Top 20 players of 2018: ropz (19)

Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool is number 19 on the top 20 list of 2018, and, like the first player revealed, is also a newcomer to the best players of the year ranking, powered by EGB.com.

Top 20 Players of 2018: Introduction

ropz’s rise to the top was different than that of most other players in the higher echelons of the game, as he worked his way up through FACEIT’s pick-up game system instead of climbing up the ladder, joining different teams and playing through the local and regional LAN circuit before landing bigger and bigger contracts to make it on the world stage.

The young Estonian player’s rise didn’t come out of the blue, however, as many people may think, as he had played Counter-Strike 1.6 from a very young age before moving on to Call of Duty and eventually returning to CS in 2014, well after the release of Global Offensive.

“I started out with 1.6 when I was around 7, during the first year of school, and it was really popular back then. I never competed during that time, but I learned most of the basics and I still play KZ in 1.6 nowadays because the movement feels so pure, it’s so controllable. CS:GO movement feels like it’s all over the place. I stopped playing 1.6 when it died out, around 2012, and played a few years of Call Of Duty, and in like 2014 I heard in my school that some kids were playing CS:GO, which I had never heard of. So I got interested because I did not know there was a new version of CS that was actually appealing (I never liked Source or Condition Zero), and I started playing it pretty much right after that. I attended like 2 LANs in Estonia, where I didn’t even come close to winning, but even after that I realised that I had much better chances to improve online and that’s what I did.”

After playing a little bit locally, ropz realized that he could up his game online, facing up-and-comers like himself as well as some professional players. While dominating FPL-C before his rise to FPL in mid-2016, ropz was also able to pocket some money at the end of each month, which was also a strong incentive to keep grinding online.

“I’m not sure if I had any priorities, but I think what kept me going was that you could actually get a chance to play against the elite level pros. The kid inside of me always wanted to play against a real pro and of course even become one, and making a name for myself through that just helped a lot. Of course, FPL even motivated me more, because I was like the best player in the league below it (FPL-C) and getting some money every month when I was 16 was a pretty insane factor and that started to tell me that I could actually become a pro.”

The next step in ropz’s ascent was making it to FACEIT’s top league, FPL, in which he would get to go up against the best players in Europe. But it wasn’t all going to be as easy as it seemed. The Estonian player faced a lot of backlash for being an unproven player on LAN and he was eventually flown out to the FACEIT offices in London in March of 2017 to play on equipment provided by the league operators.

“When I qualified for FPL I knew that the accusations would eventually start. It had been the same deal in FPL-C, a lot of people even wanted to dodge the game if they were against me, so I was prepared for it. I tried to do everything in my power to prove myself (even streaming with a camera that showed me playing), but no one, of course, believed anything, because why should they? So I kind of started to question myself and I was feeling really down. Then FACEIT approached me and that was my only option left, so I just took it. I think it proved to me how good I really am and nowadays it’s just fun to look back at what a lot of people said.”

ropz had played his first LAN on record in 2016, a regional affair in which he and a team of Estonian players with the likes of Taavet "⁠nuga⁠" Pruli and Hendrik "⁠cheti⁠" Vallimägi played against other Baltic teams. He also then tried to see if an Estonian OnlineBOTS roster would work, but it was after playing the pros on FACEIT and proving himself at their offices that he got his big break as MOUZ officialized his signing. By that time, the Estonian player had received offers from many different teams all over the world, but he joined the European organization because it allowed him to not have to make too many lifestyle changes as he would be able to remain in school while competing.

Stepping into Timo "⁠Spiidi⁠" Richter’s shoes at a time in which MOUZ was going through a transitional period, ropz was thrown into a team that didn’t quite have an identity yet as it was before Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi and Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk joined to make it what it is today and after the time which saw Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač take a central role in the roster.

The first couple of tournaments with ropz were nothing out of the ordinary, a semi-final run at DreamHack Open Tours 2017 and a quarter-final run at the ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals. The Estonian rifler had a 0.97 rating at the French event and was able to get a respectable 1.12 rating in Dallas, where he went up against the likes of Natus Vincere, Liquid, the North American OpTic roster, NRG, and SK.

