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guidson
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ESL TV #1
Second Swedish player on our list, Johan "face" Klasson, has been somewhat overshadowed during 2011 in the star-filled SK Gaming lineup, but he still continuously brought his A-game and established himself as the best support player in the world. His 14th place comes as a result of consistent good performances during every successful campaign SK had at major tournaments.
Basic information
Player: 
Johan "face" Klasson
Team: SK Gaming
Age: 23
Team achievements in 2011:
1st - ESWC, DreamHack Summer, GameGune, IEM6 GC New York, ICSC8, IOL FINAL4
2nd - e-Stars Seoul, Xperia PLAY, WCG
3rd - /
Stats from major LAN tournaments in 2011:
Kills per round: 0.73
Deaths per round: 0.58
Rating: 1.13 (?)
Maps played: 96
MoM: 10 times top rated in a match
Best tournament: 
IEM6 GC New York
Best map: de_dust2
Most notable stats: 2nd hardest to kill (0.58 DPR), most kills with HE grenade (74)
Even though he wasn't the star of the team during 2010, Johan "face" Klasson was one of the three players to remain in the lineup for next year, along with their in-game leader Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström and Jimmy "allen" Allen. He earned that with a good performance throughout the previous year being ranked 16th on our Top 20 players of 2010, as SK's overall second best while they struggled to hold on to a stable lineup.
As the year drew to an end, they added two madfraggers who would further overshadow Klasson in 2011, but that didn't bother him to fulfill his role in the best possible way.
Consistently good throughout the year
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
 IEM5 European Championship Finals (Group stage) |
1.00 (3rd) |
0% |
The first test for the new SK lineup was at IEM5 European Championship Finals in Kiev, Ukraine near the end of January. They failed that test by not reaching the playoffs (which would turn out to be the only such occasion throughout 2011), despite starting well on day one by defeating eSahara and mousesports easily. On the next day SK lost to MYM and Fx and drew with mTw, which meant they would return home early.
As the team obviously still didn't find a way to make everyone fit together, Klasson wasn't an exception as he displayed an average performance with a 1.00 rating.
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
 IEM5 World Championship (4th place) |
1.10 (2nd) |
+6% |
| All-Star nomination 2nd hardest to kill (0.60 DPR) 5th best entry killer |
Despite the bad performance in Kiev, they were still qualified for the IEM5 World Championship in March, where they would have to play with Dennis "dennis" Edman as a stand-in for Jimmy "allen" Allen (who as it turned out wouldn't return later apart from a short spell in May). The change didn't hold them back much, as they were now safe after group stage, first in their group in front of Natus Vincere and fnatic. However, after two days of waiting for their semi-final match, they lost to Frag eXecutors in three maps, same as to mTw later in the 3rd place decider.
Klasson was for the first and only time in the year 2nd best rated in the team at a major tournament, having a 1.10 rating. His solid performance overall, including being the team's best entry killer, earned him his first All-Star nomination. He particularly shined in the group stage draw with Natus Vincere when he had a 30:18 score (1.51 rating).
face against mTw in the 3rd place decider
The next opportunity to see SK Gaming was during HLTV.org Xperia PLAY prelude a month later, when they easily defeated mTw in the final. Even though this was an online tournament, and the team was still playing with Edman as a stand-in, they seemed to have found the right formula for success. Klasson had a very stable performance, playing well in every match-up and finishing as the team's second best with a 1.25 rating.
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
 Xperia PLAY 2011 (2nd place) |
1.16 (3rd) |
+2% |
|
All-Star nomination |
They brought that formula to LAN at Xperia PLAY and the improvement was evident as they made it to the final with wins over Moscow Five and RG-Esports. Frag eXecutors got the better of them in the end, but a second place finish was their best result at that moment. Klasson was as usual a good backup player, 3rd best in the team with a very good 1.16 rating, earning him another All-Star nomination.
But despite reaching new heights, the team felt something was missing, so they snatched Marcus "Delpan" Larsson from fnatic who became their permanent fifth member, while Edman was thanked for his services.
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
| DreamHack Summer 2011 (1st place) |
1.10 (3rd) |
+1% |
| All-Star nomination |
The first test for the new lineup was at DreamHack Summer and the result was their first major title of the year. On their way to first place they overcame Natus Vincere and mTw, while Klasson was again 3rd best in the team with a 1.10 rating. The match against the Ukrainians once more particularly inspired him, as he was the best rated throughout the three maps with a 1.22 rating.
They also won IOL FINAL4 and qualified for WCG at that event, so they were in good form prior to the ICSC8 finals in early July. They clinched another title there after outplaying Frag eXecutors in the semi-final and Moscow Five in the final, while Klasson was the team's second best with a 1.17 rating (3rd best at the event).
