I decided to make a ranking of who I think were the best players in this first full year of Valorant Esports, to guide my decisions i decided to use stats at big tournaments(VCT Masters Reykjavik, Berlin and all the Online masters events, LCQ and Champions), accolades and a bit of eye test, naturally my word isnt the truth of god so Feel free to flame me :P
I dont care if we just copying HLTV at this point i cant cars, I lost too much time looking at stats to not post this.
Also this post is going to be extremely long so im gonna post it gradually throughout the day cause I have nothing better to do with my time.

Honorable mentions

Žygimantas "Nukkye" Chmieliauskas (291 ACS at Masters 1, 230 ACS in Berlin, 245 at LCQ Solid player all year long, sadly no accolades and no Champions leave him here)

Roberto "Mazino" Rivas (Consistently 2nd best player of KRU at most events, great eye test, crucial in their win vs Sentinels and the Champions run, sadly his stats arent good enoguh to make the break)

Gustavo "Sacy" Rossi (Monstrous Stats at every event he attended, but not enough results internationally to put him in top 20)

Yuu "Buzz" Byung-Chul (One of the key players for Vision Strikers, very good stats but Vision Strikers disappointing results and the fact he joined them midway through the year leave me hesitant to put him in top 20)

Anthony "Vanity" Malaspina (Attended Masters 2 posting a 197 ACS while IGLing and turned around Cloud 9 destiny completely letting them get through the LCQ, sadly stats made me prefer other Controller players in the list)

Hunter "Sick" Mims (Sadly I was left between having to put Sick and the player at 20, I consider both of them excellent but I wanted to award a player that plays harder roles, Sick is still great and he could have been in the list easily, just personal preference)

20 - Jimmy "Marved" Nguyen (https://www.vlr.gg/player/263/marved)
Probably the best controller in NA, his Astra and Viper play are what really changed Envy along with yay's addition, turned them from Solid, but crownless, into the most feared team from NA, his clutch abilities and utility usage were along with Yay's incredible form one of the main driving forces behind Envy's success at Masters 3 and posted respectable numbers even in their disappointing Champions finish.
In the domestic NA tournaments he was always extremely reliable, even when playing in a very unstable and swingy FaZe Clan.

19 - Patrick "Starxo" Kopczynski(https://www.vlr.gg/player/565/starxo)
The MVP of Champions finals is a player that while inconsistent, always made sure to showcase his talent, especially in the online domestic tournaments, not an easy task considering his main role is supporting cNed aggresive plays with his Skye and Sage, while occasionally showing a good understanding of Controller gameplay with Astra and Viper.
His stats aren't very impressive if taken out of context, but considering he's basically a support player they become more clear and adding in the eye test, especially from more recent events, I think he deserves the spot

18 - Patiphan "Patiphan" Chaiwong (https://www.vlr.gg/player/2452/patiphan)
The Thai youngster managed to impress the world not once but twice, his insane rating(237 ACS) in Champions was the main reason that X10 managed to get to playoffs, but most importantly he showed the world that SEA had potential even earlier at MAsters 2 in Iceland where his heroic 246 ACS made everyone realize that talent existed even in non-traditional FPS regions like thailand.
I wanted to put him higher, but the long break he took in the middle of the year makes some of his domestic numbers a bit foggy, I hope he doesnt leave for Overwatch so next year I can put him even higher.

17 - Kim "Stax" Gu-Taek (https://www.vlr.gg/player/485/stax)
The IGL for VS showed solid numbers for an IGL at every event VS attended and his calling and utility-focused style are what makes VS such an unique and exciting team to watch.
Having been with VS since the start he was part of their dominant streak(ended only by Nuturn) and he managed to integrate Buzz's talent into VS turning them into a real force, I wanted to award him for having been such a terrific IGL for a long time and managing to keep true to his style even through all the roster changes in VS.

16 - Elias "Jamppi" Olkonnen (https://www.vlr.gg/player/9780/jamppi)
The finnish OPer has been one of the most interesting players to look at in EMEA, evolving from streaky and aggressive solo-jett main, he evolved into a complete player, flexible in his agent choices while always bringing solid Operator to Liquid, his switch to the IGL position also revolutionized Liquid completely, turning them into one of the best teams in the world along with Nivera's addition, this shows in his 237 ACS at LCQ, Liquid's best tournament of the year, but Jamppi has been a force even in earlier tournaments with his 229 ACS at Masters Iceland.
Sadly some of Jamppi's performances earlier in the year(along with Liquid as a whole) deny him a higher placement(especially his 200 ACS at Challengers 3, insufficient for a OPer).

