Top 20 players of 2011: Edward (15)
Natus Vincere's Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev didn't play up to the standards he set in 2010, but still he led the Ukrainians to their only major title and was an important figure in several other podium finishes, therefore earning the 15th spot in this ranking.
Basic information
Player: 
Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev
Team: Natus Vincere
Age: 24
Team achievements in 2011:
1st - IEM5 World Championship, ICSC 7, ASUS Spring, OSPL Spring, Adepto BH Open
2nd - ESWC, SEC
3rd - e-Stars Seoul, DreamHack Summer, DreamHack Winter, GameGune, ASUS Summer
Stats from major LAN tournaments in 2011:
Kills per round: 0.76
Deaths per round: 0.64
Rating: 1.11 (?)
Maps played: 82
MoM: 17 times top rated in a match
Best tournament: 
DreamHack Summer
Best map: de_dust2
Most notable stat: 4th best rifler (0.63 kills per round)
As part of Natus Vincere's big three in 2010, Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev became one of the world's elite players, which reflected in the 5th position on our Top 20 players of 2010. He also became known as the pistol-king due to his numerous highlights in pistol-rounds, which was also proven statistically as he was in fact the best in them with a 1.41 rating. However, as 2010 came closer to an end, his performances started to fluctuate a bit, and that continued throughout 2011.
A year of ups and downs
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
| IEM5 European Championship Finals (4th place) |
0.99 (3rd) |
+1% |
| 2nd best clutcher (8x won 1vsX) |
The first tournament for Natus Vincere in 2011 was IEM5 European Championship Finals, where the expectations were high for the best team of 2010. However, they had troubles even passing the group stage with losses to fnatic and Lions, so the fact that they later fell to fnatic once more in the semi-final and to Frag eXecutors in the 3rd place decider, was already a minor hint that they would not be able to keep up with their old form.
Sukhariev was also struggling to stay on his 2010 path, as he recorded a 0.99 rating following a series of up and down performances. The few positives were being top rated in 3 maps and winning 8 clutch rounds throughout the tournament, while on the other hand he had several bad matches as well.
Edward vs forZe with 1hp
Winning a 1vs3 against Iron Will
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
 IEM5 World Championship (1st place) |
1.19 (1st) |
+13% |
| MVP nomination Selected for All-Star lineup Best rated in the playoffs (1.27) 2nd best K-D difference (+57) 3rd most consistent |
At the next major event, IEM5 World Championship, Natus Vincere reclaimed their title of number one in the world, winning over Frag eXecutors in the final. A year earlier, the Ukrainians rose to fame at the same tournament, while Sukhariev was the best rated player of that event and the team's main striking force.
Similarly, he was the team's best on this ocassion as well (1.19 rating, 4th best of all players). After a poor start in the group stage, he exploded in the knockout stages (1.27 playoff-rating, best of all players), being top rated in each best-of-three encounter, against compLexity, mTw and Frag eXecutors. Thanks to that performance he received an MVP nomination and although he finished second in that vote, he was selected for the All-Star lineup of one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year.
Edward vs Fx in the final of IEM5 WC
Sukhariev continued in good form at ICSC7 finals a few weeks later, as the Ukrainians won their second event in a row, he was the best rated player of the tournament with a 1.22 rating.
After skipping Xperia PLAY, the team returned to win ASUS Spring, while Sukhariev was still in great shape as Na´Vi's best rated with an impressive 1.36 rating.
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
| DreamHack Summer 2011 (3rd place) |
1.31 (1st) |
+19% |
|
MVP nomination |
Natus Vincere's winning streak was ended at DreamHack Summer, where SK Gaming outplayed them in the semi-final and they had to settle for 3rd place. Sukhariev actually had his best performance of the year at this tournament, being the top rated player (1.31 rating), best fragger (0.90 kills per round) and best entry killer. Naturally, he was nominated for MVP once more, and although he wasn't selected this time either, he was the first choice in the tournament's All-Star lineup.
In their next event, Adepto BH Open, the Ukrainians were back to winning, although overcoming fnatic in the final. Sukhariev was the team's best rated for the 5th tournament in a row, and also an event's top rated for the 2nd event in a row with an incredible 1.74 rating.
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
 GameGune 2011 (3rd place) |
1.33 (2nd) |
+7% |
| All-Star nomination 2nd best entry killer |
The first signs of Natus Vincere's and also Sukhariev's form dropping were seen in Spain at GameGune. The team finished in 3rd place after surprisingly losing to ESC Gaming in the lower bracket final, while Sukhariev despite having an excellent 1.33 rating for the entire tournament, underperformed in their only two losses, being the team's worst against SK and ESC. Still, he received an All-Star lineup nomination for his overall performance, while additionally being the event's 2nd best entry killer.
Another third place campaign followed at ASUS Summer where Natus Vincere fell to DTS in the semi-final and afterwards sharing the prize with Lions. Sukhariev was once more team's second best with a very good 1.21 rating.