Things then started to turn sour for MOUZ, as they went out in the group stage at DreamHack Open Summer 2017, and although they made it cleanly through to the PGL Major in Krakow with three victories at the Main Qualifier, they went out of ESL One Cologne and the PGL Major in the group stages. This prompted the German organization to once again make changes, as Denis "⁠denis⁠" Howell and Christian "⁠loWel⁠" Garcia Antoran were sidelined, and suNny—who had just broken out at the Major with PENTA —, and STYKO—who was rejoining Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný and Sergey "⁠lmbt⁠" Bezhanov—, were brought in as replacements.

“It was the first time I was playing these big events, and I was so eager to play well, so, even if the team was struggling, I felt really good playing there. And even if I didn’t play so well in my first couple of events, it felt like a ‘look at me now’ moment to everyone who had doubts about me. I obviously didn’t want to stop there and my goal is always to engrave my name in the game’s history, since you can always look back and get a good feeling from the big things you’ve done.”

The new team’s first event, DreamHack Masters Malmö, was a fiasco, as MOUZ went out in last place after two best-of-one losses to Gambit and FaZe, failing to hit double digits in either game. The European combine’s fortunes swung at the second event of the season, however, as they would win ESG Tour Mykonos 2017. With a 1.14 rating, ropz was MOUZ’ third-best rated player at the event after suNny and oskar. Inconsistency marked the early days of this European roster, though, as they then went on to go out in last place at ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017, after losses to Immortals and fnatic.

“Being at that ESG Tour Mykonos felt weird, everything was kind of off. suNny and I only had one bed and had to share. The place was insane for a CS event, and what do you know, we end up winning it. It was definitely very special and a new sort of feeling that I hadn’t experienced yet in my life. Going to an event as big as that one just to win it for the first time felt pretty surreal. The only thing I regret now is that I didn’t jump into the pool, which was right behind the trophy stand, but I think I’ll have another chance one day!”

Finally, MOUZ were able to find their groove late in 2017, and ropz had four great events to close out the year. The first was the ROG Masters EMEA Finals, which his team won and where he posted a 1.24 rating (+43), followed by DreamHack Open Denver and DreamHack Open Winter, where he put in team-leading 1.39 and 1.32 ratings, respectively, in his team’s 3rd-4th and 2nd place finishes. To close out the year, MOUZ had one more deep run at the ECS Season 4 Finals in Cancun, Mexico, where they beat OpTic’s European roster, Luminosity, and Astralis, before falling to FaZe in a grand final that saw them win the first map and lose the following two in overtime.

The year kicked off for MOUZ at the ELEAGUE Boston Major. After the previous roster’s group stage exit in Krakow, they had to show up in the New Challengers stage in Atlanta. After posting a 3-2 record in the Swiss system New Challengers stage, in which ropz had a team-leading 1.25 rating, MOUZ went on to make it to the quarter-finals of the Major before eventually losing to their ECS Season 4 Finals butchers, FaZe.

It was after the Major that ropz’s first big moment of the year came, at StarSeries i-League Season 4, where MOUZ won their first big trophy of the year. There, ropz was named an EVP and was in the race for the MVP medal, finishing with a 1.15 rating (+72 KDD) and a year-high 9 clutches in what can be considered his best showing of 2018. During that event, ropz gave an interview talking about how combining school and professional play was becoming very demanding, something that got harder and harder as the team improved.

“It’s really hard but doable. You can imagine that it’s like having two full-time jobs and I had to put 100% focus into both. Seven or eight hours of school and seven or eight hours of CS. I think what has helped me is my personality. I’m like a very factual person and a fast learner, and I have a very good memory. It also reaches a point where it destroys you as a human, though, since the hours of sleep really get minimal. I sat down with my school in September and told them that I would like to focus more on playing, so I got to extend my last year to 2 years and do it like home-schooled. It was physically impossible for me to keep doing this once we reached top 5 since we’ve been abroad more than half of the year and I still need time to rest."

After the victory in Kiev, MOUZ were able to follow up that first place finish with another one at the V4 Future Sports Festival in Budapest, a medium event at which ropz was awarded his second EVP of the year after finishing with a 1.19 rating, his highest in 2018 and the second highest rating at the event among his teammates. By this time, MOUZ were solidifying their place among the world’s best by becoming a consistent top 5 team, but another victory would prove to be elusive for the European team. At their next event, DreamHack Masters Marseille, MOUZ went out in 5-8th place following a quarter-final loss to Natus Vincere. In France, ropz was the second best-rated player on the team with a 1.14 rating, trailing only behind suNny. He also had his highest ADR of the year there, 84.

