The high level and outstanding performance in major events have allowed Russia's Dzhami "Jame" Ali to be named to the HLTV TOP 20 Player of the Year for the first time, and it ranks tenth.
The Russian sniper first appeared in public view in April 2017, when 18-year-old James took part in the SLTV Pro Series XVII with a team named NOVA, which became his first game on HLTV. The team also included Pavel "PASHANOJ" Legostaev and Dmitry "dimasick" Matvienko, who had been successful in the Minor qualifiers, but their subsequent qualifications were cancelled due to the VAC ban of the team's player Bogdan "Naumoff" Naumov.
"Life itself brought me into the game, everyone in our country should know about CS as a game, I don't remember my first experience in the competition, but definitely lost."
In August 2017, Jame, who was the core player of the team, chose to join AVANGAR, which became a decisive step in his career, and thanks to the invitation of dimasick at that time, he had the opportunity to meet his future teammates Aleksei "Qikert" Golubev and Timur "buster" Tulepov in this Kazakhstani team.
"I joined AVANGAR through the introduction of dimasick, when I had a good performance on HLTV, but to be honest, AVANGAR was completely incomparable with the original team, whether it was the attitude to the game, the conditions and the goal of the game. It was also the first professional team I joined. ”
Just a month after James joined, the team's world rankings reached the top 30 in the world, and they participated in cups including HellCase, LOOT Cup and various qualifiers. Most importantly, they stood out from the CIS Minor and won the ELEAGUE Boston Major that year.
The sniper's first year of his career didn't look much brighter, earning just 1.06 individual Rating, but the real splash had to start in 2018. Coming to Major, they were close to reaching the challenger stage with a win, but in the end they lost to the Liquid team in the overtime BO1, although it was a little regrettable, but this experience also made them very rewarding.
"We won our first Minor, which was our first big offline event, and although we lost to Team Liquid in the competition for the top sixteen, we realized that we were perfectly capable of being a stronger presence."
"We've always been eager to beat the top teams, and that's the law of CS, where any team has a chance to beat a stronger opponent. We're in the top ten in 2021, so let's see what happens next. ”
AVANGAR won ten online cups and various online qualifiers in 2018, and like the Gambit Youngsters in 2020, they began to gain fame in the secondary competitions, and it was a bit of a pity that the team did not qualify for the FACEIT London Major, but ended the year with the world's top twenty rankings. Jame also began to be the top player in the field that year, earning 1.16 individual Rating that year, and even won the recognition of the world's strongest conductor that year.
"It's hard to predict, but I want to pick James. He was so much pain in the ass during the practice session. —2019 Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander's Rising Star Awards.
"For many people, having the approval of the world's strongest players feels doubly confident, especially in terms of motivation. I'm no exception, especially when the world's strongest conductor mentions you. ”
James scored 1.13 individuals at the beginning of the year in the group stage of the IEM Katowice Major, which is a good start to 19 years. After that, the team won some secondary championships including the DH Rio de Janeiro Open and the WePlay Masters Forge, but by the end of the year, the team's status gradually declined.
At this time, the addition of Kazakh veteran Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev became a good medicine for the team, and the undesirable team on the StarLadder Berlin Major won incredible results. Their fairytale experience made it all the way to the final, but unfortunately they fell under the iron hooves of Astralis. James' subsequent victory on the BLAST Pro Tour in Moscow won him international attention, and he also successfully received an MVP medal since the EVP on Major. In 2019, James received an annual average of 1.26 Rating, but because the team missed too many major events, he failed to reach the TOP 20 list that year.
In 2019, the audience finally understood the meaning of "pain in the ass" mentioned by gla1ve, the Russian constantly putting pressure on the opponent and harvesting the endgame on the field, and he was also the most difficult to kill existence. It is also because of Jame's love of guns and AVANGAR's control of the attacker's map and the defender's keen bet points that the Russian conductor seems to have AWP in every game to punish those who are too aggressive.
Although effective, James's style has also been criticized by many people, and even the "Jame Time" meme has appeared later. But fortunately, they don't care about this, and even this style of play is still used today.
