Top 20 players of 2018: oskar (14)

Tomáš "oskar" Šťastný returns to the top 20 list for the second year in a row and scales two positions from last year, becoming the 14th best player in HLTV.org’s top 20 players of 2018 ranking, powered by EGB.com.

Top 20 Players of 2018: Introduction

oskar’s beginnings go back to CS 1.6, when he kicked off his international career with nEophyte at ESWC 2008 at the tender age of 17. He then also played a GameGune with the same team and a SEC in Poland with eSuba. Around that same time the Czech player was invited to some private mIRC channels with some of the best players in the world, where he tried to show his value, even ditching school to play gathers with the likes of Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund and Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg, but he would end up stuck playing in the Czech-Slovakian scene and its limited pool of talent. "It was a long road, I was really trying and I was playing a lot, from morning to evening," says oskar, “I just wish I could roll my age back and start from scratch right here and now."

In the early days of CS:GO, oskar teamed up with Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács, with whom he tried to break out on myDGB.net and 3DMAX. With the former, the Czech-Slovakian duo got third place behind GeT_RiGhT and f0rest’s NiP, and VeryGames, but, after moving to 3DMAX they were unable to achieve the same level of success, finishing 9th-12th at Mad Catz Vienna and 25th-32nd at CPH Games 2013. In July 2013 oskar played his last recorded LAN match with a team from his region, FU.sk.

“When I went from 1.6 to CS:GO, I played for Playing Ducks in my first international team. At that point, it was basically for headsets and I was glad to even get that, but I was also a terrible flamer. I really didn't want to leave 1.6 so I was looking for every fault CS:GO had. I told myself I would never play it until I later joined up with GuardiaN & co. in myDGB.net and 3DMAX. It was my last attempt to break through and it didn't work out, so I started playing DotA2 and just quit CS:GO. I returned after a couple of years and the game just fit me, suddenly I was good at it. But I still probably never thought I would ever be in the top 20 myself or be in a top-five team. Maybe I got used to the role of the outsider when I was battling in the Czech Republic with Czech teams.”

It wasn’t until FPL became popular in 2015 that oskar was able to once again resurface, as he was invited to join the league as part of the Fraternitas squad in which he was playing with Martin "STYKO" Styk and Patrik "Zero" Žúdel. He quickly became one of the top players in the European division of FACEIT’s pug system and started making a name for himself in the international scene. In January 2016 oskar went on to play his first LAN since 2013 with his new team, HellRaisers, going on to win the Europe Minor for MLG Columbus, which made the Czech sniper’s return to competitive play a successful one even though they would go on to fail to make the Major on two separate occasions.

“[My time in HellRaisers shaped my career] in the way that it was the first better-known team with whom I got my first real player contract and I was able to only focus on playing. And they helped me grow into the player I am now. I attended more tournaments, I started communicating in English, I was introduced to real strategies and I just started getting oriented in the game even better.”

After putting in great numbers during the first half of the year and winning several events, including Copenhagen Games 2016, oskar was finally called up to the big leagues as mousesports decided to bring him on board to replace Johannes "nex" Maget. The Czech player would quickly run into trouble in his new team, however, as Nikola "NiKo" Kovač tweeted just months after the signing that nex would be put back into the starting five as oskar was moved to the bench due to personal reasons. In January 2017, he was recalled to the starting lineup, and that would turn out to be a fantastic year for the Czech talent.

“It was my decision, I was aware of my actions, but the break helped me and I knew I would be able to come back, so I didn't slack. I still played and prepared, I was gaining more motivation and hunger for the game. The period after [being benched] was one of my best in terms of enjoying the game.”

NiKo and Timo "Spiidi" Richter left the team in early 2017, and after a decent season that ended in an underwhelming 12-14th place at the PGL Major in Krakow, so did Denis "denis" Howell, making way for the mousesports roster to become what we know it as today. A solid end to the year, which included winning ESG Tour Mykonos, and where oskar was named MVP, would make 2017 the Czech AWPer’s most prolific year yet as he was able to make our top 20 of 2017 ranking for the first time, finishing in 16th place.

After a strong second half of 2017 which included the aforementioned win in Mykonos, as well as two second-place finishes to cap off 2017, mousesports had their sights set on becoming a world class team. After two wins during the ELEAGUE Major Boston New Challengers Stage, mousesports lost two matches, although they were able to finally qualify for the next round after being brought to the edge of the precipice. They then went on to become Legends in a run that would see oskar end with a team-high 1.23 rating .

mousesports followed the feat up with two tournament wins, one at a Big Event and one at a Medium Event, StarSeries i-League Season 4 and the V4 Future Sports Festival. At the former, oskar had his first EVP of the season in a tournament he ended with a 1.17 rating and an impressive +90 KDD as well as nine 1vsX situations won (a year-high for him). At the V4 Future Sports Festival, the smaller of the two events, oskar won his only MVP medal of the year as he ended the tournament with an impressive 1.27 rating—the highest on his team.

