Top 20 players of 2022: yuurih (19)

Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos is the second player revealed in this year’s Top 20 players of the year ranking by 1xBet. He takes 19th place as one of the main cogs in FURIA’s deep runs with high damage output and strong T-side play.

Top 20 players of 2022: Introduction

yuurih returns to the Top 20 players of the year list for the second time. The first time he broke into the elite group of best players of the year was during the online period, in 2020, when LAN play was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic. He fell short in 2021, a year that was mostly online but that also featured the return to LAN at IEM Cologne and the first Major in two years, PGL Stockholm. FURIA flopped in 9-12th place in Germany, but reached the playoffs of a Major for the first time in Sweden.

"[Making the playoffs in Stockholm] was very important to us and very special and always will be when you want something you always wanted. So it was really cool."

The Brazilian’s stats in 2021 and 2022 are very similar, but impactful play at Big Events and at the second Major of the year in 2022 made the difference to give him the edge and get him a spot among the best individuals in the world once again, where he is No. 19 right ahead of Outsiders’ AWPer and in-game leader Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali.

"I was a little disappointed [missing the top 20 players of 2021 list], yes. I didn't have the performance to be EVP in big championships, so I already knew it was difficult, but every year things are always very good for me. Even though I didn't show up in 2021, I really enjoyed my performance and evolution."

For an in-depth look at yuurih's early career history, check out his top 20 article from 2020.

It wasn’t an easy start of the year for yuurih and his teammates, who traveled to Poland along with the rest of elite squads in the world to kick off 2022 at IEM Katowice. FURIA had played two online tournaments before attending the event, Pinnacle Winter Series 1 and ESL Challenger February, and yuurih struggled in those nine online maps averaging a below 1.00 rating.

The warm-up events foreshadowed a rough start on LAN, a 9-12th place finish. FURIA beat a struggling Astralis 2-0 in their opening IEM Katowice series, but were then trampled by Natus Vincere in two maps before losing a three-mapper to G2 in the group stage lower bracket. yuurih only posted one map over 1.00, in the victory against the Danes, and finished the tournament with a 0.93 average. It was his only LAN event of the year with a negative rating, as FURIA didn’t take long to find form and flip their poor start on its head.

"I think I had a bit of a bad start to the year because the team had some changes, like the recent entry of drop and saffee. And I started playing positions on maps that I didn't like and I really didn't play that well in them. Right after those championships, I went back to playing in positions where I really had an impact."

FURIA resumed their year at ESL Pro League Season 15 in the German city of Düsseldorf, where Nicholas "⁠guerri⁠" Nogueira’s men plowed through the group stage with four victories and a single loss. They took out Outsiders, Sprout, Vitality and ENCE before losing to the in-form team of the beginning of the year, FaZe. In that whole group stage yuurih had three maps under a 1.00 rating (two of them against FaZe) and 11 in the green, including a high of 2.19 in a 16-4 thrashing of Vitality.

In the playoffs the Brazilians once again got one over Astralis, who were now fielding Asger "⁠Farlig⁠" Jensen instead of Philip "⁠Lucky⁠" Ewald, and yuurih topped the scoreboard with a 1.33 rating in the series that secured his team a spot in the semi-finals. Then FURIA once again buckled against Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen and his men, but did so in two close maps, losing 13-16 on Inferno and 16-19 on Mirage.

yuurih was his team’s top performer and second-best in the series against FaZe with a 1.20 rating—the same rating he averaged in the tournament—and by the end of it all he posted his highest impact rating of the year, 1.24, and a 20-point bump in ADR compared to IEM Katowice, from 64.4 to 84.8. These numbers got him his first Exceptionally Valuable Player (EVP) mention of the year.

The Major cycle then took place and a successful 3-0 run at the PGL Antwerp Americas RMR in Bucharest, Romania, put FURIA straight through to the Major’s Legends Stage. The LAN qualifier didn’t count towards the top 20 players of the year list, but it’s worth mentioning as an indicator of yuurih hitting his stride that he ended the six maps his team played there with a 1.55 rating, 1.52 impact and 103.9 ADR.

yuurih’s output went down at the Major itself, where he posted a 1.10 rating, but it was nonetheless a strong showing for the Brazilian player as he was by far the highest in his team (Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato was second with a 1.01) in their playoff run in Belgium. yuurih was impressive in the group stage victories over Liquid and BIG with 1.51 and 1.50 ratings, respectively, and he also posted a strong 1.26 in the opening loss to Spirit as well as a 1.13 in the 2-2 decider against G2. FURIA then fell in the first round of playoffs, once again to Spirit, and yuurih was a part of his team’s general collapse as none of the players hit a 1.00 rating in that quarter-final series.