(What do I think about my memes?) It's cool, I should have hyped it up quietly and used it to boost my influence, maybe I should regret not making it into various currencies. But to be honest, if you really want to do this, this stem is not interesting. ”
"There were a lot of situations where I shouldn't have saved my gun, and I was very inexperienced at the time, and that would have devastated our economy to a great extent. Even the eco bureau still plays at a very slow pace, and it seems funny for the USP and other UZI to pay you. A lot of people rush to you in order to take the head, but as the level of competition increases, such behavior becomes less. It is best to inflict some damage on the opponent before a person can save the gun. 'Jame time' sometimes speaks not only of the gun, but also of the endgame that drives the opponent crazy. StarLadder Major, for example, refers to the impressive killings. —James, December 2020
2019 came to a perfect end with the collective transfer of AVANGAR, who successfully wore the jersey of Virtus.pro, one of the most well-known teams in the CIS region. It is precisely because they have just entered well-known teams, are tired of competing, and other teams are gradually familiar with their playing styles, etc., that they are in trouble at the beginning of 2020. Even so, Jame still got a steady 1.07 Rating with the team playing only two events.
Buster chose to rest, while Adrena chose to leave, and the addition of Mareks "YEKINDAR" Ga inskis set the flames for VP's success in the second half. They then won the first CIS regional RMR event of the year, IEM New York 2020 CIS, and then the million-dollar event FlashPoint League Season 2, the DH December Open, ending the year with high standards.
"Then my practice time improved a lot compared to the first two years of my career, but it peaked in 2020 after Marek [YEKINDAR] joined. His crazy standard of 167 hours in 2 weeks required me to have to catch up. ”
The duo of Jame and YEKINDAR has set the stage for VP's 2021 success, a team command/sniper and breakthrough combination that personally ranks among the best in almost every event that strives for a high ranking.
With cs_summit 7 starting in January, Jame has a better start. There was no competition from the top teams in this "warm-up" tournament, and players like NIP, MOUZ and fnatic could not compete with the in-form VPs in the end. Jame won his second MVP of his career with his outstanding personal data, including a Rating of 1.31, 80.4% KAST and 5 endgame wins under 10 maps.
He continued to play efficiently in the subsequent IEM Katowice Wild Cards, reaching the knockout rounds and also playing well in the semi-final defeat to Liquid (1.59 Rating). Despite losing to Gambit in the final, this became his first EVENT EVP of the year.
"[For how to set up the formation and command your teammates] I don't know, it has to take into account the map and a lot of side reasons, on the offensive side I can call for some help, but the situation on the defensive side is different. If I could take over the game, that would be fine, but if it's up to my teammates to win the next round, I may or may not be there to help them, and every game is different. ”
Jame did well on IEM Katowice, taking a Rating of 1.19, but considering that 6 out of 17 map samples were below 1.0. This improved at EPL S13, where he performed evenly in the group stage as well as in the knockout stages until he was beaten by CoL in the eighth round.
Despite Jame's outstanding performance, consecutive defeats to forZe and HAVU in the losers' group left VP early in the FunSpark ULTI final, and his average Rating was just 1.03 at the following DreamHack Spring Masters. Although his team still reached the knockout rounds in the latter, the combination of the two makes the Russian's April unforgettable.
Returning to the regional RMR event EPIC League CIS, Jame is back in his best shape. He was the best performer on the team in 25 maps, with a Rating of 1.21 for the entire event, but as in Katowice, he still had to accept a second place gift from Gambit and the EVP of the event.
After almost no rest, Jame remained a threat to the opponents at the IEM Summer Tournament, and the team managed to reach the knockout round to achieve the sixth result of the tournament. However, after a strong performance, the VP was slightly tired in the second round of RMR, and lost to 100PG, Spirit and Entropiq in the group stage. Even so, he is the highest-statist in the team in three consecutive tournaments, and his defensive rating of 1.39 is impressive.
Offline event IEM Cologne returned before the mid-year offseason, and VP was close to getting out early in the group stage. Defeated Complexity, NIP and BIG in succession, and once again entered the knockout stage of the tournament. Astralis then put them in the top six, and while James stabilized the team again, there were still a few things missing that made it difficult for the VP to advance deeper into the game.
Jame struggled to get into form after the offseason, having a poor performance in his first game against OG in August, with only 0.79 rating in the entire BO3. EPL S14 was a group stage format, but the subsequent defeat to CoL and forZe made them out of the knockout stage.
