DH Winter 2011: Top players

DreamHack Winter 2011 is far behind us and we've now finally gathered all the player statistics in one place, so we can together look back on who were the best performers of the tournament, as well as pick the MVP and All-Star lineup.

The tournament dubbed MSI BEAT IT 2011 that took place at DreamHack Winter in Jönköping, Sweden was one of the most competitive this year, as it gathered all of the world's top teams and pitted many of them against each other. Additionally, it was the last major event in 2011 for many of the teams, as only WCG remained afterwards to which a lot of them hadn't qualified.

After two days of fierce competition, the winner was somewhat unexpectedly found in form of fnatic, which was their third title this year after IEM5 European Finals and IEM6 GC Guangzhou. The Swedish team didn't stroll to the podium though, as they initially had to get out of the "group of death" containing Natus Vincere and Moscow Five, and later in each of their playoff clashes against Anexis, mousesports and Lions had to fight back from being a map down at the start. For those efforts, they received a cheque for $14,250 along with five very pricey laptops.

Perhaps an even bigger surprise of the tournament were the runners-up Lions, who defeated AGAiN and Natus Vincere on their road to 2nd place, which became their biggest success of 2011.

We witnessed 46 maps played among 16 teams during the tournament with 80 players on show. There were many amazing individual displays and we've selected the 16 best performers from the teams that made it to the playoffs. All that remains now is to analyze how each of them played and select the MVP and the All-Star lineup.

Skip to the vote!

Best rated players

16) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Martin 'trace' Heldt Anexis 0.78 0.66 1.08

1 xMotM, Highest rating: 1.45 vs fnatic (Quarter-final, train)

Even though Anexis had to use a stand-in instead of their best player Nicolaj "Nuggi" Larsen, calling up former mTw superstar Martin "trace" Heldt ended up producing a playoff appearance for the Danish team, something they previously failed to achieve at ESWC and IEM6 GC Guangzhou.

Although Heldt wasn't very influential in their group stage campaign that led them to playoffs, he was by far their best in the quarter-final clash with fnatic (70:55 score, 1.19 rating). His first map performance was particularly admirable, as he led Anexis to a 19-17 overtime win with a 37:22 score.

15) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Rasmus 'Gux' Ståhl fnatic 0.73 0.64 1.08

1 xMotM, Highest rating: 2.03 vs Lions (Grand final, dust2)

fnatic quickly recovered from their disappointing display at ESWC, coming second at their next tournament MSI BEAT IT Russia, and now fully returning to winning ways at DreamHack Winter. MVP of their previous title-winning campaign at IEM6 GC Guangzhou earlier in October, Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl, wasn't as consistent this time, but was still a crucial part of their machinery.

In the first half of the tournament, Ståhl did well in each of the 6 maps, including a very good performance against Anexis in the quarter-final (67:54, 1.16 rating). Then followed a drop in his form, as he was the team's worst in 5 of their last 6 maps. But, it would turn out that the one exception was perhaps the most crucial, as it was by far his best and one of the best individual displays of the entire tournament, and it took place in the grand final.

As fnatic was down after the first map against Lions in the last match of the tournament, Ståhl woke up and produced an amazing show on de_dust2, recording a 32:12 score (2.03 rating, 64% above team's average) for a 16-7 victory which evened the result and made a third map possible.

He was also an important figure in fnatic's pistol-rounds, having the event's highest amount of kills in them (27:17 score). The most memorable one was of course in the above-mentioned second map of the final, where he won a 1vs4 situation in the first round of the map, bringing his team's spirits back up and earning him a highlight clip.

14) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Frej 'kHRYSTAL' Sjöström Lions 0.67 0.58 1.08

2 xMotM, Highest rating: 2.02 vs k1ck (Group stage, nuke)

Lions' last podium placing at major events was exactly one year earlier, when they reached 3rd place at DreamHack Winter 2010. This year they went a step further in the Jönköping event, finishing second. In this biggest success of the team in 2011 they were led by a trio of players, starting with Frej "kHRYSTAL" Sjöström.

