The 16th place on our Top 20 players of 2014 ranking by Xtrfy goes to Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen. He was dignitas' most valuable player throughout the year in which they made it to four semi-finals, including two at the majors. Furthermore, his performance at Gfinity 3 was one of the most memorable in 2014, while he also stood out as one of the best CT-side and pistol round players.

Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen is still one of the least experienced players at the very top of the scene, but that hasn't stopped him from ascending to big heights since the very start of CS:GO.

As we described last year, when he finished at the 18th place of our Top 20 players of 2013 ranking, he only started playing on a high level in 2012 and quickly rose to become one of the world's best fraggers.

After numerous lineup changes in 2013, dupreeh said at the start of 2014: "this time we have found the real lineup, and this one is not going to change unless something really unexpected occurs.", referring to the squad that took part at DH Winter.

However, something unexpected did occur at the very beginning as the team decided to remove Nicolaj "⁠Nico⁠" Jensen and bring René "⁠cajunb⁠" Borg to the roster.

At that time they were still going by the name über G33KZ after leaving Copenhagen Wolves, and it wasn't until mid-February that they finally found an organization to represent – dignitas.

A few days later, the new dignitas took part in DreamHack Stockholm Invitational #1 along with NiP, Titan and fnatic. It was not the start they were expecting, however, as they got sent back home immediately after 5-16 and 3-16 losses to fnatic and NiP, respectively.

dupreeh was actually the only one putting up some resistance in those losses, getting 0.73 kills per round and having a rating 36% above average for his team.

The first major of the year, EMS One Katowice, rolled around less than a month later and the Danes were looking like they are in much better shape. They eased past Reason and iBUYPOWER in the group stage, and then against HellRaisers in the quarter-final. But then NiP once again put a stop to their campaign (6-16, 5-16).



dupreeh played very well at the first major of 2014

dupreeh wasn't the star of any of the matches, but he actually contributed in by far the most rounds overall in his team (71.6%, also 3rd most in the tournament). That was the case in the NiP loss too, but it was still not a good performance for him with only 0.56 kills per round in the big series.

Next was a tournament in his home country, Copenhagen Games, where dignitas once again made it all the way to the semi-final only to see NiP knock them out – although not without a big fight this time (15-19, 11-16).

dupreeh was the team's second best player with a great 1.16 rating and even the team's best rating in round wins (1.21). However, the latter was partially the case due to his Man of the Match performance in the first playoff round against fm-eSports (50:31, 1.47 rating, 10 assists), while in the later rounds he took a back seat to his teammate Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz.

dupreeh's 1vs4 clutch against H2k at Cph Games

Nevertheless, dupreeh and device seemed to have formed a lethal duo by each scoring at least a kill or an assist in 100 of the team's 131 round wins (76%), which was later confirmed throughout the year as they kept combining well.

After their third loss to NiP in as many tournaments, the team removed cajunb and added a young rising star Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup due to the former's "attitude problems".

Their next LAN event was a distant three months away, as they decided to skip the upcoming DreamHack Summer due to exams.

In the meantime the new lineup looked very good online, finishing second in FACEIT Spring League after topping the regular season standings, and winning SCAN Invitational over NiP.

When the time came for the LAN debut at Gfinity 3 the Danes seemed to be on point, destroying their opposition in the group stage - namely Titan, Virtus.pro, mousesports and ESG.

dupreeh was playing amazingly well and was the best player of day one with a 1.45 rating, including a Man of the Match performance in their closest match against mousesports (35:14, 1.97 rating, POV).

dupreeh's POV vs. mousesports at Gfinity 3

He didn't quiet down in the quarter-final against NiP either, as dignitas continued their incredible play and for the first time defeated the Swedes on LAN (16-4, 16-11) after another superb performance by dupreeh (43:22, 1.43 rating, map 1 POV).

But then the team inexplicably broke down and lost a 1-0 lead against Virtus.pro in the semi-final, thus finishing in 3rd-4th place yet again.

dupreeh was the only one playing above average in his team in that series, as he concluded what was one of the most impressive individual performances of the entire year (1.31 rating).

Eleven days later it was time for ESL One Cologne, the second major of the year. dignitas had some trouble in the group stage this time as Cloud9 edged them out 16-14, but Titan were no match for the Danes who went through to the playoffs with a 16-1 win.

Next in the line were Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon's Epsilon who also turned out being an easy obstacle for dignitas (16-9, 16-8), largely thanks to great play by dupreeh who was top rated in both maps (50:28, 1.45 rating, at least one kill in 28 of 32 round wins, 1st map POV, 2nd map POV).

However, in the all-important semi-final against the new fnatic lineup he didn't perform at the needed level. It was a relatively close loss (11-16, 14-16), which made dupreeh's underperformance even more apparent, seeing as he only managed to score a kill in 21 out of 57 rounds (37%).

He still ended the tournament as the team's best fragger (0.81 KPR) and as the biggest difference maker in the rounds they won (a kill or assist in 81% of them).



