Top 20 players of 2018: Xyp9x (13)

After playing an important part in Astralis' historic year, Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth ranked 13th in HLTV.org's top 20 players of 2018 list, powered by EGB.com, making it into the list for the third time since 2013.

Top 20 Players of 2018: Introduction

As his first steps in Counter-Strike 1.6 happened as the game's life cycle was coming to an end, Xyp9x was one of Danish 1.6 players that were fast to make change and transition to CS:GO. Perhaps that helped him stand out on his early teams, as he impressed on CPLAY before joining the Danish-Swedish fnatic mid-way 2013. 18 years old at the time, Xyp9x played somewhat of a star role, regularly topping the scoreboard ahead of his teammates, legends of the old version of the game, such as Michael "⁠Friis⁠" Jørgensen, Martin "⁠trace⁠" Heldt and Andreas "⁠MODDII⁠" Fridh.

His good showings at Copenhagen Games 2013 and RaidCall EMS Summer and Spring Finals in the Black-and-Orange jersey got him a call-up to the all-Danish CPH Wolves, where he would unite with his teammates to be for the next six years—Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz and Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen. The roster changed a couple of players before the end of the year, but Xyp9x still performed pretty well, finishing 2013 with a 1.10 LAN rating overall and sneaking into the best performers of the year list in 20th place.

"My first impressions of device and dupreeh back then was that they were very talented and some really nice guys to play with. Friis and I joined Copenhagen Wolves after our time in fnatic, and the fnatic lineup back then had a lot of internal issues and the love for the game and for each other wasn't really shared mutually. Also, I was still pretty young and didn't really involve myself too much into the discussion that was happening, I was just the quiet kid who wanted to play :D.

"So it was really an eye-opener to play for Copenhagen Wolves and I had so much fun. To think back then that we would still be playing together now was unrealistic. The norm back then was to change players when things weren't working instead of having constructive discussions. So no, I wasn't thinking that we would be playing together until now, but I'm really happy that we still are, as they are really good friends of mine outside the game and beasts inside the game.

"And if you ask me now if we will be playing together for 5 years more? I will say yes! We are aiming to beat the golden five record ;)"

Individually, Xyp9x was less impressive in the following year (1.04 average LAN rating); however, his team, at the time representing Dignitas, established itself as a CT-side monster that was a threat at every tournament. Nonetheless, they couldn't do it in the big matches, failing to make it past semi-finals time and time again. With the in-game leader change that followed in the next year, Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen coming in for Henrik "⁠FeTiSh⁠" Christensen, Xyp9x's individual level took another hit, but the team reached new heights. 2015 was a year in which the Danes, now under TSM, broke the semi-final curse and lifted five trophies.

"I was definitely not a support player when I played in fnatic, so I would say it happened quite naturally over a couple of years playing in Copenhagen Wolves/dignitas/TSM. It wasn't a defined role and it wasn't something we discussed. We didn't talk about roles, I think the maximum we talked about was the in-game leader role and the AWP role. I was just the 'overview' player of the team and didn't need to take the same chances as maybe device and dupreeh did back then. I guess you can relate it a bit to our personalities, it was just gradually moved from outside the game to inside the game."

However, with only two positive rated events out of 12 from the start of the 2015, Xyp9x's position in the team was put under question. His career might've looked vastly different had the young Dane not hit a higher gear at the ESL One Cologne 2015 Major, boasting a 1.12 rating in TSM's top-four finish, and solidified his place on the roster.

"It's true that I was almost cut, it was right after we failed horribly and placed 7-8th at Acer Predator Masters. During the year I was finishing my studies, and after I completed them I felt like I had to 'relax' a bit. Looking back, I was just drained and I should have taken a small break to regain motivation. But the motivation came to me quickly when they told me that they wanted to replace me and—I'm not sure this is public knowledge, but now it is—said that if they were able to buy out aizy, who was under contract with another team, they would make that move. It turned out that they couldn't get him and I started to play better, so that fell to the ground.

