Top 20 players of 2022: sh1ro (3)

Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov breaks into the top three of the 2022 edition of our Player of the Year ranking, powered by 1xBet, showing an exceptional floor and recording the highest rating of the year.

Top 20 players of 2022: Introduction

sh1ro returns to the top 20 Players of the Year ranking for the second year running, following up on his fourth-place finish from 2021. The young Russian AWPer was near-unkillable and an excellent clutch player in Gambit's runs to a handful of titles throughout the online stage of the year, and continued his performance upon the return to LAN in July; however, the team's inexperience showed upon reaching the arena stage of top tier tournaments, and they failed to clinch a Big Event title despite consistency putting up solid offline results.

sh1ro and Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov's world-class performances weren't enough to overcome those difficulties and propel Gambit past those hurdles in the latter half of the year, and those struggles deep into the biggest tournaments was an issue that persisted when play resumed in 2022.

For a deeper dive into sh1ro's backstory and early career, take a look at the article from his first appearance in the top 20 from 2021.

sh1ro lost no momentum coming off his personal top four finish as 2022 got underway, and he helped Gambit hit the ground running in their first online event of the year, FunSpark ULTI Finals. Gambit were the clear favorites to take home the title from the onset, with the event featuring four top-15 teams, and it was not a chance that the Russian roster squandered. They dropped just two maps en route to a first place finish, a run which ended with sh1ro earning a Most Valuable Player award for his efforts in the event. He averaged a 1.43 rating and 1.41 impact over ten maps, helping score victories over Complexity, Entropiq, and BIG, and finishing above a 1.40 rating in all four series that Gambit played in.

The online FunSpark trophy ultimately didn't mean much to sh1ro, whose primary aim for the year was to win titles on LAN, and the tournament mainly served as a quick warmup for the first Big Event of the year as Gambit arrived at IEM Katowice. sh1ro got off to a rough start individually in Poland against Ninjas in Pyjamas and just barely ended the series in the red (0.94 rating) — a result that ended up being the first of just two negative-rated series out of the 45 he played in 2022. He bounced back in the lower bracket with strong performances against Copenhagen Flames and Vitality; claimed revenge over Ninjas in Pyjamas, but then crumbled against FaZe alongside the rest of his team when they took to the stage in the Spodek Arena to be eliminated in 5-6th place.

"We managed to get into shape during the event, and it was looking promising for us. We felt our strength in the lower bracket, but when we played on the stage, FaZe just stopped us. We couldn’t handle the pressure that we felt at that moment and they just ran over us."

"No doubt it [the war breaking out in Ukraine] had a big impact on all of us. We were shocked and our level of play in the playoffs was a proof of that. We couldn’t think about the game at that moment."

sh1ro still earned himself an Exceptionally Valuable Player mention thanks to his excellence during the group stage, ending the tournament with a 1.27 rating and mustering 1.22 impact. His admirable performances continued under the neutral banner of Players in the group stage of ESL Pro League Season 15, where he averaged a 1.35 rating and 1.29 impact en route to another EVP mention; however, the team once again had their event brought to an early end by Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's men in the opening round of the playoffs, resulting in a 9-12th place finish.

"It’s never easy playing against FaZe because I think that they are strong not only as a team but as individuals too, each one of them. Every match against them was either close or we couldn’t keep the initiative. Something like that happened in practice, so FaZe are easily one of the best teams on my top 3 list."

A successful run through the PGL Major Antwerp Europe RMR was followed by the news that Cloud9 had signed the entirety of the Players roster, with the team's debut under the new banner set to be at the Belgian Major itself. The added pressure of representing the North American organization and lack of practice time ahead of the Legends Stage of the tournament came back to bite the Russian team as they were eliminated with a 1-3 record, suffering a series defeat to Imperial that ended in a crushing 3-16 blow on Mirage.

"The defeat to Imperial was rather a poor result than a disappointment. It was a logical result because we played many tournaments but had little practice, barely had any bootcamps and were on the road most of the time. We were getting stressed and fatigued more and more after each tournament, and that’s why it happened. But we understood what our problems were and drew the conclusions that I think allowed us to win in Dallas."

