Stats & Speculation: Is HooXi the most boosted player in the history of Tier 1 CS:GO?

With G2's recent IEM Cologne steamroll and NiKo/m0NESY's MVP level performances, it helps to apply a much needed grain of salt to G2's streaky runs.

While much of CS:GO commentary depends on speculation, there are some basic facts about our esport that are pretty much undeniable. A lot of us don't know what goes on in a team while they are playing. What we know is the output they give over a period of time, and that is a lot. That's how we know that some players are better than others even though we're not in the game. That we know that NiKo is a better player than huNter even though they don't play the same roles or get the same resources. That M0nesy is a better AWPer than oSee. These are not 100% verifiable claims, but they're very close to it.

One of these almost tautological claims is that there are some players in CS:GO who are boosted by their teammates. We can't really verify that 100% because we don't know what that player may be providing besides frags. But it's a pretty safe assumption once you are able to watch a team for a long time. One of these boosted players: Edward in 2018 Na'Vi (carried by s1mple). Another: Kyojin in 2021 Vitality. These players are boosted - they are achieving not because of their own unique contributions, but because their teammates are doing enough to cover their obvious flaws and mistakes.

A type of player that often gets overlooked as possibly "boosted", is the IGLs. You probably see where I'm going with this. You may be a mediocre IGL, but you can have players around you with an incredible, unplayable ceiling that can get you trophies without having to contribute even a system. Players that get you 1 or 2 opening frags every round during the default. Players that make the game a nightmare for the other team without even having had the chance to read the opponent's macro. There have been isolated examples of this, like FaZe in ESL One New York 2017, who destroyed all of the competition through sheer fragging power. However, no team has drawn as much scrutiny as HooXi’s G2.

A Closer Look at IEM Cologne

Now, I'd like to take a closer look at G2's IEM Cologne, and the stats of the players that carried the game.

What is not debatable, is that G2 has been carrying dead weight in terms of fragging, but that doesn't have to be a problem. The team has 4 potential stars on the team, so HooXi doesn't necessarily have to be fragging. That being said, he is also a contender for the worst individual player in tier 1 currently. Again, that's not necessarily a problem if the team is winning, if he is providing what is needed for them to win.

This opening kill analysis might give us some insight as to the individual level of the team and what kind of tools HooXi was working with to win IEM Cologne.

Opening Kill Stats in Context

The bulk of G2's opening kills came from NiKo and m0NESY, the AWPer. m0NESY boasted 55 opening kills throughout the tournament with 23 opening deaths, for a 2.39 ratio, meaning he won 68% of his opening duels. NiKo had 57 opening kills with 36 opening deaths, for a 1.58 ratio. jks and huNter- held their own in opening duels as well, the former having a 1.70 ratio with 34 opening kills, which definitely is a standout for a site anchor. HooXi was the only player on the team to have a negative opening kill balance. Having all of your players be even or positive in opening kills throughout a tournament, definitely makes the job as a leader a lot easier. Winning a round from a 5v4 situation obviously requires less successful mid-rounding and correct calls.

For context, let's take a look at three different recent tournament runs from the winners with the opening kill stats. One is a very dominant performance, the second a good performance, the third an outlier.

Na'Vi's run at PGL Major Stockholm 2021 was notable due to how dominant it was. Na'Vi didn't lose a single map, and the tournament featured the best ever individual performance at a major from s1mple. He posted a 2.5 opening kill ratio, with a 1.41 opening kill rating, which is a more accurate stat in terms of how valuable each opening kill is.

If we look at G2's numbers, we can see that m0NESY had a similar level of impact though not quite at that level. The difference between s1mple at PGL and m0NESY at IEM is small in opening kill ratio, and although the difference in opening kill rating is more notable, it's still not that far apart. So we know that HooXi had an opening kill machine comparable to one of the greatest ever performers at a major. Beyond that, NiKo's rating is comparable to electronic's, and both teams had four players with a postive opening kill/death ratio, with the IGL's lagging behind.

