Top 20 players of 2021: Jame (10)

A remarkably high floor and great Big match performances earn Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali his first appearance on the Top 20 players of 2021 ranking by GG.BET as the Russian places 10th.

Top 20 players of 2021: Introduction

The Russian AWPer first popped on the radar in April of 2017. As an 18-year-old, Jame recorded his first HLTV matches under the tag NOVA in SLTV Pro Series XVII, playing alongside Pavel "⁠PASHANOJ⁠" Legostaev and Dmitry "⁠dimasick⁠" Matvienko. A similar squad made a deep run in the qualifier for the CIS Minor soon after, but Bogdan "⁠naumoff⁠" Naumov's active VAC ban saw them disqualified from the event.

"Life itself brought me into the game, every man in our country knows about the existence of Counter-Strike. I don’t remember the first competitive experience, but I definitely lost."

Jame left that core of players behind to join AVANGAR in August of 2017, which ended up being a career-defining move. He accepted the invitation to play in the Kazakh-based roster and linked up with teammates to this day Alexey "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev and Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov thanks to an invite from dimasick.

"I got into AVANGAR through dimasick, he was the one who recommended me. Before that, I showed good results on HLTV. Compared to previous teams everything was radically different in terms of attitude towards the game, conditions, and goals. This was my first professional team.

Within a month of Jame's arrival, AVANGAR reached the top 30 of the world ranking, playing in tournaments such as HellCase and LOOT.BET Cups as well as numerous qualifiers. Most importantly, they managed to make it to the CIS Minor and win it, qualifying for the ELEAGUE Boston Major.

The AWPer didn't really stand out in his inaugural year on the international stage, averaging a 1.06 rating, but started showing potential in 2018. In his first appearance at any stage of a Major Jame was one win away from reaching the groups, gaining important experience that he could bring back home and use to start picking up wins online.

"We won our first Minor where everyone considered us the favorites, even though we were playing our first big LAN. At the same Major we lost to Liquid in a close series for the spot in the top 16. It is probably at that tournament I realized that we can compete against any team.

"Regarding top teams, we would always impose ourselves against tier 1. This is how CS works, everyone can beat everyone, but everything is decided by the distance and victories at the championships. In 2021 we have achieved some stability in the top 10. Let's see what happens next."

Ten online cups and numerous online qualifiers were won by AVANGAR in 2018 as they started to gain notoriety among the lower tier in a year akin to Gambit Youngsters' 2020. Unfortunately, AVANGAR failed to qualify for the FACEIT London Major but nonetheless continued their rise to finish the year as a top 20 team. Jame became their standout player during that time, averaging a 1.16 rating, and earned himself a nod from the in-game leader of the best team in the world.

"It's so tough to predict but I am gonna say Jame," Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander said when asked about his bold prediction for 2019. "Just because he can be a pain in the ass to play against in practice." The Dane was on to something, as Jame's best year would follow, and he would be difficult to face not only in practice but officials too.

"For many, having the best players in the world celebrate their performance is a huge boost in confidence, it’s an extra boost of motivation. I was no exception, especially when the captain of the best team in the world (at that time) decides to pick you."

Putting up a 1.13 rating in your first appearance in the group stage of a Major was a great start to the year for Jame at IEM Katowice. After being one win away from playoffs at the prestigious tournament, the Kazakh unit went on to win mid-size tournaments DreamHack Open Rio and WePlay Forge of Masters, before hitting a slump in the middle of the year.

The arrival of Kazakhstan's most accomplished player Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev fixed AVANGAR's woes just in time for the StarLadder Berlin Major. The underdog squad made an incredible run, their Cinderella story only being ended by Astralis in the grand final, before going on to win a premier tournament in BLAST Pro Series Moscow. Performances at these events earned Jame international renown, with the Russian securing an EVP at the Major and picking up his career-first MVP at BLAST. He averaged a 1.26 rating across all competitions during 2019, but with the team missing out on a lot of big LANs, Jame didn't earn an inclusion on the top 20 players of the year ranking.

During 2019, the broader audience got to understand why gla1ve used the term "pain in the ass" for Jame. Not only was the Russian finding entries and managing clutches when pressured, he was also frustratingly hard to kill. Jame's passion for saving weapons combined with AVANGAR's controlled T side approach and an affinity for gamble stacks on CT — which he instilled as the team's in-game leader —, meant that in seemingly every round, there was an AWP in play ready to punish a misstep.

While effective, the playstyle Jame employed became widely criticized by fans who called the style boring and spawned the creation of the "Jame Time" meme. However, that didn't dissuade the team at all, as their approach to the game remains consistent to this day.

"[How do I feel about the memes associated with me?] It's cool. I should've boosted my media presence off the back of the hype, maybe I'll regret not monetizing it later on. On the other hand, had I abused the memes for money then the charm of it would be gone.

