Top 20 players of 2021: NiKo (3)
Nikola "NiKo" Kovač's high peaks, great consistency, and superb impact helped to ensure him his sixth consecutive place in the top 20 player ranking by GG.BET.
Top 20 players of 2021: Introduction
At the age of 14, NiKo kicked off his career in Counter-Strike 1.6, competing in the local Balkan scene with eu4ia and iNation, teams with whom he went on to attend Adepto BH Open 2011 and DreamHack Bucharest 2012 over the following two years — falling to two different fnatic lineups in the quarter-finals of both events. Following the release of CS:GO, NiKo continued to play for iNation, gaining experience following the additions of Janko "YNk" Paunović and Nemanja "k1Ng0r" Bošković while playing in a handful of notable events, including Mad Catz Vienna, DreamHack Bucharest, and SLTV StarSeries VIII Finals.
NiKo began gaining notoriety as a rising star after that but took a step back from competition in 2014 after the dissolution of his team following internal issues, even rejecting an offer from MOUZ during his break as he felt he was too young and wasn't ready to compete in an international lineup. It was only after he returned to play in local competitions that NiKo reconsidered his decision, accepting the call up to the German organization the next time they came knocking in early 2015. Despite showcasing undeniable talent and making an immediate impression at ESEA Invite Season 18 Global Finals and ESL Meisterschaft: Spring Finals though, NiKo swiftly found himself benched from the team just two months into his tenure as they grabbed a trio of PENTA players, returning to a German-speaking lineup and inheriting a spot at the ESL One Cologne 2015 Major.
It took only three months for NiKo to get called back to the lineup after they failed to keep their Major spot, time which he spent briefly standing-in for Kinguin and SK. Upon his return to MOUZ though, the Bosnian once again made an immediate impact on the server as a replacement for Timo "Spiidi" Richter, quickly becoming the team's star face following impressive showings at the DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca Major and CEVO Professional Season 8 Finals.
NiKo's already burgeoning form was further elevated at the end of 2015 and into the following year as he took up in-game leadership duties following Fatih "gob b" Dayik's departure, a new role which, rather than negatively impact NiKo's performances, only served as a catalyst to help him find world-class form as he built a system around his own style of aggressive lurking on the T side. The year marked the "NiKosports" era of the team as the Bosnian star had immense impact in the events the roster attended, securing a title win at the Acer Predator Masters Finals and managing deep runs in ELEAGUE Season 1 and ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals, with NiKo making his first entry into the top 20 players of the year ranking at No.11.
Early into the following year, NiKo departed for greener pastures as he joined FaZe, where he no longer needed to be the in-game leader — a role change which FaZe would reap the benefits of as NiKo leveled up further, becoming the team's star player and helping them to win SL i-League StarSeries Season 3, earning the first MVP medal of his career. Three more trophies and another MVP award would follow later in the year after the team brought on Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer and Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács, with NiKo's impressive showing throughout the year having him finish as the runner-up to Marcelo "coldzera" David in the top 20 players of 2017 ranking.
The start of 2018 remains a crushing memory for NiKo as FaZe faltered at the final hurdle at the ELEAGUE Boston Major early in the year, losing to a comeback effort on Inferno from Cloud9 as the North American side secured the map win in overtime after fighting back from an 11-15 deficit to take the series and snatch away the Major crown. For the remainder of the year, FaZe were marred by roster instability, unable to find a suitable long-term replacement for olofmeister after he stepped down. Still, the team managed to secure three titles over the course of the year, winning IEM Sydney with Richard "Xizt" Landström, ESL One Belo Horizonte with Jorgen "cromen" Robertsen, and EPICENTER upon olofmeister's return, but another heavy blow came when Finn "karrigan" Andersen departed the lineup late into the year after being unable to see eye-to-eye with NiKo. Even with the instability though, NiKo earned himself a third place finish on the top 20 player ranking thanks to his impressive individual form throughout the year.
The following year marked a slight fall from grace, both for NiKo and for FaZe, only winning the ELEAGUE Invitational and BLAST Pro Series Miami before roster changes followed in the wake of a period of uncertainty for the lineup. The additions of coldzera and Helvijs "broky" Saukants later in the year had the team showing signs of promise at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, where they managed a first place finish, but ultimately they were unable to return to their previous level and NiKo, who suffered a dip in form, had to settle for an 11th place finish in the year's ranking.
