Arbalet Cup Dallas: Top Players

Arbalet Cup Dallas 2010 ended a few days ago and it's time for our statistical analysis of best players at the event. The official player awards were given out to Sergey "starix" Ischuk for Best Player and Danny "fRoD" Montaner for Best AWP and if you would like to see if they deserved them and who else had a great display, read on.

Just like when we analyzed ESWC we will only consider players that made it past the second group stage, as there were many stand-out performers overall. However, we will at the end mention those who played great despite lack of their team's success. Also, we will again expand the usual Top 10 best rated to accommodate a few more, although many others would deserve to be singled out, but there has to be a line somewhere.

Best rated players

14) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Richard 'Xizt' Landström H2k 0.80 0.66 1.13

1 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.59 vs EG (3rd place decider, tuscan)

H2k have lately affirmed themselves as one of world's top teams with a 2nd place finish at DreamHack, 1st place at fnatic PLAY BEAT IT and now came the 4th place at Arbalet Dallas. They don't really have an obvious star of the team, as all of their players stood out at some point, but in this tournament the one who performed best was Richard "Xizt" Landström. He displayed good performances in majority of his matches, had a very good 0.80 KPR and was one of the most regular fraggers at the event having at least one kill in 53% of his rounds.

13) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Ric 'iNERTiA' Bundy Underestimated 0.78 0.66 1.15

2 xMotM, Highest rating: 1.72 vs Team34 (Group stage 1)

Underestimated is a team that no one expected to see in the top 8, probably not even themselves, but they managed to provide the biggest surprise of the event. Their best player on that voyage was without a doubt Ric "iNERTiA" Bundy as he was event's 2nd most influential player for their team with rating 26% better than his team's average.

12) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Antonio 'cyx' Daniloski mousesports 0.79 0.61 1.16

3 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.89 vs Underestimated (Quarter-final, dust2)

Mousesports hadn't made it to playoffs of an international event since their second place at IEM4 World Championship in early March. In Dallas they finally did it even getting to the final, and a big reason for that was having three players in top form, one of them Antonio "cyx" Daniloski. He was top rated in a match 3 times, the most in his team, including first map of the final despite their overtime loss. Also, he played good on a consistent basis, rated over 1.00 in 9 of 11 maps.

11) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Manuel 'Tixo' Makohl mousesports 0.77 0.60 1.17

2 x MotM, Highest rating: 2.20 vs H2k (Semi-final, nuke)

Another player who played great for the German team is Manuel "Tixo" Makohl, also consistently good with 9 of 11 ratings over 1.00. He stood out most with his performance in the first map of their semi-final match against H2k, where he carried his team to victory with 27 kills in just 20 rounds and earned a 2.20 rating.

10) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Andreas 'moddii' Fridh SK 0.80 0.65 1.18

3 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.50 vs Lions (Group stage 2)

SK were forced to use a stand-in at this event following the departure of Gux from their team, and they picked Andreas "moddii" Fridh to fill his place temporarily. Considering the late change, their 5-6th placement with three 16-14 defeats isn't disappointing at all, and Fridh is a lot to be thanked for that. He was most often top rated in a match for his team (3 times) and was the 2nd most dominant player at the event when number of rounds with 2 or more kills is considered.

9) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Yegor 'markeloff' Markelov Na´Vi 0.77 0.56 1.18

2 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.87 vs EG (Semi-final, inferno)

Every time Natus Vincere won something this year, Yegor "markeloff" Markelov was one of the crucial players for his team and was even voted as the unofficial MVP of ESWC 2010 right here on HLTV.org. This time was no different, as he was again one of the most consistent players with 10 of 12 matches over 1.00 as well as again being great in his trademark category of best awpers. He shared the best awpKPR (0.26) even though he was second best in amount of total kills with the awp (88). On top of that he was the best pistol round player of the event, 2nd best entry killer and had 4th best DPR. It might be interesting to note that even though he is usually successful in clutch situations, he lost each 1vs1 he found himself in (8 total), but he did manage to win three 1vs2 situations.

8) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Johan 'face' Klasson SK 0.78 0.56 1.20

2 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.48 vs H2k (Quarter-final, inferno)

Another good tournament for SK's Johan "face" Klasson should establish him as the first star of the team now that Gux has left, and also as one of the most consistent players in the world. He mostly stood out by having practically no bad matches and being very hard to kill with a 5th best 0.56 DPR. That can be backed up by the fact that he was very clutch by winning 10 rounds when he was left alone (7 x 1vs1 and 3 x 1vs2).

7) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Danny 'fRoD' Montaner EG 0.80 0.57 1.22

4 xMotM, Highest rating: 2.35 vs BURNING! (Quarter-final, nuke)

Evil Geniuses finished the tournament in 3rd place, which is their biggest international success this year, and while every player in the team played good, two of them particularly stood out. First one is Danny "fRoD" Montaner who even got the official recognition as the Best AWP of Arbalet Dallas, mostly thanks to his event-highest 100 kills and shared-best awpKPR of 0.26. He was top rated 4 times during the event, and his best performance was in the quarter-final versus BURNING! as he had a rating of 2.35 on de_nuke. Another great aspect of his play was getting entry kills, seeing as he was 4th best in that category in the whole tournament.

6) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Danny 'zonic' Sørensen mTw 0.82 0.55 1.22

0 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.76 vs The Dons (Group stage 1)

Danny "zonic" Sørensen has been in amazing form ever since DreamHack where he won the MVP award and here he is with another great tournament performance. He was again among the best in many categories such as 3rd best DPR (0.55), 4th best in percentage of rounds with kills (56%), 5th best entry killer and 6th best pistol round player. All those things made him indispensible to mTw, despite their not so satisfying 5-6th placement, as they again lost only to one (and the same) team in the tournament just like in ESWC.

5) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Navid 'Kapio' Javadi mousesports 0.84 0.63 1.24

2 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.63 vs H2k (Semi-final, inferno)

The third mousesports' member who played great and was surely their best performer is Navid "Kapio" Javadi. He had the event's 5th best KPR (0.84) and was 4th most dominant player, demonstrated to some extent by his ace in the final (video). On top of that, he did not have any bad games, as his lowest rating was 0.93 in their opening match vs Team34.

4) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Christophe 'sixeR' Xia BURNING! 0.85 0.62 1.30

3 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.89 vs akta! (Group stage 1)

The French team BURNING! did not have a particularly great tournament (except beating the champions), but they managed a respectable 7-8th placing. The player they have to thank the most and the player who carried his team more than anyone else in the tournament was Christophe "sixeR" Xia. He was 32% better than his team's average, and was by far the most dominant player. He had the 4th best KPR (0.85) and was the 3rd best awper of the event.

3) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbert EG 0.90 0.64 1.31

2 x MotM, Highest rating: 1.88 vs weTake (Group stage 1)

EG's other amazing performer in this tournament was Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert, event's most consistent player thanks to earning at least a 1.00 rating in 14 of his 15 maps. He also had an incredible 0.90 KPR, which is in this kind of competition very difficult to achieve. He was one of the most dominant players in getting multiple kills, and had at least one kill in 56% of his rounds. Gilbert was also the 3rd best entry player overall, or if we only look at entry kills (without deaths), he had more of them per round than anyone else (0.17).

2) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Sergey 'starix' Ischuk Na´Vi 0.93 0.53 1.35

6 x MotM, Highest rating: 2.42 vs EG (Semi-final, train)

The official Best Player of Arbalet Cup Dallas 2010, Sergey "starix" Ischuk from Na´Vi, was only once this year his team's highest rated player at an event, and that was at DreamHack where they were stopped early. But now in Dallas, he probably had the best tournament of his career, filled with amazing actions such as the one in the semi-final vs EG (video), outshining all of his teammates. His performance was backed up by just as amazing stats, as he had the event-best 6 man of the match performances in his 12 maps, two of them with ratings over 2.00. He was also the hardest to kill with 0.53 DPR, had the 2nd best KPR (0.93), 2nd most rounds with kills (59%), was the 4th best pistol round player and 6th best entry killer. And in the end, in what seems to be his specialty, clutch situations as after winning 7 out of 7 1vs1s at ESWC, this time he won 9 out of 10 along with 2 1vs2s.

1) Player Team KPR DPR Rating Martin 'trace' Heldt mTw 0.97 0.56 1.43

4 x MotM, Highest rating: 2.55 vs BURNING! (5-6th decider)

For the third major tournament in a row, mTw's Martin "trace" Heldt is among the top 3 highest rated players. This time he is the highest rated, mostly thanks to his incredible fragging stats, such as event-best 0.97 KPR, 61% of rounds with kills, while he was also the best with both AK47 and M4A1. We can also say with little doubt that Heldt has now affirmed himself as the world's best entry killer, being first in that category in Dallas, and for the third tournament in a row being among the best. He also recorded the best individual match performance with his 2.55 rating against BURNING! and he was top rated in 4 of his 9 maps. Another amazing aspect of his game was winning clutch situations, as he had the event-high 12 1vsX rounds won (7 of 7 x 1vs1, 3 x 1vs2 and 2 x 1vs3).