MOUZ then had a semi-final run at IEM Sydney and a quarter-final run at the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals, both events which had ropz finishing with 1.06 ratings. They then followed it up with another semi-final run, this time at StarSeries i-League Season 5, where ropz ended with a 1.12 rating and showed some of his clutching abilities with 5 1vsX situations won. The European team then had another solid run, making the ESL One Belo Horizonte final with Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert standing in for oskar. There, ropz was awarded another EVP thanks to his 1.16 rating, and he had a rating of 1 or above in every one of the five maps he played against Não Tem Como, Liquid, and SK before losing the team final to FaZe.

Despite deep runs in tournaments and the team becoming an ever-present figure in the top 5, MOUZ believed that changes were in order, and STYKO was replaced by Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski on the team’s starting roster. The first event with the new lineup didn’t go well, as MOUZ bombed out of ESL One Cologne in 9-12th place, where ropz had a 1.01 rating across six maps. At ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018, the team went back to making the playoffs to close out the season, finishing in 3rd-4th place, but ropz was still on the lower end of above average, with a 1.03 rating, although he did have good showings in his team’s two victories against FaZe and fnatic.

“As a team we felt like we needed a change because we wanted to go even deeper in tournaments and grab more wins. That change was the best thing we came up with at that given moment, and it does feel like it was rushed and we should’ve taken a few steps back. We also decided as a team that bringing STYKO back was the best option we had because we couldn’t continue with Snax. So, in the end, we still feel like we did the best for the team to keep moving forward and no one has any hard feelings. Our team just has to be on the same page and everything else will come with that. Our only goal is to win.”

Then came DreamHack Masters Stockholm, another good day for MOUZ, who, despite having lost the winning touch since very early in the year, managed to make another semi-final run after the player break. In Sweden, ropz had his second highest rating of the year, 1.18 (+52 KDD), which got him his fourth and last EVP, and was also the only time he was the highest rated player on his team all year long. After the appetizer that was DreamHack Masters came what would turn out to be one of the most critical moments of the year for MOUZ: the FACEIT Major, in London. Three straight losses during the Swiss group stage to Ninjas in Pyjamas, MIBR, and FaZe meant ropz and his team were not only out of the Major, but would have to go through the Minor the next time around. The London tournament also saw the Estonian player post his worst numbers of the year, ending with a 0.84 rating in what would be the only event in which he dipped below average.

“Our 0-3 Major run [is the most disappointing moment of the year]. The way it went you could just see it coming. All of the matches were kind of 50/50 in a best-of-one and once the last matchup was drawn against FaZe, I knew that [us going out 0-3] could actually be happening.”

Just as quickly, the tides turned in a tournament that was mere days after the FACEIT Major, ESL One New York. Astralis were playing at BLAST Pro Series in Istanbul, making MOUZ, Liquid, Natus Vincere, and FaZe the top dogs. The tournament quickly got messy, however, as group stage exits by Natus Vincere and FaZe put MOUZ and Liquid in the grand final. A comeback by the Europeans from a 4-13 deficit on the third map when down 1-2 in the series shifted the momentum of the match, which eventually ended with mouz winning their third event of the year. Despite ropz ending with a team-low 1.02 rating and his lowest ADR of the year, 63.7 (the same he had had at the FACEIT Major), it was a magical moment for the Estonian player, who got to lift a trophy in front of his family.

“Winning ESL One New York 2018 [was my best memory of the year]. It was the one event where I decided to fly out my mom and my grandmother. My aunt actually lives in the US close to New York, so we arranged everything and what do you know… we won it. That was one of the best feelings of my life. The winning moment, the confetti, the big ass trophy. All in front of my family.

“We practiced quite a lot after our Major exit, we flew home early and started playing so we were in a pretty good mood already. Also, it felt like we were given a chance and we made use of it completely. It wasn’t a convincing tournament win, but a win is a win nonetheless. We clinched the group stage matches and only the semifinal came with ease. During that Dust2 in the final, I have to admit, I had quite negative thoughts before we started to come back. I mean it was 13-4 for Liquid and I don’t think there has been more than a few times that we came back from that, let alone in a big grand final. So it was Liquid’s final to lose, and that’s how we did it.

