ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals brought us another new champion and a first time HLTV MVP by ZOWIE winner in form of Timothy "autimatic" Ta. We'll inspect here how he earned the medal and who else deserved to be named among the Top players at last week's event.

With $600,000 distributed in São Paulo, Brazil among 12 teams, ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals was the fourth "Big event" that concluded since July's Major, bringing us another new team that lifted a trophy.

Cloud9 conquered the Brazilian event by defeating the home team SK in the grand final 2-1, as well as mousesports and OpTic in the semis and quarter-finals before that, respectively. On the other side of the bracket SK took down NiP in the semi-finals, who prior to that eliminated EnVyUs. EPICENTER champions dignitas surprisingly didn't make it out of the group stage, same as ESL One New York semi-finalists Liquid.

You can read more about our general takeaways from the event in Striker's "What we learned" article, whereas this piece will go more in-depth about the individual performances of the players.

autimatic with his HLTV MVP medal for ESL Pro League S4

Out of 55 players in attendance it was Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta who stood out the most and received his first HLTV MVP by ZOWIE medal. A couple of his teammates, along with a few players from other teams put in exceptional performances and earned their EVP selections, while all five members of the 2nd place finisher SK spearhead our Valuable Players list.

We will again be using Rating 2.0 in the article (which includes considerations for T/CT sides, additional stats such as opening kills, ADR, traded deaths, assists), as well as referring to our PotM (Player of the Map) picks that were mostly showcased on our Twitter feed (some were not posted as they were determined later due to stream issues and matches being played at the same time).

As usual, you can click on each player's name in the following list to jump to the section describing their performance, while if you are unfamiliar with the terms used in this article you can head to our glossary at the end of the article.

HLTV MVP by ZOWIE – autimatic

autimatic's career started several years ago, as he attended his first CS:Source LAN event in 2012 as a 15-year-old. But recognition didn't come until 2015, during which he first reached the LAN Finals of CEVO S6 and ESEA Invite S18 with Nihilum, and eventually turned some heads as a member of Tempo Storm with a superb performance in his first map win against a non-NA team, a triple OT thriller vs. Natus Vincere at CEVO S7 Finals. He finished 2015 off in a compLexity jersey and then at the start of this year transferred to TSM, where in June he achieved the biggest success of his career until that point – a top four placing at ECS Season 1 Finals. In August Cloud9 came knocking, looking for a replacement for Alec "⁠Slemmy⁠" White and autimatic continued on his path toward the top. More success came right away, with a 2nd place finish at Northern Arena and a semi-final run at StarSeries S2 Finals where we named him a Valuable Player in his first big event with C9. But neither that nor the solid performances at DH Bucharest and ELEAGUE group stage foretold what was about to come in Brazil, as autimatic wasn't the team's star at any of those events or in any of his previous teams. At ESL Pro League S4 Finals he didn't just become the star of Cloud9, he was the biggest star of the entire event - putting up the best performance of his career so far with a 1.25 rating (highest among playoff participants) and showing impeccable consistency with a rating above 1.00 in 11 of his 12 maps (tournament high 92%). Averaging 0.85 kills per round, 0.16 assists, 88.7 ADR & making a contribution in 75% of rounds ranked him among the best in each of those categories, which proved to be key to propelling Cloud9 to their first big title. He was the Player of the Map three times – in the very important group stage win over NiP (29:13, 118.2 ADR, 1.71 rating) and in both maps of the OpTic quarter-final series (46:22, 101.9 ADR, 1.58 rating total). And although he didn't get any more PotM nods, he played well in every other map of the playoffs too, ending up as the shared-best rated player of the semi-final series against mousesports (42:29, 84.0 ADR, 1.21 rating) and the best rated of the grand final against SK (70:50, 90.8 ADR, 1.28 rating). That earned him a 1.33 playoff rating, by far the best at the event. Another important stat that shows how much he dominated is our Impact rating, in which he led the tournament with 1.33. That takes into account opening kills, winning 1vsX situations (he had shared-most with 5) and most importantly in autimatic's case multi-kill rounds. He had two or more kills in 23% of his rounds (2nd most often after Ricardo "⁠boltz⁠" Prass) and led the tournament by getting the highly impactful three or more kills 26 times (including three aces), which led to a round win in 23 cases. Furthermore, Cloud9 were the best team at trading at the event and autimatic sat on top of that category in the team as well, with 25% of his deaths traded within 5 seconds, meaning he was often in good positions even when he was killed. All in all, autimatic was the most efficient and most consistent player of the event, and his newly discovered superstar-level play elevated Cloud9 to championship winning status, making him the easy pick for HLTV MVP by ZOWIE of ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals.