FaZe got off to a strong start in 2020 as they secured a win in their BLAST Premier Spring Series group, but failed to impress at IEM Katowice, crashing out in 7-8th place. A handful of third place finishes, helmed by strong performances by NiKo, were all that FaZe had to show for multiple months after play moved online due to the coronavirus pandemic, and their only other title win came in IEM New York, with NiKo departing for G2 not long after. Despite NiKo fitting into the roster with ease, the team's results at the end of the year were somewhat sluggish, and they were unable to claim any title wins, despite NiKo continuing to demonstrate strong enough form to end the year as the fourth best player in the rankings.
NiKo| TournamentEvent | Team (place) | Rating 2.0 (in team) | ADR | KPR | DPR | Impact | KAST | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
1.16 | 85.5 | 0.78 | 0.65 | 1.28 | 65.9% | |
 |
|
1.16 | 81.9 | 0.78 | 0.70 | 1.20 | 74.2% | |
 |
|
1.08 | 76.6 | 0.67 | 0.64 | 1.09 | 68.9% | |
 |
|
1.15 | 81.5 | 0.79 | 0.65 | 1.08 | 72.8% | EVP |
 |
|
1.22 | 87.1 | 0.76 | 0.66 | 1.34 | 71.4% | EVP |
 |
|
1.15 | 76.7 | 0.75 | 0.64 | 1.18 | 71.5% | EVP |
 |
|
1.19 | 88.6 | 0.77 | 0.69 | 1.27 | 70.1% | EVP |
 |
|
1.17 | 83.1 | 0.74 | 0.62 | 1.22 | 69.2% | EVP |
 |
|
1.19 | 87.6 | 0.80 | 0.70 | 1.40 | 67.4% | |
 |
|
1.26 | 89.8 | 0.78 | 0.62 | 1.35 | 73.0% | EVP |
 |
|
1.36 | 96.0 | 0.87 | 0.64 | 1.58 | 71.7% | EVP |
|
|
|
1.32 | 93.6 | 0.88 | 0.67 | 1.51 | 72.7% | EVP |
|
|
|
1.30 | 92.4 | 0.80 | 0.65 | 1.49 | 73.0% | EVP |
G2's 2021 kicked off in similar fashion to how their previous year ended as middling results continued to plague them, starting with an early elimination from the BLAST Global Final as they were sent packing from the tournament in 5-6th place. They walked away with only a single series win against FURIA, who were playing with Lucas "honda" Cano in place of Paytyn "junior" Johnson, and suffered a narrow loss to Astralis before being dispatched of by Natus Vincere — the first elimination by the CIS side in what would become a haunting matchup for NiKo's crew throughout the year. Despite the early exit though, NiKo still earned a Valuable Player (VP) mention after ending the event with a 1.16 rating and 1.28 impact rating, stats that were elevated primarily through his showing against the Brazilian and Danish teams.
BLAST Spring Groups and IEM Katowice were also stumbling blocks for G2, with NiKo's form on shaky ground in the former tournament as the team dropped series to Complexity and Evil Geniuses. The first Elite event of the year, Katowice, also left much to be desired from G2 as they once again were eliminated in the group stage, their tournament run immediately being put in jeopardy after they were cast down to the lower bracket following a loss to Spirit. NiKo still earned another VP mention as G2 picked up wins over BIG and Evil Geniuses en route to the lower bracket final, but there they were unable to overcome a Gambit that were beginning to showcase their first flashes of brilliance at a top level, resulting in a 7-8th finish.
"We heavily underperformed at the start of the year, we did like 4 weeks of bootcamp in like 2 months and we still didn’t manage to pass the group stages at those events, so that was already very concerning for the lineup at the time. Team chemistry wasn’t at its best, we weren’t on the same page in-game, many things didn’t feel right while we were playing, which led us to the roster change. So it was a very disappointing start of the year I would say."
