Each year, HLTV selects the top players based on their stats and accomplishments over the past twelve months. At the end of this week, the final part of the list was published, which means we can finally see who analysts have come down with the most successful cybersports players of the year.
Alexander «s1mple» Kostylev
Despite the fact that at the end of 2022 Natus Vincere was not as successful as in its first half, the ranking was topped by Alexander «s1mple» Kostylev, thus becoming the first cyber athlete who manages to become the best for the third time. There are a few players who have climbed to the top of the rankings twice (among them, for example, Matthew «ZywOo» Erbo, Marcelo «coldzera» David and Christopher «GeT_RiGhT» Elesund), but no one has ever managed to achieve high results so consistently before. In total, s1mple has remained in the top 20 of the world rankings for seven years, the last five of which have been in either first or second place.
Over 2022, s1mple has twice been named MVP at major tournaments and has been EVP five more times. Even at his most disappointing performance (BLASt Word Final), his rating was 1.1. In terms of total stats for the year, s1mple led the way in many ways, and one of his most notable accomplishments was a 1.42 rating at BLAST Premier Spring – tournament, where Natus Vincere managed to beat FaZe to win their only major trophy of the year.
Matthew «ZywOo» Erbo
Second in the top 20 players was Matthew «ZywOo» Erbo of Vitality. The young cyber athlete has been playing for his current team since 2018, but in that time he has already managed to fully showcase his talent. Interestingly, he proved himself on the local scene back in 2017, but delayed entering the pro level for a year to complete his studies first. As a result, ZywOo became a player who can compete with s1mple for the top position in the ranking: it was he who managed to dislodge the Ukrainian cybersportsman from the top of the list in 2019 and 2020. In 2022, one of the most impressive accomplishments for ZywOo was his performance at ESL Pro League Season 16, when he won the MVP title and posted a 1.42 rating on two dozen maps. He has been the highest scoring player on his team in all but two 2022 events.
Dmitry «sh1ro» Sokolov
Finally, the third place in the ranking went to Dmitry «sh1ro» Sokolov from Cloud9. This cyber athlete finds himself in the top 20 for the second time in a row, and this time he managed to move a little higher (he finished fourth in 2021). Sh1ro excelled at online tournaments, and then was able to maintain high scores even after most events reverted back to their usual LAN format. Although his team failed to take prizes at the top-level events, sh1ro's individual results allowed him to end up in third place. His performance at IEM Rio was particularly successful, where he fell just short of the MVP title. He won this award only once during the year (at Funspark ULTI), but he won EVP six times, including at key events of the year.