Thanks to his contribution during Lions' road to the final, Sjöström finds himself among an event's top players for the first time in 2011. He started out great in the group stage, with the 2nd highest rating among all players (1.60).

Then he had his brightest moments of the tournament in the quarter-final, as Lions surprisingly defeated AGAiN, putting in a man-of-the-match performance by all accounts – voted by the viewers and supported by statistics (62:44 score, 1.20 rating).

In the semi-final that followed against Natus Vincere he had a slightly below average performance overall but still managed to leave an impression, particularly thanks to this 4-kill pistol round in the second map that initiated their comeback.

Additionally, he was one of the hardest to kill at the event with only 0.58 deaths per round.

13) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Richard 'Xizt' Landström fnatic 0.74 0.66 1.08

2 xMotM, Highest rating: 1.79 vs Moscow Five (Group stage, tuscan)

Richard "Xizt" Landström hasn't been able to recapture his form from the very beginning of the year when he was named the MVP of IEM5 European Finals, but on several occasions since then he stood out as one of fnatic's best.

DreamHack Winter was another one of those occasions, as he was the team's best rated in two of their playoff match-ups and was one of the best riflers of the event (206 kills with rifles, the most of all players).

In the quarter-final against Anexis, Landström was top rated in both of fnatic's map wins and he finished as the best rated of the match overall (71:59 score, 1.16 rating). He repeated that in the semi-final clash with mousesports, although less convincing (59:57, 1.08 rating). In the end, he had a 1.06 playoff-rating, second best in fnatic.

12) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Sergey 'starix' Ischuk Na´Vi 0.72 0.61 1.10

1 xMotM, Highest rating: 1.83 vs Lions (Semi-final, inferno)

MVP of the 2010 edition of DreamHack Winter, Sergey "starix" Ischuk, didn't repeat that performance, and neither did his team as they ended up third. However, he did continue a very good run of form in the second half of 2011, once more as the team's second best rated.

Ischuk didn't stand out with much individual heroics, but he displayed an all-round stable play. The one occasion when he did excel was the first map of the semi-final against Lions, having an impressive 30:11 score (1.83 rating, 53% above team) in a 16-9 win on de_inferno, which however didn't prove fruitful as they lost the match in the following two maps. He also had a highlight round earlier in the tournament, taking out four fnatic members during a 10-16 loss.

11) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Finn 'karrigan' Andersen mousesports 0.78 0.65 1.13

2 xMotM, Highest rating: 1.76 vs Earthquake (Group stage, inferno)

In the last few months Finn "karrigan" Andersen has definitely brought his game up to a new level, becoming one of the world's best. As mousesports followed up their 3rd place finish at ESWC with a 4th place at DreamHack Winter, Andersen was once again their best player and one of the best AWPers at the event.

He started off great in the group stage with a 1.36 rating in three matches, and despite of losing to Lions 4-16 in their last encounter, he recorded a couple of amazing one-shot highlight rounds in that match. He was the team's best in the playoffs as well, especially in their only victory, as man-of-the-match in the quarter-final versus ESC Gaming (46:29 score, 1.29 rating).

His AWP was excellent overall, recording the event's third most 97 kills with it and 3rd best 0.33 awpKPR. Additionally, he was a great entry killer with the 2nd best entry difference of +24 (45:21 entry score).

10) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg SK Gaming 0.80 0.69 1.15

1 xMotM, Highest rating: 1.81 vs eSahara (Group stage, nuke)

Same as at SEC 2011 a few months ago, SK Gaming had to exit the tournament after quarter-final, courtesy of Natus Vincere. Despite that, three of their players left a mark with great individual displays, starting with Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg.

