Top 20 players of 2020: yuurih (14)

Great fragging output and consistency see Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos land the 14th place in our ranking of the top 20 players of 2020, powered by GG.BET and Xtrfy.

Top 20 players of 2020: Introduction

yuurih burst onto the global scene at the same time as Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato, who was featured at No.18 in this HLTV Top 20, but he began making waves in the Brazilian scene earlier than his FURIA teammate, despite only picking up the game in 2015. It was then that he transitioned from League of Legends to CS:GO, finding in Valve’s First-Person Shooter title some of the elements that he enjoyed from Crossfire, a Counter-Strike lookalike game that was very popular in Brazil.

He began playing pick-up games on FACEIT and put together a team called PRONETS alongside players that he had met while competing in the platform. Like many others in Brazil, he idolised Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo growing up — he watched his stream religiously, used his config and the same peripherals — and signed up for Gamers Club’s classes to learn from him. Before the end of 2016, yuurih and his team found support from organisations — first Rampage Killers, then Black Dragons —, and he picked up his first title, from the Gamers Club professional league, after he averaged a team-high 1.23 rating in the playoffs.

“During those first times, I played on Gamers Club (main league and professional league). After some time and a lot of dedication, we were able to win the professional league. I remember crying of happiness at 4 in the morning and waking up my father [laughs].

“Yes, many people said that I was a promising player, but I never really thought that there was something different about me. But my life was all about CS:GO, I didn’t join my parents for dinner, I didn’t even leave the house… I think that my obsession with the game made me who I am today. My life was all about playing, and because of that I improved every day.”

yuurih became a regular in the circuit in 2017 and went on to represent two well-established organisations in Brazil, INTZ and Keyd. He added another Gamers Club Pro title to his résumé in addition to strong finishes in several other tournaments, most notably the Logitech G Challenge in Buenos Aires and the WCA 2017 South America Finals, in which his team lost the spot at the Chinese event to Isurus. Later that year, he accepted an offer from FURIA, who were looking to replace Arthur "⁠prd⁠" Resende after a series of mixed results.

“It was normal that we got disappointed [about the lack of titles]. But I think there are two types of disappointment, individual and collective. I was just as disappointed as my team, regardless of my rating.

“When I joined FURIA, it was a very tough period for me. Leaving my home to live with four other people and play CS was very different, you know? But it was a dream for any player. I made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot during that period, personally and inside the game. And playing with arT again was very good. I already knew his style.”

Things took a turn for the better in 2018 after FURIA promoted KSCERATO and Vinicius "⁠VINI⁠" Figueiredo from the academy squad, establishing a strong core that, three years later, remains intact. The team picked up several domestic titles over the course of the next six months, with yuurih immediately emerging as a key figure in the squad. But it wasn't smooth-sailing for the team, who once again missed out on qualification for international events after losing to Sharks at the ESL Latin America League Season 1 Finals and to Não Tem Como in the ESL One Belo Horizonte South America Closed Qualifier. In June, it was announced that the players would be moving to Miami to continue their development, joining fellow Brazilian teams MIBR, Luminosity and TeamOne in North America.

“I remember that it was very hard when we moved to North America, especially because it really was a different level of competition. We took some time to get used to it, and the lifestyle there was indeed different, although that didn’t matter much because we just played CS.”

FURIA raised eyebrows in their first tournament in the United States as they finished in second place in the ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 Americas Regional Finals, but then they were handed a reality check as they went out last at the Americas Minor following defeats to Complexity and Dignitas. As results continued to fall short of expectations in the months that followed, the team made another roster change, bringing in Rinaldo "⁠ableJ⁠" Moda Junior from the academy squad to replace veteran Guilherme "⁠spacca⁠" Spacca.

2019 was the year that saw FURIA hit another level. This time around, the team made it through the Americas Minor — beating eUnited, INTZ and Envy (twice) —, to qualify for their first-ever Major, IEM Katowice, where they went out in the New Challengers Stage with a 1-3 record. The team continued to fly under the radar, but all that changed in May, when FURIA wowed the scene with their innovative style and reached the semi-finals at DreamHack Masters Dallas and finished second at the ECS Season 7 Finals after beating teams like Vitality, fnatic and Astralis.

“Our reaction [to those results] was great, also because we knew that, despite beating big teams and getting to the semi-finals of one tournament and the grand final of the other, we weren’t that good yet. But we also knew that we had the level to take on anyone and that we needed more experience.”

