Number 15 on our top 20 ranking powered by EGB.com goes to René "cajunb" Borg, a first timer on the list. While Borg is known to fly under the radar more often than not, he has has been an incredibly consistent swiss-army knife type of a player throughout 2015.

René "⁠cajunb⁠" Borg started to gain some notoriety in 2011 playing for CS:S team CKRAS with Henrik "⁠FeTiSh⁠" Christensen, the IGL who would end up bringing cajunb to the team he is in today, although not without some hiccups.

When CS:GO had just come out, cajunb started playing in HastaLaVista with the likes of Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen and Jacob "⁠Pimp⁠" Winneche, a team that would end up being picked up by Anexis right before ESWC 2012.

After his time in Anexis, cajunb took a short break to go through basic training in the military before reuniting with FeTiSh in CPH Wolves, a team that also featured Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen and Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz in the lineup.



cajunb at DH Summer 2013 with CPH Wolves

During the umpteenth shuffle in Denmark, cajunb ended up leaving this lineup and in his stead came Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth. cajunb then signed for Pimp’s PRIMETIME, which lasted a week until three of its players joined n!faculty, where cajunb and Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen would meet.

CPH Wolves had just lost their CS:GO team, which now went by the name über G33KZ when Nicolaj "⁠Nico⁠" Jensen was kicked out due to internal disputes. Brought in to replace him was none other than cajunb.

His stay wouldn’t be long though as a few months later cajunb left the team to join his ex-teammates karrigan and Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander, his teammate from Anexis Pimp, and the player he replaced in dignitas (then known as über G33KZ) Nico to form LeftoverZ, a team which would go on to be signed by CPH Wolves.



Same jersey, different faces

The project broke down and cajunb was on his way back to dignitas to replace a young Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup, the player brought in during his absence. Finally, karrigan replaced FeTiSh and gave the team a tactical facelift, at last putting together a stable lineup for cajunb.

With two years of instability left behind, cajunb wouldn’t be all that wrong when he said: "Without jinxing it too much, I do believe that this will be our year. We have the right fundamentals and support that we need to reach our goals next year."

After MLG X Games in Aspen, Colorado, where cajunb had a 1.06 (+16) rating in a bronze medal run, the team left dignitas and found a new home in TSM with the prospects of growth. The team’s first major event under their new sovereign was ESL One Katowice, where they fell to Ninjas in Pyjamas (2-1) in the quarterfinals.

cajunb receives his bronze medal

A bronze medal at their last event for dignitas

Let’s talk about Borg’s quarterfinal match, though. TSM lost to NiP and yet he was tied for the highest rating of the four quarterfinal matches with 1.32 and had the second highest kill-death difference (+22) for a spectacular performance in that series.

cajunb’s rating at the Polish major was 1.13 with a +22 kill-death difference (he was even before the NiP quarterfinal), earning him the best rating in the team for the first out of four times in 2015.

The next event TSM would attend was SLTV StarSeries XII in Kiev, where they lost in the lower bracket final to Ninjas in Pyjamas for another 3rd place finish. cajunb had the second best stats in the team behind device with a 1.01 (+6) rating.

The next tournament the team played was CPH Games on home turf, where cajunb ended up having over 100 kdd (+105) and a 1.27 in the team’s run to the final which they would end up losing to Virtus.pro.



cajunb had a great event at CPH Games

The team’s next event was ESL’s Pro League Winter 2014/15 finals. TSM made another semifinal run with Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller standing in for device who had to sit the tournament out due to sickness, and cajunb was a big part of that run with a 1.14 (+41) rating, the second best in the team.

TSM had won the CCS Blue Group over fnatic (2-1) earning them a spot at the CCS finals in Bucharest, which would end up being their first tournament win of the year—again at fnatic's expense (2-1). cajunb was the team’s second best player with a rating of 1 (+8).

cajunb’s first two tournaments in the red zone in 2015 happened at FACEIT League 2015 Stage 1 finals and Fragbite Masters S4 finals. He had a 0.92 rating in both tournaments, but he wasn’t really a drag considering the team went on to win both and he contributed in an above average number of rounds in both wins.

