Top 20 players of 2021: ropz (18)

High fragging output and great consistency clinch Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool his fourth consecutive appearance on the top 20 players list, powered by GG.BET.

Top 20 players of 2021: Introduction

By now, the tale of ropz's rise to the upper echelons of CS:GO will be a familiar one to many. A PUG star who rose through the ranks of the FACEIT matchmaking system, his talent was apparent almost immediately. Such was his talent that he faced cheating accusations and vitriol from the pro community just as immediately, with one of the most storied professionals at the time, Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell, stating on stream that ropz would "never show up at a LAN." In the end, FACEIT invited the young Estonian to play some games from their offices in March 2017 to quell the furore that was threatening to endanger an innocent player's career. It wasn't long after this that he joined MOUZ.

It took a little bit of time for ropz to settle at the professional level, which was understandable given that his only experience in a team environment up to that point had been in mix teams at low level online cups and qualifiers. His first LAN event with MOUZ, DreamHack Open Tours 2017, was underwhelming, as he posted a 0.97 rating over five maps, making him the second-worst performer on the team. At his very next event however, the far more prestigious ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals, he impressed with a 1.12 rating as he lead the way for his team to a respectable 5-6th place finish. This inconsistent form characterised his first six months as a pro, but it wasn't long before he found his feet and began his trajectory towards being the player we know him as today.

By mid-2017 MOUZ had brought in Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk and Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi in favour of Denis "⁠denis⁠" Howell and Christian "⁠loWel⁠" Garcia Antoran, which seemed to stabilise the roster and give ropz a better platform to showcase his talents. The improvement in form was immediate, as by September MOUZ won the ESG Tour Mykonos event, with ropz sporting a healthy 1.14 rating. This signalled an upturn in the team's fortunes as they became consistent play-off contenders, and moving into 2018 they even managed to win several notable events such as StarSeries i-League Season 4 and V4 Future Sports Festival 2018, with ropz recording not one single event in the red during this time and earning several EVP nods. This included a solid showing at his first Major, the ELEAGUE Major 2018, where his team achieved a 5-8th place finish.

The rest of 2018 was not quite as fruitful for ropz and the boys in red, as MOUZ' level dropped, a swap of STYKO for Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski failed to produce consistent results and was quickly reversed (in spite of a surprise victory at ESL One New York 2018), and a shocking 0-3 performance at the FACEIT Major 2018 saw the team booted back to the Minor system and forced to qualify for the next Major. In spite of all of this, ropz' efficiency and consistency throughout an overall good year for his team earned him the title of the 19th best player of 2018, in his first full year as a professional player. It was an impressive achievement for someone so young and with such little experience, but it proved to be merely a steppingstone as he pushed on into 2019.

The start of 2019 was abysmal for him and the team as they crashed out of the Europe Minor ahead of IEM Katowice with a single map win, and the mood in the team seemed to have soured. The roster broke apart and due to the early timing of the Major, it was months before ropz would be back in action with a new-look MOUZ, one now featuring Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen, Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker and David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský. The tale of this lineup throughout 2019 was one of slowly ramping up, winning smaller events such as DreamHack Open Tours as they improved, and proving their class by this time successfully navigating the Minor to make the StarLadder Major Berlin. It was after this Major, where they cruised through the Challengers Stage and narrowly missed out on the playoffs, that this iteration of MOUZ truly hit their stride. They went on a run to end the year that included five event victories, including the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals where ropz posted a 1.24 rating and was the MVP. He was an EVP at the rest of the events they won and finished the year as the #10 player in HLTV's top 20.

The year of 2020 saw ropz transition to the clear main star of MOUZ, and although the team itself did not reach the heights of late 2019, the Estonian lurker would yet again elevate his play, consistently being the highest-rated player and putting up star numbers and impact as he racked up EVP awards. The highlights of the year were his EVP performance in an ICE Challenge victory over NAVI, an EVP in his team's run to 2nd at ESL Pro League Season 11, and yet another EVP in the 2nd place finish at DreamHack Masters Winter. His performances in 2020 earned him further improvement in the top 20 players list, this time reaching the dizzying heights of #7.