Without surprise, FURIA faced growing pains in the months that followed as they were unable to find the same kind of success and slowly moved down the rankings after peaking at No.5 in June. It was also around that time that yuurih saw his name linked with MIBR, who desperately needed an injection of new talent to right what was already a fast-sinking ship. yuurih, just like the rest of the team, committed his future to FURIA for the next five years in a highly-scrutinised move, but the cracks in the squad’s armor continued to show as their results remained inconsistent.

FURIA eventually brought in Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles to replace ableJ and spent the final months of the year trying to accommodate the former Immortals and Luminosity AWPer, with a third-placed finish at StarSeries i-League Season 8 being the only positive in an otherwise disappointing end to the season.

“When MIBR approached me, that was something that really affected me. I really wanted to play with them… Even though I turned down their offer, I was really happy to know that MIBR’s players wanted me, and that gave me even more motivation.

“We had some goals for 2020 and we managed to accomplish them all... It was things like winning a big tournament, staying in the top 10, being a good team… The only thing left was the Major. We want to reach the playoffs and win.”

FURIA had a sour start to the new year as they finished 7th-8th in the closed qualifier for IEM Katowice, in which they had to field Lucas "⁠LUCAS1⁠" Teles as a stand-in due to a delay in HEN1’s visa renewal. That also turned out to be yuurih’s worst tournament of 2020 (1.00 rating), but he bounced back immediately with a team-high 1.25 rating as FURIA finished in second place at DreamHack Open Anaheim, their only LAN outing of the year.

“Even though IEM Katowice turned out to be the biggest LAN of 2020 because of the pandemic, we’ve had to suffer losses to learn many things… So I think it wasn’t that bad. But it was a shame because it was the only big LAN of the year.

“The DreamHack final against Gen.G was very frustrating because we had the game in our hands, but we made a lot of mistakes… That loss really hurt. But as I said, we always learn something from these defeats in big matches.

“I think that was the most painful memory of 2020. That and the defeat to Cloud9 in cs_summit 6.”

As the coronavirus pandemic upended the esports calendar and forced tournament organisers to switch to online play, some of FURIA’s players took some time to adapt to the new reality. yuurih looked a bit rusty in the team’s third-place finish in ESL Pro League Season 11, especially in the decisive consolidation final against Evil Geniuses, in which he averaged a 0.77 rating. That brought this tournament rating down to 1.08, only the third-highest in the team, and cost him a place among the EVPs.

yuurih returned to his best form as FURIA finished in second place in ESL One: Road to Rio and won DreamHack Masters Spring. His impressive showings in the ESL tournament (1.36 rating in the latter stages and year-high 86.4 ADR and +91 KDD) saw him eclipse Gen.G’s players in the race for the MVP medal. In the DreamHack competition, he was a solid performer in both the group stage and in the playoffs, proving key to the team’s victory with a 30-bomb in the decider map of the semi-final series against 100 Thieves before he topped the scoreboard in the grand final against Liquid (1.41 rating, 87.2 ADR) to secure his second medal.

“It was very gratifying to win DreamHack Masters. That was one of our goals for 2020 and we had been practicing very hard, so it was a relief. We learned a bit about what it was like to win a big tournament.

“Being an MVP had always been a dream and a goal of mine, but I thought it would take longer. This year was amazing, I surprised myself. I was surprised with my improvement. To be the MVP three times in a year is something that makes me proud of my effort, because it’s very hard, there are many good and solid players fighting for trophies and MVP awards. I feel grateful for everything.”

FURIA were unable to make it three tournament victories in a row as they finished in third place in the BLAST Premier Spring Finals, in which yuurih had to settle for a place among the EVPs with a 1.13 rating, second to HEN1's 1.19. He then hit a rough patch of form, posting some of his lowest numbers of the year as FURIA finished sixth in cs_summit 6 (1.02 group stage rating) and 3rd-4th in ESL One Cologne North America (1.01 rating, 6% lower than the team's average, -9 KDD and 0.86 Impact).

“We knew that cs_summit would be our most important tournament of the year until that point and one of the hardest. We didn't play that well and we ended up being eliminated. But afterwards, we had lots of talks and we came back much stronger for the next one. We once again learned from our mistakes."

