Top 20 players of 2019: electronic (6)

Big peaks and a high floor land Denis "electronic" Sharipov the sixth place in the ranking of the top 20 players of 2019, powered by Xtrfy and LOOT.BET, with his damage output and high impact making up for a lack of individual awards.

Top 20 players of 2019: Introduction

electronic started his journey on LAN instead of online, attending tournaments in his hometown of Kazan, in southwest Russia. He did so at the age of 11, in 2010, but decided to take a break after repeated losses, playing only for fun. It wasn’t until several years later, after having returned to the competitive side of the game, that he would get his first break with ACES, and although Dmitry "hooch" Bogdanov is often attributed with finding the youngster, it was his teammate Aleksandr "toff" Shelop who first brought attention to electronic.

"The emotions and experience gained were incredible for that age, as when I started playing at events I was only 11 years old! In the first two years, I lost at all the events in my city, but I always have goals that I aim to achieve. A large part of that experience was learning how to interact with a team, and it was a very fun time that I will never forget.

“I was actually scouted by toff, who I met a long time ago on the kreedz server. He played on the same team as hooch at the time and gave him the idea to pay attention to me as a potential new addition. My recollections of that moment are mixed, since I had been playing for a very short period of time and after some disagreements with hooch, I had to leave."

electronic played in 2015 his first big enough event to be recorded on HLTV’s database, the CIS LAN Championship, where he helped his team finish third to HellRaisers and FlipSid3, two more established sides, with a 1.05 rating. The youngster then joined the Belorussian side Evolution, where he got his first small salary, but it didn’t take long for him and teammates Roman "CyberFocus" Dergach and Sergey "spaz" Skrypchik to move on to Rebels. electronic played his first Minor in January of 2016 and accrued an impressive 1.15 rating, third in the tournament behind Mihail "Dosia" Stolyarov and Rustem "mou" Telepov, in his team’s second-place run. He then got a 1.09 rating at his second Minor and a 1.01 rating in the offline qualifier for ESL One Cologne 2016, where they went out in last place.

Rebels, who would also be known as Empire, became a revolving door for players and it was impossible for the team to find any sort of stability, going on to lose organizational support. The lineup stayed alive under the NokSuKao tag, but greener pastures were in store for electronic, who had already piqued interest among the region’s top sides and would receive a trial offer from Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy’s FlipSid3—a top 16 team at the time—to take over Oleksandr "Shara" Hordieyev’s place on the roster.

"During my time in Rebels, Empire and NokSuKao I was learning to be maximally effective as a player for the team. We grew and learned alongside one another and I am very thankful for the time we spent with one another and their contribution to my development. Those guys gave me confidence in myself, something that helps me to this day.

“Working with B1ad3, he always gave me knowledge. He taught me how to properly react to situations in-game and how to properly and concisely give information, as well as when it's appropriate to push in, etc. He practically taught me all of the factors that I apply today."

electronic reunited with hooch momentarily on .Russia to play the WESG 2016 EU & CIS Regional Finals, where he turned in a monumental 1.33 rating to help the team qualify for the finals, before his first big test with FlipSid3, at DreamHack Open Winter 2016. The youngster was a big part in eliminating Dignitas, as he led the scoreboard during their match against the Danes, but his team eventually settled for a 5-6th place finish after a loss to Kinguin in the group's decider series.

The turn of the year was a completely different story as FlipSid3 managed to win DreamHack Open Leipzig 2017, their first event of the year, with electronic scoring an impressive 1.35 rating throughout the event, which included a 1.57 rating in the grand final against BIG. The ELEAGUE Major in Atlanta was up next, and electronic had another solid showing with a 1.14 rating, especially considering FlipSid3 went out last after three straight losses.

FlipSid3 then had to go through the offline qualifier for the next Major, hosted by PGL in Krakow, where the young Russian posted a sensational 1.38 rating. Fighting Liquid for the last spot at the Major, electronic showed he was the real deal with a carry performance in a multiple overtime match to push his team over the line with 48 kills in a 25-22 victory. FlipSid3 then went out in the group stage at the Major, but electronic still managed a 1.15 rating in the five maps played.

A cloud loomed over FlipSid3 as several players were not completely dedicated and the team started to skip more and more events. Na`Vi were looking to make changes at the same time and enquired about the possibility of signing electronic, but the two organizations were unable to come to an agreement, and the player from Kazan remained under B1ad3's wing.

