Top 20 players of 2018: rain (18)

Making his second consecutive appearance in the Top 20 players, Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard comes in at No. 18 of 2018's list powered by EGB.com on the back of an impressive first half of the year.

Top 20 Players of 2018: Introduction

rain first appeared on the international scene in 2014 after a climb through local teams saw him join Norway's No.1 at the time, London Conspiracy, with whom he went on to attend his first LAN tournaments, most notably making it to the playoffs of Gfinity 3, and his first Major at ESL One Cologne alongside names such as Ruben "⁠RUBINO⁠" Villarroel and Pål "⁠Polly⁠" Kammen.

The same core became known as LGB at the beginning of 2015, with Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad and Morten "⁠zEVES⁠" Vollan also being part of the roster, and rain qualified for his second Major at ESL One Katowice. His stint there didn't last long, as some impressive tournaments like the aforementioned Major gave him the chance to join the international side Kinguin, featuring Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom, Ricardo "⁠fox⁠" Pacheco, Mikail "⁠Maikelele⁠" Bill, and Alexander "⁠SKYTTEN⁠" Carlsson (later Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman) in May of that year.

That is where the Norwegian got the first win under his belt, leading the team at the infamous Gaming Paradise before he also got another first in the form of a Major semi-finals appearance when the entire squad switched under G2's banner, making the top-four stage at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca after beating mousesports (at the time featuring Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač) and Virtus.pro.

G2 had already made a few lineup changes by then and that continued after the team switched to FaZe and weren't able to make deep runs, but an impressive level from rain saw him keep his place as the only remaining member of the original roster by the time they welcomed Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen. After the Danish in-game leader and later on NiKo joined FaZe, they became one of the best teams of 2017, clinching four titles and five more runners-up finishes, with rain ending 2017 on a high note as the fourth-best player in the top 20 ranking after elevating his play to an elite level.

After a successful finish to 2017, FaZe went into the first big event of the new year, the ELEAGUE Major, as the biggest favorites. rain was in good shape, playing a key part in several of the team's wins as they went 3-1 in the first stage and 3-0 in the second, before taking down MOUZ and Natus Vincere en route to the grand final. In the end, the European side lost to Cloud9 in frustrating fashion, giving up a 15-11 lead on the deciding map, Inferno, to fall short of the ultimate dream to win a Major. Although rain finished the first event of 2018 as only the fourth-highest rated player within his team (still a 1.15 rating), he had plenty of impact with 0.16 opening kills per round and also finished the event as one of the best assisters; two stats that belonged to his strengths over the course of the whole year.

"Coming into that tournament, we saw ourselves as one of the favorites to win the event for sure. We had a good end to 2017 with the win at ECS Finals, so we were feeling pretty confident going into the major. Looking back at the tournament and seeing the score we had vs Cloud9 and knowing we were one round away from winning the major sucks and it’s the only VOD I never watched from all our finals as FaZe. Definitely my worst memory from 2018."

The Norwegian followed that up with one of his best showings of the year at StarSeries i-League Season 4. FaZe placed fourth after taking revenge on Cloud9 in a dominant series as well as beating Na`Vi in groups, but the latter team ended up sending the squad to the somewhat meaningless third-place match, where they lost to Liquid. rain was right up there with NiKo among the best to earn his first EVP mention on the back of all-around great play.

March saw the 24-year-old dip to average numbers for the first time as FaZe made their second grand final of 2018 and were at the receiving end of another big upset, this time falling to a surprisingly strong fnatic — once in a best-of-three in groups and once in the best-of-five series —, with consistency issues placing rain at the bottom of the team with a 1.01 rating. He was back with a solid level at V4 Future Sports, though playing mainly against lesser competition, with FaZe unable to make it past Virtus.pro in the semi-finals of the tournament.

"In the period between the major and V4, we were still feeling pretty good and we knew we could have won Katowice if it weren’t for some small mistakes during the final. The StarSeries event after the Major was like a warmup tournament for us after the Major loss, in a way. We lost to a hard-hitting Na`Vi in the semis, but we were still happy with how we played so we didn't think too much about it."