2021 began in solid if unspectacular fashion for ropz and MOUZ, a lineup that now featured Aurimas "⁠Bymas⁠" Pipiras and Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand in place of Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong and woxic. cs_summit 7 was their first event of the year, a more relaxed event that nonetheless featured a decent field, the likes of #5 ranked Heroic, #6 OG and #7 FURIA in attendance. ropz himself got off to a slow start, a 1.18 rating placing him 4th amongst the team in a smooth 2-0 victory over FaZe, and his 0.99 rating in the win over Heroic was most certainly nothing to write home about. Come playoffs the real ropz was back, as he carried his team with an impressive 1.33 rating in the quarter-finals against FURIA, and although is team were stopped by the eventual winners Virtus.pro, it was a promising start to the year for ropz and MOUZ.

It was at this point that upheaval struck ropz and the European squad. karrigan had already been the subject of rumours linking him to a return to FaZe before cs_summit even took place, and finally those rumours came to fruition as the Danish IGL left MOUZ. It was a blow for the team that the veteran had led for two years, steered to multiple tournament victories, and had elevated to as high as No. 2 in the HLTV world rankings. It was not a move that ropz was pleased to see happen:

"I was definitely feeling a little down, but it was a decision I understood and had no hard feelings about. We wanted to make changes for a long time, ever since woxic departed. acoR was a player we were looking to get that whole time but it got more and more delayed, and by the time we got him, things had got worse. He wanted an ideal roster and he was done waiting, as there were opportunities outside of our team. In his perspective it definitely made sense, I probably would’ve done the same in his shoes. In today's market, it’s hard to get the players you want. Contracts getting longer, salaries and buyouts rising, different timings around tournaments etc. make it often impossible."

Coming in for the storied leader was Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong, the man who had overseen Renegades' complete dominance of the Oceanic scene, posting impressive individual statistics whilst doing so. There was some excitement to see what the Australian IGL could do over in Europe, but there was no denying it was a huge step up:

"Firstly no one would expect [dexter] to fill the shoes karrigan left behind, it would've been completely unreasonable if he did. He's moving from his home in Australia and facing the unknown in his point of view. He's definitely a good caller. He has a little less of this leader type personality in him than karrigan, who is always vocal, pushing and motivating the players. I think that definitely affected us negatively. With such a young and inexperienced roster the team needs an extremely strong leader type. When we had karrigan in control for 2 years, players really got used to it and it takes a long time to adjust.

"With dexter we relied a little more on our individual communication, which means that there was less micro-managing coming from the IGL but more from the players. He's very calm and relaxed in the way he speaks, sometimes he emphasizes very important stuff, but having a natural English accent doesn't always go through as important. The English-speaking EU teams are used to playing with bad accents, broken English and everything that comes with it. That was a slight issue sometimes, but we found ways to fix it. In general the way he calls and sets up the team is very similar to karrigan, I think this style is common for every top leader in the current meta and many teams are copying each other. Most of the teams are kind of similar in that sense. He's definitely a great leader and caller, no doubt about it. He came from an Aussie system where everything was natural for him, so as long as he and the players adjust to each other, anything is possible."

The Estonian continued his usual form in the first challenge for MOUZ under their new leadership, as the team successfully navigated the IEM Katowice 2021 Play-In. The lurker himself posted a 1.32 rating and was instrumental in ensuring his team made the main event, being the highest rated player in each of his team's matches and being the only person to mount serious resistance in the loss to Gambit, producing a virtuoso performance with 28 kills and 91 ADR to secure their map win on Dust2. The main tournament was a disappointment for MOUZ as they struggled to overcome a tough draw, losing 0-2 to Astralis in the opening round before meeting Gambit again in the lower bracket, once again losing to the eventual winners and bowing out of the tournament without a map win to their name. ropz, usually consistent even in defeat, was quiet throughout, posting a 0.91 rating.

ropz was quick to put the disaster that was IEM Katowice behind him, as he turned up to ESL Pro League Season 13 in vintage form. He was MOUZ' highest rated player in three of five series played, and despite the team crashing out in last place with a 4-8 map record, he was often the best player on the server. The opening series against ENCE was a microcosm of the tournament, as ropz was comfortably the best player on either team, posted a 1.54 rating alongside 101 ADR, and yet his team lost the series 1-2. Overall he posted a 1.27 rating, secured four 1vsX clutches, and picked up three Player of the Match awards in spite of his team's disappointing performance.

