Top 20 players of 2018: NAF (6)

Remarkable impact and consistency at Big Events see Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic claim the sixth spot in the top 20 ranking of 2018, powered by EGB.com.

Top 20 Players of 2018: Introduction

A former CS:Source player, NAF started making his way into the upper echelons of the North American CS:GO scene in 2014. His first tournament on record was FACEIT League NA Season 2 with LunatiK, who mostly consisted of players who are still competing at the top nowadays. At the time, however, the most famous player on the team was perhaps Preston "⁠juv3nile⁠" Dornon, who had attended Dreamhack Winter 2012, one of the very first international CS:GO events, with Curse.

Towards the end of that year, and after his team had been recruited by Denial, NAF attended his first international LAN, the ESEA Invite Season 17 Global Finals. Despite undergoing a few roster changes, Denial raised eyebrows as they finished in fourth place, ahead of Cloud9 and Titan, with NAF already showing his natural ability to compete with some of the best players in the world at the time as he registered a 1.18 rating, second only to Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub (1.41).

"I was introduced to the world of Counter-Strike by my older brother in 2007/2008, I would sit behind him and try to learn from watching him. Once I was around 11 or 12, he invited me to play on his Main team in ESEA and that it is where I pretty much started my grind. LunatiK was the start of my semi-pro career, during that time I was playing with some familiar faces like Daps,FugLy, and ShahZaM. After LunatiK we became Denial and that is where our dreams of becoming CS pros could become a reality. We were just a bunch of inexperienced and young kids trying our best to break through and show people what we could bring.

“The ESEA Finals was the first big LAN that I attended, and I wanted to give off a solid first impression to everyone. I remember we had to play Titan first and, coming from CS:Source, it was an amazing feeling just being in the same server with players like RpK,Ex6TenZ, and apEX.
I think the biggest impact that was left on us after that event was the win vs Cloud9, who were the best NA team back then. Beating them showed us light for our careers.”

2015 began with the team being recruited by Liquid, who were expanding into CS:GO, but it was merely a short stay for NAF as the Canadian found himself on the bench after just a couple of months and two LAN events where he had looked nothing like his usual self. For NAF, that was the start of a very difficult year, one in which he hopped from team to team and averaged a disappointing 0.93 LAN rating as he struggled with motivation issues as Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele recounted in our July 2018 feature, ‘Hush or howl: NAF's road to stardom’.

"At the start of 2015 I was definitely going through a phase in which I simply just had no interest in playing CS and that obviously resulted in me being removed from Liquid. It was difficult to find my place in teams in 2015 and I never had the chance to find my footing and to start building up my career.”

2016 marked the beginning of a new chapter for NAF as he and the rest of his Conquest team were picked up by OpTic Gaming, another household name in North American esports looking to enter Counter-Strike. After some shaky performances and a couple of line-up changes, bringing in Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas and Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik, OpTic hit peak form and won the second ELEAGUE season after beating Astralis in the final, in which NAF posted a team-leading 1.50 rating/+33 KDD. The North American team followed up on that Atlanta campaign by winning Northern Arena Montreal and placing second at the ECS Season 2 Finals, with NAF ending the year with a 1.03 LAN rating (1.08 at Big Events).

"2016 is still my favourite year in my CS career. Winning ELEAGUE was the best feeling I have ever had, especially after my performance in the final against Astralis. ECS was a disaster for us in the end, but it was also a very memorable tournament for me."

Things took an unexpected turn for OpTic as Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz signed for Liquid right after the ELEAGUE Major, leaving a void that NAF and his team-mates would never be able to properly fill. After a turbulent period in which Spencer "⁠Hiko⁠" Martin, Jason "⁠jasonR⁠" Ruchelski and James "⁠hazed⁠" Cobb all filled in for the team, NAF followed in the footsteps of tarik and William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba in looking for pastures new, eventually signing for Renegades.