Not long after that, Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer announced his leave of absence, which caused the European squad to pick up Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström for the next three tournaments. rain looked unaffected from the start, working in tandem with NiKo at DreamHack Masters Marseille to add another impressive showing to his resumé, though to little avail as the temporary roster placed 5th-8th after losing to the improved Astralis in the quarter-finals.

"Losing a player like olof will hurt your team no matter what team he plays for, so the team dynamic in-game changed a little bit, but karrigan always had a thing for making chaos into something good, so we managed to get by and play our own game in a way. My role remained pretty much the same with some small changes here and there, but we all had to make sacrifices during the period to make it work with stand-ins."

It only turned out to be an adjustment period, a short one at that, as FaZe brought home their first title of the year from IEM Sydney, a tournament where the team returned the favor to the aforementioned Danes with a tight grand-final triumph, while rain secured his second EVP mention thanks to highly consistent play.

"I think coming in as a stand-in into our team was probably the easiest team to do it in seeing as we played a very loose and not too structured style where everybody can make a play in a way. One of karrigan's strengths is calling on-the-fly and he always found a way to use everybody in the team in the games. The key for us during those tournaments I definitely think was the fact we played with no pressure on our shoulders and that we just played to have fun."

FaZe closed out that period with a semi-finals finish at ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals, where the Norwegian hit some high peaks, including a 1.80 rating in a win against MOUZ, a 1.47 rating in a narrow loss to Na`Vi, as well as a 1.46 series rating versus SK in the quarter-finals, before he also recorded one of his worst maps of the year in a beatdown from Astralis in the last best-of-three.

Due to Xizt joining fnatic and olofmeister extending his break for an even longer period, the team was once again at a point where they had to look for a stand-in. rain's input helped FaZe pick up his compatriot, Jorgen "⁠cromen⁠" Robertsen, who had stood in for Heroic right before then, for another trio of events.

"I used to play a lot of gathers and mixes with cromen back when I played source, so I always knew who he was and how good he was at the game. When Xizt left for fnatic, we had to start thinking about someone else to get, so we sat down together and I mentioned cromen because of how he played with Heroic during Pro League. He is a completely different kind of player than Xizt, but we took a shot at it and it worked out really well. He brought a lot of hunger back to the team and was super motivated to play with us and, for me personally, it was fun playing with a Norwegian again!"

The team took a tournament to warm up again, keeping their perfect streak of making playoffs alive with another semi-final appearance at ECS Season 5 Finals as rain was a bit up and down, with Astralis ending their journey once again. However, after traveling to Brazil only a few days later for ESL One Belo Horizonte, the 24-year-old was an EVP award heavier particularly due to good play in the team's three wins in the final against MOUZ, which saw FaZe clinch their second title.

"My best memory from 2018 is winning the ESL Belo Horizonte tournament! The crowd and atmosphere in the arena when we played was so crazy. I can still feel my bones shaking from the noise."

rain's fourth EVP followed right after at ESL One Cologne, which became by far his highest-rated event (1.29), largely thanks to massive peaks against BOOT-d[S] (1.79 rating in a 16-9 win) and fnatic (1.65 rating in a 2-1 series) in the groups, but also following a solid level on two close maps in the team's semi-final loss to BIG.

The German tournament marked the end of FaZe's roster issues, as olofmeister finally came back ahead of ELEAGUE Premier, but also of rain's streak of above-average ratings. In Atlanta, he hit one of his two disappointing lows with an overall 0.86 rating, as did the team by placing dead last following close losses to MOUZ and fnatic.

"When olof came back, we were all pretty burnt out from all the traveling and being without a 5th for such a long time, so we were at a low place when he came back for ELEAGUE. We went into the tournament to win even though it was the first tournament with olof back, but I think our team was really tired at that point and just wanted a vacation. Me personally, I didn't feel like myself at all during ELEAGUE and I played some of the worst cs I have played. I don't really know exactly what happened, but think I just needed a break."

Upon returning from the off-season, FaZe were back in the playoffs at DreamHack Masters Stockholm and at the FACEIT Major but couldn't make it past the quarter-finals either time, with MOUZ and Astralis being on the other end of the playoffs series. By then it had been clear that rain was losing steam as he recorded 1.08 and 1.04 ratings and FaZe began going through internal turmoil as NiKo overtook in-game leadership halfway through the London event.