"It was the most difficult moment of my career, to this very day, as it was my dream to play for Na`Vi. When I found out that they were interested in signing me, I was obviously ecstatic about it. I did my best not to show my disappointment to the team and played as if there were no negotiations going on. I may not have played it perfectly at the time, but I did my best."

electronic held on and played the Global Challenge LAN with FlipSid3, who ended in second place, but the team continued to struggle and failed to secure spots at LAN events. It was finally in November, months after the two organisations had begun to talk, that Natus Vincere and FlipSid3 were able to come to an agreement for the 17-year-old’s transfer. At his first tournament after the transfer, DreamHack Open Winter 2017, electronic finished with a 1.17 rating as Natus Vincere went on to lift the trophy in Jönköping.

"I was contacted by FlipSid3's CEO, who told me that negotiations were ongoing and that the likelihood of my transfer happening was a lot higher. I was extremely happy. The guys gave me an extremely warm welcome, and I am very thankful to them for it. I think that it was an important moment in my becoming as a player, as they did everything that was in their hands to accommodate my addition to a really friendly collective."

A semi-final finish at the ELEAGUE Major in Boston kicked off 2018, a year in which electronic would go on to win much praise as Natus Vincere rose from their slumber and once again became the title-contending team they had been known as in the past. electronic was among the EVPs six tournaments in a row, starting at the WESG 2017 World Finals, where he finished third with Russia. The last three events of that streak came from tournaments wons by Natus Vincere: StarSeries i-League Season 5, the CS:GO Asia Championships and the all-important ESL One Cologne, which they won over BIG in front of the German team's crowd.

Despite Na`Vi not being able to compete with Astralis, and with Liquid also rising as one of Counter-Strike's powerhouses, electronic still managed to get three more EVPs in the second season of 2018, at the FACEIT Major—where he finished with a 1.36 rating—, EPICENTER 2018 and BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen. These individual recognitions got electronic the fourth place in the ranking of the top 20 players of 2018, an incredible feat for a player in his first year at an elite level.

After the informal four-team GG.BET Ice Challenge, where Natus Vincere finished in second place, the year truly started for electronic at IEM Katowice. The first Major of 2019 wasn’t particularly impressive for the Russian player compared to some of the other tournaments down the road, but he ended with a strong 1.13 rating in his team’s semi-final run despite one of his lowest personal ADRs and impact ratings, 76.7 and 1.05 respectively.

The biggest achievement of 2019 for Natus Vincere came after the Major, when they won their first and only Big Event of the year, StarSeries i-League Season 7. In Shanghai, electronic had his first EVP mention and was runner-up to Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev in the MVP race thanks to a 1.33 rating, a 75.7% KAST, eight Player of the Match performances, ten 1vsX situations won, 90 ADR, and a 1.43 impact rating.

Natus Vincere then played two BLAST Pro Series events in Miami and Madrid, crashing out in fifth and fourth place respectively. In the first series of best-of-ones in North America, electronic averaged a 1.15 rating, while in Madrid he performed slightly better, turning in a 1.17 rating. The team then went into crisis mode after failing to qualify for the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals, with Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov brought in to replace Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev in the starting lineup.

The new roster’s first event was ESL One Cologne, where Natus Vincere beat the likes of mousesports and FURIA before being finally stopped in the semi-finals by a Liquid team at their peak and on the way to winning the second Intel Grand Slam season. electronic put in another 1.15 tournament rating with an 81 ADR and a 1.14 impact, but it was still not enough for him to make the EVP list.

After the summer break came another one of the biggest events of the year, the StarLadder Major, in Berlin. There, electronic had another one of his outstanding performances as he played well above his already high floor. Natus Vincere struggled with losses to G2 and mousesports, but victories over DreamEaters, MIBR and CR4ZY kept the Russian team alive. electronic had a 1.42 rating in the New Challengers Stage, and despite being in the red (0.98 rating) in Na`Vi's quarter-final loss to NRG, he still topped the tournament's rating (1.31) and damage (92.5) charts, earning him his second EVP of the year.

Right after one of his personal highs came BLAST Pro Series Moscow, Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko’s last event with Natus Vincere and the hardest moment of the year for electronic, who scored his only below-average tournament rating of 2019 in the team’s bottom-place finish. Besides his 0.85 rating, he also had a year-low ADR of 61.9 and Impact of 0.84 as the team lost four games and tied one in the Russian capital.

