. Farlig was benched for device even though the star AWPer didn’t play the final LAN event of the year and Kristoffer “⁠Kristou⁠” Aamand was brought on instead. device and the final signing, Christian “⁠Buzz⁠” Andersen, then made their official debuts with the team in December at two online CCT events, where blameF was a beacon once again.

Why was blameF the 12th best player of 2022?

blameF’s position in the top 20 players of 2022 list comes off the back of superstar-like stats over the course of the year (1.22 rating, No. 4; 86.4 ADR, No. 2; and 1.26 impact rating, No. 6) and an outstanding floor as he stood out at pretty much every event he played. Some of his biggest peaks led to his four awards, including three EVPs at EPL S15, IEM Cologne, and Roobet Cup, as well as winning the MVP award at Pinnacle Cup.

The Dane ranked among the best in terms of impact on wins, with a kill in 64% of round wins and a kill or assist in 72%—the most out of anyone. His rating at Big and Elite Events also held up (1.20), even though he didn’t play that many, and he also maintained a good level against the best teams in the world, although he dropped off compared to his average by a fair amount (1.14 vs. top 5, 1.13 vs. top 10 teams).

The reason blameF didn’t place higher on the ranking is a result severely lacking in sample size at the highest level when compared to pretty much everyone on the top 20 list since, although he played a lot of maps overall, he only played five Big or Elite Events and much of his sample came from less important events, in early stages, and against worse teams.

Another notable statistic that kept him back is that while he was very impactful in wins, his stats are boosted by some margin in the losses as he survived more often in losses than most players on the top 20 list and dealt the most damage out of anyone in losses (63.2 ADR). His awards are also not comparable in prestige to those of players around him in the ranking as only the EVPs at IEM Cologne and ESL Pro League Season 15 are on a similar level.

Bold prediction by 1xBet

blameF becomes the fifth out of the nine top 20 players of 2022 revealed so far to choose Daniil “⁠headtr1ck⁠” Valitov as his bold prediction, making the benched NAVI Junior player the most picked with over 50% of selections. The previous picks were from Valeriy “⁠b1t⁠” Vakhovskiy, David “⁠frozen⁠” Čerňanský, Nemanja “⁠huNter-⁠” Kovač and Håvard “⁠rain⁠” Nygaard. The Dane was short and to the point on why he went with the Ukrainian youngster:

“Gotta go with headtr1ck, every time I watch him play I think he plays some solid CS.”

Stay tuned to our Top 20 players of 2022 ranking and take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the players were selected.