Top 20 players of 2022: stavn (10)

Excellent performances at elite events as well as consistency throughout the year for Heroic earned Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund the 10th place in the Top 20 players of 2022 ranking, powered by 1xBet.

Top 20 players of 2022: Introduction

stavn is no stranger to the Top 20 players of the year list after two nominations in as many years thanks to his great performances with Heroic. The young Dane got his first cap in 2020 after establishing himself as one of Denmark's brightest prospects during Heroic's stint at the top of European Counter-Strike in the online era. The squad led by Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller skyrocketed to the No. 1 spot in the rankings after victories at ESL One Cologne Europe and DreamHack Open Fall, which earned stavn EVP awards for both events and the nomination as the 12th best player of 2020.

Heroic did not show the same level of play in 2021 and the squad replaced Johannes "⁠b0RUP⁠" Borup and Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen with Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck and Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali. The transfer injected new blood into the squad and they successfully bounced back up with a title run at ESL Pro League S13. The Danes did not win another event that year and poor placements after a return to LAN failed to keep Heroic among the elite teams in the eyes of the community. Despite their shortcomings in the second half of the year, however, stavn remained a top performer in the squad, which cemented his title as the 16th best player of 2021 in his second appearance in the HLTV Top 20 players of the year list before the age of 20.

A more in-depth look at stavn's early career can be found in his Top 20 players of the year articles from 2020 and 2021

stavn

2022 Tournament stats

TournamentEvent	Team (place)	Rating 2.0 (in team)	ADR	KPR	DPR	Impact	KAST	Award
IEM Katowice	(3-4th)	1.23 (1st, +21%)	88.6	0.77	0.65	1.29	73.2%	EVP
EPL S15	(9-12th)	1.19 (1st, +10%)	83.9	0.77	0.64	1.24	72.0%
PGL Major	(5-8th)	1.19 (1st, +15%)	86.8	0.78	0.66	1.23	71.7%	EVP
Pinnacle Cup	(1st)	1.24 (1st, +10%)	85.8	0.79	0.59	1.28	73.6%	EVP
IEM Cologne	(13-16th)	1.09 (1st, +16%)	78.2	0.65	0.63	1.15	69.9%
EPL S16	(9-12th)	1.05 (4th, -3%)	78.1	0.70	0.66	0.89	72.7%
IEM Rio Major	(2nd)	1.06 (2nd, +2%)	76.5	0.67	0.67	0.99	72.0%	EVP
BLAST Fall Final	(1st)	1.19 (1st, +11%)	84.3	0.77	0.67	1.25	75.3%	EVP

5%+ above average

5%+ below average

Closer than 5% to average

Heroic started off 2022 with a top-four finish at IEM Katowice, the first elite LAN event of the year, where the Danish quintet began their run in the group phase and cruised through the stage with consecutive victories over OG, Vitality, and Virtus.pro. stavn's incredible performances across the first three series averaged a 1.35 rating and earned Heroic a ticket straight to the semi-finals, although cadiaN and company failed to replicate their group stage form and could only watch while FaZe's deadly war machine swept them under the rug. It was a good tournament performance for stavn despite the lack of playoff success as he left the Polish tournament with a 1.23 rating and his first Exceptionally Valuable Player (EVP) award of the year.

The next important event on the list was ESL Pro League Season 15 and stavn had a fantastic start to the tournament once again, topping the scoreboard against Evil Geniuses and Astralis in the opening stage while Heroic secured second place in their group. A loss to Liquid in the first round of playoffs, however, showed that the Danes were still unable to deliver their full potential when it mattered most, a cloud they continued to carry for the next few months. stavn was again the standout player for Heroic and left EPL with a 1.19 rating and the fifth-highest record in both opening duels (64%) and percentage of rounds with more than one frag (50.9%).

It was around this period that the community's conversation around stavn evolved from just considering him a top rifler to considering him an elite player. Fans and analysts alike were amazed by the 20-year-old, who averaged a 1.24 LAN rating in the first four months of 2022 — the fourth highest behind Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev, Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov, and Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov. He carried his incredible form into the PGL Major Antwerp Europe RMR, propelling Heroic to qualification for the Legends Stage after a top finish in Bucharest which included victories over FORZE, fnatic, and Natus Vincere. stavn crushed the tournament with a 1.37 rating and an incredible 1.41 impact rating, an excellent performance that was noticed by cadiaN after their 3-0 run in Bucharest.

"I am insanely proud of Martin, he has done so well for a long time now in terms of decision-making, kills, and the way he talks during rounds — he's just performing really nicely…" Heroic's captain said. "He deserves everything in the world and I think he knows what me and the rest of the guys are willing to do for him because we would really sacrifice a lot for him."

stavn was Heroic's standout performer at the RMR with a 1.37 rating

A failure to overcome ENCE at the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown slowed the team down ahead of the Major, resulting in the team's failure to qualify for the Spring Finals. stavn had his worse event up to that point and sat near the bottom of the table for his team with an average 1.02 rating across 5 maps.