15 - Olavo "Heat" Marcelo (https://www.vlr.gg/player/8673/heat)
Despite saying earlier on that I value accolades a lot and sometimes even good stats dont mean much, with Heat, this would be wrong.
The numbers the 18-year old Brazilian has put up on the international stage are absurd, 280 ACS at Masters 3 Berlin, 264 at Champions and he keeps up the insane performances even domestically.
Heat has proven to be a world class Jett player, capable of going toe to toe with the greatest in the world and outfrag them, sadly this hasnt been translated into success, Internationally Vivo Keyd managed only a win versus Zeta Divison and a Controversial rematch against Acend ended the brazilians run at Champions, throughout all of this Heat always was excellent, but the lack of sample size in higher stakes games leaves me unable to put him higher on the List.

Part 2 coming soon in the replies brothers

bump

1. mitch

If ethan and asuna arent in this list, ima die

no sacy KEKW

so u got 3 100t players in the top 14??
bc u cant miss asuna/ethan or nitr0

Honorable Mentions.
Hazed
ReltuC
Drone
Bang
Brax
List
Rossyx1
LeviathanAG
Corey.
Subroza
Wardell

marved so well deserved, insane controller but that also means crashies should be on here bc he is a better player + best sova NA

Definitely gotta be in the list
Deffo chronicle cned zeek nats link derke shahzAm vanity yay asuna tenz sick

14 - Nikita "d3ffo" Sudakov (https://www.vlr.gg/player/252/d3ffo)
One of the best players in the LAN environment, posting a 220+ ACS at both LAN events that Gambit attended, a very Flashy Jett player that often impresses with great utility usage and one of the main cogs in the Gambit machine.
While extremely impressive at LAN events, curiously d3ffo has seemed less explosive online, posting the worst rating on his team at Challengers 3(187 ACS) and in general being a streaky player even in his most comfortable environment leave him unable to break higher on the list.

13 - Nathan "Leaf" Orf (https://www.vlr.gg/player/7873/leaf)
One of the hottest prospects in NA, he has been the main driving force behind Cloud 9's recent succes, posting monstrous numbers at the LCQ(253 ACS, the highest at the event) and Champions(263 ACS, with an heroic performance versus Liquid that earned him a 317 ACS) but Leaf has been on for the whole year, always being the most impressive player in Cloud 9, despite their early exits from Challengers 1 and 2, Leaf still impressed and put up great numbers.
Sadly Cloud 9 lack of success during the year leaves Leaf lower on the list than he could be, but the new look C9 led by Vanity will certainly look to impress even more next year and fullfill Leaf's potential.

12 - Peter "Asuna" Mazuryk (https://www.vlr.gg/player/601/asuna)
The other top prospect in NA, Asuna is the main reason why 100 Thieves managed to enjoy great success domestically and a great run at Masters 2.
Despite not attending champions, Asuna stats are in a league of their own considering he isnt playing the OPerator, even more impressively he's the entry fragger, a role that usually gets traded and thus has lower stats, Asuna flips the script and shows that his aim and entry fragging are so impressive he can accrue OPer-like stats on Reyna and Raze(252 ACS at LCQ, 236 at Challengers 3, 247 at Masters Berlin, 269 at Challengers 1) these insane stats, kept up all year long, in what is probably the most competitive and cutthroat region in Valorant are deserving of a high placement.
100 Thieves collapsed at the end of they year, with Asuna trying to keep the team togheter and carrying them almost to Champions, sadly he fell just short to Cloud 9, but Asuna efforts wont be in vain as next year 100 thieves is looking to rebuild around him

11 - Austin "Crashies" Roberts (https://www.vlr.gg/player/4/crashies)
Crashies has been the best Sova player in NA basically all year long, his consistency on the Sova role is impressive and crashies has shown he can hang with the best in the world at Masters Berlin, where he impressed greatly especially in clutch situations.
He also played at a very high level domestically all year long, being the best player in Envy without a doubt before yay joined the team and he's the hand behind most of Envy's early success(along with FNS igling).
A solid player all year, deserves a Solid placement, even though Envy disappointed at Challengers.