"In the past, there were times when I shouldn't have saved. We were inexperienced, and we'd frequently destroy our own economy with these saves. When it comes to slow plays on ecos, it's fun to wait out a UZI with a USP. The person is frag-hunting, so they'll run right at you, but these days the level of play has improved, so it doesn't really work anymore. Players run off to save in a single position, so it's better to land some damage before the bomb blows. 'Jame time' has different interpretations actually. One of them is when I land a nasty clutch, the other when I save. At the StarLadder Major, for example, 'Jame time' was connected specifically with impressive kills." - Jame in December 2020

A great end to 2019 earned the AVANGAR squad a transfer to one of the region's most renowned organizations, Virtus.pro. But the start to that cooperation would be a all but smooth.

The pressure of representing a big brand, the effects of burnout, teams getting accustomed to their playstyle — a number of reasons could've played a part in Virtus.pro's struggles at the start of 2020. Although they were failing to make deep runs, Jame was a consistently strong performer for the team, finishing only two events in the whole year with a rating lower than 1.07.

It took buster having a personal break, AdreN departing, and the arrival of Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis for Virtus.pro to get back to winning ways in the second half of the year. The squad was triumphant the first CIS RMR they played with that lineup, IEM New York 2020 CIS, as well as the $1,000,000 Flashpoint 2 and DreamHack Open December, again finishing the year on a high.

"I began to train much more than in the first two years of my career, but the peak in terms of the number of hours was with the arrival of Marek [YEKINDAR] in 2020. He set an unrealistic bar of 167 hours in 2 weeks and I had to keep up."

The duo of Jame and YEKINDAR defined Virtus.pro's quite successful 2021 as the AWPing IGL and aggressive rifler competed for the spot of the team's highest-ranked player at nearly every event.

Jame got off to a better start as cs_summit 7 kicked off the season in January. The 'warm-up' tournament didn't have the world's elite competing and the likes of Ninjas in Pyjamas, MOUZ, and fnatic ended up being no match for the in-form Virtus.pro. Jame led his side to his trophy with impeccable fragging, winning the second MVP of his career thanks to a 1.31 rating, 80.4% KAST, and five clutches converted across just 10 maps played.

The sniper kept up the same level at the following IEM Katowice Play-in to ensure Virtus.pro a spot at the main event. The team battled their way to the playoffs with consistent contributions from Jame, who had an outstanding showing against Liquid in the semi-finals (1.59 rating) and ensured consecutive grand-final appearances for his team. Ultimately, they had to settle for second place after a defeat to Gambit, with Jame earning himself an EVP from the year's first Elite event.

"[About calling around himself versus setting up his teammates] I don’t know, the maps and sides must be taken into consideration. On the T side I am obviously more supportive, but everything is arranged differently on the CT side. In general, it all depends on my impact, if I feel that I can take over the game, then I take it, if someone else wins us rounds, then I may or may not play around him. Each game is individual."

Jame's average at Katowice was great (1.19 rating), but for his own standards, it was a bit spotty with 6 out of 17 below-1.00 rated maps. His map-to-map consistency improved at ESL Pro League Season 13 as he again displayed proficiency in both the group stage and the playoff, with the CIS side stopped by Complexity in round-of-8.

Despite strong showings from Jame, losses to underdogs FORZE and HAVU earned Virtus.pro an unexpected early exit from the FunSpark ULTI Final, with the leader's form dropping at the following DreamHack Masters Spring where he averaged merely a 1.03 rating. While his team still mustered a playoff appearance at the latter tournament, the two events combine for a forgettable April for the Russian.

Regional rivalries were back on the table for EPIC League CIS, the region's first RMR tournament, where Jame was back in prime form. The team's best player across 25 maps, he posted a 1.21 rating across the event, but just like in Katowice, he had to settle for a second-place finish to Gambit and an EVP.

There was practically no break before the team took part in IEM Summer, where Jame remained a danger for the opposition and Virtus.pro grabbed another playoff appearance, now finishing top 6 after a loss to Vitality. Following a series of strong results, the CIS team struggled at the second RMR tournament of the year, recording a group stage exit with losses to 100PG, Spirit, and Entropiq. Jame nonetheless recorded his third consecutive event as the team's highest rated player, carrying the load especially as CT with a 1.39 defensive side rating.

LAN action returned for the last event before the tournament break and Virtus.pro headed to IEM Cologne. The team was on the brink of an early elimination, but fought back against Complexity, beat Ninjas in Pyjamas, and edged past BIG to once again reach the knockout stages of a tournament. Astralis denied them a top-four finish, with Jame once again having a consistent tournament but perhaps lacking that little extra to allow Virtus.pro a deeper run.

Jame learned that returning from tournament breaks can be tricky as he recorded a 0.79 rated series against OG in his first match in August, one of his worst games of the year. He shook off the ring rust as the tournament progressed and managed to finish the group stage as his team's best player once again, but advancing to the playoffs wasn't on the cards after the initial loss and two more to FORZE and Complexity.

