We begin our player ranking of 2011 with last year's 4th placed Sergey "starix" Ischuk. Although he was unable to replicate his 2010 form, he still made the cut in our 2011 ranking, mostly thanks to being a stable support player for Natus Vincere.

Basic information

Player: Sergey "starix" Ischuk
Team: Natus Vincere
Age: 24

Team achievements in 2011:

1st - IEM5 World Championship, ICSC 7, ASUS Spring, OSPL Spring, Adepto BH Open
2nd - ESWC, SEC
3rd - e-Stars Seoul, DreamHack Summer, DreamHack Winter, GameGune, ASUS Summer

Stats from major LAN tournaments in 2011:

Kills per round: 0.71
Deaths per round: 0.62
Rating: 1.07 (?)
Maps played: 82
MoM: 9 times top rated in a match
Best tournament: e-Stars Seoul
Best map: de_train
Most notable stats: 6x All-Star nomination

After an incredible ride during 2010, Natus Vincere and Sergey "starix" Ischuk had an extremely hard task to repeat those performance in the year that followed. It was unlikely that Ischuk himself would be able to continue with how he ended 2010, as the bar was set quite high with him being named the 4th best player and being in incredible individual form in the second half of the year. Especially hard to repeat were his MVP-worthy displays at Arbalet Cup Dallas and DreamHack Winter 2010, when he carried the team to two of their seven major titles.

Staying on top is the hard part

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
IEM5 European Championship Finals (4th place)	1.04 (2nd)	+6%
All-Star nomination

After finishing 2010 as the world's best team, Natus Vincere had a difficult task of defending that title, as every aspiring top team would be particularly motivated against them. The first test came already in January at the IEM5 European Championship Finals held on their home turf in Kiev, Ukraine. There, they faced troubles from the very beginning, losing to fnatic and Lions in the group stage and barely making it to playoffs. After overcoming the Russian side MYM to reach the semi-final, the new fnatic lineup once again defeated the Ukrainians and left them in a fight for 3rd place. They lost that match as well, to Frag eXecutors, and started the year without a podium finish, similarly to 2010.

Even though he recorded a mediocre 1.04 rating, Ischuk couldn't be blamed much for their lack of success as he played above team's average in each of their losses and contributed significantly to some of their wins. Most notable was their only playoff victory, when they overcame MYM in 2 close maps and Ischuk had a 54:41 individual score. For the overall tournament performance he earned his first All-Star lineup nomination, as one of the better players at the event and the second best from his team.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
IEM5 World Championship (1st place)	1.08 (3rd)	+3%
All-Star nomination

The next tournament for Natus Vincere was the one with the biggest prize purse in 2011, IEM5 World Championship in Hannover, Germany ($80,000). This was the same tournament where the Ukrainian team first turned heads by winning the previous edition and climbing to the top of the world. It was another huge test for them to defend that title and this time they managed to do it, which returned them to world's top at that moment. Ischuk wasn't one of the team's main stars, but he provided solid backup with a 1.08 rating and another All-Star nomination, mostly thanks to his performances in Na`Vi's group stage victories against EG, redCode and fnatic (1.19 group stage rating).

A couple of weeks later, Natus Vincere were challenged once more, although now at a minor event ICSC7 finals, where they fought off Frag eXecutors in one of the most interesting finals the entire year. Ischuk carried on with mediocre performances, recording team's 4th best 1.07 rating at that tournament.

After that, the team took a break and skipped Xperia PLAY due to Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko becoming a father. They returned at ASUS Spring at the end of May with their 3rd title in a row, although again at a minor event.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
DreamHack Summer 2011 (3rd place)	0.96 (4th)	-13%

That was just a prelude for their next big test a few weeks later at DreamHack Summer, where they were once more challenged by most of the world's top teams. They defeated a new (and short-lasting) lineup of fnatic in the quarter-final, but then in the semi-final fell to SK Gaming who were now strengthened by Marcus "Delpan" Larsson. They clinched the 3rd place in front of ESC Gaming and despite not winning the tournament, it could be counted as another successful campaign. However, the same can't be said for Ischuk, as this was his worst performance of the year and his only below average rating (0.96).

He still managed to have one of his highlights of the year at this tournament, winning a 1vs4 situation in the loss to SK Gaming:

A few days later, Natus Vincere traveled to Bosnia & Herzegovina for the first time and won another minor tournament, Adepto BH Open, defeating a once-more-changed fnatic lineup. Ischuk's spirits were seemingly back up, as even though most of his opponents were lower-level, he recorded a sky-high 1.53 rating and +125 K-D difference. That was enough to make him the second best of his team and the tournament.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
GameGune 2011 (3rd place)	1.09 (5th)	-13%

The next major event for the Ukrainians was GameGune in Bilbao, Spain, which they ended in third place for the second year in a row. They were firstly defeated by SK Gaming and after that surprisingly by ESC Gaming who played with a stand-in. Ischuk ended up with a solid 1.09 rating, but when we take a closer look, he was actually below team's average in every single match, contributing very little to their success as their worst player. On the other hand, he never disappionted much either, so it was an acceptable performance overall.