“It was something I had never experienced before. Mykonos is not comparable to StarSeries and V4, StarSeries was a BO3 format against all the best teams in the world and V4 was a new experience overall. It started looking like we could fight for a position in the top three, we knew we were a team that could win tournaments if it clicked from the start. Every winning feeling is indescribable, and to get an MVP as well is a cherry on top. Naturally, I was happy and I wanted more.”

As mousesports rose in the rankings, so did their hunger for titles, but the European team would be unable to repeat their two early victories during the rest of the season. Their first tournament after the two wins was DreamHack Masters Marseille, where they went out to the world’s #2 team, Natus Vincere, in the quarter-finals. In France, oskar had a discreet 1.03 rating and wasn’t the best player on the server in any of the team’s 8 maps played. The Czech player’s average form then continued at IEM Sydney, where mousesports made a semi-final run before losing to Astralis, ending the tournament with a barely positive 1.01 rating. At the event in Sydney, oskar went under 70 ADR for the first time in the year, hitting 68.4 across 13 maps.

oskar moved on from those two average events and had two good events to put under his belt, the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals and StarSeries i-League Season 5. At those events, however, mousesports were unable to find what they were looking for—a trophy—, as they went out in the quarter-finals in Dallas and in the semi-finals in Kiev. At the Pro League Finals, oskar hit a 1.18 rating and won seven 1vsX situations, which he then followed up with a 1.19 rating and another seven 1vsX situations won at StarSeries. On both occasions, oskar was able to land some of his highest ADRs of the season, with 81.2 and 80.7 respectively, and he earned an EVP—his second of the year—for his play at StarSeries.

oskar then missed ESL One Belo Horizonte, which his team went on to play without him as they brought on Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert to stand in for them in their semi-final run. Despite the good result there, mousesports decided to sign Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski and release STYKO to try and get back to winning ways despite having made playoffs at every event during the year.

“Everyone knew that it couldn’t go on like this if we wanted to go further at tournaments. We tried to risk it with Snax, but it didn't click, unfortunately. We won New York, but everyone had realized by then that the move wasn't the right one. Snax is a good player, but I think he'll fit in better with Polish players. I believe he'll do well and bring Virtus.pro back where they belong.”

Then came mousesports’ first slip-up of the year and oskar’s first tournament with a below-average rating, even if just barely, coming in at 0.99. At ESL One Cologne, the European team were unable to make it out of the group stage as they lost to G2 and ENCE despite an opening win against Gambit. oskar & co. then closed the season off at ELEAGUE Premier, where they were able to finish in 3rd-4th place once again. The event hosted in Atlanta saw the Czech player go back up to a 1.11 rating (+34 KDD).

After the player break, mousesports began the second season of the year by attending DreamHack Masters Stockholm, an event that saw them make another deep run, all the way to the semi-finals. oskar ended the event with a 1.08 rating, nothing particularly special by his standards, and had a year-low 64.5 ADR. Then came the lowest point of the year for mousesports as the European combine took a nosedive at the FACEIT Major in London. They only played three maps, against NiP, MIBR, and FaZe before packing up, as they lost all of them and were out of the tournament in last place, which meant they would have to go through the Europe Minor during the next cycle. In London, oskar had his lowest rating, 0.87, and the lowest impact rating of the year, 0.78 of the year.

“We went into it headfirst as if we were favorites, it might have turned out differently than a 0-3 if we had played it like underdogs. These are moments where I don't feel good and I don't want to play, I don't know if it's a motivational issue or something that is going on in the team. I can't say we're the best group of players, I guess there are times when the team isn't running well and when this happens to me, I don't enjoy the game, and when I don't enjoy the game, I play poorly.

“I think we were all sure we would go to the playoffs, or at least none of us expected to go home after going 0-3. I really don't know, it was an odd tournament, but it was our own fault, we could have beaten those teams.”

Then came a consolation for mousesports, and one of their high points of the year, as they went on a tear just days after the Major came to an end and lifted the trophy at ESL One New York, even though by then they had already realized that Snax was not fitting into the team and the atmosphere was volatile. For oskar, the tournament in the Big Apple was the beginning of a solid end to 2018—even if the player himself doesn’t believe he was at his best during the latter part of the year—, as he managed to hit a 1.13 rating, winning six clutches in the process and hitting a 78.2 ADR.