Heroic's adventure at PGL Antwerp began in the Legends Stage with a comfortable win over Liquid, but their journey to the playoffs did not go smoothly as Spirit quickly relegated them to the 1-1 pool. A win against G2 sent Heroic into the qualifying best-of-three matches, but they were once again stopped by ENCE due to a fantastic performance by Paweł "⁠dycha⁠" Dycha. stavn did not start the tournament in top form, but the Dane quickly gained momentum which each game, culminating in a fantastic individual performance against Vitality worthy of a 1.50 rating.

Heroic reached the playoffs of a Major for the second time in a row and their group stage blunders cost them a match against Natus Vincere in the quarter-final. The Danes faced the No. 2 team in the world while Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov had his best series of the tournament, completely shutting down cadiaN's men to send them home. stavn was again an incredible performer for Heroic despite another first-round exit from playoffs, with a 1.19 rating across 12 maps in Antwerp, which resulted in his second EVP award of the year.

stavn impressed for Heroic at the Antwerp Major

Heroic attended the Pinnacle Cup Championship 2022 just over two weeks after the conclusion of the Major and they made sure to leave their mark. The Danes dispatched fnatic and MIBR while stavn topped the scoreboard in both matches, pushing his team to the playoffs where he would continue to fire on all cylinders in the series against Finest. Heroic then proceeded to sweep both BIG and Astralis to lift the organization's first-ever LAN trophy. Despite stavn taking a step back in the last two matches, the young Dane did enough in the early stages to secure an average 1.24 rating and earned his third EVP award of the year. He only missed out on the MVP award due to Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer having a back-breaking tournament performance to bring Astralis to the final.

The win at the Pinnacle Championship did not satisfy Heroic's hunger for trophies, especially as they hunted for their first Big Event win on LAN, so the team decided to bench refrezh and sign the newly available Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard, previously of Copenhagen Flames, to introduce more firepower to the lineup.

"jabbi is a great player and adds a lot to the team. From the first day of practice you could already feel his natural talent. He has been really good at adapting to our way of playing and it's a pleasure to play with him."

Their first event with their new signing was IEM Cologne and the Danes had to first tackle the play-in, doing so smoothly with wins over Sprout and MOUZ. Heroic collapsed in the main stage of IEM Cologne, losing back-to-back matches to Ninjas in Pyjamas and a MOUZ team looking for revenge after their previous encounter. The Danes lost both series and stavn went from a 1.43 rating in the play-in to a 1.09 rating in the group stage.

Heroic failed to build on their Pinnacle Cup Championship success immediately

It did not get better for Heroic after the summer tournament break as they struggled to live up to their new lineup's potential. cadiaN and company lost the only two BO3 matches played at BLAST Premier Fall Groups, crashing out in 7-9th place before being eliminated by Natus Vincere ESL Pro League S16's first playoffs round. stavn had two of his worst LAN performances all year and displayed 1.07 and 1.05 ratings at BLAST and EPL respectively.

"We had a tough time as a team between IEM Cologne and ESL Pro league S16. I also didn't play at my best at the time. I think a lot of it came down to feelings of pressure. I at least felt it at that time. It's hard to explain, but at the time we had played with jabbi for some time and the results just didn't go our way. We played really well in practice, but we couldn't convert it to official matches. We felt the pressure from the outside, but also put a lot of pressure on ourselves to perform well."

The Danish squad's fortunes began to turn at the IEM Road to Rio 2022 Europe RMR in Malta, where the squad secured their third consecutive Major appearance. stavn came back to form in Malta, topping the scoreboard of three out of four matches played at the event to push Heroic to the Legends Stage with a 3-1 record. The 20-year-old rifler did not complete a match with a rating lower than 1.25, with his personal highlight being his performance on Mirage against BIG.

Heroic's upwards trajectory continued at the BLAST Fall Showdown where they cruised through the bracket flawlessly without a single maps loss against ECSTATIC, Sangal, and Astralis. stavn continued to turn heads with his performances, averaging a 1.18 rating across the six maps played.

Heroic's resurgence after a summer slump began at the RMR in Malta

stavn's true test came in November as the Legends Stage of the IEM Rio Major got underway. cadiaN's team easily defeated Outsiders and fnatic before suffering their first loss of the event to Cloud9. They bounced back against Liquid to secure their playoff attendance and close a poor run of games in the Swiss group for stavn, who ended with a 0.99 rating and only one match with an average higher than 1.00.

The youngster turned his form around ahead of the knockouts against Spirit, beating the Russian squad in the quarter-final with a 1.19 rating. stavn topped his previous performance in the semi-final against the home heroes of FURIA, leading the line on Ancient to even out the series after a loss on Inferno. The decider on Nuke was a one-sided 16-5 stomp in favor of Heroic and stavn took no prisoners as he topped the scoreboard with a 1.96 rating, haunting the Brazilians on the offense ahead of a near flawless CT side that silenced the crowd.