The roster change in question was the return of Audric "JACKZ" Jug from G2's bench, with the 29-year-old replacing Kenny "kennyS" Schrub as AWPing duties were transferred over initially to NiKo before changing hands within mere weeks to François "AMANEK" Delaunay. The change reinvigorated G2 and had an especially profound impact on Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač, although improved results as a team weren't immediate as a 7-8th placement in ESL Pro League Season 13 was the first showing that followed the swap. NiKo remained a somewhat subdued force on the server with the AWP in hand compared to his usual standards, but still proved to be a crucial player in G2's group stage win over Vitality in particular to help secure a playoff berth, where they would ultimately beat Liquid in a three-map series before falling to FURIA in the second round of the bracket.
"Once we got JACKZ back into the team, and put AMANEK on the AWP, it felt like we clicked as a team on the server again. I’m not saying it’s because we removed kennyS or it’s kennyS’s fault, but the change was just needed at that point, and a change when the team feels desperate, especially when it’s a guy like JACKZ, the whole aspect of the team can change.
"He brought to us much more than what people could see from him on the server. The whole CS community should start appreciating what some of these players are bringing to their teams, and I know there are many players like JACKZ or AMANEK, who are not being recognized or appreciated, and on top of that they are even getting criticized because they are not putting up superstar numbers."
It was at this point, roughly three months into the season, that NiKo's usual greatness returned in earnest as he went back to rifling, kicking off with two successful qualification bids as G2 secured berths at the BLAST Spring Final via the Showdown and IEM Summer. huNter- led the way in the first qualifier while NiKo helmed efforts in the second, mustering a 1.23 rating as his team beat FaZe and MOUZ en route to securing a spot in the event. A gamut of online events followed, and G2 began to showcase consistent performances, managing deep runs in tournaments — although they still remained outside of contention for titles, having their efforts cut short in third or fourth place.
DreamHack Masters Spring was first up, and G2 succeeded in completing a run to the semi-finals by picking up wins over Spirit, MOUZ, Virtus.pro, and Astralis. It was Gambit who ultimately played spoiler to any hopes of a G2 grand final appearance, initially beating them in the upper bracket of the group stage before claiming a repeat win in playoffs to see them off from the tournament. NiKo ended the event with a 1.15 rating to earn his first Exceptionally Valuable Player (EVP) mention of the year, and his level was further elevated in the next three online events — Flashpoint 3, IEM Summer, and BLAST Premier Spring Final. Across the three events, NiKo averaged a 1.20 rating and 1.28 impact rating, earning three more EVP mentions as G2 placed third in Flashpoint 3 and the Spring Final, and ended IEM Summer in 3-4th place. NiKo remained the difference-maker for G2 in all three events, including in wins over FaZe, Heroic, Vitality, NIP, and BIG, but Gambit and Natus Vincere continued to torment them, being the teams to claim victory in the latter two events and leaving NiKo's side with no titles to their name in the online portion of the first half of the year.
"The start of the year was still very tough to play online, I wasn’t happy with my online performance, I knew I could do much more for the team even if the team was in the slump. I created some routines before official games online so I could at least try to put myself mentally in the game like I would do on LAN, but it never felt the same."
The end of the first half of the year came with a return to LAN at IEM Cologne, and G2 displayed renewed vigor as they topped their group, a result made all the more sweet as they finally put an end to their struggles against Gambit, breaking through the brick wall of the CIS side to advance directly to the semi-final. Another win over Astralis followed in their first match of the bracket stage, but it was just ahead of the finish that G2 were halted by an indomitable Natus Vincere, shut down 0-3 in the grand final. NiKo earned his fifth EVP award after ending the event with a 1.17 rating, 1.22 impact rating, and 83.1 ADR, consistency helped along by the return to offline play.
"You could see a huge difference in my performance between online period and a period where we started going back to LANs which was IEM Cologne in July and ever since then, my game kept improving, stats were improving and I felt better mentally, also the team felt more confident."
The steady climb in results that G2 had worked toward in the first half of the year seemingly went out the door after the August tournament break as they were blown out of ESL Pro League Season 14, NiKo being the only player on the team to muster a positive rating (1.19, 1.40 impact rating) as they were eliminated from the event in last place without picking up a single series win. Their subsequent BLAST Fall Groups and Showdown appearances also ended in early eliminations, leaving them out of contention from the Fall Final despite NiKo posting eye-popping numbers in both events (1,48 rating, 1.76 impact, 101.2 ADR in Groups; 1.42 rating, 1.80 impact, 104.6 ADR in Showdown).