With only 5 maps played before exiting the tournament, Lindberg didn't have much opportunity to show his worth, but he still managed to have one memorable display. Electronic Sahara were his victims, as he led his team to a 16-11 victory over the Frenchmen on de_nuke with a 32:13 score (1.81 rating, 61% above team), having this highlight round in the match as well.

He also stood out in pistol-rounds, with the event's best rating of 1.75, helping SK to win 7 of 10 first rounds.

9) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Andreas 'MODDII' Fridh ESC Gaming 0.72 0.60 1.15

1 xMotM, Highest rating: 1.52 vs ESPORT-TV.COM (Group stage, inferno)

Following their excellent 2nd place campaign at GameGune, ESC Gaming were only seen at one more major tournament after that (ESWC) where they didn't make it out of the group stage. They improved on that at DreamHack Winter, but mousesports stopped them right away at the quarter-final stage.

Still, their star player Andreas "MODDII" Fridh was not the reason for the early exit, as he played especially well in that clash with mouz. Even though he was the team's second best rated in that match, as well as in the entire tournament, Fridh had an impressive 46:39 score (1.27 rating) during the two losses to the Germans. He also recorded probably the best highlight of the event in the second map of that clash, winning a 1vs5 situation.

8) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Filip 'Neo' Kubski AGAiN 0.79 0.65 1.16

1 xMotM, Highest rating: 1.79 vs hGh (Group stage, train)

After a disappointing 4th place at ESWC (at least for them), the Polish side AGAiN fell even sooner this time, with a quarter-final exit provided by Lions. Their best player in this short campaign was unsurprisingly Filip "Neo" Kubski.

Although he didn't show anything spectacular on this occasion, Kubski played above team's average in 5 of their 6 maps, making him one of the most consistent players at the event.

7) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund SK Gaming 0.82 0.62 1.16

0 xMotM, Highest rating: 1.68 vs ColdGame (Group stage, train)

With amazing consistency in the past three events, where he set an unofficial record of 24 maps in a row with a rating above 1.00, Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund saw his streak end in Jönköping, but not before he increased it to 26.

Although he wasn't particularly impressive just as his team at this event, he was once more an extremely stable fragger, getting at least one kill in 59% of his rounds (highest percentage of all players at the event). Also, he was the one fighting back the most in SK Gaming's quarter-final loss to Natus Vincere, where he put up a 61:49 score (1.14 rating).

6) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Robert 'RobbaN' Dahlström SK Gaming 0.76 0.64 1.17

2 xMotM, Highest rating: 2.21 vs Anexis (Group stage, mirage)

Surprisingly, for the first time in 2011, SK Gaming's in-game leader Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström ended up as their best rated player at a tournament.

Seeing as the Swedes dropped out in the quarter-final where he was the team's lowest rated, his high rating obviously comes from his group stage performance, as during the first day of competition Dahlström was the third best rated of all players (1.57 group-stage rating).

Although the first match where he excelled was against a mediocre opponent ColdGame, the one that's actually worth mentioning was their clash with Anexis. Dahlström was by far the most responsible for their easy 16-4 win on de_mirage against the Danes, as he put up an amazing 27:9 score (2.21 rating, 63% above team), in one of the best individual performances of the event.

5) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Niklas 'niko' Johansson Lions 0.77 0.60 1.19

3 xMotM, Highest rating: 2.50 vs mousesports (Group stage, mirage)

The second member of Lions' impressive trio during their road to 2nd place at DreamHack Winter is Niklas "niko" Johansson, whom we've recently seen play very well at ESWC.

He started off with a bang during the first day of the tournament, having by far the highest group-stage rating of 1.79. His performance against mousesports was the most noticable, as he recorded a 29:9 individual score in the 16-4 win (2.50 rating, 71% above team), which turned out to be the highest match-rating in the entire event.

In the playoffs he had a modest 1.05 rating, but nevertheless he was extremely consistent with 7 of 9 maps above team's average, including all three maps of the final. Interestingly, his biggest impact came in third maps of their two extremely tough victories, quarter-final versus AGAiN and semi-final against Natus Vincere. In both occasions the decider map was de_dust2 and Johansson was top rated, helping his team clinch victories and passage to the next round.