10 - Shahzeb "Shahzam" Khan (https://www.vlr.gg/player/46/shahzam)
Shahzam has been one of the most influential figures in the Valorant community, the Sentinels IGL has shown to be a great caller that early in the life of the game helped build the meta of the game, but Shahz is also an impressive figure on the server, while calling he also fragged impressively all year long, even on the Sova, a role he had to adapt into to accomodate TenZ, his OPing early in the year earned Sentinels great positions at the start of the year but once TenZ joined, Shahzam turned into a fearsome rifler, posting a 240 ACS in Iceland, 219 ACS at Challengers 3, 212 at MAsters Berlin and he was by far the best performer for SEN at the disappointing Champions event, where despite a 226 ACS, Sentinels lost to a strong TL and a KRU side that upset them in historical fashion, a win that powered KRU to a semifinals finish.
Despite the disappointing end of the year, Sentinels have been a force to be reckoned with all year long, thanks in large part to Shahzam calls and great gameplay.

Part 3 to follow

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I ain't reading all that. I'm happy for u tho. Or sorry that happened.

9 - Nikita "Derke" Sirminev (https://www.vlr.gg/player/5022/derke)
Fnatic's superstar player, probably one of the most mechanically skilled players in the world, he has excelled on LAN(278 ACS at Champions, #1 of the event and 260 in Iceland) which is impressive considering he's only 18 years old, his gameplay really shows the makings of a world class player, cold, collected and mechanically flawless.
Boaster managed to put the Finn-Russian into solid positions to frag ever since he joined the team and while Derke never failed to deliver, the rest of the team hasnt enjoyed as much success as Derke's ability would suggest, with Iceland's 2nd place finish being their best result of the year, the middle of the year has seen Fnatic absent from the higher tiers of competition, which led many people to doubt their chances at Champions and while they had a great performance at Champions(with Derke especially performing in huge ways) they still got upset by a red-hot KRU, which paired with their ghost-like performance during the 3rd stage of challengers, blocks Derke from climbing higher

8 - Angelo "KeznitDeus" Mori (https://www.vlr.gg/player/2462/keznit)
The hero of LATAM, Keznit is probably one of the most gifted entry fraggers in the world, starting the year in wygers he shown impressive numbers domestically that lended him a spot in KRU in may, after the team had finished very low in Iceland, Keznit immediately turned KRU into a true dominant force in the region, with 252 ACS at Challengers 3 LATAM crowning him as the best player in the region, in Berlin KRU was still not ready for international competition, but Keznit still shined with 227 ACS and being instrumental in bringing the chilean team to the quarterfinals.
But it was during champions that Keznit truly awakened, a 246 ACS performance that led KRU to one of the most impressive runs from a team in a minor region, First upsetting Sentinels(222 ACS with help from Mazino's 238 ACS) then going on to beat a Fnatic side that could boast about having the best player at the tournament in Derke, Keznit put on a Show with an heroic 304 ACS deadlift that sent KRU to the Semifinals, where they fought Gambit to 5 overtimes on Bind before falling to the russians, in whats probably the best valorant match to date, once again Keznit was leading the way with a 249 ACS.
Keznit has shown that despite being from a region that is often ignored, real talent can still blossom and for a short time he was the main character of Valorant.

7 - Aleksander "Zeek" Zygmunt (https://www.vlr.gg/player/562/zeek)
The ex-Fortnite player has been instrumental in Acend's rise to the top, being nominated the Champions Tournament MVP from his team, Zeek career has been a rollercoaster, going from Nolpenki to G2 at the start of the year, he showed some very intense mechanical skill during his time with the spanish organization but the lineup failed, brought down by internal issues and players that sadly werent at a tier 1 level anymore, Zeek was traded to Acend in exchange for Koldamenta in June and this was the turnaround for his career.
Zeek felt at home in Acend, playing often the Sova along with his usual duelists and swiftly taking revenge on G2 at S3:challengers 1 and posting a solid 219 ACS at Challengers 3 playoffs despite Acend 3rd place finish, in Berlin he was still on the Sova most of the time, the role didnt fit his playstile but he still impressed with a 225 ACS, with Acend's early exit in the QF against 100T being to this day considered a choke by the european side.
At Champions Zeek showed a new face, off the sova role and more often on frag heavy roles that could entry frag more comfortably, this role swap unlocked Zeek, finally able to show off his skills on Kay/0, Reyna and Raze, his 230 ACS speaking volumes about how great of a rifling performance he had.
With Acend's champions win, Zeek finally showed what he was capable of and the new-look Acend can only improve from this point on.

