Top 20 players of 2021: YEKINDAR (8)
With a high floor and even higher impact, Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis makes his first appearance on the Top 20 players list as one of CS:GO's premier entry-fraggers, grabbing the eighth spot.
Top 20 players of 2021: Introduction
YEKINDAR began his CS career much like anyone else, playing in small tournaments with teams made up of his fellow countrymen, working hard to grind his way to the top. He first showed up on HLTV with Latvian team Wolsung, posting solid numbers whilst playing in small local and Baltic LAN events. At one such event, the GameOn III Finals in Lithuania, he was spotted by Dmitry "hooch" Bogdanov, who scouted him for his team at the time, EPG. YEKINDAR did something not many from his country have managed by overcoming the lack of opportunities in Latvia:
"I think for me it wasn't really a disadvantage, being born in Latvia, because it allowed me to be who I am. But overall that could be a problem for many other players because the fact that other countries like Denmark or Russia etc. have a lot more opportunities. I think I dipped at the right time into the CIS scene, I believe because of the lack of opportunities in Latvia, there is a ceiling that you can't overgrow until the country starts to be more open to esports overall and be more interested in developing it."
"hooch scouted me out and was willing to invest time in me and trust my skills. I was just playing local LANs and Baltic LANs. Then during a LAN in Lithuania I basically did a roll on stage and hooch thought 'hey, we need this idiot.' Of course somehow I played with hooch in some CIS league and he already noticed me there before, but after the roll, everything got settled (smiles)."
The young Latvian spent the next eight months with EPG, where he gained valuable experience playing a higher level of Counter-Strike; he peaked at #33 in world with this team, playing with players like hooch, Aleksei "NickelBack" Trofimov and Aleksei "El1an" Gusev, who would all go on to be part of the now top-10 Entropiq team. At this point in his career he was a variable individual presence, posting highs like a 1.40 across five maps at Stream.me Gauntlet 17, an event attended by other future top pros like Nemanja "nexa" Isaković, where his team beat Spirit in the semi-finals. However, he was also capable of lows like a 0.80 across five maps at the M.Game League 2, which included a defeat to an ALTERNATE aTTaX lineup that featured the likes of Nils "k1to" Gruhne, Florian "syrsoN" Rische and Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen.
YEKINDAR and El1an emerged as the clear stars of this EPG roster, and they were able to gain valuable experience against good opposition, one such example being a close 0-2 defeat, 16-13 and 16-14, against Natus Vincere at the ECS S5 Challenger Cup, where YEKINDAR led the team statistically. Eventually it became apparent that the team were not able to progress any further, and change was inevitable.
The young rifler had a brief stint standing-in with FORZE, and attended the CIS Minor with Monolith, before finally being signed by pro100 in October of 2018 after a successful trial. Whilst he ended up playing at a similar level, peaking only slightly higher at #31, he was personally improving and being more consistent and posting fewer events in the red. He racked up some excellent numbers, such as a 1.47 rating in a victory at the DreamHack Delhi Invitational 2019 and a 1.32 over 9 maps in a victory at Qi Banja Luka 2019, defeating a Copenhagen Flames that featured René "TeSeS" Madsen in the final. Even in defeat he was performing well, the most important being a 1.22 rating across 11 maps in the ESL One: Road to Rio CIS event, despite his team finishing in joint last place. This included him carrying his team to a 2-0 victory over Virtus.pro, as the team that would immediately sign him got a taste of exactly what YEKINDAR could do.
"My time in pro100 was great, Flarich was super good and I learned a lot from him, Zeus with his LAN lifehacks, psychology and nutrition hacks that I'm using to this day still helped too. I think after 4-5 months of playing there I stagnated a bit and couldn't improve, but it changed when we picked WorldEdit, wayLander and pipsoN in our team after not qualifying for the Minor. That trio gave me a lot of experience and confidence in my own abilities. All the space needed for me to shine, and I believe that helped VP to notice me."
In May of 2020 YEKINDAR was signed by Virtus.pro to breathe new life into what used to be the squad who as AVANGAR had peaked at #3 in the world with excellent results, only to stagnate and eventually struggle after joining the Russian organisation; they had recently experienced a run of exiting four out of five LANs in last place. The upturn in form was immediate as they won their first event with YEKINDAR in the team, the CIS Cup 2020 BLAST qualifier, with the Latvian producing some excellent performances; one such performance was a server-topping 1.36 against NAVI Junior in the semi-finals.