“The first half of the year was okay, up to ESL One Belo Horizonte, but something went wrong after that and I couldn't find myself, I wasn't feeling well personally, I had some problems and I just wanted to get the rest of the year over with. There were a few bright moments, but I know myself and I know that for the remainder of the year I could have given more than 20%. But even then, this is an unbelievable achievement for me and I appreciate it, not everyone can be the 14th best player in the world and I got lucky.

“We had a team talk after the Major, even with the management, and we promised ourselves in London that we would win New York and do everything to do so. We had a few days to prepare and it worked, we approached every match differently and that helped us, we were mentally strong. Nobody expected us to come together like that and win the tournament. It had everything, I enjoyed the event, even though I didn't play up to my standards, so I was helping the team in other ways, and we did it as a team.

After the big victory at ESL One New York came another dip in form for mousesports, as they went out of the StarSeries i-League Season 6 Finals in the Swiss group stage. For oskar, though, the event was his best of the year, statistically, with a 1.25 rating after the five best-of-ones the team played, with a +32 KDD and an 80.3 ADR. He also had his second-best impact rating of the year at 1.35. The gang then got back together as STYKO was reinstated into mousesports’ starting lineup ahead of IEM Chicago, where they would go on to make a quarter-final run before falling to the eventual champions, Astralis. In the Windy City, oskar dipped to a 1.06 rating, his lowest of the year after the Major.

The last two tournaments of the season for mousesports were the LAN finals of the ECS and ESL Pro League online leagues. The Czech AWPer had outstanding performances at both, finishing with a 1.20 rating in Arlington and 1.17 in Odense, leading his team in both instances, to a 5-6th place in the first—after a decider match loss to Astralis— and the semi-finals of the latter, where they once again lost to the world-beating Danes. At the ECS Season 6 Finals, oskar had his highest ADR of the year, 85.9, as well as his highest impact rating of the year, 1.38.

“I don't think anything changed for me in 2018, I prepare the same way for matches, although perhaps I started sacrificing my comfort zone in the team and I started doing some of the dirty work even though I didn't have to, it wasn't planned.”

“I haven't set any resolutions [for 2019], I believe what is meant to happen will happen. I'm not the type of person who surrenders, so I want the best for myself and my team. Of course, I hope the next season will be better than the previous one. As long as the team's approach changes [we can become steady tournament contenders], we have the players for it, and the impossible is possible. I currently see us as a top 5 team.”

Why was oskar the 14th best player of 2018?

It could be argued that oskar was the second best AWPer of the year as he put in impressive numbers at Big Events, where he was number two for total AWP kills, with 1610, as well as for AWP kills per round, with 0.42. To close the circle on being a well-rounded player, oskar was exceptionally successful at opening rounds, boasting the seventh-high success rate at 57.6%, and at closing them, ranking sixth for the most 1vsX situations won (54).

Those numbers could make an argument for oskar being higher in the top 20 ranking, especially considering his 1.09 playoff rating and his high peaks. When he showed up, mousesports usually made deep runs at tournaments, and that can be seen by his four EVP performances at StarSeries i-League Seasons 4 and 5, ESL One New York, and ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals, and his MVP award at V4 Future Sports Festival.

However, oskar also had some some disturbing lows in 2018, and he was unable to remain a consistent player throughout the year, be it round-to-round, as his 69.7% KAST shows (the lowest in the top 20), or match-to-match, as he only had 65% of maps above a 1.00 rating (tied for the lowest in this year’s top 20), which ended up putting the breaks on oskar’s prospects of climbing any higher on the list.

Bold prediction:

Unlike some of the other players on the list who decided to pick some of the international scene’s rising stars such as Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, Jere "sergej" Salo, or Ismail "refrezh" Ali as their bold predictions, oskar opted to go with a lesser-known player from the Czech-Slovakian scene, Lubos "HenkkyG" Ilko, who had the courage to try and leave the comfort of local play and gave an international team a go, as he played with TinderklubeN in early 2018.

Lubos "HenkkyG" Ilko

“I'd really like to highlight someone from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. I recently saw a HenkkyG highlight and I liked it. I'd like to see him in the top 20. I don't follow the CZ/SK scene, but I'm always glad to see someone try to break through on the international scene. I hope that sometime in the future I'll be part of a CZ/SK team who will rewrite CS history and become a top 3 team. Perhaps even with HenkkyG.”

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.