A few smaller events and qualifiers followed, the most notable performance from ropz coming in the form of an event-leading 1.29 rating as his team won Snow Sweet Snow 3, with the next big tournament coming in the form of DreamHack Masters Spring. It was another disappointing showing for the European squad as they failed to make playoffs, going out in 9-12th, and it was another one of the young lurker's quieter events. Particularly notable was his 0.89 rated performance in a close 16-14 loss to Natus Vincere in the opening round, as one feels with an in-form ropz in attendance, that may have turned into a victory. Instead MOUZ fell to the lower bracket, where ropz did at least show up to help drive his team to victory over FaZe, although his team-leading 1.18 rating in the 2-1 victory was inflated by a huge 1.99 rated performance in a 16-5 demolition on Nuke; on the other two maps, he was in the red. MOUZ were comfortably beaten in the lower semis by G2, and with another middling performance, ropz finished the event on a 1.03 rating.

Next up for the boys in red was Flashpoint 3, an event that would prove to be the highlight of the year for MOUZ. In one of the most stacked events of 2020 they went on a fairytale run, in no small part due to ropz form, beating the world #6 at the time, BIG, and world #3 Astralis on their way to the title. The pick of the games for the young Estonian was a 1.60, 29 kill carry performance in the second map of the semi-final against G2, as he took over the game on one of his specialist maps, Nuke, to get his team to the grand final. Throughout the tournament he was incredibly consistent, as has become his trademark, with every single series rated above a 1.00 and only one series dropping below 1.29. He earned himself his first EVP award of the year, only being beaten out in the MVP race by teammate frozen, who himself had the best big event of his career.

"Well, there's only one true answer to why we were so good at Flashpoint 3: All five players performed extremely well. That is so rare to see, not many tournaments and teams come to mind. When everything and everyone clicks, you just win. That's how I would describe it. I don't think there’s any point to dive deeper, like we had good communication, good this and that and so on. Everything was near perfection, I say near because it could always be better.

"In general having five players play their A game at the same time is very rare, but it was amazing to see what it would look like with us. This was definitely the one performance which we tried to achieve and replicate again for the rest of the year, but we became worse and worse. A lot of it probably had to do with experience yet again, because by then things moved to LAN and we couldn’t really compare our online Flashpoint result. It was hard to set high expectations, because some of us played LAN for the first time, some of us hadn't played the real big events where you get tested. I believe in the Major we actually showed positive signs and started to crawl back, those matches were the biggest tests for the team. We were in the position to make the playoffs, but gave it away."

The next major tournament was IEM Cologne, another where MOUZ had to get through the play-in stage. ropz posted a staggering 1.41 rating, 100 ADR and 1.69 impact rating across five maps, carrying his team to the main tournament. Unfortunately it ended with yet another early exit for MOUZ, as they crashed out in straight series, losing to Gambit and then Liquid. In the latter match ropz was actually the highest rated player on the server by a large margin, desperately trying to drag his team kicking and screaming over the line on the final map of Inferno that went all the way to a 25-28 scoreline, the star rifler racking up 88 ADR and almost 50 kills; across that series he managed 90 kill, and still lost. Another VP nod was secured, despite another poor finish for the team.

ESL Pro League Season 14 was next on the docket, and despite going 0-2 in series to kick off the event, MOUZ managed to run it back to a 3-2 series record, thus securing a spot in the playoffs on tiebreaks. ropz had an average group stage by his standards, only topping the scoreboards across a series in the 1-2 loss to FaZe, but he will still a solid performer, posting a 1.08 rating or better in all three of their wins. The Estonian seemed to be saving his best form for the series against Ninjas in Pyjamas in the quarter-finals, where he led the server with 83 ADR and a 1.22 rating. Yet, as was becoming an uncomfortably familiar trend in 2021, his team still lost the series. Once again ropz's consistent output and high ADR across the event earned him another VP mention, and once again his team had underperformed.

This was, unfortunately, the story of the year for ropz and MOUZ. The Estonian would produce valiant performances, often in defeat, as his team crashed out of events early. IEM Fall saw them fail to make playoffs or even the 9-12th decider bracket, with ropz sporting a healthy 1.15 rating. Fortunately for the EU squad the Flashpoint victory had earned them enough Regional Major Ranking points to secure a spot at the PGL Major Stockholm.

The Challengers Stage was nearly a disaster for MOUZ as they went 1-2 initially and faced elimination, but they managed to turn things around with series victories over Renegades and BIG to secure a Legends Stage berth. ropz was instrumental in the team making it that far, being the highest rated player with a 1.23 rating, 84 ADR and 1.29 impact rating across nine maps.