A few underwhelming results follow, for example failing to qualify for ESL Pro League Season 12, and by August Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev was benched in favor of Timur "buster" Tulepov. This iteration of the roster got acquainted by attending a couple of smaller events, one being a Nine to Five event where YEKINDAR posted an event-leading 1.39 rating, and the team also secured an all-important qualification for Flashpoint 2. During this time they also won IEM New York CIS, showing the potential the lineup possesses, beating NAVI 2-0 during this run where again YEKINDAR shined, posting the best rating on the server with a 1.41.
With this New York victory under their belts, the new-look Virtus.pro really hit their stride, coming into the next big event, Flashpoint 2, on a high. They won every series at this tournament on their way to picking up the trophy, taking down the three teams ranked higher than them in the form of world #5 BIG, world #6 OG and world #13 fnatic. YEKINDAR didn't have his best event overall, serving up a 1.06 rating, but he led the event in total opening kills (84), opening kills per round (0.16), and was in the top 10 for impact rating (1.20). It was already apparent that YEKINDAR was the tip of the spear for Virtus.pro, the person who would open up rounds and create space to allow the rest of his teammates to shine. Virtus.pro and YEKINDAR carried this impressive form into the rest of the year, finishing it with a victory at DreamHack Open December.
"That Flashpoint 2 win felt super nice, we were playing open qualifiers, then closed qualifiers in a mix with IEM New York at the same time, got a forfeit loss against K23 on first map. We won IEM New York, then played Flashpoint and had an insane game against MAD Lions on Train in quarters, a comeback against fnatic on Overpass in semis, and losing first map in the finals against OG who we lost to earlier in groups. And then winning it. Crazy story and a really great experience, but I played super bad and needed to step up, and I just started grinding after the win. A win is a win, but tournaments and life continues, never stop."
YEKINDAR| TournamentEvent | Team (place) | Rating 2.0 (in team) | ADR | KPR | DPR | Impact | KAST | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  |
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1.22 | 87.1 | 0.79 | 0.68 | 1.48 | 68.6% | EVP |
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1.28 | 91.7 | 0.82 | 0.71 | 1.57 | 70.5% | EVP |
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1.24 | 89.0 | 0.78 | 0.69 | 1.50 | 70.5% | EVP |
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1.05 | 81.9 | 0.70 | 0.76 | 1.23 | 65.4% | |
 |
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1.12 | 85.1 | 0.76 | 0.79 | 1.38 | 67.4% | |
  |
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1.05 | 81.1 | 0.70 | 0.75 | 1.24 | 64.6% | |
 |
|
0.93 | 73.6 | 0.60 | 0.78 | 1.11 | 61.5% | |
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|
1.06 | 78.0 | 0.67 | 0.73 | 1.16 | 71.4% | |
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|
1.12 | 81.3 | 0.71 | 0.68 | 1.34 | 65.7% | |
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|
1.10 | 84.8 | 0.70 | 0.69 | 1.18 | 68.3% | |
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1.30 | 93.6 | 0.82 | 0.70 | 1.54 | 73.8% | EVP |
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|
1.09 | 79.1 | 0.69 | 0.69 | 1.31 | 65.5% | |
|
|
|
1.12 | 81.4 | 0.74 | 0.67 | 1.25 | 66.4% |
2021 begans with yet another success for Virtus.pro and YEKINDAR, this time at cs_summit 7. The CIS squad turned up in fine form and won the event without dropping a single map, with YEKINDAR posting a third-in-event 1.22 rating, 87 ADR and a whopping 1.48 impact rating. The Latvian picked up an EVP for his efforts, only missing out on MVP in narrow fashion (his teammate, Dzhami "Jame" Ali, would be the one to take that accolade home). Katowice was the next big event on the docket, but first Virtus.pro had to successfully navigate the Play-in stage; they did so but not without some difficulty, winning their opener before falling to Ninjas in Pyjamas 0-2 in their qualification bout. Fortunately, they found their feet in the lower round match-up, comfortably brushing aside the Aussies of Renegades with the help of a monstrous 1.75 rated 111 ADR series from YEKINDAR.