For the first time in 2014 dignitas failed to make the playoffs at DH Stockholm #2

Then after eight months of top four finishes, dignitas failed to make it out of the group stage at their next event – DreamHack Stockholm Invitational #2. It was not due to a terrible performance as both of their losses came in overtime, but it was a worrying result.

dupreeh played well in their first two matches, especially in the 16-19 loss to fnatic where he had a 30:25 score (CT side POV), but he then underperformed in the deciding match against 3DMAX where he put up only 0.58 kills per round and contributed in only 56% of the rounds.

He continued where he left of at the FACEIT Season 2 Finals with a string of terrible performances in losses to fnatic and iBUYPOWER, having a miserable 0.37 kills per round in the first three maps.

Though he did manage to save some face with a Man of the Match performance against the North Americans in the fourth map, that match meant nothing as they were eliminated as soon as their opponents reached four rounds.



cajunb was brought back ahead of ESWC

As soon as they returned home from Italy, with ESWC only days away, dignitas decided it was time to add more firepower to the squad by bringing back cajunb.

The team looked solid at the start, topping their group ahead of none other than iBUYPOWER, while dupreeh was back in shape with two Man of the Match performances – against Japanese Cipangu.GO and more impressively against mousesports (28:10, 1.98 rating, POV).

However, when it came to another big clash with the Poles of Virtus.pro in the quarter-final, dupreeh was underwhelming and only managed to score team-low 0.48 kills per round, resulting in a 1-2 loss.

They went to Fragbite Masters Season 3 Finals a week later, but came back empty handed after a lower bracket final loss to fnatic (6-16, 13-16). dupreeh was this time the only one in his team playing above average in the series, partially thanks to his great play in the second map (25:20, 1.23 rating, 1st half POV).

Despite the lineup change, dignitas' play didn't seem to improve much since FACEIT Finals, so they went into the last major of the year - DreamHack Winter - as a question mark. Their group fortunately became easier when Titan were removed due to Hovik "⁠KQLY⁠" Tovmassian's VAC ban, so they strolled past PENTA and the new iBUYPOWER lineup to reach the playoffs for the fourth major in a row.



dupreeh & co. weren't happy with their DH Winter result

But then in the quarter-final they struggled again, this time falling victim to Natus Vincere (3-16, 13-16). dupreeh was actually solid in the series, again as the team's best by contributing in 67% of the rounds, but it was far from enough.

He finished the tournament with the team's second best 1.04 rating, and was the best in the rounds they won (1.07 rating, kill or assist in 81% of rounds), so it was a solid way to end the year at least on an individual basis.

After the event, however, dignitas decided it was time to change the lineup from the core so they removed the in-game leader Henrik "⁠FeTiSh⁠" Christensen and added Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen.

In their first outing with the new lineup only days after the announcement, the Danes managed to qualify for the first big event of 2015, MLG X-Games Aspen, by defeating Titan, Virtus.pro and LDLC.

Why is he the 16th best player of 2014?

Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen was dignitas' most valuable player throughout the year, especially at the three majors, and even at their bad events.

Although with no titles to boast with, he does have four notable semi-final finishes - at EMS One Katowice, Copenhagen Games, Gfinity 3 and ESL One Cologne – in all of which he contributed immensely. Additionally, he has 5th-8th placements at the last major, DH Winter, and at ESWC.

His best performance (1.31 rating at Gfinity 3) was one of the most impressive of the entire year, while he was also great at the majors where dignitas were almost unable to win rounds without his contribution (he had a kill or assist in 80% of the rounds they won).

Most notably he was one of the best players on the CT side throughout 2014 – perhaps even the best - having the 2nd highest rating (1.39), the highest KPR (0.94) and contributing in the most rounds with a kill, assist or by surviving (78.3%). He was also a force to be reckoned with in entry duels on the CT side, having won an incredible 70% of them – 3rd highest behind two AWPers.

And unsurprisingly he was the second most lethal player with the M4s (he used both M4A1 and M4A4 at times) with 0.30 kills per round.



dupreeh was perhaps the best CT-side player of 2014

Furthermore, dupreeh was the best player in pistol rounds with a 1.36 rating and scoring exactly 1 kill per pistol round.

However, while those overall stats did improve his ranking slightly, on the other hand he was the worst T-side player among the top twenty (only a 0.84 rating), and similarly to his teammate device was more often than not underperforming in big matches (0.92 rating).

Therefore, together with having no MVP titles and considering the unimpressive performance streak at a few events, he was placed at the 16th spot.

In the end, perhaps it's interesting to note that his style doesn't revolve around having many huge rounds, but he gives his opponents the 2-kill punch more often than anyone else (he had only 6 rounds with 4+ kills, but the most with exactly 2 kills – 0.16 per round played).

What is your take on Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen's performance in 2014? Was it enough to earn a place in the Top 20? Should he have been higher?

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.

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