"I took it as a motivation and I just wanted to improve, but to think back that I might not have been here if they were able to get aizy is a bit scary. I wish that I'd received a 'normal heads up', but that was back in the days where the norm still was to change players to solve problems."

After his worst year to date (0.96 average LAN rating), Xyp9x's 2016 was much better individually. Yet, his team, who had just created Astralis, wasn't living up to their 2015 heights. As the year was coming to a close and there was no indication that the middling results were coming to an end, Astralis brought in Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander for karrigan, getting one step closer to the team that would go on to dominate in 2018. Right away, an improvement was seen, as the Danes would go on to win ECS S2 Finals in large part due to Xyp9x, who ended the event with a 1.44 rating, and the year with a 1.07 LAN average.

"When Astralis were founded, it wasn't with nearly the same resources as we have now. But we have gradually evolved and figured out how to be professionals. We have a lot of more knowledge now and a whole team behind us, who help with whatever problems we may face. It was a learning curve for both us players and the management in Astralis to know what to do now."

There is no better way to start a year than by lifting a Major trophy, and that is exactly what Astralis did at the ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017 Major. Xyp9x was a key player in the playoffs there, but the event he truly shined at was IEM Katowice in March, as his record-setting 13 1vX clutches helped him claim the MVP award in his team's title-winning campaign.

The "Clutch Minister" was outstanding for the first half of the year, but, as 2017 progressed and the SK - FaZe rivalry took center stage, both Astralis and Xyp9x individually fell off. He ended the year with a respectable 1.08 LAN rating, and his efforts were rewarded with a 13th spot in our Top 20 players of 2017 list. In 2016 and 2017, Xyp9x's impressive event-to-event consistency really started to show, as he only recorded eight below-average rated tournaments out of 36.

device's health issues saw Astralis play with stand-ins for the last couple of events of 2017, recording some underwhelming results, and a veil of uncertainty cast upon the Danish team ahead of 2018.

"The end of 2017 was a big mess, and we didn't know if device would come back during the end of 2017, start of 2018 or if ever. So when we got the news after the Christmas break that he was coming back for good it was great news and we started planning 2018."

Xyp9x had his worst event of 2018 right at the start of the year, as Astralis bombed out of the Boston Major. With just a tight victory over North to their name and one-sided losses to mousesports, fnatic and Cloud9, the Danes finished the tournament in 12-14th place, way lower than what was expected from them.

"A lot of different circumstances made a lot of mess, and we weren't really able to get into the Major with our heads in the right place.

"There was nothing I could've done personally [to change the outcome]. As a team, we could have done a lot, though, but lack of time after the player break and a lot of outside factors affected our performance back then."

In the aftermath of the Major, North managed to steal away Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye, with Astralis deciding to pick up Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif in his place. The first two tournaments Xyp9x attended with his new teammate came shortly after the Major, not leaving a lot of time to prepare and have everything in order. That saw the 23-year-old perform averagely at the next two events, StarSeries i-League S4 (0.99 rating) and IEM Katowice 2018 (1.02 rating), where the team made the playoffs on both occasions, before taking a month-long break to drill everything in.

"The new roster clicked for real when we had a month break from tournaments before Dreamhack Masters Marseille. That was when we worked really hard to improve our strats, game plan and overall how we wanted to play the game. I still think we played some of the greatest CS in Marseille.

"Yes, we were going through a period where we had to adapt a bit, and in general I'm a player who likes when things are in order, and we didn't have enough time to prepare for StarSeries S4 and IEM Katowice so it was a bit of a mess. But that month of practice and nerding details really made a huge difference."

Even before the tournament in France, Xyp9x had been back to the green in terms of KAST and deaths per rounds, key parameters for a player of his kind; yet he was on another level in Marseille. In Astralis' first tournament win of the year, he was consistent on a map-to-map basis and also hit very high peaks, finishing three maps with 1.50+ratings (Cache vs. Liquid, Nuke vs. FaZe, Nuke vs. Na`Vi). With a 1.29 rating (a year-high for him), as well as an impressive 1.30 playoff rating, Xyp9x was a contender for the MVP award, but had to settle for an EVP mention in the end.