ESL ESEA Season 1 finals proved to be disastrous for the team. cajunb managed a 1.39 rating in two maps, though, including a monstrous 1.76 (+12) performance in an agonizing 16-14 loss to fnatic, showing he can step-up to the plate when his team needs him the most.

Next up was FACEIT League 2015 Stage 2 finals in Valencia, cajunb’s best tournament of the year. He led his team in rating 1.30 (+48) throughout the tournament and had 81.3% of rounds with a kill, assist, or survival in the 2-0 victory over Cloud9.



cajunb at DH Valencia, his best tournament of the year

The biggest upset of the year in terms of losing to lesser opposition came at Acer Predator Masters Season 1, where the team were out in 7th-8th position after 5 maps, with all players on the team with a rating of less than 1. cajunb was tied for the best rating in the team with 0.97.

The team came back up for air at IEM Gamescom in preparation for the ESL One Cologne major coming up later in the month. The tournament went well for cajunb who ended up with a 1.19 (+47) rating, second best in the team, who ended up losing the oddly formatted final to EnVyUs (3-0) in the battle for first place.

ESL One Cologne rolled around and TSM were ready to prove that their successes during the year were no fluke, and they were now a team contending for the highest of achievements. The team however eventually dropped out in the semifinal after losing 2-1 to EnVyUs, failing to reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. cajunb had a 0.96 rating and was the worst in the team for the first of only three times all year.

ESL ESEA Dubai Invitational 2015 and DreamHack Open London 2015 were two good tournaments for TSM as they made the finals both times. cajunb had ratings of 1.00 and 1.01 with a +6 kdd in both.

PGL Season 1 was going to be the team’s last first place finish of the year, with a well-deserved win over VP in the final. cajunb came last in the team with a 0.97 (-4) rating, which seems to cement the theory that cajunb shows up the most when the team really needs him, and lets his teammates take the spotlight when they’re on fire.



Getting the victory in Bucharest

After eight finals and five first places in the last 11 tournaments played, TSM were highly favored to finally take home a top trophy in Cluj-Napoca. The major ended up being the biggest disappointment of the year for TSM, though, as they fell out during their quarterfinals clash against NiP, being dominated 2-0 (16-8, 16-10).

cajunb showed he could show up to the big events, and posted a 1.08 (+10) rating in Cluj, the second best in the team, before the team’s 5th-8th place exit.

The team’s next events were IEM San Jose, where cajunb had a solid showing in the team’s second place run with a 1.13 (+22) rating, and FACEIT League 2015 Stage 3 Finals, where TSM finished 3rd-4th and where cajunb had a 1.01 (+2) showing.

The team rebranded as team questionmark, or quite simply “?”. The first tournament they played since leaving TSM was Fragbite Masters Season 5 Finals. The tournament was an absolute disaster for cajunb who had his only bad tournament of the year (under 0.85) with a 0.79 (-20) rating, the worst in the team.

The last event of the year, ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2 wasn’t particularly hot for cajunb either as he ended up with one of his lower ratings (0.90) on the team during their semifinal run in Burbank.

Why is he the 15th best player of 2015?

cajunb wasn’t particularly exceptional at any one facet of the game during the whole year, but what makes him so incredibly useful is the fact that he is above average in almost every aspect. As an all-around player, cajunb is in a group with only four other players to have above average ratings with pistols, rifles, and AWPing.

cajunb showed character as he was able to perform when his team was down which, while not being something that counts toward the ranking, shines through in his overall consistency.

While cajunb wasn’t really an MVP in any occassion, even in tournaments where he had the highest rating of the team, he was a highly valued player in three tournaments, CPH Games, where the team were finalists, CCS kick-off, where the team won, and FACEIT League Stage 2, his best tournament of the year.



cajunb during TSM's opening match at IEM San Jose against Cloud9

With 76.8% of maps (88% at majors) above a 0.85 rating, cajunb rarely had a poor game. On top of that, he boasts a +291 kdd and only 0.64 deaths per round, the 12th best of the year in both statistics.

Finally, while cajunb may not necessarily be considered the second best player in the team, he is the second best performer in important matches (semifinals and finals), according to his 1.01 rating.

What did you think of cajunb's 2015? Where would you have rated him? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Stay tuned to our Top 20 players of 2015 ranking powered by EGB.com and keep track of the list over at the Introduction article.