Note: This ranking is based on Rating (if you're wondering what that is, read about it here). It doesn't necessarily represent an ordered list of the best players at the event, but instead singles out the ones who played good in their matches using the formula described in the page linked above.

Top Awpers

Two great awpers share the top spot statistically looking, as both Montaner and Markelov had 0.26 awpKPR. However, Montaner received the Best AWP award which can be justified by the fact that he had more total kills (100) and due to Markelov laying off the big green in the latter stages of the tournament, handing the responsibility to his teammate Ischuk (who in the end had 37 total kills, or 0.11 awpKPR).

#	Player	Team	awp Kills	awpKPR	% of kills
1.	Danny 'fRoD' Montaner	EG	100	0.26	33%
2.	Yegor 'markeloff' Markelov	Na´Vi	88	0.26	33%
3.	Christophe 'sixeR' Xia	BURNING!	48	0.21	25%
4.	David 'zid' Chin	Ue	44	0.20	33%
5.	Christopher 'Sunde' Sunde	mTw	53	0.20	27%

Top Pistol Round players

Two players from each mTw and Na´Vi among the best pistol round players speaks for itself about which teams won most pistol rounds, while there is also Niklas "niko" Johansson right behind them.

#	Player	Team	PR KPR	PR DPR	PR Rating
1.	Yegor 'markeloff' Markelov	Na´Vi	0.92	0.58	1.57
2.	Alexander 'ave' Holdt	mTw	0.94	0.44	1.55
3.	Christopher 'Sunde' Sunde	mTw	1.00	0.50	1.51
4.	Sergey 'starix' Ischuk	Na´Vi	0.96	0.54	1.48
5.	Niklas 'niko' Johansson	H2k	1.12	0.69	1.47

Top Entry-kill players

Getting the first kill in a round usually means 80% chance that you will win the round, and it seems to be something that mTw's Heldt has perfected by being the best at this event, and in top2 for the third event in a row. Also, Entry kills by EG's Gilbert and Montaner were surely one of the keys to their success in this tournament.

And here are a few interesting stats involving entry kills:

• It seems to be a real problem for BURNING!, as again they had a lot of trouble when their in-game leader Geno died first, losing 17 of 19 such rounds
• Player who was used most to break the barrier for his team was n0thing, involved in 26% of his team's entry duels, and he won 66% of them
• On the other hand, the least used for entry kills was mTw's Sunde, only 14%, but he won 70% of them and his team won 25 of 26 rounds when he got the first kill
• Tixo was the best or luckiest entry killer option for his team, as they won 78% of rounds regardless of whether he got the first kill or died first.

#	Player	Team	EKpR	EDpR	EK-DpR	Won%
1.	Martin 'trace' Heldt	mTw	0.16	0.06	+0.10	73%
2.	Yegor 'markeloff' Markelov	Na´Vi	0.14	0.05	+0.09	73%
3.	Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbert	EG	0.17	0.09	+0.08	66%
4.	Danny 'fRoD' Montaner	EG	0.15	0.08	+0.07	65%
5.	Danny 'zonic' Sørensen	mTw	0.12	0.05	+0.07	71%

Summary and honorable mention

There were a few other players from teams that played great but just weren't lucky enough to make it to playoffs such as Loaded, compLexity and iDemise. Two of Loaded's less internationally known players, Anthony "djibouti" Manosca and Paul "pauLy" Guerboyan had some incredible performances and it would definitely be great to see more of them in some future tournaments. 

Another two home players deserved to be complimented for their individual heroics, and they are a bit more familiar names in the scene - Thomas "thoMz" Garcia from compLexity and unavoidably good Kevin "aZn" Wang, this time playing for iDemise.

Another player has to be mentioned specifically due to his amazing awping, and that is Finesse's Sean "sgares" Gares. With only six maps played, he was breathing behind the necks of the top two awpers with an amazing 80 total kills, or even more amazing 0.45 awpKPR. If he continues with such form in the future, he is surely in line for a Best AWP award at some tournament.

As far as the choice for MVP or Best Player goes, it seems that Ischuk was the perfect one by all means. Perhaps if mTw had made it to the Final, Heldt would have been the one to pick up the award or at least be equal competition. This way the competition were EG's duo Gilbert and Montaner and mouz's Javadi, who were all a level slightly below Ischuk and more importantly, they didn't win the event.

We hope this article helped you get a better picture about the performances of some players that you might have missed as so many matches were going on at the same time. Or perhaps it will make you want to check out some of those performances yourself from our demo section. And if you want to see some more stats from this event click here and explore away. Stay tuned to HLTV.org as the next big event, GameGune in Bilbao, starts today!