The main event at Katowice would prove to be one of the most stacked events of the year, with 16 of the top 20 in attendance. Virtus.pro suffered a setback early on, falling to Natus Vincere 0-2 off the back of a 1.43 rated performance by Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev; YEKINDAR had a quiet game here, sporting a middling 0.92 rating. The CIS stars made no mistake in the lower bracket, blasting through Ninjas in Pyjamas, Vitality and FURIA in straight maps.
YEKINDAR made up a dynamic duo with Jame, the two stars topping the scoreboards in each series and posting no lower than a 1.26 rated series between them. World #2 Astralis awaited in the quarter-finals, and Virtus.pro rose to the challenge; they won the series 2-1 in solid fashion, as YEKINDAR once again led the way for his side with a server-topping 1.37 and 99 ADR. Liquid were brushed aside in the semis, as once again Jame and YEKINDAR got the damage done, posting a 1.59 and 1.50 rating respectively. Unfortunately, awaiting them in the finals was an inspired Gambit who were on their way to a world #1 ranking, and they were soundly beaten 3-1 despite Abay "HObbit" Khassenov crushing the series with a 1.40 rating.
Nonetheless the event was a roaring success for both Virtus.pro and more specifically for EVP-winning YEKINDAR, who only just missed out on the MVP to Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov, but not for lack of trying; his numbers were staggering considering the 17 maps played, as he achieved a 1.28 rating, 92 ADR, and a frankly unbelievable 1.57 impact rating. Make no mistake, this tournament showing from YEKINDAR was in the s1mple category of carry prowess.
YEKINDAR attributes much of their great start to 2021 to the momentum they carried from the previous year:
"We won three tournaments before the start of the year, the CIS RMR, Flashpoint and DreamHack Winter, and a great end of the year helps with momentum at the start of the year. Also we were new to tier-one, so maybe teams couldn’t adapt that fast."
It was somewhat strange that, after such a promising end to 2020 that carried over into 2021 with multiple tournament victories and displays of world-beating potential, Virtus.pro experienced a dip in form. Next up is ESL Pro League 13, where despite YEKINDAR plugging away with a 1.24 rating and another EVP, Virtus.pro only just squeaked into the playoffs, where they fell in the second round to Complexity. One slightly disappointing showing at a stacked event would be of no concern, however the very next event, the much more modestly attended Funspark ULTI Final, was a far more disappointing display; they crashed out in straight series as the highest-ranked team at the event, losing to FORZE and HAVU in a performance that was simply not acceptable for the #5 ranked team in the world. The final event in this mini-slump was DreamHack Masters Spring, where Virtus.pro again failed to make playoffs; the two series they lost were to Natus Vincere and G2. In these two events YEKINDAR still managed to perform admirably, grabbing VP nods in both.
EPIC League CIS, a Regional Major Ranking event, was next, and despite still not being in their best shape Virtus.pro managed to take second place in this important tournament. They bounced back from a shaky group showing and a loss to Akuma in the upper semis by making a strong lower bracket run, only being bested by now world #1 Gambit in the final; once again HObbit was the thorn in their side, leading the server with a 1.45 rating. YEKINDAR has one of his quieter events, but his 1.05 rating and 81 ADR over a staggering 25 maps was still enough to earn him another VP mention. IEM Summer was a continuation of the revival in form for Virtus.pro as they made playoffs, where they fell at the first hurdle to Vitality; this event would prove to be YEKINDAR's worst of the year as he posted his only event in the red, a 0.93 rating.
As June turned to July, Virtus.pro once again saw their form slip, this time at the StarLadder CIS RMR; they won a single series as they crashed out in joint-last place, most worryingly dropping a series against world #53 100PG. As was becoming a habit, the CIS squad bounced back at the next opportunity with another playoff run, this time in the return to LAN at IEM Cologne; a resurgent Astralis bested them in the quarter-finals, in a close 1-2 series that featured two overtime maps. YEKINDAR wasn't quite hitting the heights of his early-year form, but he was still a driving force in the Virtus.pro squad and posted 2nd and 1st-in-team ratings respectively at the RMR and Cologne, his 1.06 and 1.12 earning him two more VP awards.
Over the player break, rumours began to rumble behind the scenes of potential changes in the near-future for Virtus.pro, with support player Sanjar "SANJI" Kuliev supposedly the head on the chopping block; nothing materialised in August however, and the team returned from the break to play in ESL Pro League 14 unchanged. The CIS squad suffered another disappointing event at ESL Pro League, only managing two series wins to three losses, going out of the event in the group stage. YEKINDAR bagged himself his 6th VP of the year so far, with his opening kill statistics in particular impressing, managing 0.15 per round. A couple of small events followed, with the shaky and inconsistent form continuing even in tournaments with lesser fields; a win at Pinnacle Fall Series 1 was followed up by an immediate exit at the hands of Eternal Fire at REPUBLEAGUE TIPOS Season 2.