The point of this comparison is that this success cannot be directly attributed to the IGL's of the game. The IGL's make the initial calls in each round, and have some responsibility in deciding how the team moves in the mid-round. They may call initial plans for their players to get opening picks, but with a loose style like G2's, the opening kill stats of the players likely depend mostly on their own decision-making and mechanics. Everything afterwards, including the mid-rounds, begins to lay on HooXi's doorstep.

FaZe Clan's run at PGL Major Antwerp 2022 was a comfortable run to the trophy but nowhere near as dominant as Na'Vi's. In comparison to G2, FaZe only had three players with a positive opening kill/death ratio, and only two above 1.0 opening kill rating. One of those players was the tournament MVP, rain, who put up a whopping 1.51 opening kill rating (0.1 above s1mple in Stockholm and 0.2 above m0NESY in Cologne). However the next highest on FaZe was a far cry from rain's performance. This is a closer comparison with G2, because they are both international teams with an individual-centric playstyle, where players like rain and NiKo can take a lot of initiative.

This kind of performance from a team is evidence that proves that someone like karrigan cannot be boosted. His team put up an overall average of a 1.034 opening kill rating and a 1.109 opening kill ratio, which proves he had to provide good calls in the mid-round for the team to win, as we witnessed during matches like the final against Na'Vi and the semi-final against Spirit.

Hooxi's G2 put up a higher 1.108 opening kill rating and an astronomical 1.39 opening kill ratio. This means his team collectively won 58% of their opening duels, and if we don't count HooXi's, that increases to 62%. That means around 60% of the time, HooXi had the luxury of playing 5v4. Comparatively, karrigan only had that luxury around 52-53% of the time at Antwerp.

Virtus.Pro's (or Outsiders') run at the IEM Rio Major 2022 was quite dominant, but ultimately an outlier because it was the only Tier 1 tournament this roster was able to take home. Examples such as this one prove that it is possible to have a team with an all-round good opening kill performance ultimately be a fluke.

This team does not resemble G2's style of play, as they are known for playing slow and structured, so opening kills were not necessarily a thing just down to the individuals. The opening kills may be the result of a collective strategy being employed by the team to methodically take map control. For G2, that is not the case, as they depend on players like NiKo and m0NESY on taking initiative to take map control.

This was a tournament where everything seemed to go right for Outsiders, as the stats indicate. Only n0rb3r7 had bad opening kill stats, and the team had no issues going through the playoffs and taking the trophy, only dropping two maps over the course of the legends stage and playoffs. And yet, their opening kill stats are below those of G2. m0NESY outperformed Jame and NiKo outperformed fame. Jks had lower opening kill rating than Qikert and FL1T, but outperformed them in terms of pure ratio. Finally, Jame provided incredible fragging output as the IGL as opposed to HooXi, so there can be no argument that he was boosted.

So G2's opening kill stats matched some of the most dominant runs of all time, as a loose team with not much structure.

Kills per Round

For G2 at IEM Cologne 2023, three players had 0.77+ KPR. huNter- had a 0.77 KPR, m0NESY had a 0.84 KPR, NiKo had a 0.82 KPR as the MVP. Just as a reference point, ZywOo, the easiest pick for the best player in the world for the last few months, averaged a 0.79 KPR over the last three months.

For another reference, Na'Vi's fragging trio at PGL Major Stockholm averaged a 0.82-0.83 KPR at Stockholm. G2's fraggers averaged 0.81 KPR, almost equaling one of the most dominant tournament performances of all time with a loose-playing team. These individuals were out of control this tournament, further supporting the hypothesis that G2 is a streaky team due to depending a lot on their individuals.

Conclusions

While reading this, you may have found the title misleading. You may have expected a scathing critique of HooXi's stats as a player compared to his teammates, but that is not the intent of this article. I do not mean to point fingers at HooXi for being dead weight - his contributions to the team led to their triumphs at Cologne and Katowice. All I intend with this article, is to take tournament results with a grain of salt. And furthermore, to illustrate that not all captains and IGL's are created equal, and are not given the same tools.

So, again I ask, is HooXi the most boosted player ever?