The poor placing at the StarLadder CIS RMR in June put Virtus.pro in danger of missing out the first Major in over two years, so at IEM Fall CIS, there was no room for error. Jame showed up in stellar form in the crucial group stage matches (1.29 rating) and the job at the event was done with a top-four placing.

Virtus.pro played a couple of online tournaments in the second half of the year, winning Pinnacle Fall Series, recording an early exit from REPUBLEAGUE TIPOS Season 2, and having their BLAST Premier Fall Showdown run cut short by Liquid. And then just before the biggest event of the year was about to take place, Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev was brought into the lineup to replace the team's ultimate support Sanjar "⁠SANJI⁠" Kuliev.

"SANJI initially liked to play with an MP9, we didn't even understand immediately why he didn't just buy a rifle on CT, but later we realized how useful it was. On most maps, his positions allowed him to do this for both CT and T. I understand conversations around this topic, most players care about their statistics because it affects their game and mental state. But SANJI was not affected by it in any way. He always played in the same mental state and did everything to win."

Jame wasn't up to his standard at the Major, averaging merely a 1.03 rating in the Challengers Stage and dropping into the red for the first time in the year in the main part of the event. It was the team's supporting cast and incredible resilience in comebacks against Spirit, MOUZ, and FaZe that allowed Virtus.pro to reach the playoffs despite the in-game leader's 0.97-rated event. Ultimately, they fell to Heroic in their only stage match of the year, where Jame recorded one great and two underwhelming maps.

"The statistics were negative during the whole tournament, but we would win and go from one stage to another. Everything was concluded in the BO3 against Heroic, where the statistics were not the worst. With the arrival of FL1T, I was more focused on the team’s interaction than on individual play. It does not feel that I let the team down, but there was an opportunity to play better."

"[My regrets?] Upon his arrival, FL1T immediately told me that my mouse has sensor problems, but I didn’t listen and played the whole Major with this problem."

IEM Winter was Jame's last chance to have an outstanding LAN performance, having struggled at the Major and played an OK Cologne, and he made use of the opportunity putting up one of his strongest performances of the year. He carried his team to a victory over Gambit (1.38 rating) which allowed Virtus.pro to advance from the groups unbeaten (5-0 in maps) and go directly to the semi-finals, where they faltered to eventual champions Vitality.

In what was Jame's last event of the year, he got his fourth EVP nod of the year, averaging a 1.24 rating (1.33 on CT side) and just 0.46 DPR — his lowest in 2021.

"Us reaching the playoffs of the Major was my favorite moment of the Major. My best form was definitely not during it! Regarding my form, through the whole year I played average, I can not single out any period of time when I was in the best form."

Why was Jame the 10th best player of 2021?

Jame was one of the best AWPers and clutchers of 2021 and displayed a very high floor with great consistency, which altogether earned him the 10th spot in our Top 20. On paper, he was the most lethal AWPer, ranking first in AWP kills per round (0.48) while unsurprisingly being one of the hardest to kill (0.54 deaths per round, #2). His survival skills also helped him shine in clutch situations, as he won 93 1vsXs: the second most in total, and third most on a per-round average.

Furthermore, he was very successful when he went for opening duels, winning 69% of them (#2), but he only tried to do that in less than 16% of his rounds, well below average and third-fewest within the Top 20. The last individual aspect he stood out in were flash assists, as he ranked second with 0.10 per round.

When it comes to awards, Jame won an MVP at the medium-sized cs_summit 7 to start his year and added his strongest EVP shortly after at IEM Katowice. He accumulated three more EVP awards, albeit none of them particularly remarkable, which meant his peaks weren't very high.

However, he balanced that out with an outstanding floor level. The Russian was at least a valuable player in 12 of the 13 events he attended (the PGL Major being a notable exception) while posting the fifth-highest KAST (74.1%) and having a 1.00 or higher rating in 75% of his maps (#6) — altogether making him one of the most consistent players of 2021.

Lastly, while his less impressive peaks meant he couldn't contend for any of the higher spots, his good performances in Big matches (1.14 rating in 36 maps, #6) did push him above the competition below and into the top 10 in his first appearance on the ranking.

"[My thoughts on making the top 20?] I feel that I failed gla1ve. It took me too long to get here."

Bold prediction by GG.BET

Jame tipped 17-year-old Aleksandr "⁠KaiR0N-⁠" Anashkin as his bold prediction, inspired by the fact the youngster was discovered by the player Jame started his career with. "PASHANOJ found this guy. I believe that he will make himself known."

KaiR0N- is currently representing Spirit Academy in the WePlay Academy League, where he has been under the spotlight with an outstanding 1.49 rating across eight maps played. The rifler has played primarily with Russian sides such as ex-ETHEREAL but speaks three languages — Russian, English, and German — and has had stints in international outfits Wolsung, Budapest Five, EC Brugge, and PORTUGAL.

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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:

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