FURIA returned to winning ways just before their end-of-the year trip to Europe as they picked up titles from ESL Pro League Season 12 and IEM New York. yuurih was a central figure in both tournaments, finishing second to HEN1 in the race for the EPL medal (1.21 rating overall, 1.36 in the playoffs, 1.20 Impact and a year-high 1.32 T rating) and scooping the honour in the IEM competition (1.19 rating, 83.8 ADR and 1.16 Impact).

“The EPL final against 100 Thieves, in which we did the boost on Vertigo, was my best memory. I remember killing four opponents and surprising everyone [laughs]. And on top of that, we also won the title. A day that I will never forget."

The last-place finish in the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown following defeats to G2 and MIBR served as a taster of what was to come as FURIA were unable to live up to their billing as the No.4-ranked team in the world. The Brazilians bounced back in the Showdown stage, in which yuurih posted a 1.31 rating, and then reached the last-four stage in the DreamHack Masters Winter in what turned out to be their best finish while on European soil. yuurih earned a place among the EVPs with some respectable numbers: 1.21 rating, the highest in the team, 80.9 ADR and 1.16 Impact.

“When we went to Europe, we knew that we would either surprise people with our style or we would really suffer. The level of CS there is very high, the best teams and players are there. But we were very confident, even though we knew it would be very hard."

yuurih averaged a 1.06 rating in the BLAST Fall Finals, in which FURIA finished 5th-6th in the double-elimination tournament following defeats to G2 and Natus Vincere, and while he was still in the green in the IEM Global Challenge, he posted some below-par numbers as the team crashed out in the group stage, including a 1.02 rating (1% below the team's average), 71.7 ADR and 0.95 Impact, leaving a sour taste in his mouth as he headed into the player break.

“It’s harder in Europe, you’re facing better players and it’s truly hard. I feel like I played well at first in Europe, I only didn’t play so well in my last two tournaments. We faced NAVI in both tournaments and also Astralis. We didn’t do so well against them and we made a lot of mistakes."

Why was yuurih the 14th best player of 2020?

yuurih threw his name into the hat for a place in this HLTV Top 20 as one of the best fraggers in the world, having averaged 0.75 kills per round (eighth-highest overall). He was also one of the most consistent players, boasting a 73.7% KAST and 88.6% of maps with ratings higher than 0.85 — a record that was only bettered by three players in 2020: Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut, Aleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz. He ranked sixth in the world if we only consider ratings equal to or higher than 1.00 (73.4% of maps).

yuurih's high damage output (80.1 ADR, 12th-highest), survivability (0.63 deaths per round, 15th-lowest) and percentage of rounds with a multi-kill (18.5%, 12th-best) help to explain why he ended the year with one of the highest ratings in notable tournaments (1.16, eighth-highest). He also put up good numbers in big matches (1.14 rating in 17 Big Event playoff maps) and against tougher opposition (1.12 rating in 58 maps against top-10 sides).

“I’ve seen comparisons [between me and KSCERATO] about who’s the better player... I haven’t had as much media attention as him, but we both have always been very good. It is a pleasure to play alongside someone of his level. Nowadays, I don’t see those comparisons as often, now we are the YURATO duo!”

The three MVP medals and the fact that he was at least a Valuable Player in every tournament set him apart from the players below him in this HLTV Top 20. It's also possible to argue that his EVP in ESL Pro League Season 12 was his best tournament of the year, which means that his claim to his three MVP honours was not that strong. That, combined with the fact that his awards came from lesser events in comparison to the players ranked above him and his lack of good displays in Elite tournaments, explains why he could not be ranked any higher on this list.

“My goals for 2021 are to be in the top 20 again, to reach the Major playoffs and to be regarded as one of the candidates to win that tournament.”

Bold prediction:

yuurih joined HEN1 in predicting a bright future for his fellow countryman Eduardo "⁠dumau⁠" Wolkmer, who is reportedly a part of the new project that former MIBR manager Ricardo "⁠dead⁠" Sinigaglia is putting together. He is also the third player (after Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage and KSCERATO) who named Triumph AWPer Paytyn "⁠junior⁠" Johnson as one of the rising talents to watch in 2021 and beyond.

Paytyn "⁠junior⁠" Johnson
Eduardo "⁠dumau⁠" Wolkmer

“junior is a player who has stood out, and I believe he only needs experience to be a top player and be among the best in the world.”

“dumau is also a very good player, he has a lot of potential. Those two are players that everyone should keep an eye on.”

Stay tuned to our Top 20 players of 2020 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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