IEM Fall offered a small saving grace for a stumbling G2 as NiKo and huNter- combined in powering G2 through the early stages of the RMR event, netting wins over MOUZ, FunPlus Phoenix, and Fiend before ultimately ending their run in sixth place, with both players earning EVP mentions in the process of securing their team a spot at PGL Major Stockholm.
Again, LAN was where G2 seemed to showcase their best form in 2021, and it was no different when they returned to offline play in Sweden. NiKo in particular came into the event as a fearsome force, and didn't post a single negative rating as he helped G2 top the Legends Stage undefeated with wins over Copenhagen Flames, FaZe, and Entropiq to advance to the playoffs. Taking to the stage in front of the crowd only added to NiKo's fire as he dismantled NIP and Heroic, particularly coming alive in the semi-final against the Danish side with a 1.48 rating in a tense three-map series. Despite NiKo's terrifying form, G2 were still unable to overcome the other CIS giant who had given them trouble throughout the year, faltering in the grand final to a Natus Vincere that became the first team in history to win a Major without dropping a map. Even with the loss though, NiKo ended the event as the second-highest rated player (1.36), had the highest impact rating (1.58), and topped two other key stat categories — damage per round (96.0) and opening kills per round (0.19).
"[My favorite memory?] Major playoffs definitely, going back to the arenas, playing in front of the crowd, it felt like I played there for the first time again. I was so fucking excited when we started to play versus NiP, I completely forgot how it feels. But winning versus Heroic in the semis of the Major was also something special, I almost fainted from celebrating and shouting from some of those rounds in OT on Inferno."
"NAVI were better in closing out the maps, for some reason we just couldn’t close games versus them, no matter the lead we had, it was very hard to close out the map. They were clearly the better team, better prepared and in a better shape every single time we played versus them, but almost every map that we played versus them in some of those games, were very close, so we had our chances to win, but didn’t manage to close it out, missing s1mple in the back on a map point doesn’t help (laughs)."
That miss also went down as NiKo's worst memory of the year, but he wouldn't have to relive the experience of a match against Natus Vincere until the final event of 2021. With G2 not attending the BLAST Fall Final and NAVI absent from IEM Winter, G2 were offered the opportunity to secure a LAN victory without the spectre of Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev present, but the team suffered a setback after Nemanja "nexa" Isaković was unable to attend the event due to visa issues, leading to kennyS standing in. NiKo was not deterred by the last-minute swap and continued to run rampant at the event (1.32 rating, 1.51 impact) with wins over Liquid, Vitality, and TYLOO, but even his and huNter-'s form combined was not enough to bring G2 a tournament victory as they narrowly fell to NIP in the semi-final.
G2's woes were not over even upon nexa's return for the last tournament of the year, BLAST Premier Global Final, though NiKo yet again performed at a world-beating level. After only inching past NIP in their opening match, G2 were cast down to the lower bracket by Vitality, where Natus Vincere were waiting to play spoiler to them one last time to close the year. It even ended in heartbreak as, even with NiKo posting a 2.02 rating on Nuke, G2 were unable to take the map over the line, and ultimately lost the series 1-2 to end the tournament in 5-6th place.
"The goal [for 2021] was and always will be to win trophies. I didn’t join G2 to be a consistent top 3 team, which I’m not saying is too bad, but that’s not my goal and neither is it G2's. Considering what we have been going through as a team, changing some roles back and forth throughout the whole year, not having a main AWPer etc., as soon as we settled it a bit down, we could see immediate improvement in our game. So I would say considering everything I’m happy with our performance, but not satisfied since we didn’t lift a trophy, if it makes sense.
"[In 2022] I want to keep working on myself like I did in 2021, always pushing myself to be a better player and a better version of myself. I still see many mistakes that I’m making in-game that are fixable. There will always be mistakes, but I will try to minimize them as much as possible. I’m not sure if I can reach s1mple or ZywOo's numbers, but I won’t stop working towards it. But the biggest goal is to start lifting trophies again and that’s the most important for any player, by winning trophies and being the best team in the world, it enables you to do even better individually as well."
Why was NiKo the 3rd best player of 2021?