The only occasion in entire 2011 when Ischuk would turn out to be Na`Vi's best rated player was at ASUS Summer, which the Ukrainians however didn't win. He recorded a 1.28 rating, but the team fell to their fellow countrymen DTS in the semi-final, later sharing the 3rd place prize with Lions.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
e-Stars Seoul (3rd place)	1.15 (2nd)	+8%
All-Star nomination 3rd best KPR (0.80)

That perhaps sparked Ischuk a bit, as he stepped up starting from the next tournament, which was e-Stars Seoul. Natus Vincere recorded another 3rd place finish after losing to Frag eXecutors and SK Gaming, but Ischuk had his best rating of the year in majors (1.15). He was Na`Vi's best fragger and one of the best at the event with 0.80 kills per round, which resulted in his third All-Star nomination.

Ischuk was focused during e-Stars

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
SEC 2011 (2nd)	1.08 (3rd)	+3%
All-Star nomination 2nd best awpKPR (0.30) and 2nd most AWP kills (72)

The next opportunity for Natus Vincere to get back to winning ways was in October at Samsung Euro Championship. They managed to reach the final this time, after overcoming SK Gaming in the quarter-final and WinFakt in the semi-final, but were stopped by the home team Frag eXecutors. This was the first major final lost by the Ukrainians since Arbalet Cup Europe in May 2010 when fnatic defeated them. Ischuk now kept up with his good form, as even though he had another mediocre rating (1.08), it was still above team's average, and also earned him another All-Star nomination.

Interestingly, in his best match of the tournament, second map of the semi-final against WinFakt, he managed to survive every round of the first half against the Finns (17:0 score), something we haven't seen in matches between top teams in quite a while. Furthermore, he was the team's primary AWPer at this event and one of the best overall (0.30 awpKPR).

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
ESWC 2011 (2nd)	1.07 (2nd)	+7%
All-Star nomination

In the next major event, ESWC, where they were the reigning champions, Natus Vincere managed to get revenge on the Polish team now named AGAiN by defeating them in the semi-final, but they ended up losing the final again, this time to SK Gaming. Ischuk once more played above team's average, recording a solid 1.07 rating. He didn't stand out much, but he did play quite well against the Poles in the semi-final (49:34 score, 1.31 rating).

Before their last major of 2011, Natus Vincere attended MSI BEAT IT Russia where Ischuk was again the team's second best (1.10 rating), but they finished in a disappointing 4th place, losing to fnatic in the semi-final and then to DTS.

Tournament (team result)	Rating	Avg% +/-
DreamHack Winter 2011 (3rd place)	1.10 (2nd)	+5%
All-Star nomination

DreamHack Winter was the final major tournament for the Ukrainians in 2011 as they were set to miss the World Cyber Games due to failing to win the qualifier. Therefore, the only title left to defend for them was from last year's winter edition of the Swedish tournament, where Ischuk was the reigning MVP. Things didn't go quite as they hoped, as despite defeating SK Gaming in the quarter-final, they were then knocked out of the race by Lions. However, they still found some comfort in another 3rd place cheque after defeating mousesports.

Although Ischuk was nowhere near being the MVP, he concluded the year on a positive note, once more playing above team's average as their second best (1.10 rating) and earning his 6th All-Star nomination. He also had another memorable highlight, which took place during a group stage loss to fnatic:

One of the best support players in 2011

If we were to compare Ischuk's performance in 2011 to his 2010 display, we would probably end up disappointed, as he didn't show the same consistency or the same ability to lead the charge for his team. In fact, unlike last year, he wasn't the team's best player at any major tournament and he wasn't even close to being an MVP of one.

Despite that he still had a good year, but in a different role than what we were used to, being more of a support player now. With that in mind, ending up as the third best player of a top3 team and getting an All-Star nomination in 6 of his 8 major tournaments certainly seems to be reason enough to consider Ischuk one of the world's best players in 2011.

However, seeing as he was never selected as one of an event's best players and he had a mediocre 1.07 rating overall, the 20th position is the highest he could get.

New role for 2012?

The latest news from the Natus Vincere camp indicates that Ischuk has now taken on a completely new role, becoming the team's in-game leader. We will have to wait and see how that will pan out, and the first opportunity for that might be at IEM6 Global Challenge Kiev, as they are 2nd in line for a spot at that tournament.

Recommended demos of Sergey "starix" Ischuk in 2011:

Opponent	Map	Event	Score	Demo
Alternate	dust2	IEM5 Eu Finals (Group stage)	25:10	POV
MYM	tuscan	IEM5 Eu Finals (Relegation, map 1)	33:24	HLTV
redCode	dust2	IEM5 World (Group stage)	27:13	HLTV
k23	train	OSPL Spring (Semi-final, map 1)	20:4	POV
e7p	nuke	Adepto BH Open (Group stage)	26:1	HLTV
HSBG	inferno	Adepto BH Open (Semi-final, map 1)	31:10	POV
mousesports	nuke	e-Stars (Upper quarter-final)	29:20	HLTV
selectah	train	WCG Ukraine (3rd place, map 1)	23:1	HLTV
WinFakt	train	SEC (Semi-final, map 2)	22:10	HLTV
AGAiN	train	ESWC (Semi-final, map 1)	25:16	HLTV
Lions	inferno	DreamHack Winter (Semi-final, map 1)	30:11	HLTV

An interesting question could be posed concerning Ischuk and Na`Vi's form compared to 2010:

Were the team's results affected by Ischuk not playing up to his last year's standards, or did he not have great performances because the team itself wasn't on the same level, leaving less room for him to excel?

Perhaps neither, but in any case tell us what you think about that and also about the overall performance of Sergey "starix" Ischuk in 2011. Do you think he deserved the 20th position, or should he have been ranked higher or even left out of the list?

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 19.