6 - Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom (https://www.vlr.gg/player/92/scream)
The path of the CSGO veteran seemed paved towards greatness since the start, His performances in the early days of Valorant were always incredible, posting numbers worthy of the gloroious "Edshot Machine" title, but something always seemed to escape Liquid's grasp, that something that could put them over the line and turn them into the world beaters they could have been, but Scream always made sure to remind everyone he was a beast in a cage.
291 ACS in Stage 2 playoffs(#2 in the event), 265 ACS in Iceland #2, beaten only by TenZ), 278 at Stage 3 playoffs(#1 of the event), 272 at the LCQ(again #1) and 251 at Champions, ScreaM performed to incredible degrees at every event Liquid attended, he was not only consistent but consistently amazing.
The only thing holding back the Machine from top 5 is sadly, the lack of success Liquid enjoyed internationally, not even reaching the finals of a LAN event, despite this, ScreaM is a name that instills as much fear into the server as it did years ago during his heyday in CS.

Get ready, next post is the top 5

Sacy instead of heat the rest is ok

5 - Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov (https://www.vlr.gg/player/458/chronicle)
The Berlin finals MVP, without a doubt the best flex player in the world, Chronicle is a swiss army knife of playstyles, topped up by insane mechanics and great gamesense.
Chronicle has shown to be an excellent Sova player, a Competent Viper, a great Killjoy, probably the best Brimstone in the world and a strong Skye player, playing such a variety of Agents at this level of play is rare, even rarer is being able to perform to the levels Chronicle does, a 222 ACS at Masters Berlin(#2 in Gambit, above both duelist players and the highest rated Sova with more than 100 rounds played) 236 at Champions(Best in Gambit) show that Gambit's best performances always come when Chronicle finds room to show off his ability and indicates how vital he is to their success.

4 - Jacob "yay" Whiteaker (https://www.vlr.gg/player/881/yay)
From ANDBOX solo carry to best player from the USA, yay was destined for greatness, his stats were always ridicoulous(313 ACs at S3:Challengers 2) but he was stuck in a team that despite his heroics just couldnt make it far into tournaments, this changed when he was signed by Envy.
Envy always lacked a superstar fragger, it was a solid team with solid strats, with discpline and amazing utility usage, led by an expert like FNS it managed to fill the gap left by skill with strats, signing yay was the way to add the firepower that they needed to excel and they did.
Challengers stage 3 playoffs, his first tournament with Envy was a success for yay with a 243 ACS he quickly proved he was the right fit for the team, but Envy truly blossomed in Berlin and yay was finally free to show the world what El Diable was capable of, a 280 ACS over 248 rounds, numbers that seem almost impossible, despite falling short in the finals to a superior Gambit team, Yay had proved to the world that he was an absolute demon on the server.
Champions was a disappointment for Envy, let down by uncharacteristic performances by Victor(who was under the effects of Covid-19 unluckily) and FNS, but Yay still reminded everyone that even on an off-tournament for the team, he was a force to be reckoned with a 242 ACS.
While the year ended on a disappointment, Yay is not going to be fazed by it, afterall he solo-carried ANDBOX into relevancy, carrying Envy to a big win next year is definetely something El Diablo would do to shock the world again.

3 - Tyson "TenZ" Ngo (https://www.vlr.gg/player/9/tenz)
TenZ is definetely the best pure aimer in the world, his records and the amount of advertising done with him are a sure fire way to prove it, the canadian player was and still is NA's bona fide superstar, the spearhead of Sentinels, probably the most popular team in the world.
The canadian aimer has been obviously impressive every time he stepped into the server, since the start of the year he always fragged out under the sentinels banner, 231 ACS at Challengers playoffs 2, an historic 289 in Iceland that earned him tournament and finals MVP, 240 at the stage 3 playoffs, 269 in Berlin(despite falling to Envy) and 225 at champions.
The last event of the year is probably the only stain on TenZ's otherwise otherworldy year of events, in this event many people felt like TenZ choked, his performance wasnt as good as it used to and they were right to a certain extent, TenZ underperformed, but his underperformance still manages to put up an excellent rating, this is why TenZ is such a force, even when he looks at his weakest, he's still an incredible player.
Sentinels look in sort of a crisis, with a very disappointing placement, but they can sleep sound, knowing they can always rely on their superstar to destroy the domestic competition.