IEM Dallas was indeed where Cloud9 claimed vengeance, rising up to the occasion to the tune of a roaring crowd behind them. sh1ro and company had rarely had the support of fans in the arena matches that they had played, but that all changed in The Lone Star State — especially following a thrilling best-of-three match against FaZe, where Ax1Le was a shining beacon for the Russian team.

While the Russian rifler was at the forefront of Cloud9's run through the tournament with superb impact, sh1ro earned an EVP award as the supporting act right behind him, averaging a 1.29 rating and shining particularly in the grand final against ENCE, but also putting up stable numbers against Liquid, FaZe, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and BIG. He also earned a fourth EVP award in the Roobet Cup that subsequently played out online, but it was another tournament that was shrugged aside in sh1ro's mind as he focused on LAN victories.

"Honestly, Dallas was a very successful tournament for us. When we finally beat FaZe after so many losses in officials, it was like a mini-achievement for our team. We did a lot of preparation before the tournament, we had an intense bootcamp where we analyzed a lot. After the FaZe victory in the playoffs, we knew that we would win the tournament and hoist the trophy."

"My best memory [from the year] is our victory in Dallas. Mainly because it was a LAN victory, which is a very important achievement for me as a player. The moment we hoisted the trophy, I felt the satisfaction of knowing all the work we did before the tournament and I was really happy."

The elation from their first Big Event victory dissipated as quickly as it had arrived at IEM Cologne, the last event before the mid-year tournament break. Cloud9 had a chance to prove their victory at the stand-in plagued IEM Dallas was no fluke and truly bring the fight to FaZe and Natus Vincere as title contenders, but failed to coast off the wind in their sails and found themselves shipwrecked early on. Ax1Le and sh1ro remained stable forces for their side, both posting 1.18 ratings and earning VP mentions, but their performances were only enough to earn an opening victory against Outsiders before 0-2 losses to Astralis and Liquid brought about an early exit for Cloud9, and an end to any hopes of playing in the Spodek Arena.

The Russian team's first tournament upon professional play's return was ESL Pro League Season 16, and they dropped just one series to Liquid while going flawless against their four other opponents to top their group with a 4-1 record. The result allowed Cloud9 to skip directly to the quarter-finals of the playoffs, but fate was a cruel mistress and dealt them another match against FaZe — one where Ax1Le once again rose to the occasion to lead his side to victory. The semi-finals was the furthest that Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov's men would get, however, falling for a third time running to Liquid, who at this point seemed to have their number.

sh1ro performed admirably in the group stage, averaging a 1.28 rating, but his numbers dropped off somewhat when challenging FaZe and Liquid in the bracket stage. He was still a stable AWPer for his side, recording a 1.13 rating across the two series, but wasn't the difference-maker that his team needed in order to fight for the trophy despite walking away with his fifth EVP mention of the year.

"We didn’t manage to make the playoffs in Cologne and it was a disappointment for the team because our minimum goal at every event is to reach the playoffs. We think we did well in Malta despite the semi-final loss because we knew that our main goal was to qualify for the Major, we had to be there. Besides, I wasn’t at my best individually in Cologne and Malta, and that affected the team’s results."

As a result of not being a BLAST partner and not taking part in any of the Showdowns, just one all-important event was left in the calendar for Cloud9 — the IEM Rio Major in Brazil. A successful effort to qualify through the Europe RMR led into the team starting their tournament run in the Challengers Stage, where sh1ro immediately stamped his authority.

The young AWPer put up phenomenal performances against fnatic and Grayhound in Cloud9's first two best-of-one matches, but his 1.68 and 1.75 ratings weren't enough to carry them over the line as both games slipped away in overtime — two noticeably quiet games from Ax1Le, too, with the grunt work from the team's sniper not being enough on its own to net Cloud9 the win. Staring down an 0-2 record and the prospect of an early exit from the Major, the IEM Dallas champions tightened up their game, and it was sh1ro who again lit up the board in the team's first elimination series against Imperial.

sh1ro kicked off the proceedings with a 1.21 rating on Overpass to recover from an 11-15 deficit to take the map in overtime, and then further elevated on Vertigo with a 1.47 rating by combining with Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov for an even greater comeback effort, piecing together a 22-19 win after being down 1-10 and 6-15. Victories over Evil Geniuses and GamerLegion followed, two more series in which sh1ro outclassed the competition to secure Cloud9 a spot in the Legends Stage; he ended these eight maps with a 1.45 average rating, 1.42 impact, and 0.55 DPR.