"I think the big make or break event for us after olof's return was the Major and, as everybody knows, we had a lot of problems during the Major, which led to NiKo taking over the IGL position from karrigan. After the Major, the atmosphere in the team was a bit weird and we felt like we knew something had to happen, but we just kept on playing together."

Less than a week later, the mixture finished last for the second time in 2018 across the big pond, at ESL One New York, a rather sub-par tournament for rain as FaZe lost to G2 and NRG in the groups. Somehow, the European side turned it around at EPICENTER after nearly a month full of only online play. It almost looked easy for the now NiKo-led team in the playoffs in Russia, where they beat Ninjas in Pyjamas, Liquid, and Natus Vincere with convincing 2-0 victories despite losing to Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko's side in the groups. While rain did not have a poor showing there, he was missing big performances to earn another award in the team's third title-winning campaign.

"To be honest, I don't really know why we played so well together during EPICENTER, but it always helps to have an in-form NiKo on your team, so I think he played a big part in pushing us to win that tournament."

In fact, he finished the second half of the season without any awards to his name, with his highest-rated event out of the seven in total being BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, where a team-high 1.12 rating was not enough to pull them through to the final as FaZe went 2-1-2 in the round-robin.

IEM Chicago followed only three days later and that was likely the Norwegian's best chance of another run to an award, as he played a pivotal part in beating MIBR and Astralis to make the top four. However, in the end, a very poor showing in a whitewash by Liquid on maps two and three of the semi-final brought him down.

"It's hard to say what has caused me to play worse this year in general, but I will always do my best to try to grind back to where I need to be. 2018 as a whole for me was a bad year in Counter-Strike. I think I lost some of my motivation and lust for winning after olof had to go on a break. 2017 was a great year for me in terms of individual performance and also winning my first international tournament with faze, so it's pretty easy to say 2017 was way better for me than what 2018 was."

As the team failed to qualify for either of the big league's finals, only one tournament remained. The year came to a close at BLAST Pro Series Lisbon, with FaZe looking out of energy from the get-go, as they got destroyed by Astralis and lost to Cloud9 (for the second time since Copenhagen) to get off to a 0-2 start, which put them at low odds of making the grand final already. In the end, they didn't win a single match, with a 0-2-3 record putting them in fifth place, as rain added another measly 0.86 rating to write the final chapter of the year.

"My personal goal for this year is to get back in shape both in-game and out of the game. You can see how well the gym and a healthy life is affecting people's play."

Why was rain the 18th best player of 2018?

rain's placing in the top 20 was largely driven by the first half of the year up to ESL One Cologne, during which he earned four EVPs, with two of them coming from FaZe's title runs in Sydney and Belo Horizonte and two more from being one of the key players in the semi-final finishes at StarSeries i-League Season 4 and in Cologne. During that time, he was among his team's top-three performers at eight out of 10 events while FaZe made at least the top four every time but once.

Up to that point, rain looked on course for a top-10 placement with a 1.14 average rating over the first 10 tournaments. However, the second half of the year (from ELEAGUE Premier on) brought him down overall, as he did not receive any more awards due to the lack of key performances and inconsistency, with his average level dropping off by a significant amount.

Still, with both periods in mind, rain stood out in a number of ways overall. As an aggressive player, he was heavily involved in opening duels on the T side (in 27%, putting him in fourth place) and often converted them into an advantage with the opening kill (0.12 per round on the T side, eighth most). Furthermore, he ranks fourth in damage assists with 0.16 per round, and fourth as well in how often his death gets traded with 23.7%, which showcases his strength in positioning.

"I don't know if I should take this as a compliment or not, but I guess it's a good thing in a way. I think it comes down to being entry fraggers and even if you die most of the time, there is going to be someone there to revenge you. I have never been known to take the safest duels/positions, so I guess that can be a small part of it, as well. There are times when I feel like I could have changed the round by not getting traded and just getting the kill instead, but I try not to think too much about it."

Bold prediction

The Norwegian went with his compatriot, 18-year-old Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli, who is currently part of Nordavind, where he is playing alongside rain's ex-teammate zEVES.

Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli

"I have seen this one Norwegian kid hallzerk and it seems like he is the next big thing Norway will come with. Hopefully, he gets the chance to prove himself among the best in the world during 2019."

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.