"We all played amazingly at that tournament, so that this was the best-rated event for me this year doesn't come as a surprise. As I mentioned earlier, I like when things are in order to perform my best, and then, everything was on track in the team. I had also put a lot of hours into CS during the month we had with no tournaments leading up to Marseille. So a mix of both individual hard work and the team being well organized resulted in me having such a smooth event."

The Danish squad would travel to the Land Down Under next, attending IEM Sydney. Everything was looking great for them as the tournament days went on, until they were shocked by an in-form FaZe in the grand final, losing 3-0 in maps, all in the closest way possible. That failure did not shake Astralis at all, as they would lift two trophies and make quite a bank by winning ESL Pro League S7 Finals and ECS S5 Finals in May and June—both over Liquid in the Finals. Xyp9x was green across the board for the two events, recording 1.16 and 1.10 ratings, with his 1.12 playoff rating at both tournaments showing that he remained a key contributor in the big matches.

Around that time we saw Dust2 make its way back into the competitive map pool. The map would end up being Xyp9x's best one in 2018, as he averaged a 1.32 rating on it, 0.21 higher than his yearly LAN average:

"The return of Dust2 made a huge difference for me individually. I love the map and I play the CT rotator position, something I don't do on other maps. So it's often a relief to play this map as I'm not too locked in one position and, as a result, I play more freely."

As the first half of the season was coming to an end, Xyp9x's form dipped a bit as he was again just average at ESL One Cologne (1.03 rating)—where Astralis were stopped in the semi-finals by Natus Vincere—, and a bit subdued at ELEAGUE Premier (0.98)—where his team won another championship over Liquid and really started setting the tone for the one-sided rivalry with the North Americans.

At that point, Astralis were the clear number one in the world, a position already familiar to them from the year before.

"It always feels good to be playing well and see the hard work pay off. You feel somewhat unbeatable and ready to take on any challenge, but, on the other hand, you also know that second place or failing at an event is lurking around right the corner. I guess we have just used that feeling to motivate ourselves and wanted the wins even more.

"We were also ranked #1 in a period of time in 2017, however, staying on top was hard for us and we learned a lot from that period too."

Even though Xyp9x performed well looking at his overall stats for the first half of the year, averaging a 1.08 rating from nine tournaments, he was rarely a standout player within his own team, not once being among the two best players of Astralis and getting only one individual distinction, the EVP from DreamHack Masters Marseille. That would change after the summer player break, as he upped the tempo at DreamHack Masters Stockholm. There, he was Astralis's second-best player and a part of a tight MVP-race, but Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen's AWPing would end up bringing North the title and their IGL the MVP award.

Even though Xyp9x had a bit of a slow start to the next tournament, the FACEIT London Major, he was brilliant in the New Champions stage against HellRaisers, Liquid and Natus Vincere (1.22 playoff rating, his second-highest of the year), helping his team win their second Major and earning another EVP mention for his efforts.

"Winning the Major is the best achievement you can get, and it was the first Major that I won with my girlfriend and my parents present. So it was the best moment for me in 2018 and meant more than any other tournament we won during the year. "

As the year went on, Xyp9x was more and more crucial to his team's success. He was in the MVP race at BLAST Pro Series Istanbul, which Astralis won, BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, where the Danes, surprisingly, didn't manage to reach the grand final, and at IEM Chicago, which saw Astralis edge towards the Intel Grand Slam title, with three out of four victories in the books. At the event in the United States, Xyp9x's rating wasn't as high as it had been at previous events (1.08), but he was still second in the MVP race after impressing in the playoffs, proving pivotal on key maps that his team won in the bracket play (1.42 rating vs. Liquid on Inferno, 1.47 rating vs. fnatic on Inferno and 1.54 rating vs. mousesports on Train).