The Canadian player had a disappointing debut for the Australian team, averaging a 0.75 rating in the group stage exit at ELEAGUE Premier, but he set the world alight thereafter. He averaged a stunning a 1.32 rating in the last three months of 2017, helping Renegades to victories at the Asia Minor and at the SL i-League Invitational Shanghai, and to a second place at iBUYPOWER Masters. The Chinese event also saw NAF win his first MVP medal thanks to his tournament-leading 1.29 rating, 90.3 ADR and 0.82 KPR.

"After I had no choice to leave OpTic, I was contacted by multiple organizations showing interest in me, and the one that stood out the most for me was Renegades. I originally joined to just do the same type of roles on OpTic, being the "support" type of player, but, after a while, I told the boys that I wanted to be more of a “star” player, I got all the spots I wanted and we did everything I said. I owe a lot to the Renegades for letting me become the player I am today.

"My goals for 2018 were obviously to win as much as we could, but my main goals were to make it to Boston and get top eight at the Major."

Sadly for NAF, one of his goals for 2018 proved unattainable as Renegades crashed out of the ELEAGUE Major in the New Challengers Stage after recording losses to Vega Squadron, Liquid, mousesports and AVANGAR. For the Canadian, who posted a 1.20 rating despite the team’s shortcomings, that was the end of a journey as not long after the Major came to an end he was recruited by Liquid to replace Josh "⁠jdm64⁠" Marzano.

“I think we were just less prepared against a lot of the other teams and we also ran into other teams we did not know, like Vega Squadron and AVANGAR. That threw us off-guard during our games. In the end, we just cracked under the pressure."

NAF could not have wished for a better debut for Liquid. At cs_summit 2, he led the team to victory with a 1.23 rating, also taking centre stage in the final against Cloud9 with a 1.30 rating in the series. The Canadian, who was in the stats leaderboards in 14 categories, leading five of them, was rewarded for his efforts with an MVP medal, the second of his career.

"It felt great [to win the event and the MVP medal]! Being named the MVP was good since I think it gave my teammates some reassurance that picking me up was no mistake. I joined Liquid because I truly believed that they had the best talent in North America and that we could do some solid work together. With me coming into the lineup I felt like we could definitely turn some heads and raise trophies."

Riding the wave from his cs_summit 2 heroics, NAF helped Liquid to semi-final finishes at his first Big Events with the team, StarSeries Season 4 and IEM Katowice, earning two EVP mentions in the process. In Kiev, the Canadian had the fourth-highest overall rating (1.23) and ended half of the 20 maps that he played with ratings higher than 1.30. He also impressed when it came to clutches, winning 12 1vsX situations, and was ranked fourth for ADR. In Katowice, his 1.20 rating was 21% higher than Liquid's average, and he was the team's top performer in every match in the double-elimination group stage.

IEM Katowice ended up being the final event for that Liquid roster. At the beginning of April, Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes stepped down from the active line-up and was replaced by fellow Brazilian Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo, who had departed SK. Without surprise, the North American team bombed out of DreamHack Masters Marseille after losing to eventual champion Astralis and to Gambit - who would go on to reach the semi finals - in the group stage, with NAF posting a 1.06 rating, only the third highest in the team.

"It was not a surprise that we went out in the groups, not at all. Bringing in TACO didn’t change much in terms of roles, but when bringing in someone new you have to practice a lot and build the chemistry together, and going into Marseille we just didn’t have a lot of time together as a team, so it fell apart."

With TACO fully integrated, Liquid reached the grand final of ESL Pro League Season 7 and ECS Season 5, losing to Astralis on both occasions. In between, the team were sent packing by NRG in the quarter-finals of StarSeries Season 5, where NAF had his highest-rated map of the year (2.33 in the team's 16-2 thrashing of GODSENT).

The Canadian talent made the EVP list in Dallas on account of his 1.26 rating in map wins leading to victories and his solid showing against mousesports (1.41 rating, 101.5 ADR). In London, he was a solid contender for the MVP award right until the second map of the grand final, ending the tournament with a 1.30 rating, the same as MVP Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz, an 88.3 ADR and a 75.6% KAST.