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
 e-Stars Seoul (3rd place) |
0.96 (4th) |
-9% |
In their only trip to the Far East during 2011, Natus Vincere finished in yet another 3rd place at e-Stars Seoul, this time succumbing to Frag eXecutors and SK Gaming. Sukhariev didn't stand out in any way, being the fourth in his team with only a 0.96 rating.
Not a satisfying performance at e-Stars by Sukhariev
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
 SEC 2011 (2nd) |
1.09 (2nd) |
+3% |
| All-Star nomination 5th best in pistol-rounds |
In October Natus Vincere finally made it to a final of an event after a long drought, but they lost the fight for the SEC title to home team Frag eXecutors. Sukhariev wasn't too impressive, having ups and downs just like the rest of his team in this tournament, but he did end up as their second best rated with a 1.09 rating which earned him another All-Star nomination.
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
 ESWC 2011 (2nd) |
0.95 (4th) |
-5% |
| 3rd best entry killer |
During another second place campaign at ESWC, where the Ukrainians lost to SK Gaming in the rematch of 2010's final, Sukhariev had his worst rating of the year (0.95), not being very influential in the team's second biggest success of 2011. As the fourth best in his team, he didn't stand out in any matches, but he did turn out to be the 3rd best entry killer of the tournament.
Sukhariev before the ESWC final against SK
Next up, a month later at MSI BEAT IT Russia they ended up in a disappointing 4th place after losses to fnatic and DTS, while Sukhariev had an average display with a 1.07 rating as the team's 3rd best.
| Tournament (team result) | Rating |
Avg% +/- |
| DreamHack Winter 2011 (3rd place) |
1.03 (3rd) |
-1% |
| 4th best in pistol-rounds |
The last major event for the Ukrainians in 2011 was DreamHack Winter, where they were looking to defend their title from 2010's edition. After defeating SK Gaming in the quarter-final, they were stopped by Lions, but claimed another 3rd place by defeating mousesports.
Sukhariev started off well in the group stage as the team's best, but later ended with a mediocre 1.03 rating due to some poor displays, especially in the Lions match. He did end up as the 4th best in pistol-rounds, which is the 3rd occasion that he was one of the best in that category in major tournaments.
No longer the pistol-king, but had a period that reminded of his 2010 form
In 2010, Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev set very high standards of what we could expect from him, so it was a difficult task to continue on the same level in 2011. His form went up and down throughout the year and he is the only player in this ranking to have had a rating below 1.00 in three major tournaments. But despite that, he still played a very important role in Natus Vincere as their second best player.
His title of the world's pistol-king is lost, as even though he had a solid 1.23 rating in pistol-rounds and was one of the best in them at three events, it was still far from the best pistol-round players of the year.
Although he was inconsistent having only 60% of matches above 1.00 rating, he was top rated in 17 maps, 6th most of all players. Additionally, he was the 4th best rifler (0.63 kills per round with m4a1, ak47, famas and galil).
His main influence came in the team's biggest accomplishment, winning IEM5 World Championship, where he was their best rated player and one of the best at the event earning an MVP nomination. He continued with that form for several events, being the team's best 5 times in row (although some events were minor), including another MVP nomination at DreamHack Summer where he was additionally the best rated of the event. After that he was also nominated for All-Star lineups at GameGune and SEC, therefore it should be no surprise that he was selected at the 15th spot.
Recommended demos of Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev in 2011:
| Opponent | Map | Event | Score | Demo |
| fnatic |
dust2 | IEM5 Eu Finals (Semi-final, map 1) | 25:8 | HLTV |
| fnatic |
dust2 | IEM5 World (Group stage) |
30:14 | HLTV |
 mTw |
tuscan | IEM5 World (Semi-final, map 3) | 25:16 | POV |
| Fx |
dust2 | IEM5 World (Grand final, map 2) |
26:14 | HLTV |
| selectah |
nuke | ASUS Spring (Quarter-final, map 1) |
43:25 | HLTV |
| Lions |
tuscan | DH Summer (Group stage) |
31:11 | POV |
| ESC |
tuscan | DH Summer (3rd place, map 2) |
27:11 | HLTV |
| fnatic |
tuscan | Adepto BH Open (Grand final, map 2) |
20:8 | POV |
 madjick |
train | GameGune (Group stage) |
39:14 | POV |
| DELTA |
train | GameGune (Upper round 1) |
27:8 | HLTV |
 M5 |
inferno | DreamHack Winter (Group stage) |
29:16 | HLTV |
Like most of the Natus Vincere team, Sukhariev wasn't able to replicate his form from 2010, but he kept on being one of the best players in the world. What do you think that we can expect from him in 2012 and do you think he deserved the 15th spot?
If you want to check out the entire ranking, go to our Introduction article as it will be updated daily until we complete the list. Stay tuned to HLTV.org as tomorrow we will bring you our number 14.