Exceptionally Valuable Players

Before the last day of action in São Paulo the frontrunner in the MVP race was NiP's Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund. The 26 year old Swede was the best player of the tournament going into Sunday, as he was named Player of the Map in four of the five victories that propelled NiP into the semis. Those included the opening win over SK on Cobblestone (29:13, 117.5 ADR, 1.59 rating), the 16-14 comeback win on Cache vs. NRG (26:19, 94.2 ADR, 1.24 rating) and both maps of the EnVyUs quarter-final (57:41, 96.8 ADR, 1.35 rating for the series). He didn't perform at that same level in the semi-final against SK though, but despite starting slow on map one he had a superb second half on Nuke (which included this shot) and wound up as the team's highest rated player of that series as well (although with a modest 0.96 rating).

The above ace is an example of his impact (1.33 Impact rating, same as the MVP), which also came in form of opening kills in which he ranked 4th at the event with 0.15 per round - most of them leading to a round win for NiP (22% of the team's round wins, 4th most). Additionally, he had 91.8 ADR overall and got at least one kill in 73% of the rounds NiP won, both of which rank first among playoff participants, and combined with the abovementioned impact rating showcase how valuable he was to NiP. This was GeT_RiGhT's second EVP performance in his last three events, as he was also the second best player of NiP's triumphant run at StarSeries S2 two months ago.

The main assistant to the MVP was his 18-year-old rising superstar teammate Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip, who bolstered his resume that already contained an EVP title from StarSeries S2 and VP from DH Bucharest. In addition to his in-game leading duties Cloud9's youngest member also had tournament-high 8 maps with a rating above 1.15 (all of which C9 won), and he was the Player of the Map three times (in group stage wins over FaZe and dignitas, and the second map of the grand final against SK). His overall numbers don't look too impressive due to a few poor performances (especially the group stage loss to SK), but he improved in the playoffs (1.13 rating, ranks 3rd) and overall provided great value in C9's map wins - a 1.21 rating, 85.1 ADR and a contribution in 77% of rounds. And as usual his kills made big impact considering Cloud9 won 78% of rounds when he got at least one kill (118 of 151), which was a tournament-high percentage.

The most famous Canadian player Mike "⁠shroud⁠" Grzesiek often shows glimpses of his potential, as he did a month ago at DreamHack Bucharest where we named him a VP of the event, but it had been over a year since he had a performance as good as this one in Brazil. To be precise, it was in July 2015 during the Finals of the first season of ESL ESEA Pro League that he put up similar numbers, and back then Cloud9 finished "only" second. This time his great form helped the team win their first big trophy, while he added stable fragging throughout the event (at least one kill in 53% of rounds, ranked 5th) and superb aim (0.48 headshots per round, ranked 1st), as well as overall consistency (contribution in 76% of rounds, ranked 4th). He was also Cloud9's best rated T-side player (1.19 rating, ranked 4th overall). Just like autimatic and Stewie2K, shroud was the Player of the Map on three occasions – against NRG in the group stage on Cache, mousesports in the semis on Cobblestone and the last map of the tournament, Dust2 against SK in the grand final. He also had a great game in the important clash against dignitas in the group stage (28:18, 101.7 ADR, 1.26 rating), but it was the playoffs where he excelled the most, having the second highest 1.15 rating and adding over 90 ADR in four of the six map wins, including the two in the grand final.

mousesports' newest member Christian "⁠loWel⁠" Garcia Antoran finds himself in the EVP category thanks to a superb performance in the group stage which, due to the nature of the tournament format, was where his team secured their top four finish. Although he underperformed in the first big series of his career, the semi-final vs. Cloud9, loWel was clearly the best player of the group stage, leading the way with the highest rating of 1.39 and topping several statistical categories, such as 0.93 kills per round, 0.25 assists per round and 103.5 damage per round. loWel started out with a bang, putting in a PotM performance against Liquid on Mirage with the best Terrorist half of the tournament (22:10, 181.9 ADR, 2.71 rating and 10 assists). He also played great in the key win over EnVyUs on Cache (26:14, 111.4 ADR, 1.65 rating), which secured mouz the first place in the group and a direct semi-final berth. The 19 year old Spaniard ended up with 119 damage per round in mousesports' round wins, which was the highest among all 30 playoff participants. And even after the semi-final loss, he ended up on top of the assists leaderboard with 0.21 per round (33 of his 34 assists came in a round win), showing his playmaking capabilities as he contributed to the team in more ways than just fragging. He also had five 1vsX situation wins (shared most).