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
 GameGune 2011 (1st place) |
1.31 (3rd) |
+2% |
| All-Star nomination 2nd best clutcher (6x won 1vsX) 3rd hardest to kill (0.49 DPR) |
GameGune followed shortly after where SK Gaming continued their winning streak, this time defeating fnatic, Natus Vincere and ESC Gaming to take the medals. Klasson per usual didn't star but still earned an All-Star nomination for his contribution, having his best rating of the year (1.31).
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
 e-Stars Seoul 2011 (2nd place) |
1.13 (3rd) |
+5% |
| All-Star nomination 2nd most kills (138) |
A month later, a trip to Korea and e-Stars Seoul was in line, where the team came in amazing form having two major titles behind them and being undefeated since the lineup change. However, they had to face defeat at some pointin, and it came from the clashes with Polish team Frag eXecutors, firstly in the Upper final and then in the Grand final. In this second place campaign, Klasson was again the 3rd best in his team with another very good rating of 1.13, having the second most kills at the event despite not standing out much.
4-kill pistol-round against Lunatic Hai
Winning an eco round against fnatic at e-Stars
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
 SEC 2011 (Quarter-final) |
1.01 (4th) |
-1% |
In the beginning of October, SK Gaming attended SEC and suffered their first real troubles with this lineup, as they initially lost to eSahara in the group stage and then dropped out of the tournament due to a quarter-final loss to Natus Vincere. Klasson was just average this time, with a 1.01 rating as team's fourth.
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
| IEM6 GC New York (1st place) |
1.25 (3rd) |
-1% |
| 3rd best rating (1.25) Most dominant (16x 3+ kills) 2nd hardest to kill (0.52 DPR) 3rd best K-D difference (+47) |
Only a few days later, the Swedes were back in form at IEM6 Global Challenge New York where they defeated mTw and WinFakt on the road to victory. Klasson had one of his best performances of the year, being the event's and team's third best rated (1.25), while also being the most dominant player of the event (16 rounds with 3+ kills).
His display on the second map of the final against the Finns was particularly impressive, when he had his best rating of the year of 2.32 (26:7 score). Although there was no vote after the tournament due to time constraints, he would have definitely made it to the All-Star lineup for this performance.
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
 ESWC 2011 (1st place) |
1.17 (4th) |
-2% |
| All-Star nomination 3rd hardest to kill (0.57 DPR) |
A week later, SK Gaming confirmed that the SEC disappointment left no trace on them by being victorious at one of the most competitive events of the year, ESWC. As they defeated WinFakt, mousesports and Natus Vincere, Klasson had another very good performance with a 1.17 rating, even though only the 4th best in the team. Additionally, he had what is probably his most memorable display of the year, getting to a 20:3 first-half score during the third map of the semi-final against mousesports and recording several highlight rounds in the process.
face vs DTS during ESWC group stage
Several amazing rounds in the semi-final against mouz
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
| DreamHack Winter 2011 (Quarter-final) |
0.93 (5th) |
-15% |
They didn't have to travel far for their next event, DreamHack Winter, as it took place in Sweden at the end of November. They exited the tournament early once again similarly to SEC, as Natus Vincere outplayed them in the quarter-final. This was the only occasion where Klasson really underperformed in the entire year, as he was the team's worst with a 0.93 rating.
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
| WCG 2011 (2nd place) |
1.09 (4th) |
-5% |
| All-Star nomination |
In the last major event of 2011, SK Gaming was back in good shape, but not good enough to win WCG as they lost the final to the Poles once again. Klasson was as always an important part of their overall success with a 1.09 rating, and even though he was only 4th in his team, he was nominated for the All-Star lineup of the tournament.
The best support player in the world
Johan "face" Klasson wasn't SK Gaming's best player in a single tournament during 2011, but he still left a better impression than some many players from other teams. During every successful campaign of his team, when they at least reached semi-final at an event, Klasson was up to the task. That is reflected in his 7 All-Star nominations from major tournaments, while he also had an All-Star worthy performance at his best event, IEM6 Global Challenge New York.
Along with that, he was one of the hardest players to kill during the year, recording 0.58 deaths per round (2nd least), which is particularly telling of how good he was in his role of lone bombsight defender.
Another interesting stat, but not so relevant, might be that he had by far the most kills with the HE grenade (74), making him the best grenadier of 2011.
All in all, Klasson was without a doubt the best support player in 2011, not being very dominant or the team's star, but simply fulfilling his role the best he could. Often only 3rd or 4th best in his team, he still made a huge contribution to SK Gaming's successful year in which they won ESWC, DreamHack Summer and GameGune among other tournaments. Therefore, he had to have a place in this ranking, while his quality displays and consistency brought him as far up as the 14th position.