The second EVP mention yuurih garnered in 2022 came at IEM Dallas, right after the Major. The Brazilians flew to the Texan city and hit the ground running with an opening victory against their Imperial compatriots and then against Cloud9. Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan and company couldn’t get the semi-final berth from the group stage, but did so by beating G2 in the tournament’s quarter-finals. yuurih shined brightly against the Europeans with a 1.40 rating and 103.8 ADR in the series, and although he went missing as FURIA bowed out to ENCE in the semi-finals with, his 1.20 rating, 1.23 impact rating, 0.77 KPR and 88.3 ADR throughout the event was enough to get him another EVP mention. The 23-year-old was also in the running for the MVP award had he and his team managed to stick it out a bit longer, but in the end he finished third in line.

"I was very happy because I returned to play in positions that I had an impact on and we were improving as a team. Sometimes your team is doing so well that you don't need to do as much to have a good performance, but I had an amazing start to the year."

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The EVPs of IEM Dallas

FURIA finished the first half of the year with two lesser events and one Elite one, the online Roobet Cup, ESL Challenger Valencia and IEM Cologne. The Brazilians flopped in all three occasions, starting with the two smaller ones—9-12th in the online tournament and 7-8th in the eight-team event in Spain. yuurih had discreet showings in both, racking up 1.00 and 1.03 ratings. The Brazilians didn’t find their best form and they failed to hit the playoffs at the final Big Event before the summer break.

yuurih and company started their run in Germany with a loss to Astralis, which relegated the struggling team to the lower bracket, but there they were able to fend off two sides that had just made roster changes, Outsiders and Spirit. Liquid, on a honeymoon phase with Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis, knocked the Brazilians out of contention and yuurih posted a tournament-low 0.88 rating in the decider match loss, which brought his event average down to 1.06. FURIA went into the summer break just outside of the top 10 in the world ranking, in 11th place, after showing a bit of exhaustion right before checking out for the holidays.

FURIA picked up at ESL Pro League Season 16 in Malta right, where they made the playoffs at the first event after the break. They finished second in their group only behind Cloud9, beating Eternal Fire, Movistar Riders, Liquid and Evil Geniuses. yuurih and his teammates were matched up against Outsiders in the first round of the playoffs, a team they had already beaten twice in the first half of the year—three times if counting the Roobet Cup—, but this time around it was the Russians who came out on top. Jame and Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev proved to be too much for the Brazilians to handle and FURIA went out in 9-12th place, but a strong group stage showing meant yuurih still maintained a 1.10 rating and 80.9 ADR in the tournament. Once again, though, the playoffs proved to be too much.

The top Brazilian side then went through the qualifying process for the most important event of their careers, the IEM Rio Major, the first Major to take place on their home soil. The team led by arT secured their berth through the Americas RMR, where they posted a 3-1 record in the Swiss stage with victories over Infinity, O PLANO and paiN; their single loss came at the hands of Evil Geniuses in a 14-16 nail-biter. The fifth-place finish put FURIA in the Challengers Stage at the Major.

KSCERATO, who found fine form after the break, led the way in FURIA’s final event of the year, but yuurih also shined with a formidable 1.29 rating, 1.15 impact rating and 87.4 ADR in the opening Swiss round of the Major. He also posted his highest KAST percentage of the year, 79,9%, as FURIA left behind 00NATION, OG and GamerLegion after an opening overtime loss to BIG.

"It was the best championship of my life. I had the pleasure of seeing my parents cheering for me and seeing a legion of fans cheering was something I will never forget, even more so when I had a very good performance in the championship. Everything was so incredible."

The Legends Stage was a breeze for FURIA, who dispatched of ENCE 16-6, Spirit 16-13 and BIG 2-0 (16-9, 16-6). yuurih excelled in the ample victories, with a 1.76 rating against ENCE and 1.62 against BIG. He only struggled when facing Spirit in the 29-round match, dipping down to 0.90.

Then came the playoffs, which started off with what yuurih considers his highlight moment of 2022. The Jeunesse Arena was packed with Brazilian fans ready to cheer for the home team and boo one of the two best teams in the world, Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev's Natus Vincere. The series started with a 14-16 barn burner that went the way of s1mple and his teammates, although the Ukrainian star himself posted an unusually low 0.90 rating. yuurih also went missing at the power plant and was the lowest-rated player on the server by the 30th round, with a 0.75.