It was also because of the poor performance of the second round of RMR that the VP was in danger of missing out on Major qualifications, but fortunately, there was no mistake in the CIS of the IEM Fall Tournament, jame helped the team reach the top four of the event with a Rating of 1.29 in the group stage.
VP then chose to skip several online cups, and it was this secondary experience that made the team determined to replace Sanjar "SANJI" Kuliev with Evgeny "FL1T" Lebedev.
"SANJI initially enjoyed using the MP9 and we didn't even understand why he didn't fire a rifle on the defensive side, but we found out later how useful it was. On most maps, his position doesn't make much difference, both offensively and defensively, and the outside world has a lot of topics because of him, which will have some impact on our competitive state and mentality. But SANJI was not affected, but a mind to win the game. ”
Jame's performance on Major was unsatisfactory, with only 1.03 Rating in the Challenger stage. It was also largely due to the lineup adjustment that the team still reached the later stage of the legendary group, but it was clear that the Russian conductor of the 0.97 tournament Rating did not support them to go further.
"My stats have always been negative, fortunately the team has been winning, but unfortunately everything ended with Heroic's BO3. With the advent of the FL1T, I'm more focused on team interactions than individual play. I don't feel like I've let the team down, but I do have a chance to play better. ”
(My regret?) When the FL1T first arrived, he said there was a problem with his mouse sensor, but everyone didn't pay much attention, and then the problem continued throughout the event. ”
The IEM Winter was Jame's last chance to play offline, and despite his struggles on Major and a fairly OK trip to Cologne, he played his best performance of the year. He led the team to victory over Gambit (1.38 Rating), which allowed Virtus.pro to advance to the semi-finals with a 5-0 unbeaten group count, but unfortunately lost to the subsequent champion Vitality.
James also won his fourth EVP of the year at this tournament, with an average Rating of 1.24 (1.33 on the defensive side) and an average death rate of only 0.46 innings – his lowest in 2021.
"Our reaching the Major knockout round was undoubtedly my favourite Major moment, but unfortunately I wasn't in the form! Regarding my status, I played very average throughout the year, but unfortunately I didn't stand up during Major. ”
Why is Jame the Top 10 Player of the Year?
Jame is the best AWP user and endgame reaper of 2021, and his extremely stable performance has also contributed to his top 10 of the year. Statistically speaking, he was the deadliest AWP user, with the first 0.48 innings all AWP sniping and the second 0.54 innings making him the most difficult to kill, and his endgame ability was truly commendable (93 1vN wins, second, third innings).
In addition, his opening goal win rate was as high as 69% (second), but unfortunately he did this in 16% of the rounds, far below average, and also ranked third from the bottom in the TOP 20 list. His last standout stat was an average of 0.10 flash assists, second this year.
Judging by the awards, Jame won the MVP of cs_summit 7 in the mid-size event and the EVP in IEM Katowice, as well as three other events, which in part shows that his ceiling is not particularly high.
But by the lower limit, the Russian player has received VP (Valuable Player) ratings in 12 of the 13 tournaments he has participated in, in addition to the PGL Major, while his KAST ranks fifth (74.1%) and has a Rating (sixth) of 1.00 or higher in 75% of his map, which completely makes him one of the most stable players in 2021.
In the end, while his less impressive cap play meant he couldn't compete for any higher rankings, his excellent performance in major competitions (1.14 Rating, #6 out of 36 maps) did make him stand out in the ratings, achieving a top 10 ranking and appearing on the list for the first time.
(What do I think about making it to the TOP 20 list?) I feel like my rating of gla1ve is still a failure because it took me too long to hit that high. ”
Rising Star Prediction
Jame gave the Rising Star prediction to 17-year-old Aleksandr "KaiR0N-" Anashkin, and it was he who brought the youngster into the professional arena.
"PASHANOJ found this guy and I'm sure he'll be famous."
KaiR0N , now The Spirit Academy , and recently in the third season of the WePlay Academy , has attracted attention for his eight-map 1.49 Rating , where he previously joined teams such as Wolsung, Budapest Five, EC Brugge and PORTUGAL , and he speaks Russian, English and German.