The taste of victory faded quickly, however, as MOUZ went from winning a Big Event to going out in 9-11th place at StarSeries i-League Season 6, a medium event where they were heavy favorites to hoist the trophy. Up 2-0 after beating CyberZen and Sprout, MOUZ lost to ENCE, OpTic, and BIG, with ropz averaging a 1.06 rating. That crash prompted Snax’s removal from the team and STYKO being reinstated, which helped push MOUZ to three playoff runs before the end of the year. The first one was at IEM Chicago, where ropz ended with a 1.09 rating in his team’s 5-6th place finish. He was also able to show some of his clutching abilities in the windy city, winning six 1vsX situations.

The last two events of the year were the online leagues’ LAN finals, ECS Season 6, in Arlington, Texas, followed by ESL Pro League Season 8, in Odense, Denmark. The first of the two events ended in a 5-6th place finish for the European team, with it being ropz’s poorer individual performance of the two. The Estonian rifler kept his rating above average, albeit barely, ending with a 1.02 over five maps. The final tournament of the year, the Pro League Finals, saw MOUZ make their way to the semi-finals before losing to local heroes Astralis, with ropz hitting his big event average rating for the year, 1.09, and a 77.9 ADR.

Looking at 2019, MOUZ will be tasked with making it out of the Europe Minor, where they are one of the favorites to take one of the spots in the New Challengers stage at the IEM Katowice Major in February.

“We really want to make the Major so right now it means everything to our team and it would be horrible to sit out a Major. Looking at the teams we have a pretty good chance and are obviously one of the favorites, but I hope that’s how it will actually be. We’re going to start with our preparation shortly after the New Year’s celebrations and try our best to make it to the Major. All of us obviously want to win one, but making it back there is step one.”

Why was ropz the 19th best player of 2018?

Despite his contributions rarely being exceptional, ropz was consistently good and contributed to much of MOUZ’ success in 2018. He had four EVP-worthy tournaments: StarSeries i-League Season 4, V4 Future Sports Festival, ESL One Belo Horizonte, and DreamHack Masters Stockholm, three of which were big events. And while his 1.09 rating at Big Events is not the most amazing feat, he did manage to have 1.00+ ratings on every occasion, with the exception of the FACEIT Major, where his team bombed out in last place.

The Estonian’s lack of bad events can be seen by the fact that he was only once the team's worst-rated player, but at the same time he was the best just once, which speaks to his consistency throughout the year. Statistically, ropz stood out because of his ability to stay alive, as he was the fifth player with least deaths per round (0.61), and because he was able to turn those late round situations in the favor of his team, ending the year as the 11th player with most 1vsX situations won at Big Events (46).

What held ropz back from being placed higher up in the ranking is that, despite having a high floor (no bad events with the exception of the FACEIT Major), most of the events he played were decent and good, but he was rarely one of the main driving forces behind MOUZ’ victories. This can also be seen in his Big Event playoff rating, 1.05, which is tied for the lowest out of all of the players in the top 20.

“As a team, we really want to get back to the Major circuit and you know winning would be pretty nice, too! But I hope we get to win even more tournaments than last year to make it an upwards trend. Individually, I hope to keep a consistent form and I really want to play even better because I feel like I’m capable of so much more. I wish to have a long career like the current veterans and make the most out of CS. Winning a Major is probably the best way to engrave my name in the history books, so that’s also something I hope to accomplish one day.”

Bold prediction:

ropz, who had been NiKo's and Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman’s bold pick in 2016, and Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz’s in 2017, now gets to make his own pick for 2019. The Estonian player went with one of the youngsters who has been turning the most heads, Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut. The French player got his first professional contract last year, when he joined Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt and Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire in Vitality, and earned his first MVP medal at DreamHack Open Atlanta.

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut

“My obvious pick, and probably the most popular pick, is ZywOo. He will absolutely be on this list next year if he gets to play a whole year of LAN events. What he has shown so far is quite insane and it feels like he can dominate against any opponent.”

Stay tuned to our Top 20 players of 2018 ranking powered by EGB.com and take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the players were selected.