Questioned if he was more frustrated about Liquid continuously hitting a brick wall every time they faced Astralis or confident because of the team's consistent deep runs, NAF said:

"Always felt a little bit of both, I always leaned towards it being on the right path although losing sucks, you just have to get through it. I know in the professional world of Counter-Strike that if you lose a big final you will always have a shot at redemption, with the number of tournaments being held."

Liquid missed a great opportunity to win a Big Event at ESL One Belo Horizonte, where they were surprisingly outplayed by FaZe and mousesports - two teams attending the event with stand-ins. NAF had a 1.10 rating in the team's semi-final run, but it was not enough to break into the EVP list, featuring only players who were in the final.

The North American team then had their second group stage exit with NAF at ESL One Cologne, where they lost to BIG and North. The Canadian had a 1.01 rating, the second-best in Liquid, only behind Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski, who admitted that the team had become "a little bit stale" on their good maps and had not had enough time to improve their worse ones.

"Traveling was definitely a factor, also some people were having personal issues and we couldn't practice at all, leaving us to go into the event completely dry and nothing to go off of. In the end, we were just stale and had no preparation."

Next up was ELEAGUE Premier, where Liquid once again had to settle for second place as Astralis proved to be too strong for the North Americans. NAF led the EVP list as he featured in the stats leaderboards in nine categories, most notably rating (1.23), ADR (83.0) and KAST (75.7%), with his only below-average rated maps coming in the title decider against the Danes.

Having decided to skip DreamHack Masters Stockholm, Liquid made their first post-break appearance at the FACEIT Major. The North American side came through the opening two stages virtually unscathed, even beating Astralis in an intense Inferno game that went to overtime. The victory over the Danish side appeared to have taken a huge weight off the team's shoulders, but they would not be able to repeat that feat in the semi-finals series, in which Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander's troops were always one step ahead.

In London, NAF was the only Liquid player to make the EVP list, thanks his high rating (1.24 overall, 1.38 in map wins), ADR (87.4) and KAST (76.7%), and also his key role in the quarter-final series against HellRaisers, in which he topped the scoreboard with a 1.39 rating/+16KDD.

"I honestly do not know [what went wrong against Astralis], I had never felt more prepared for a match in my life, and to just get completely crushed was a huge blow. Astralis are just a very efficient and dedicated team, and I just have to give them complete props on how consistently strong they are.

"Even though we only finished third-fourth, it was by far my best memory of the year. I reached a huge goal of mine at that event, which was making it to the Top8 of a Major."

ESL One New York looked like the perfect opportunity for Liquid to get back to winning ways, especially after Natus Vincere and FaZe had been eliminated in the group stage. However, the North Americans collapsed in the best-of-five grand final against mousesports, with NAF himself looking inconsequential as he averaged a disappointing 0.91 rating to end the tournament with a 1.14 rating - the only time in 2018 in which his rating was below the team's average.

"That was just a very unlucky and unfortunate event for me. I got sick at the start of the event and I was playing all the games just feeling like complete garbage. On the final day of the event, my sickness literally hit its peak, I was playing mousesports with a massive migraine and could barely hear due to how sick I was. My energy was low, I was trying my best to not pass out on stage. After we lost, I felt even worse since I had literally handed mouz the trophy after my catastrophe of a bo5.

"That was my worst memory of 2018. It was something I don’t ever want to go through again."

Liquid travelled to Moscow looking to shake off the disappointment from New York, but they had to settle for a top-four finish after falling short against FaZe in the semi-finals. It was at EPICENTER that NAF had his highest Big Event rating of the year (1.32), mostly due to his group stage performances. The Canadian player ranked first for deaths per round (0.46), KAST (79.3%) and percentage of support rounds (25.0%), appearing in third place on the list of EVPs from the tournament.

The 21-year-old then grabbed his eighth EVP mention of the year in Liquid's semi-final run at IEM Chicago, where they once against fell short against Astralis in a title decider after defeating LDLC and FaZe in the first two rounds of the playoffs. NAF - the only Liquid player to make the EVP list apart from Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken - led his team for Terrorist rating (1.21) and ADR (79.9), while he was the second-best when it came to rating in wins (1.34).