Recommended demos of Johan "face" Klasson in 2011:
| Opponent | Map | Event | Score | Demo |
| Na´Vi |
train | IEM5 World (Group stage) |
25:8 | HLTV |
| Fx |
nuke | IEM5 World (Semi-final, map 2) |
29:15 | POV |
| mTw |
train | Xperia prelude (Grand final, map 1) |
20:7 | POV |
| RG |
dust2 | Xperia PLAY (Semi-final, map 3) |
21:14 | POV |
| Na´Vi |
nuke | DH Summer (Semi-final, map 1) |
21:9 | HLTV |
 Virtus.pro |
tuscan | ICSC8 |
37:10 | POV |
| KerchNET |
tuscan | ICSC8 finals (Group stage) |
30:11 | HLTV |
| mousesports |
inferno | IEM6 GC NY qual |
28:13 | HLTV |
| mTw |
forge | IEM6 GC NY (Semi-final, map 1) |
22:5 | POV |
 WinFakt |
dust2 | IEM6 GC NY (Grand final, map 2) |
26:7 | POV |
| mousesports |
dust2 | ESWC (Semi-final, map 3) |
31:17 | POV |
| M5 |
nuke | WCG (Semi-final, map 1) |
30:17 | HLTV |
What do you think about Johan "face" Klasson's contribution to SK Gaming's success and do you think the 14th position is the right one for him?
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 13.
Post edited 2012-01-06 18:56:05
so whos going to be No 13 then? :D
xitz this year wasnt so good
Post edited 2012-01-06 19:51:37
http://www.hltv.org/?pageid=247&playerid=151&a..
face 60%-40% Xizt
face playing for sk-gaming top1 world this year, i think xizt cant be before face so he will not at top20 this year, but its only my opinion we will see... :)
Xizt will be top8 i guess
xizt to match better than face
forest top 11 :D
ceh9 top 1 :D
Rara or v3d1m4k = top1
@ to every1 saying that face should be in top10...
do you really think that face was overall better than f0rest,gtr,delpan,neo,taz,markeloff, kalle, karrigan, friis, gux, edik?
ofc not
Post edited 2012-01-06 19:13:07
GameGune 1.17
DHS 1.08
XPERIA Play 1.40 (best rated)
+2 online qualifiers
+ World Gaming Festival(no real competition and he had 1.35 rating)
That's all he played and it's prettty impressive imo
my opinion.
His stats are FAAAR better than face's, I don't see how face can be better than edik!
kalle? are you insane? that guy played 4 major tours, topped the rating in 2, finished 3rd in 3rd and did very good at the 4th.
gux rly dude? gux the LIONS one man army in the first half of the season, he was best rated 9/10 matches, in the second half of the season the only one stepping up alongside pita to prevent fnatic's downfall, MVP at one of the tours fnatic won and a lot of All-Star nominations
taz...SEC MVP, countless All-Star nominations, and having a better rating than face on every tour both teams attended except (IEM World)
I understand you all have opinions, I respect that but on what do you base your opinions on?
If you had read the post you would've seen that face is n14 mostly because of his role and his importance to the team, his consistence, not because of his mad performances for which taz,kalle,edik and gux will be above him
good job
hahahahaha
starix > face
Edward > face
Dosia > face
this year
robban > edward
robban > dosia
face, f0rest, gtr, delpan
uh, like it!
BEST TEAM IN HISTORY OF CS!!!!!
12.25:11=1.113636364 ?
Post edited 2012-01-06 19:40:27
thought he will be in top10
if it was TWITTER i would retweet you guy
Post edited 2012-01-06 20:16:19
Xizt is one of the best aimers in the world
ofcourse face < xizt.
face is better than this player?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q13Vcj22HU
awesome year by face, but I don't agree that he was he best support player since he played the madfragger role the entire year.
But nice, 2010 > 16 , 2011 > 14 ;]
Based on skill, he clearly deserves to be in this top but he has no team achievments this year.
Post edited 2012-01-07 15:42:09
Meanwhile, HLTV makes stats, compares players and competitions and writes up an essay about each player.
Makes me LOL so hard.
Take inferno or train for example. Often times he will be the only guy holding the smaller bombsite and the way he delays the enemy by getting 1 or 2 frags combined with flashes can't really be measured in stats - but we as players know how important it is.
I think this ranking is great, I just don't think people should whine that much about it, which was pretty much your original point :)
face top 15 wtf?
Do your list and you will see how hard is putting so many players in top10. You will see that it's impossible ;)
Post edited 2012-01-07 00:13:04
Post edited 2012-01-07 01:26:50
think he had... maybe 30? =P
the face of face is so old... :D
Post edited 2012-01-07 03:50:13
LOL!
2.GTR/mark
3.mark/GTR
4.f0rest
5.taz
2.Friis
3.Karrigan
4.f0rest
5.trace
U must be joking he's in front of MODDII and Edward LOL
Post edited 2012-01-08 10:11:02