NiKo rounds out the top three of the player ranking thanks to excellent consistency and superb impact throughout the year, ranking second overall for damage dealt with 86.6 ADR, followed closely by his pure fragging in which he ranked 3rd with 0.78 kills per round, while having the second highest percentage of unassisted kills (85%). His Impact rating measured at 1.32 (#4), and came as a result of his extremely high multi-kill frequency (20% of rounds, #3), ability to open up rounds (0.15 opening kills per round, #4) as well as solid clutching (64 1vsXs won, #9).
He finished 12 of his 13 notable events with a 1.15 or higher rating, collecting 9 EVP awards in the process, and was close to another three, with the only exception being ESL Pro League S13. Such a high number of very good and exceptional performances meant he had one of the highest floors of the year, while also having some of the highest peaks.
Most notably his performance at the PGL Major was not only the best out of all non-MVP displays, but better than most of those who did come away with a medal, both due to the competitiveness and importance of the event, and the extraordinary level of NiKo's play that pulled G2 all the way to the final. In addition to that, he was also second in the MVP race at IEM Winter, and third at IEM Cologne, two other 'Elite' events.
When it comes to those 'Elite' events, he ended up averaging the 3rd highest rating at them (1.26), albeit falling to 4th highest if we also include the next six most competitive tournaments (1.20 Big event rating). Further speaking to his consistency is the frequency of 1.00+ rated maps (78%, #4); and speaking to his high peaks is the frequency of very good maps — rated 1.30 or higher (44%, #3).
What mattered the most was that he managed to maintain his numbers when facing the very best teams (1.23 rating vs. top10, #3; and 1.23 vs. top5, #2), and when playing in the biggest matches (1.20 Big match rating, #3). Lastly, further emphasizing the impact he had was his contribution in his team's round wins, in which he averaged 1.08 kills (3rd, behind s1mple and ZywOo) and 112.2 damage (4th, behind s1mple, YEKINDAR and tabseN).
However, while all that was enough to get him up to 3rd place, there were two players who performed even better.
"I’m really happy with my performance in the last 6 months, but I should have done better the first part of the year. I’m gonna try to start this 2022 where I left off last year.
"I don’t think I was ever this excited about my placement in rankings like I was for this one haha, because I knew that it would be a very close race for the 3rd spot. I was kinda expecting to be 4th, so once I received news that I’m 3rd, I was really happy."
Bold prediction by GG.BET
m0NESYIn what even NiKo admitted was an obvious choice, he picked his new teammate Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov as his bold prediction heading into 2022. m0NESY has been a favorite pick among other players in the top 20 ranking, with greatness expected of him after he has showcased stellar form against lower tier opposition in the past year.
The move to G2 will be a true test of his abilities against the best teams in the world, and is something NiKo looks forward to helping the player work through and develop his skills against. "He has everything it takes to be one of the best," NiKo said, "and we will help him achieve that."
The Russian AWPer wasn't the only player that got the nod from the Bosnian superstar though, with 00NATION's latest addition, Santino "try" Rigal, also getting a shoutout as he makes the jump up from 9z. "I think once he joins a top team, I see him doing some serious damage."
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
Nicolai 'device' Reedtz
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhev
Aleksi 'allu' Jalli
Fabien 'kioShiMa' Fiey
Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez
Luca 'Luken' Nadotti
David 'dav1d' Tapia Maldonado
Jorgen 'cromen' Robertsen
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Christopher 'dexter' Nong
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Aurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras
Chris 'chrisJ' de Jong
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Viktor 'Lack1' Boldyrev
Pavle 'Maden' Bošković
Nemanja 'k1Ng0r' Bošković
Adil 'ScreaM' Benrlitom
Ricardo 'fox' Pacheco
Sanjar 'SANJI' Kuliev
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer
| 
lMAGINE
vvv317
| 
23exmen
| 
mango_csgo
mimi031
| 
pathfinder_is_OP
FAZE_ROPZ
| 
SLAM_THE_FART
| 
| 
Vizions
| 
| 
| 
sunba
LenkonFTW
Superex123
BIG_NUMBA_1
l1m4k
| 
Fraereator
| 
xK0uL
| 
Upsetanet01
Ohadle2
| 
| 
| 
| 
dukiii
| 
| 
Jonty04l32
| 
| 
knowledgeAAA
JohnnotCena
| 
| 
sti11fac
| 
| 
| 
| 
SWARN151
Floridacovidfree
| 
Loyuu
| 
| 
cr4zyrocket
| 
| 
MetalFace
| 