Another significant stat that shows his contribution is that he was the most dominant player of the tournament in regard to rounds with 3 or more kills, having 22 of them.

4) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Michael 'Friis' Jørgensen fnatic 0.76 0.57 1.20

3 xMotM, Highest rating: 1.81 vs Lions (Grand final, tuscan)

In his four tournaments with fnatic, Michael "Friis" Jørgensen has achieved two titles and one second place finish, which shows just how much bringing him meant to the team.

This latest performance was probably his most influential of the four, as he was by far the team's best player. He ended up with the 3rd most total kills at the tournament (242), 3rd best kill-death difference (+61) and was the hardest to kill of all players (0.57 DPR).

He began brilliantly in the group stage, especially shining in the tough clash against Natus Vincere. As fnatic won that match 16-10 on de_tuscan, Jørgensen was voted the man-of-the-match for his 27:15 score (1.61 rating). In that match, he recorded an impressive ace with a 1vs3 situation that we made a highlight of.

He continued doing well in the playoffs with above average performances against each of their three opponents (1.13 playoff-rating). He was voted by the viewers man-of-the-match in the quarter-final against Anexis and more importantly in the final against Lions. The latter came largely thanks to his incredible show in the third and last map, where he was the main reason that fnatic succeeded to tip the result their way.

In that 16-13 victory on de_tuscan, Jørgensen was a one-man army while showing us one of the best individual performances of the tournament, ending up with a 37:19 score (1.81 rating, 70% above team). His AWP was particularly on fire in that match, as he had 22 kills with it, hitting some amazing shots along the way.

Thanks to that he cemented himself as the best AWPer of the tournament, having the most kills with the big green (118), and a very close second 0.37 awpKPR.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PtB-qx60Pw&hd=1

3) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Yegor 'markeloff' Markelov Na´Vi 0.82 0.58 1.24

4 xMotM, Highest rating: 1.71 vs SK Gaming (Quarter-final, dust2)

Selecting the MVP nominees was quite easy as three players stood out high above the rest, each helping his respective team to a top3 finish.

From the winning team fnatic their latest addition, Michael "Friis" Jørgensen is the obvious choice, as apart from being their best player and the man-of-the-match in the final, he was also the best AWPer of the tournament.

Unexpected second place finishers Lions have to thank Emil "FYRR73" Karlsson the most for their success, as he was the revelation of the tournament and had the most kills of all players.

And last but not least, for the fifth time this year, Natus Vincere's Yegor "markeloff" Markelov earned an MVP nomination for his efforts. The Ukrainian superstar excelled in every aspect of the game, while putting in a particularly memorable performance against SK Gaming in the quarter-final.

[playerpoll=21]

We will also be choosing the All-Star lineup, so go ahead and select the 5 best players of this tournament in your opinion. Whether you want it to be a realistic squad where each player would have a role or simply the 5 best performers is up to you.

[playerpoll=22]

Just like during our previous votes, we will be having a separate poll for "experts" only, which will later together with the public poll decide the outcome of the vote. The experts will consist of players who took part in this tournament, as well as journalists from other websites.

In case you missed our "DreamHack Winter 2011 highlights" movie made by Agent "athid" Eric, you can take a look at it here:

For more statistics from this tournament you can go here, HLTV demos can be found here. We will be uploading a lot more POVs from this event in a few days, and you will be able to find them here.

We still owe you the results of the vote for ESWC MVP and All-Star lineup and that will be settled in the next few days, while we will be announcing the results of the DreamHack Winter vote after we've gathered enough votes. So stay tuned to HLTV.org to see who will be the MVP and who will make it into the All-Star lineup of ESWC, DreamHack Winter, as well as WCG for which the vote will be coming next week.

(责任编辑：case opening)