"Good preparation helped us pull ourselves together at the right moment and make it through the Challengers Stage with three wins in a row. It was also helpful that we were getting into shape and finding our game during the event. On top of that, I was confident in myself and my team, so it was possible for me to perform the way that I did."

sh1ro's superlative form persisted in the Legends Stage, and this time Cloud9 got off to a substantially better start. A rough draw had them facing up against two of the best teams in the world, FaZe and Natus Vincere, to open up the stage, but Cloud9 didn't waver. sh1ro found less impact in both of those games, which his team narrowly won 16-14, but had a massive return to form in the 2-0 qualifying match against Heroic with an absurd 1.81 series rating to put Cloud9 through to the playoffs.

A dream bracket was laid out in front of them for the Champions Stage, but Cloud9 again capitulated and crumbled under the pressure — they went up 1-0 against MOUZ in the quarter-finals following another strong map from sh1ro and HObbit, but were unable to convert that edge into victory and fell 1-2 in the series to be eliminated in shock fashion from the Major. sh1ro remained a stalwart presence throughout the series, ending with a 1.28 rating, but again couldn't make up for an absent Ax1Le in what was a disappointing way to end the year.

"There was a long break between the stages, we didn’t do enough work and underestimated MOUZ in some moments. That’s why we couldn’t handle the stress in important moments and our opponents just took the initiative and closed it out."

"The worst memory is our defeat to MOUZ at the Major in Brazil because we got into good shape during our run at the event and expected that we would win the first match of the playoffs at the very least. It was a tough loss for me because all the maps that we played against MOUZ were in our hands and we just should not have lost given our experience. I’ve never felt as devastated as I was after our defeat to MOUZ in a match like that."

Why was sh1ro the 3rd player of 2022?

sh1ro pipped Ax1Le to third place thanks to exceptional consistency, with an overall 1.28 rating (1.25 in big events) and an unbeatable 51.7% of maps above a 1.30 rating. His performance at IEM Rio was particularly impressive, a 1.35 rating overall that was leading to a MVP had his team gone slightly further. He was also very good at IEM Dallas, coming 2nd in the MVP race to teammate Ax1Le, earning more EVPs at both ESL Pro Leagues and IEM Katowice.

His fight with Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut for 2nd place was perhaps the closest battle in the whole top 20, both players having similar flaws in their exceptional years. sh1ro was eventually judged less important to his team's success than the two above him, Cloud9 winning 42.1% of rounds where sh1ro did not have a kill (1st among the Top 20) and sh1ro falling behind in kills in won rounds (1.03 to ZywOo's 1.10).

He was more reliant on survival than ZywOo for his rating — though less reliant than in 2021 — and the lack of a Big Event MVP stood in stark comparison to ZywOo's supremacy at ESL Pro League Season 16. He also failed to have a clean year with awards in each event, falling out of the VPs at PGL Major Antwerp after disaster struck against Imperial.

Both he and ZywOo suffered from a lack of deep runs at events compared to Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev, with Cloud9's core only managing 7 maps in elite playoffs this year and 27 in big matches. This ultimately reduced their awards tally, and thus put them out of contention for #1.

"I think I’ve managed to improve my game, just like the rest of the players. I was missing something in 2021 and couldn’t do my best in some moments. Now that I was more experienced this year, I played as I saw fit for the team and its success."

"As always, I want to win as many tournaments as possible [going into 2023]. I’m strongly motivated and ready to work as hard as possible. Me and the team share common goals, we want to play better and understand each other fully inside the game. And of course, I want to improve my game as much as I can."

Bold prediction by 1xBet

sh1ro strayed from the names mentioned so far by players in the top 20 and instead chose 15-year-old Spirit Academy member Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets as his Bold Prediction.

"He is just 15, but he’s already playing at a good level and deserves attention at least," the Cloud9 AWPer stated. "He won’t be able to make the top 20 this year due to his age but is likely to achieve this goal in the future."

donk has steadily been improving while playing for Spirit's academy roster, initially mustering very middling numbers in 2021 before substantially stepping up in level in the past year. He averaged a 1.14 rating over 95 maps in 2022, and is already making a name for himself in FPL by putting up mind-boggling numbers just five weeks into his time playing pick-up games alongside pros.

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Take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the players were selected.