One of the most versatile players in the game, Olof "olofm" Kajbjer takes the 12th place on our Top 20 players of 2014 ranking by Xtrfy. He was rarely a star but always one of the best players in both LGB and fnatic throughout the year, particularly excelling at ESL One Cologne and ESWC.

Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer was a known name in the CS 1.6 scene for years, but mostly for his stand-in duties or seasonal appearances in upcoming Swedish teams and mixes, but he never made the step to play in a big and serious team.

He first started standing out from Sweden's deep talent pool as a 17-year-old in 2009 with a team called Aquintra. They qualified for that year's DreamHack Summer, but he ended up not attending as the lineup was fully revamped.

Later back in the Aquintra mix olofmeister played at the WCG Sweden 2009 qualifier with Markus "⁠pronax⁠" Wallsten and Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström, and the relatively unknown youngsters put up a great fight against some more established players from H2k.

But he didn't build on the potential shown there. Instead, olofmeister kept playing only as a stand-in or in mix teams such a2g or duttdutt over the next two years, most notably appearing in a RAGE-Gaming squad with pronax and Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman for a few months in late 2010.

As CS:GO came around olofmeister was presented as a part of a new H2k squad but that team didn't even last a month and didn't take part in any notable tournaments.

At the start of 2013 he stood in for, and later temporarily joined, pronax's Absolute Legends. Few months into the year he qualified for DreamHack Summer with an ESG squad that contained Mikail "⁠Maikelele⁠" Bill and Alexander "⁠SKYTTEN⁠" Carlsson, but was once again unable to attend the big event.

In September of 2013 olofmeister finally got it right when he joined Maikelele and SKYTTEN in a rising LGB squad, where he also teamed up with Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson for the first time.

They also added dennis and quickly earned a notorious online reputation as they were able to upset some of the best teams in the world.

LGB started proving themselves by taking down Na`Vi in their first LAN event Techlabs Minsk, and even though they failed to make it out of the group stage at ESWC later, it was only by a hair.

Then they finally completely proved themselves at the game's first major, DreamHack Winter. olofmeister & co. this time made it through to the playoffs and even managed to push the big Ninjas in Pyjamas to their limits in the quarter-final.

They did that once again at the Svecup Finals where NiP bested them after one of the closest series of the year, so LGB were starting to become recognized as one of the best teams in the world.

However, their first move in 2014 was to make a lineup change which saw them removing Maikelele and SKYTTEN and adding Simon "⁠twist⁠" Eliasson and Isak "⁠cype⁠" Rydman.

With over a month until EMS One Katowice, LGB had enough time to prepare before they came to the first major of the year, and it ended up being their best performance yet.

In the group stage, despite olofmeister's small contribution, the Swedes made it past Na`Vi and compLexity with ease. The playoffs pitted them against reigning major champions fnatic and with olofmeister now topping the scoreboard for LGB they managed to overcome their opponents by the slightest of margins (map 3 VOD).

The home team Virtus.pro was awaiting in the semi-final. Even though they were beat down by the Poles on maps one and three, LGB managed to grab a map in-between – something no other team did at the tournament.



olofm at EMS One Katowice

Throughout the tournament olofmeister only managed to somewhat impress in the fnatic series, but that was the key match for them in Katowice as it sent them to the semi-final. So even though he ended up with a 0.99 rating for the tournament, he still made very valuable contribution to the team.

A few weeks after their success we published a story about the team's history with plenty of input from olofmeister himself. Going into their next event, Copenhagen Games, LGB were ranked 6th in the world in our April ranking.

They justified that ranking by reaching the quarter-final, but there they once again fell to the Poles of Virtus.pro.

olofmeister underperformed in that big clash having only 20 rounds with a kill out of 54. So even though he was the team's best player over the previous two series when they beat oXmoze and Maikelele's Property, and that resulted in a 1.28 rating for the tournament, it wasn't that impressive due to the poor play at the end.

A few days later the team surprisingly decided to leave LGB, and it was rumored they were on their way to join a bigger organization. However, a month later with no news dennis left the team and KRIMZ followed suit, which led to them withdrawing from DreamHack Summer and eventually disbanding completely.