“I really wanted to play the final in Moscow, but in the end I played the worst tournament of my career, where we didn't manage to win a single map.”

DreamHack Masters Malmö was the first event with Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács back on the roster after he had rejoined the team from FaZe. In Sweden, electronic picked himself back up and once again hit more regular numbers with a 1.16 rating, 81 ADR and 1.20 impact in Natus Vincere's 3rd-4th place run.

“Firstly, the roster adjustments had an impact. I think we had hit our ceiling with the 2018 roster and needed a change. I think that if Zeus had given that roster more time and hadn't left, we could have easily contested for a place at the top of CS. With the new roster, everything changed, from new positions to a completely rehauled training system. In the beginning, it was uncomfortable as we had a new captain and sniper, whereas now I think that everyone is more accustomed, not just me. Our captain is progressing, which really makes me happy."

The next event on the calendar was StarSeries i-League Season 8, the other major blunder in 2019 after BLAST Pro Series Moscow for Na`Vi, who went out 13-16th following best-of-three losses to G2 and Heroic. Despite his team losing four of the five maps that were played, electronic still put in some respectable numbers (1.18 rating, 89.2 ADR and 1.30 Impact). Then came the last BLAST Pro Series of the year for Natus Vincere, in Copenhagen, where they would once again be unable to make it to the final. electronic ended the tournament with a 1.26 rating and a spectacular year-high ADR of 96.5, although his KAST went below the 70% mark, one of just three times that it happened over the year.

"We were going into the event in Turkey with big ambitions, and we wanted to win there as we had had decent showings in practice. We were confident we would demonstrate a respectable result at the event, but we ran into new issues that we couldn't deal with in time and we got punished for it. I felt ashamed."

electronic played one of his best events of 2019 in Odense, at the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals, where he got his third and final EVP mention and finished fifth in the MVP race. The Russian rifler broke several individual records for the year at the event in Denmark with a 1.42 rating, 1.60 impacts and 76.6% KAST, also averaging almost 96 damage per round. Natus Vincere then ended 2019 at EPICENTER, another event on home soil, where they were unable to go past 5-6th place as they lost to Evil Geniuses in the quarter-finals. electronic had a good 1.16 rating, but his ADR went down to 80.4 and his impact to 1.26 — still good numbers but still some way short of his best marks of the year.

Why was electronic the 6th best player of 2019?

electronic’s world-class damage output alone was enough to showcase how much he contributed throughout the year, as he ranked third in the world in this category with an 85.3 ADR. That wasn’t the full extent of his prowess, however: he was also an impactful player in other ways, ranking tenth for opening kills per round (0.13) and seventh for multi-kill rounds (19.1%), leading to the fifth-highest Impact rating (1.27) and the fourth-highest overall rating (1.22).

Another reason he made it this far up the list was his ability to maintain that high level of play from tournament to tournament, averaging at least a 1.13 rating at 11 of his 12 notable events. More importantly, he did it at some of the year's most competitive events, earning two of his EVPs at the StarLadder Major and the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals while also performing well at IEM Katowice, DreamHack Masters Malmö and ESL One Cologne. This earned him the fourth-highest rating (1.22) at the "Big five events" — the five most competitive events of the year —, where Na`Vi had the most maps played (51).

Moreover, he had what was probably his most impressive performance at StarSeries i-League Season 7 during Na`Vi's only title campaign, and in general, his displays stood the test of big matches as he averaged a 1.17 rating when he appeared on the stages of Big Events.

More than his strong peaks, it was the fact that he had one of the highest floors in the game that saw him place above players with more individual accolades, although the lack of further standout performances put him below 2019's very best. His showing at BLAST Pro Series Moscow, although not critical, was also a small detractor.

Bold prediction:

After Justin "jks" Savage chose his former teammate Nemanja "nexa" Isaković as his bold prediction for next year, electronic now picked the other Serb in G2, Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač, to make the top 20 players of 2020 ranking.

Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač

"My prediction is huNter-. He's an absolute beast and in 2020 he will demonstrate that he deserves to be on this list."

Stay tuned to our Top 20 players of 2019 ranking and take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the players were selected. This year's ranking is supported by:

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