The merry-go-round that was Virtus.pro's form swung back towards the better end of things come IEM Fall CIS, as they posted a 4-1 map record in the group stage to secure a playoff berth; impressively, one of those wins was a 22-20 victory over world #2 Gambit. A tight 0-2 series loss to Natus Vincere in the semi-finals followed, with YEKINDAR yet again producing his best form against the best team, leading the server with a 1.26 rating. Virtus.pro unfortunately fall apart in the 3rd place tiebreaker, winning the first map but managing a measly seven rounds in the next two combined, falling 1-2 to Entropiq. Fortunately for Virtus.pro, due to their closest rivals in the RMR all crashing out in the group stage, 4th place is enough for them to secure the points they need to book their place at the PGL Major Stockholm. YEKINDAR carried his team at this event, his 1.30 rating, 95 ADR and 1.56 impact rating over 12 maps comfortably the best on his team, and yet again he narrowly missed out on an MVP award, taking an EVP instead. BLAST Fall Showdown was squeezed in just before the Major, and Virtus.pro failed to make an impact; they won their opener against Movistar Riders 2-0 before falling to Liquid 1-2 in the next round, but YEKINDAR continued his impressive form with a 1.30 rating.
Virtus.pro's inconsistent form and general fall-off in the second part of the year prompted change, and finally SANJI was cut in favour of FORZE's Evgenii "FL1T" Lebedev, who had been impressing for the Russian squad and offered a more aggressive, high-skill option. Particularly in light of the passive tendencies of the majority of the Virtus.pro squad outside of YEKINDAR, which has caused issues in recent months with the CIS squad's T side, FL1T's propensity to make plays and take space on lurks seemed to make him a perfect addition; swapping seeds with Entropiq at the Major was a small price to pay.
"We want to be champions, getting into playoffs is one thing, but winning is completely different, we felt that we need to change something in order to improve and take the next step forward. The idea was there for a long time, and after the loss against Liquid in BLAST Showdown, we decided to make a change; that loss was a bit tough for us."
The Challengers stage of the Major arrived, and Virtus.pro appeared to make relatively light work of this phase; they got through with a 3-1 record, their only series defeat coming at the hands of FaZe. It was not quite plain sailing however, as they made hard work of a 16-14 victory over paiN, and needed overtime to squeak past Spirit in the qualification series. YEKINDAR is solid if unspectacular by his standards in this portion of the Major, a 1.16 rating bolstered by his excellent opening kill (0.23 per round) and impact (1.44) statistics. Despite the somewhat close nature of their qualification, there was no denying that this Virtus.pro seemed a more dangerous prospect; their T sides in particular had improved massively.
At the Major proper, Virtus.pro were in fighting form, which they displayed by taking down Vitality in a tight 16-14 game. They were immediately battered 4-16 by eventual unbeaten winners Natus Vincere, before being narrowly edged out in a 14-16 contest with Gambit; the man they simply can't get away from, HObbit, once again did the damage, posting a mind-boggling 39 kills in regulation to put Virtus.pro to bed.
What was very important to note is that Virtus.pro were tangling with the best of the best here, and against the world #3 of Vitality and the world #4 of Gambit they were competitive, suggesting the FL1T addition is bearing fruit. YEKINDAR has not had his best tournament so far, but with elimination facing them he comes online and produces when needed; they beat MOUZ and FaZe 2-1 in the elimination series to qualify for the playoffs, with YEKINDAR posting 1.15 and 1.16 ratings respectively, leading his team over the two series. This is particularly important as Jame was having a quiet event, and so YEKINDAR was needed to step up and provide the star power that pushed Virtus.pro over the line. The quarter-finals proved to be a step too far for the CIS squad as they were bested by Heroic, and YEKINDAR yet again led his team in an important series; his 1.09 rating across this stage put him first amongst his teammates, and he earned another VP for his efforts. When push came to shove, Virtus.pro cemented themselves as one of the best eight teams in the world, and it was in no small part due to YEKINDAR's efforts, and he picked this event as the highlight of his year:
"The first time seeing so many fans, signing shirts taking pictures, playing first time in an Arena, those emotions are unforgettable, and are motivating me to be the best."