The Legends Stage was heartbreak for the boys in red, as after going 0-2 MOUZ began to grow into the tournament, picking up a convincing 2-0 win over ENCE before falling in an agonizing final map in the elimination series against Virtus.pro, losing 18-22 to go out of the Major. Whilst ropz did pick up another VP for his performances, particularly in the win over ENCE and in a close loss to Ninjas in Pyjamas, he had an uncharacteristically poor series in the loss to Virtus.pro, putting up a 0.83 rating and only managing 40 kills across three maps.

The year ended with another two underwhelming tournament placings for MOUZ, and another VP performance from ropz. DreamHack Open November, a smaller event, saw him post a 1.18 rating despite his team going 2-3 in maps and failing to make playoffs, and he grabbed one more VP for his showing at IEM Winter, despite MOUZ crashing out of the event with three straight map losses.

Despite an overall disappointing year, ropz was able to maintain a high individual level, and he attributes this to being able to rely on himself:

"I think the main point is that I rely on myself way more than others, but not completely. Playing the extremities also relies on the team being successful in taking map control. There are times where I can be with the pack too and make the game more unstable and unpredictable. But no matter the situation, it's mostly up to myself to create and find my own opportunities in the match. Especially being one of the most experienced players on the team, I act as an example to the others in taking initiative and being vocal about the advantages we can take. Playing enough CS and staying with the meta, having the drive and motivation to win are things that I value most. I try to keep those things in check and everything else should come by. Going back to LAN was also no different to me and I definitely enjoyed those moments more than the online parts of the year."

Why was ropz the 18th best player of 2021?

ropz had some of the most impressive numbers of any player throughout 2021, finishing with the 7th highest rating (1.17) and as one of the premier fraggers in the game (0.77 KPR, #4). He was very consistent, especially map-to-map, having a 1.00 or higher rating in 72% of his maps (9th most). He even improved his direct impact compared to previous years, going up to 1.18 Impact rating (#11), partially thanks to an increased number of opening kills (0.13 per round, #14) but also his superb multi-kill rate (19.9% of rounds, #4).

While those numbers showcased his quality and were enough to secure him a place this high inside the top 20 list, he didn't have enough good performances in the biggest events and the biggest matches to place any higher. His only exceptional event, a near-MVP, came at the RMR Flashpoint 3, although there was also a near-EVP at the medium-sized cs_summit 7. While he did perform well in ESL Pro League (especially Season 13), he didn't do so well in the elite events having the lowest rating in them (1.04) in the fewest maps (20) out of anyone inside the top 20. He also had the fewest big matches, only playing one, the EPL S14 playoff loss to Ninjas in Pyjamas, meaning that we could only grade him on his performance in qualifiers and group stage matches, and that didn't allow for him to surpass anyone else.

"For most parts of the year, I believe I have managed to keep the level I've been at for the last few years. While there's always room for improvement, it's hard to push further and keep reinventing myself at the level I am. A few times I could have definitely done better, I could feel it and anyone could notice it. Placing high on the list always depends on the team's results, there's no denying that. I believe we might be one of the least successful teams this year in history to produce top 20 players, I can only find NiKo from 2016 with as few awards and team placements."

Looking forwards to 2022, the Estonian star is keen to push his own level even higher, and is optimistic about FaZe's prospects:

"The goals for 2022 on a personal level would be to go harder than ever. This is the first time I am switching to another team and I want to reach the same goals I've had in MOUZ for the last 4-5 years and try to go even further. With FaZe, to win a big event for sure. I believe we have a roster capable of contending for any trophy when we make it work. Becoming number one with the way NAVI is playing, is challenging. As long as we keep believing with the whole team, it's possible."

Bold prediction by GG.BET

Once again, as with previous years, we asked our top 20 players who they felt was a future candidate to make a top 20 list. To ensure we got a bold prediction, the player had to be under 20, and not have previously played on a top 20 team.

"I think torzsi contends for the best player in this category," ropz said, highlighting the Hungarian's play in MOUZ NXT just days after the AWPer was promoted to the main team. "His talent has been around for quite a long time now and finally getting a chance. The work he and his team did was spectacular, it wasn't fun seeing '-MOUZ +MOUZ NXT.'"

---

Stay tuned to our Top 20 players of 2021 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:

GG.BET - Online betting and odds on sport and esports