A comeback looked like a possibility for a while as they had a spot at the next major, but it never happened as olofmeister together with KRIMZ went on to join fnatic at the very end of June.



Teaming up with his old CS 1.6 teammate pronax in fnatic

Their first event came a little over a month later, at the beginning of August – Gfinity 3. The first match didn't go according to plan, as they drew against iBUYPOWER, but then four wins followed including over NiP and Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon's Epsilon so they managed to top their group.

olofmeister didn't dominate except against Infused (31:20, 1.53 rating) but he was fnatic's best fragger (0.77 kills per round) and most consistent contributor with a kill, assist or survival in 74.2% of rounds, or 92.4% of round wins.

On the next day in the playoffs he inexplicably dropped off and had only 0.43 kills per round against mousesports, but his team still managed to overcome the Germans on overtime in map three and advance to the semi-final.

However, even though he played somewhat better against Titan (26:13 on map two, CT side POV) the Frenchmen were too big of a bite for the new team, so fnatic had to bow out in 3rd-4th place at their first tournament together.

In the end due to the poor play in the playoffs olofmeister's rating dropped from 1.17 to 0.96, but he still ended up contributing in most rounds for the team overall (67% of all rounds and 91% of round wins).

There were still some kinks to work out with the new squad ahead of the upcoming major, ESL One Cologne, but fnatic came well improved and showed some great play already at the start.

In the opening match where they were powered by olofmeister's 29:11 (1.93 rating, POV) the Swedes defeated iBUYPOWER 16-7, and then edged out Virtus.pro on overtime 19-16 to top the group with another Man of the Match performance by him (31:25, 7 assists, 1.22 rating, VOD).

olofm's MAG-7 action at 12-15 against Virtus.pro in Cologne

A nail-biting clash with Natus Vincere followed in the quarter-final, and fnatic pulled through with a 16-14 win on map three. olofmeister had a solid series despite not being the star this time, as he contributed in 73% of the rounds.

dignitas were standing in the way of the grand final, but fnatic once again made it past the hurdle with a 16-14 win, although now on map two. olofmeister played a more central role in this series as one of the three big stars together with KRIMZ and Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist.

More notably when the score stood at 14-14 he made one of the most impressive moves of the year, getting the defuse milliseconds before dying to a Molotov fire to put his team on match point.

Burning defuse at 14-14 against dignitas in the semi-final of ESL One Cologne

He continued his great play at this event in the final, but it wasn't enough against Ninjas in Pyjamas who bested fnatic 16-13 on the third map to clinch the big trophy.

olofmeister ended up second in the team by rating (1.19), but he was by all other accounts their best player – he top fragged with 0.86 KPR, contributed in most rounds (72%), was most successful in entry kills (58%) and perhaps most importantly was highest rated in their round wins.

After reaching the semi-final at Gfinity and final at ESL One Cologne, fnatic went one step further two weeks later at SLTV StarSeries X Finals and won the event, beating Natus Vincere for the title.

Despite ending up as only 4th in the team with a 1.05 rating and being less impactful this time, olofmeister still had a solid event without any bad performances.

That wasn't the case at their next event, DreamHack Stockholm in front of Swedish fans, where he put in one of the worst performances anyone had in a big match throughout 2014.

He actually played well in the group stage as fnatic beat 3DMAX and dignitas to clinch first place, but then in another semi-final against Titan he scored only 7 kills over two maps (7:40 score) and largely contributed to his team's demise.

At FACEIT Season 2 Finals olofmeister was back in the shape he was in at SLTV StarSeries X Finals previously, having a 1.06 rating as fourth in the team on their way to the second title.



olofm played amazingly well at ESWC

Next up was ESWC in Paris, France only days later, and there olofmeister looked like a star from the start, being the team's best player in the group stage as they recorded four wins and a loss.

After a solid match against HellRaisers in the quarter-final he exploded in the semi-final against Virtus on the second map, having a Man of the Match performance (32:15, 6 assists, 1.81 rating, VOD).

He completed his amazing performance at the French event with another great display in the final as fnatic beat LDLC (44:33, 13 assists, 1.15 rating, map 1 VOD), but even the 1.35 rating he ended up with for the tournament wasn't enough to call him the MVP since his teammate KRIMZ played even better.