Valuable Players

Continuing his good LAN form in the second half of 2016, Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub put in another consistent high level display for EnVyUs. With a 1.22 rating he ranked third at the event, as he did in the AWP kills per round category with 0.44. As one of only three players who had a rating above 0.85 in each of their maps (meaning he never had bad game), he contributed greatly to his team's playoff run. It was in particular his good play in nV's three map wins in the group stage (1.31 rating in the groups, ranked 2nd) that earned him a place this high on the VP list, but it wasn't enough for the higher category as he didn't perform at the same level in at least the mouz group stage match, if not also in the NiP series later.

SK had a great tournament until things went sideways in the second map of the final, only dropping a couple of maps to NiP and showing resilience to come back from a huge deficit in the Overpass opener against Cloud9. Then they inexplicably faltered and finished second after two big losses, which coupled with their very even load distribution throughout the event (each player stood out in one way or the other) meant none of their members got into the EVP list. Nevertheless, all five Brazilians made it to the VP list of their home event, and the closest to a possible MVP if they had won the trophy was Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga, the star of the semi-final win over NiP (68:48, 89.4 ADR, 1.23 rating), as well as the PotM of the Overpass overtime win vs. Cloud9 (30:26, 85.6 ADR, 1.05 rating). fer didn't have a bad game until those fateful last two maps of the grand final where he didn't even make it above single digit kills, which ultimately brought down his rating to a mere 1.01. Due to that it's worth pointing out that before the Cloud9 match he sat on a 1.13 rating and 85.8 ADR, both among the top ten of the event at the time, making him a very valuable asset on SK's road to the final.

Another SK member who was in contention for the MVP title (and he did win the public MVP vote) was Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo, who came into his home country's tournament in good form as an EVP at EPICENTER and VP at ESL One New York. He was SK's highest rated player going into the final with a 1.18 rating, but as everyone in the team he disappointed in the most important match. Nevertheless, he was involved in 95% of the rounds SK won, 5th most among playoff participants and the most in his team.

FalleN was as usual one of the best at getting the opening kill (showcased in the above video), having the 2nd highest average of 0.16 per round and the 3rd highest success rate of 64%. And even though he wasn't the best AWPer of the tournament this time (unlike EPICENTER), he still averaged a solid 0.37 AWP kills per round (ranked 6th).

Following his EVP display at DH Bucharest, Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert didn't have such an explosive tournament this time, but he was still very consistent having a rating above 1.00 in 8 of his 12 maps in Brazil. And it wasn't really required of him to put up the big numbers as the youngsters carried the weight just fine on their own, so n0thing ended up contributing more through a supportive role, dishing out team-high 0.17 assists per round and 24.2 damage per round that didn't lead to his own kills.

The most consistent SK member was Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David, who also ended up with the highest rating (1.09) and the most ADR (83.7) in the team. However, despite his consistency he struggled to make an impact when it was needed the most, too often contributing in rounds or even maps and matches his team eventually lost, like the NiP group stage opener on Cbble or the pistol ace in the semi-final that came too late. Nevertheless, he did provide solid contribution on the way to the final, having no bad maps in the group stage and the semis, and he was the team's only at-least-average rated player on the T-side (1.00). And aside from that pistol ace that didn't win the round, he was otherwise very good in pistol rounds with 1.36 kills per round (ranked 1st among playoff participants).

After ELEAGUE Season 1, mousesports reached the top four of a big event for the second time in Brazil, only on this occasion Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač didn't need to be the main star of the team as the newcomer loWel took up that mantle. The Bosnian 19-year-old still put up a very good 1.10 rating, 83.9 ADR and led the team with a multi-kill in 21% of his rounds (ranked 4th overall). He also had one PotM performance against OpTic, but like the rest of the team failed to put up a good enough fight against Cloud9 in the semi-final.

Much like kennyS, OpTic's Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas performed great in his first three maps and helped his team reach the playoffs, but then wasn't able to do the same against tougher opposition. With a 1.27 rating in the group stage, he was OpTic's star and one of the best players of the event at that point, partly thanks to a great opener against Liquid when he was the Player of the Map. He led the team in kills per round (0.79), ADR (87.1) and even bait assists (0.13 per round), while contributing with a kill in 74% of the rounds OpTic won - more often than even GeT_RiGhT in NiP.

Lincoln "⁠fnx⁠" Lau was another star of the group stage, as he had the third highest rating (1.30) and was the Player of the Map in two of SK's four map wins (vs. FaZe and Cloud9) that set them on their course straight to the semi-final. However, after being SK's best player in the group stage, he was the team's worst in the playoffs with a poor 0.83 rating, making him their least consistent player. Nevertheless, he contributed enough to their campaign to be labeled a Valuable Player for the second time in a row, following his performance at EPICENTER.

