The magnificent sh1ro: Cloud9 AWPer was highest-rated player of IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage

The superstar of Cloud9’s CS:GO team Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov was the best player, statistically speaking, of IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage. The Russian dedicated sniper averaged a 1.45 rating in eight maps played, according to HLTV.

Without sh1ro, C9 likely wouldn’t have advanced to Legends Stage.

The Russian powerhouse was 0-2 down after 19-17 losses to Fnatic and Grayhound, despite sh1ro recording 37 and 36 kills, respectively. He’d keep that level of play in the elimination matches, helping C9 against Imperial (73 frags), Evil Geniuses (36 frags), and GamerLegion (43 frags). Without him top-fragging versus Imperial and GamerLegion, C9 would struggle to survive in the competition.

Other than rating, sh1ro also was the No. 1 player in six different statistics. He finished Challengers Stage with a +89 K/D, had the highest number of kills (228), 58.1 percent rounds with more than one frag, 149 frags with the AWP, 0.59 AWP kills per round, and an outstanding 75 percent success rate in opening duels, according to HLTV.

Sh1ro aside, there were several players that shined with individual impact.

The youngster rifler of MOUZ Dorian “xertioN” Berman and the BIG AWPer Florian “syrsoN” Rische tied in the second position with 1.41 rating each, while FURIA star Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato (1.40 rating) and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut (1.39 rating) rounded out the top five.

Sh1ro will get the chance to keep proving himself as one of the best players in the world from Saturday and beyond when IEM Rio Major returns with the Legends Stage.