"Playing Majors in general is always a unique feeling. But the Major in Rio felt extra special... The game against FURIA in the semifinal was insane. You could just feel that they had a whole country backing them up and not a single person in that arena wanted us to win. Winning that match was for sure also one of the best moments for us in 2022. "

Heroic faced Outsiders in their first ever Major final appearance, but by that point, the squad had run out of steam. The Russians easily overcame the Danes in a 2-0 match after two uninspiring performances on Mirage and Overpass, and while no one from Heroic played up to their ceiling in the final, stavn was the most surprising underperformer with a recorded 0.79 rating at the end of the two maps. It was an overall disappointing result for the 20-year-old, who despite a few excellent performances in the playoffs, failed to play the whole event up to his magnificent standards. stavn left Rio de Janeiro with a 1.06 rating and was awarded an EVP for his playoffs contribution ahead of the final.

"You can always come up with excuses, but at the end of the day, we just didn't meet up in the final against Outsiders. We never really got any momentum and we were a shadow of ourselves. Our communication was not on point, and on top of that you also just have to give credit to Jame and co. They played a great tournament and I congratulate them on their first Major win. I'm sure one day we will get a new chance to take home the biggest trophy of Counter-Strike."

Heroic's fantastic Major run finished with heartbreak at the hands of Outsiders

Heroic did not have to wait long for their moment of glory as they competed at the BLAST Premier Fall Finals just 10 days after the last Major of 2022. stavn proved immediately that his underperformance in Rio was just an outlier and topped the charts with a 1.50 rating in the opening match against Ninjas in Pyjamas. The Danes were briefly slowed down by FaZe in the Group A upper bracket final, but Heroic were quick to bounce back with playoff victories over G2 and Liquid, which secured another grand final appearance for the cadiaN-led squad.

Read more

FaZe edge out NIP to secure grand final berth in Copenhagen

The final was a rematch against FaZe and the Danes finally delivered to their full potential in a high-stakes LAN match, defeating the European squad in a close three-map affair. stavn had a quiet match for the first two maps, but came alive in the decider on Mirage as Heroic edged the series in overtime while the young rifler was firing on all cylinders. His contributions in the final map earned him a 1.50 rating, capping off a great tournament in which he averaged a 1.19 rating, a 1.25 impact rating, and topped the charts for total kills.

"Lifting the trophy at the Royal Arena meant everything to us. It's something I've always dreamt of. For me, it was only a matter of time before it would happen. We have shown that we belong at the top of CS for a long time, but we never got over the hurdle of winning a big tournament. Casters, analysts, and the community always doubted if we could ever do it on LAN, right? So finally winning a big tournament on LAN just solidifies our own self-belief and gives us even more confidence."

Heroic finally got their hands on a big event trophy

stavn cut his season short after the triumph in Copenhagen and decided to take some additional time off ahead of BLAST Premier World Final, meaning that Heroic tackled the last event of the season without their star player. Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke performed well at the event as a stand-in, but the absence of stavn and the instability that such a drastic change brought made it impossible for Heroic to perform at their best. The Danish squad left the tournament in 7-8th place, unable to overcome OG and Natus Vincere.

Why was stavn the 10th best player of 2022?

stavn was one of 2022's highest statistical performers and one of the most consistent players in the Top 20 players of the year list, having displayed virtually no bad events during the year. Some of his highlights included a yearly average rating of 1.17 (No. 9) as well as an ADR of 83.3 (No. 6), showing his incredible rifle output throughout the period.

The Danish rifler contributed consistently and registered at least one frag in 64% of all of Heroic's rounds this year, the fifth-highest on the list. His stats also include 0.75 KPR (No. 9), 73.3% KAST (No. 14), a 1.26 CT rating (No. 11) and a 1.08 T rating (No. 9).

stavn was also a great performer at Elite Events with a 1.14 rating (No. 9), which led to EVP awards at IEM Katowice, PGL Major Antwerp, and IEM Rio Major to go along with two more EVPs at the BLAST Premier Fall Final and the smaller Pinnacle Cup Championship.

The 20-year-old did not place higher on the list partially due to the inability to perform up to his potential ceiling in important moments, only recording a 1.08 rating in big matches this year. This went alongside a drop in performance against top opposition (1.06 vs. top 5 and 1.08 vs. top 10), which compared to his 1.17 average signifies a larger fall than most players on the list. His individual awards this season were also not as strong as the players that sit above him on this list, leaving the young Dane in the No.10 spot.

Bold Predicion by 1xBet

regali

stavn's bold prediction

stavn is the first person out of the Top 20 players of 2022 to name Iulian "⁠regali⁠" Harjău as his bold prediction, making the 20-year-old the sixth player to be picked. The Romanian sniper is a product of the fnatic Rising project and featured for the senior roster on a number of occasions before moving to Copenhagen Flames In August.

The Danish roster had a great end to the 2022 season after winning several online events in the tier-two scene of European Counter-Strike, which included consecutive victories at CCT Central Europe Series 3, European Development Championship 6, and CCT Central Europe Series 4. regali was a key part of these tournament wins with an average 1.24 rating during the last six months with the squad.

"He has shown a great level this year. I watched some of Copenhagen Flames' games and they recently won quite a few online tournaments. He is definitely one to look out for."

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.