Although most of NiP's success at this event was down to the superb play of their aforementioned EVP GeT_RiGhT, the other four members all had a decent event, each with a rating above 0.85 in at least 7 of their 10 maps. One of the two who slightly stood out was Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg, as he contributed in a well above average 72% of rounds and had a few solid games, in particular the PotM performance in the playoff-spot clincher vs. FaZe.

Coming into the event in poor form, Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham found ways to step up and contribute to his team's success mainly through occasional picks with his AWP, but also adding an impressive PotM performance in the semi-final against mouz on Mirage. As usual he was the hardest player to kill at the event (survived 46% of his rounds), and counting that extreme survival count he managed to contribute in tournament-high 77% of rounds. However, he ended up dealing no damage in 70 of the 183 rounds Cloud9 won (38%, 2nd highest after Wilton "⁠zews⁠" Prado), which means his impact was quite low. On the flipside, when he did deal the damage it was very useful and effective – he had the tournament-high success rate in opening duels (71%) and the team won 30 of the 36 rounds when he got that opening kill. Furthermore, his AWPing was on point as he had a very good 0.39 AWPkpr (ranked 5th) and a 7.1 AWP kill-to-death ratio (121 AWP kills vs. 17 AWP deaths, ranked 1st), which makes a good case for him as the best AWPer of the event.

The fifth SK member who had a good event and couldn't be left out of the list was Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo, as he earned his first Valuable Player selection since we restarted the series thanks to his consistent contribution. In fact, he contributed in team-high 73% of rounds and mostly stood out with great play on Overpass, helping the team go 3-0 on the map throughout the event, including a PotM award during the NiP semi-final.

Another usually overshadowed player who stepped up in Brazil was mousesports' Timo "⁠Spiidi⁠" Richter. Much like TACO in SK, the 21 year old German had a team-high 73% of rounds with a contribution, and more importantly was involved in 96% of the rounds mousesports won during the tournament (4th most of all players). A decent portion of that came from his ability to trade kills and be traded, as he was involved in 0.36 trades per round (2nd most). In fact, 63% of his deaths in mousesports' round wins were traded (ranks 1st), meaning he often died in the right circumstances for the team to take advantage of the situation. Aside from the team-oriented contribution, he had over 20 kills in four of his six maps, especially standing out in the win over OpTic on Cache where he provided some great clutch play.

After his first three games, all of which EnVyUs won, Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt was one of the highest rated players of the event with a superb 1.50 rating, including a PotM performance in the Immortals opener. He fell off in the following three games that his team lost, but still ended up contributing in the most round wins for nV (95%), and was the player whose deaths were traded the most often at the event (29% of time).

Adding to his great performance at StarSeries S2 where he was an EVP, Mikail "⁠Maikelele⁠" Bill had another solid event before his farewell to NiP. Although he was mostly providing support and not the impact this time, he managed to contribute in 96% of the rounds the Swedes won, making him an integral part of their semi-final run. He also turned some heads with a PotM performance in the semi-final opener against SK on Nuke.

The only player who didn't make it past the group stage and yet found his place on this list is dignitas' Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif. Continuing his superb form from the past few months, the 18 year old Dane had an amazing start to the event with two PotM displays in the first two matches (vs. NRG and NiP), including the best individual performance on a map in the NRG win (26:6, 136.5 ADR, 2.25 rating). Although the team wound up losing the next three games and going home early, Magisk finished with the event's highest rating of 1.27 and the highest ADR of 94.7.

Those were the 20 names we wanted to single out as our Top players of ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals. A few more are worth mentioning – the duo that shined in Immortals despite their poor finish, boltz and Lucas "⁠LUCAS1⁠" Teles, as well as nV's Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer who had a decent event but didn't make the cut.

Some interesting stats for the end:

Stewie2K & 77% of all the damage NBK- dealt came in their teams' round wins, the most at the event

boltz had 131 ADR in Immortals' round wins, making him the biggest "carry" at the event

Maikelele had a 10:13 opening duels score on T side, but 10 of his 13 deaths were immediately traded, meaning his aggression created at least a 4vs4 situation for NiP in 87% of cases

Liquid lost 86% of the rounds when Josh "⁠jdm64⁠" Marzano dealt 0 damage (highest percentage at the event)

EnVyUs lost 20 of the 22 rounds when NBK- died first

33% of Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic 's kills were assisted, the most of all players

Skadoodle had 13 kills with the SSG08, by far the most

We still have video with the highlights of our MVP autimatic in the works, which will then conclude our recap of the event in Brazil. The next time we will be handing out an MVP award followed by an article like this will be IEM Oakland, so stay tuned for that.