Virtus.pro closed their year with a strong run to top four at IEM Winter, dropping not a single map on their way to the playoffs; a 2-0 win over Gambit in the upper semi-finals of the group stage was particularly pleasing, as the Russian squad had been something of a nemesis to Virtus.pro throughout the year. YEKINDAR had this to say about his team seeming to catch up with Gambit by the end of the year:
"Gambit are insane (laughs) I think Ax1Le and Hobbit really had an insane individual year, it was really hard to play against them because they were so consistent with their firepower. After FL1T joined, we are a completely different team, so the old record is not relevant anymore. Also I think Gambit were a bit tired towards the end of the year, so one win doesn’t mean anything."
"The CIS teams fired up other CIS teams, it had to happen at some point, after the domination of Astralis, SK-Luminosity etc., CIS players who were losing against these eras are now a lot more experienced. Gambit set the bar up, and everybody tried to catch up, but when a team from your region sets the bar up, then it's a bit more personal if you know what I mean."
They narrowly missed out on a grand-finals appearance, falling at the hands of a resurgent Vitality; the French squad ended the year in fine form, and it was no shame to lose out to what was probably the second-best team in the world in the last few tournaments of the year. YEKINDAR managed to add one more VP to his impressive tally, bringing the total for the year to eight; the Latvian star only failed to grab a VP or EVP on one occasion where it was on offer, capping a fantastic year. The 22-year-old hopes the strong end to the year signals big things for his team for 2022:
"Top three throughout 2022 would be a nice result I think as a team, and winning titles. For me personally, I don't know, I just want to have fun and help my team to become better."
Why was YEKINDAR the 8th best player of 2021?
YEKINDAR was one of the most impactful players on the server throughout 2021, which combined with his solid floor and consistency earned him the 8th spot on our Top 20. His biggest strength was his unrelenting aggression and ability to open up rounds; he ranked joint-1st in opening kills per round (0.18), and his 53% success rate in those duels gave him a 1.30 opening kill rating, the highest of all players. He was also great at getting multi-kills (18.6% of his rounds, #10) which together with the openings and a high number of assists (stemming from his world-3rd-best ADR, 84.5), resulted in his impressive 1.36 impact rating — 3rd highest among all players. Additionally, he was the player with the highest percentage of unassisted kills (86%) while being one of the top fraggers overall (0.74 kills per round).
Perhaps the best justification of his aggression is the fact his contributions were quite often round winning, ranking right up there with the very best when it comes to average kills in round wins (1.07, 5th) and average damage in round wins (113.8, 2nd). He managed to accumulate all these impressive numbers while maintaining the level of his performance in Big events (1.14 rating, #9), and doing very well in Big matches (1.11 rating in 36 maps, #10).
On the other hand, he didn't have very high peaks, with his only truly great event being IEM Katowice when he was the runner-up in the MVP race. He did very well at Elite events in general (1.16 rating, #9), with strong VP performances at the PGL Major, IEM Cologne and IEM Winter, but his awards resumé wasn't strong enough to compete with 2021's very best.
"I don't think I'm a super aggressive player, I can play different styles, depending on which my team needs me to be. I just like to play like that, it makes the game so much more enjoyable for me. Obviously sometimes that bites me in the ass, but in the end team achievements are the most important thing for me, I'll be what my team needs me to be."
Bold prediction by GG.BET
shieldWhile he also gave special mentions to CIS AWPers Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov and Igor "w0nderful" Zhdanov, YEKINDAR picked his countryman Roberts "shield" Tipsis as his bold prediction, who was mostly recently playing for LowLandLions.
"shield is a great guy with a bright future if he continues to put effort that he puts in now, I hope everything will work out for him because I see him as a great prospect and most importantly — HE IS LATVIAN, LET'S GOOO, so this is my pick."
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
Paytyn 'junior' Johnson
Jacob 'Rezst' Hemming
Bram 'Nexius' Campana
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Sanjar 'SANJI' Kuliev
Justin 'jks' Savage
Valentin 'poizon' Vasilev
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Aurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
Issa 'ISSAA' Murad
Mateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewski
Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev
Simon 'Sico' Williams
Nicolai 'HUNDEN' Petersen
cyn1cal
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