It looked like olofmeister found his place in the team as he continued racking up good performances, next at Fragbite Masters Season 3 Finals. He particularly impressed in the consolidation final series against Virtus.pro (40:19, 1.43 rating, map 2 VOD), but also left a mark in the final against LDLC with a Man of the Match display on map two (27:8, 1.83 rating, POV).

After three very busy weeks during which they attended and won three events, fnatic took a break until the next major - DreamHack Winter. In the meantime cheating accusations against some of their players arose and gathered speed, so they came into the big event with a lot to prove.

However, they were surprised by HellRaisers in the group stage in the battle for first place, losing it 14-16, a match in which olofmeister underperformed and scored only 0.43 kills per round.

But he more than made up for it with a superb Man of the Match performance against Cloud9 in the deciding match, having put up 32 kills in a 16-5 win (32:12, 2.26 rating).

olofm's POV vs. Cloud9 at DreamHack Winter

In the quarter-final they were paired up with their big new rivals LDLC, and when it came to map three, olofmeister was at the center of one of the biggest scandals of the year. Using the now infamous boost after being down at the half 3-12, he helped fnatic come back and win the map, only to witness it deemed illegal and their map win revoked.

Although they were supposed to replay the third map, fnatic decided to back out of the tournament and forfeit the match due to community pressure, thus ending their campaign in the quarter-final.

The Swedes still had work to do in 2014, and with around ten days of cooling their heads off from the DreamHack Winter scandal, they traveled to Dallas, Texas for ESEA Season 17 Global Finals.

Despite swiping the floor with eLevate in the first match, they looked vulnerable against the weakened Titan lineup, which showed even more against Virtus.pro in the upper final which they ended up losing.

But then on day two they found their form and came back from the lower bracket to defeat the Poles in two best of three series, helped by stable play from olofmeister who was top rated in the match (92:68, 22 assists, 1.28 rating).

AWP ace against Virtus.pro in the grand final of ESEA S17

Thanks to that performance in the grand final he also ended up as fnatic's top rated player of the tournament, which makes him one of the MVP candidates, although with a modest 1.09 rating.

With five titles in the last few months of the year, fnatic were named the number one team in the world according to our December world ranking.

Why is he the 12th best player of 2014?

Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer was never fully a star in either LGB or fnatic throughout 2014, but he was always one of the best players in both squads. Despite some inconsistencies during a few tournaments, he usually performed well above average.

He grabbed five titles near the end of the year as fnatic started dominating, while he also came back successful from the first two majors – 3rd-4th at EMS One Katowice with LGB and 2nd at ESL One Cologne with fnatic.

Although he had no MVP performances, his peaks at ESWC and ESL One Cologne were some of the best individual displays of the year. He also did very well at a few smaller events, ESEA S17 Finals and Fragbite Masters 3 Finals, and he was a stable contributor during fnatic's title runs at SLTV StarSeries X and FACEIT S2 Finals.

However, there were a few holes in his performance, such as the DreamHack Stockholm and Gfinity playoffs.

Overall, he was one of the hardest players to kill in 2014 with only 0.63 deaths per round (5th) and while he didn't dominate as much as some, he was one of the players who most often got at least one kill in the round – 9th with 50.1%.

He was in the top 20 in many other categories, such as kills per round (16th, 0.75), rounds with kill, assist or survival (13th, 67.2%), entry kills per round (20th, 0.12), T-side entry kills per round (19th, 0.10), AWP kills per round (11th, 0.11) and pistol round rating (6th, 1.23) - making him one of the most versatile players in the game.

But as someone who was not a star in either of his teams and with no big MVP performances - but with great contribution to his team's success - olofmeister was placed at the 12th spot.

Lastly, he was one of the best players on Inferno (2nd with a 1.21 rating), and of course on Overpass (6th with a 1.15 rating) - the map he left the biggest mark on with even Valve giving his fearless defuse a tribute.

What is your take on Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer's performance in 2014? Is the 12th place the right one for him?

Our Introduction article has all the info you need to know about the Top 20 players of 2014 ranking by Xtrfy, including an updated list.

Follow Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer on Facebook and Twitter.