FURIA then rallied around KSCERATO on Ancient as he tore through his foes to end the map with a superb 1.68 rating by 16-10. yuurih was far behind on the scoreboard, with a 1.16, but his 1.50 rating on the T-side was a crucial marker to understand his team's 10-5 lead at the half on the attack. André "⁠drop⁠" Abreu stepped ahead on Mirage, which once again went 16-10 for the home team, and yuurih was once again one of the quiet players with a 1.04 rating. He was the only player on his team to end in red, but it didn’t mean much to someone that just made Major semi-finals for the first time and did so in front of his family and fans on home soil.

"The game against NAVI in the Major in Rio [was my favorite moment of 2022]. That day everything was so incredible. The crowd, we were feeling very confident, and the coolest thing was that it was a very difficult game. To win a game like that in the quarter-finals against a team that is considered one of the best in the world, it's very nice."

There was a belief that magic could happen in Brazil when all of the top 5 teams in the world were eliminated from the Major ahead of the semi-finals, including the defending champions FaZe who bombed out 0-3 in the Legends Stage. MOUZ and Outsiders were on one side of the bracket and FURIA would face Heroic for a spot in the grand final. But the fairy-tale came to an end as not even KSCERATO’s blunt force could save the Brazilians from dissolving against Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller and company despite going up 1-0 in the series.

The Danes gave up ten map points on Ancient after losing Inferno, a chance FURIA could have pounced on in overtime, but after letting it slip Heroic dominated on Nuke to deny the local team their biggest dream—a Major victory on home soil. yuurih ended his final event of the year with a 1.13 rating, although it went down to 0.96 in the playoffs. This put the final note on poor performances in big matches, as at all but one event, ESL Pro League Season 15 (where he went from 1.18 to 1.27), his ratings declined after the group stage.

"We had a very good start of the game against Heroic, but right on the second map things got more difficult everywhere on the map and we managed to return a game from 15-5 to 16-15. I think we could have closed this series in Ancient. Some details really make a lot of difference in big tournaments and on Nuke they played very well and we had some rotation problems that we didn't adapt to and changed as quickly as possible. But there's a lot we learned from those defeats."

Why was yuurih the 19th best player of 2022?

yuurih had a strong year as one of the key components in each of FURIA's three deep runs at ESL Pro League Season 15, IEM Dallas, and the IEM Rio Major—for each of which he was awarded EVPs. He stood out as a great damage-dealer (80.7 damage per round, No. 10) and thanks to it garnered the most assists out of anyone this year with 0.16 assists per round.

Another one of his most impressive accolades is that he was one of the highest-rated T-side players (1.07 T-side rating, No. 14), a crucial statistic in a year stacked with CT-sided maps. Otherwise, he maintained his level even when playing against the elite squads in the world with a 1.12 rating vs. Top 10 teams (No. 13).

"If you look at the stats of most players on the T-side this year, it's all negative. Mostly because of the M4A1-S, so it was very difficult to play T-side this year. But it's something I want to improve for next year, I really want to find myself on the T side. I think that's where KSCERATO differentiates himself a little sometimes. He always plays very well on the T-side."

Somewhat lacking sample size (among the fewest maps of all candidates) and a lack of more standout performances, especially at the biggest Elite Events hinder yuurih’s chances at a higher spot in the ranking. The IEM Katowice stumble certainly didn't help in his overall Elite rating, which is among the lowest (1.06).

His Achilles' heel was the playoffs and important matches at Elite Events, where he had a massive drop-off, as is the lowest-rated player on the top 20 players of the year list at Elite Event playoffs (0.93). He failed to find his best play at both Major playoffs in 2022 and also dropped off at times in other big matches such as the IEM Cologne Group B decider match against Liquid, which landed him and his squad a lowly 7-8th place finish outside of the playoffs.

Bold prediction by 1xBet

yuurih’s bold prediction is 17-year-old Lucas "⁠nqz⁠" Soares, who has started to make a name for himself as Santino "⁠try⁠" Rigal’s successor in 9z. The youngster just made headlines, along with the aforementioned Argentinean AWPer, as the two are set to swap places with the Brazilian joining his compatriots in 00NATION and try returning to his roots with 9z.

"I think nqz played very well this year and he is very young too. I believe he will be able to appear in the top 20 soon if everything goes well."

Despite his tender age nqz has already appeared at a Major’s Challengers Stage and has averaged an impressive 1.19 rating during his time with 9z, setting himself up as one of Brazil's foremost up-and-coming AWP talents.

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Stay tuned to our Top 20 players of 2022 ranking and take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the players were selected.