The ECS Season 6 Finals were a low point for the Canadian and Liquid as a whole. The North American side went out last following defeats to North and NRG, with NAF registering a 0.90 rating - his sole below-average tournament rating in 2018.

"ECS just didn't seem to be our event, we just got completely destroyed. It was all just a blur to me how quickly the event was over for us. If I had to say a reason for the early exit, it would be that we did not bring our A-game and we just let it slip."

Liquid ended their trophyless run at SuperNova CS:GO Malta, a medium-sized tournament, by beating Virtus.pro, BIG and NRG (twice), dropping just one map along the way. NAF, who had five 1.30+ rated maps in eight and led the tournament for deaths per round (0.50), KAST (82.9%) and percentage of support rounds (28.3%), scooped his second MVP medal of the year as he finished ahead of teammates EliGE and Twistzz in the race for the award.

"It was nice to get that feeling of another tournament win, but nothing has felt the same to me since the ELEAGUE win I had with OpTic. Winning SuperNova and cs_summit was nice, but I want to raise another tier one trophy.

"It felt good taking revenge on NRG, I talk with daps a lot and it’s always nice to talk sh*t to each other every time one of us beats the other."

The year ended for Liquid at the ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals. NAF led the team to the playoffs with a stunning 1.74 rating in the group stage matches over G2 and BIG, and he proceeded to crush MIBR in the semi-finals with a jaw-dropping performance (1.98 rating, +33KDD, 119.0 ADR). Up against his nemesis Astralis in the final, the Canadian acquitted himself well (1.09 rating), though EliGE was far more of a threat to the Danes, who came back from a map down to win the series 3-1).

NAF was once again second in the MVP race of a Big Event thanks to his 1.31 rating - his second-highest of 2018 -, 89.5 ADR (a year-high for him) and 1.28 impact rating. Perhaps most impressively was the fact that, of the seven maps that he played with teams other than Astralis, only once did he have a rating lower than 1.30 (1.21 on Dust2 against Natus Vincere).

"I don’t recall much versus BIG and MIBR, except my Overpass performance I had in the semi-finals versus MIBR. About the final, I told my teammates that we did not stand a chance against Astralis on Nuke at the moment and that we needed to try something different. We got on early before the final and went over Train, Zews showed us some simple executes that he stole from Astralis and Mibr. Nitr0 just called a lot of random setups and strats since we didn’t know what we were even doing as we had not played the map in months. I felt like if we had won Mirage we would have won the whole thing. Props to Astralis again for being so dominant."

Why was NAF the 6th best player of 2018?

Every player in the top six excelled throughout the year in terms of impact and consistency, and NAF was no exception. Looking merely at Big Events, the Canadian player ranked fourth in terms of damage per round (83.9), clutches won (59) and rating (1.17).

He caught the eye with MVP medals at the medium-sized cs_summit 2 and SuperNova Malta, but it was his nine EVP mentions from Big Events that secured his elite status, particularly the ones from the ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals, ELEAGUE Premier and ECS Season 5 Finals, three events where he was a runner-up in the MVP race.

NAF was also extremely useful in ways that did not translate only into kills, averaging 0.16 damage assists (sixth-highest overall), in part due to his great utility usage (6.0 damage per round, 10th highest).

The Canadian boasted a very high 1.12 playoff rating, but ultimately missed out on a top-five placing due to two things: worse consistency when compared to the contenders who finished above him in this ranking and lacklustre grand final performances at Big Events. He averaged just a 0.99 rating in 20 maps played in title deciders of tournaments of this stature, most of which against Astralis, who proved to be a nemesis to the player.

"In 2019 I really want to win a tier-one event and to have another consistent year of individual and team success."

Bold prediction

Three NRG players were shortlisted by NAF, who in the end picked Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte as the one most likely to appear in the next top 20 ranking. In 2018, the 20-year-old averaged a 1.14 rating on LAN, picking up an MVP medal after helping the team to win cs_summit 3.

Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte

"It’s the trio of NRG that stand out to me (nahtE, Brehze and CeRq), but if I had to pick one, I would put my money on Brehze as he is a solid entry with aim skills similar to Twistzz.

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.