2 - Ayaz "nAts" Akmethshin(https://www.vlr.gg/player/457/nats)
By far the most interesting player in the valorant scene, nAts is a player that in a certain way revolutionized the whole scene, he showed the whole world that the sentinel role could be played in a way that cna carry the whole team, he showed how potent lurking is in valorant and above all he showed that game sense can and will beat even the most impressive of aimers.
A player that is found on roles that no one would identify as heavy frag roles, nAts thrives on the chyper and the Viper, playing them in a way that has been perfected to fit his characteristics and is utilized in such a beautiful way by gambit that he is often found fragging way mopre than the duelists in his team, he was Berlin's tournament MVP posting a 265 ACS, unheard of by a Sentinel player and he showed to be strong even online with a 236 ACS performance at the stage 3 challenger playoffs.
Champions was a testament to nAts resilience, after MAsters Berlin, the eyes of all the world were on him and most importantly how to shut him down and in fact he was heavily anti-stratted by teams, often running setups tailor made to stop him, explaining his modest(but still impressive considering hes supposed to be in a sacrificial role) 210 ACS but the pressure he still had on team was immense, during the playoffs he started to warm up more and more until the grand finals where in a epic clash he gave it all to defeat Acend with a 245 ACS but it wasnt enough and the russians still fell.
nAts might not be the most impressive player if you look at the numbers purely, but in context he is by far the most unique player in valorant tier 1 scene, a Lurker that forces teams to play to contain him, a psychological effect taht always lingers in the back of the mind of the opponents and a player that when unchecked can take over games.

1 - Mehmet Yagiz "cNed" Ipek (https://www.vlr.gg/player/573/cned)
It's not easy to choose the number 1 player, but cNed excellence throughout the year was impossible to ignore, when a team that would go on to win Champions is known for most of the year as just "cNed and friends" it tells you a lot about the quality of the titular cNed.
I can talk a lot about how strong cNed Operator is, his knives usage, his utility but i will let the numbers do the talking for me
281 at Masters 1, 254 at Challengers playoffs 3, 267 at masters Berlin, 230 at Champions.
A consistently amazing player during the whole year, the best OPer in EMEA and many more things, for me he's the best in the world right now.

Now i will clean this up and fit it all in the first post, maybe add in some more stuff so it looks professional, idk

nice

very good my friend, huge effort to do this. It's already look professioanl bro lmao.

Asuna so down below and no ethan doesn't make sense. Wardell is not here

There should be “vlr.gg top 20 players of the year”

Sacy >>> Heat

outstanding list!

Loved the list but i think scream should be in top 5 in everyones list. He is always in the top 5 in ACS in every tournament he played. Throughout the year he had exceptional performance in every tourney

not that bad of a list but u wont be able to please everybody there is always gonna be some1 you have missed out. like for example, leo is prob top 15 in the world but absolutely nothing to show for it this year.

Imo sick should go in over marved

Great list! I don't 100% agree with it, but mad respect on you putting this all together with you reasoning and analysis. it was a great read

WHERE PART 2?!

Sacy deserves to be atleast top 15 imo

Honestly love the effort u made in this. But most of your choices is braindead. Marved in the list? Over sacy, nukkye? Starxo being in the list when in entire 2021 he only shined in the Champions? Scream not top 5? Redgar? Crashies above all this people? and much more

1. PROD

No fucking way u have chokenz at 3 , he is not even top 5 imo

nice list rispek!

Imagine putting scream out of the top 3

Where's wardell... he diffed Yay everytime they played.

Where is Bonkar?

tl:dr

1. cNed (Acend)
2. nAts (Gambit)
3. TenZ (Sentinels)
4. yay (Envy)
5. Chronicle (Gambit)
6. ScreaM (Team Liquid)
7. Zeek (Acend)
8. KeznitDeus (KRU Esports)
9. Derke (Fnatic)
10. ShahZam (Sentinels)
11. Crashies (Envy)
12. Asuna (100 Theives)
13. Leaf (Cloud 9)
14. d3ffo (Gambit)
15. heat (Vivo Keyd)
16. Jamppi (Team Liquid)
17. Stax (Vision Strikers)
18. Patiphan (X10 Crit)
19. Starxo (Acend)
20. Marved (Envy)

Yoo i worked on list too heres mine :D

1. TenZ
2. Chronicle
3. nAts
4. yay
5. cNed
6. Derke
7. ShahZaM
8. ScreaM
9. d3ffo
10. keloqz
11. zeek
12. heat
13. Sheydos
14. keznit
15. nukkye
16. crashies
17. Sacy
18. SicK
19. BuZz
20. leaf

I only took into consideration 3 major tournaments that took place in 2021. Its just based on match stats. No achivements no tournament win taken into consideration.

Loved the analysis. Even though I can't fully agree with the ranking, your way of writing is highly convincing. (applause)
@devs imo this discussion belongs to "sticked threads". My mans put a lot of work in here.

ask Enigma to hire me ill do it for free

get him a job too if possible, ty.

sushiboys

stax

Stopped reading at Sacy and Nukkye being in honorable mentions while Marved at #20 wtf.

great list, crashies>shahzam tho imo

where mixwell?