"It wasn't hard to find motivation, we had the ultimate drive to keep going and being selective about events, and avoiding a burnout was the top priority. It was something we already planned for at the start of the year. Taking days off and not thinking about the computer on/off button was definitely key to staying fresh and avoiding burnout."

His chain of good events continued at ECS S6 Finals in Dallas, where Astralis were beaten by MIBR early in the tournament but exacted revenge in a tight 2-0 final. However, their eyes were already set on the ESL Pro League S8 Finals, the tournament on home soil where they would hoist the $1,000,000 Intel Grand Slam prize. Xyp9x was once again inspired, averaging a 1.14 rating across the 12 maps played, and proved worthy of his "Clutch Minister" nickname with 12 1vX situations won—only one short of his IEM Katowice 2017 record.

"It is always nice to get some recognition for the clutching part, and it keeps me motivated to do even more clutches. But I don't think that I'm not in the spotlight for my role in the team as I'm often referred to as one of the best support players in the game. So from the press, the fans, the team, etc. I couldn't wish for any better."

The EVP mention he got from the tournament win in Odense was his seventh in a row, showcasing his incredible consistency and form in the second half of the year. Preparing for opponents properly was one of the keys to having so many good performances from the support player role:

"For me, it's quite obvious. You don't go to an exam without being prepared and that translates to CS as well. Very few can do that and get good results, and from my standpoint, you can't prepare enough. It's a mindset which I have developed through the last year and has helped me and the other players on the team tremendously. It requires a lot of work, zonic's help makes things smoother and easier. So it helps me a lot personally, and I know it also helps the other players on the team a lot."

The only event that he didn't receive an individual award from after the player break was the last one of the year, BLAST Pro Series Lisbon. Despite the support player's 0.98 rating, Astralis finished the year on a high, adding yet another trophy to their cabinet.

In his 2017 Top 20 article, Xyp9x had said that they "really wanted to win a Major again" as "nothing tops that", and mentioned that he wanted to relive the "feeling of being unbeatable" and of "being on a streak".

He most certainly got his wishes for 2018 fulfilled, and he wants more of the same this year:

"The year was full of highlights, and it was most definitely the best year of my life."

"My personal goal for 2019 is to do my role the best possible way, even better than last year. I am always reflecting and thinking about the things I can do better. It will be a very interesting year, and I expect that a lot of teams will want to do everything to beat us. So we will see, the team and I have no plan to stop the Astralis show ;)"

Why was Xyp9x the 13th best player of 2018?

In 2018, Xyp9x once again proved himself as an excellent clutcher, ranking first with 77 1vX situations won at Big Events, and he also came through in terms of at survivability, being the hardest player to kill with just 0.57 deaths per round.

As is expected from him, he was very consistent as well, both on a round-to-round basis—averaging a 73.6% KAST, the fifth-highest—, and on an event-to-event basis—recording only four below-average rated events. In addition to that, Xyp9x didn't fall off in the playoffs and was consistently great after the break, as he was the EVP at seven out of the eight events Astralis played in the second half of the year.

Xyp9x reached his individual peak at DreamHack Masters Marseille; however, despite a lower rating, it was IEM Chicago that he came the closest to winning an MVP medal. Looking past those two tournaments, the 23-year-old was in the shadow of his teammates, having a rating above his team's average at only four out of 17 events.

While he did perform admirably in his role, Xyp9x didn't have as much direct impact in his team's wins: he was the only player in the Top 20 with a below-average number of multi-kill rounds and had the lowest ADR in round wins. The aforementioned reasons, combined with the fact that he didn't have enough high peaks, stopped him from placing higher in the ranking for 2018.

Bold prediction

After Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta and Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså, Xyp9x is the third player to pick Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali, who recently joined OpTic, as a rising star who could make it into the top 20 in 2019:

Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali

"From what we all witnessed at BLAST Lisbon I'm really excited to see how refrezh will do on a big team. He proved himself at a big stage in Lisbon and I'm looking forward to seeing how he will fare in 2019. He is a calm person and level headed which is needed where he is at now, so I'm expecting him to surprise in 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.