TOP 20 PLAYERS OF 2019: MAGISK (5)
Performances of the highest quality throughout the year see Emil "Magisk" Reif break into the top five on our top 20 players of 2019 list, powered by Xtrfy and LOOT.BET.
Top 20 players of 2019: Introduction
Magisk's first HLTV-featured matches took place in 2015 when he represented his country in King of Nordic, after which he was a part of teams such as MTW and Epiphany Bolt. During his formative years, he played alongside the likes of Valdemar "valde" Bjørn Vangså, Patrick "es3tag" Hansen, and Dennis "sycrone" Nielsen, but as he explained in 2017, his call-up to SK had more to do with his great performances in ESEA PUGs, which were noticed by Finn "karrigan" Andersen and Michael "Friis" Jørgensen.
The departure of Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke opened up a spot for Magisk in SK, his first professional team. He joined as a trial member and showed up in ESL Pro League matches online before delivering a memorable performance against fnatic at Fragbite Masters S5 Finals, a 35-17 K-D on Overpass (1.78 rating), also helping the team to secure a win over ? who were soon to become Astralis.
Going into 2016, Magisk was added as a full-time member of SK, but that wouldn't last long. The German organization signed the Brazilian roster headlined by Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo and parted ways with the Danes before the second Major of the year, leaving Magisk and co. orgless. A month later, Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen's Dignitas swooped in for the 18-year-old, whose 1.43-rated ELEAGUE Season 1 group stage had been a great parting gift ahead of the demise of SK.
Under the renowned Danish IGL, Magisk went on to have a brilliant year: he was the top-rated player for his side at every notable LAN and won his first Big Event - EPICENTER: Moscow. The MVP medal for that tournament didn't end up in his hands, however, and he would have to wait two years to get one himself.
A year of learning followed for Magisk in 2017. He was great early in the year (1.24 rating in 5-8th finish at ELEAGUE Major) but his consistency fell off after DreamHack Masters Las Vegas, and his departure from MSL's team (who had since become North) came after the Major in Krakow. But it wasn't just in-game performances that caused MSL to dismiss him from the lineup.
"The time I got removed from North was when I realized that if I ever were to join or be on one of the best teams in the world I had to change my personality and grow up as a person."
As a player who doesn't hide away from the mistakes he made in the past, Magisk was kind enough to give some tips for up-and-coming players who are struggling with the same things he did:
"I believe that if you really want to become a professional CSGO player, you need to respect people. Listen to them, even if you don't always agree with everything they say. I know that when you are young, people say and do stupid stuff, I did it myself, but it should not follow them forever - people can change.
"But if they want the best chance to make a living out of this, they should try their best not to whine or blame others, and if they want to criticize people they should do it in a constructive way. After I had started playing CSGO for a living, I would have clashes with teammates because I started arguing or pointing out mistakes during matches. Even when they had already said, 'Sorry that was my mistake', I just had to point it out. Be mature, be a good teammate and never lose a match because you care too much about your stats in-game."
Less than a month after leaving North he would be back in the saddle, joining OpTic. It was an ambitious project that brought together exciting European players but that had them, for the most part, play in North American leagues and qualifiers. Magisk had some good highlight moments with that squad, but their failure to live up to expectations and, most importantly, to go through the Europe Minor, saw the team disband at the end of the year. The experience of playing in that team, where he was moved out of his comfort zone — both in and out of the server —, was described by Magisk as a necessity to take the next step in his career.
"Honestly it feels like such a long time ago now. But I did actually enjoy my time quite a lot on that team. We had many different personalities, so it was quite funny to play with all those guys! I think my best memory from OpTic was getting to know Hector, he always took care of me and the guys. He never cared about money, if we needed anything he would bring it to us ASAP. But I also loved playing in the EPL Finals Odense with the guys, since it was my first time ever playing in front of a huge Danish crowd and we had such great support from them, I still remember that feeling today."
Missing out on ELEAGUE Major was practically the only bad thing about Magisk's 2018. Shortly afterwards, Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjærbye's now-historic move to North happened and Magisk was offered the opportunity every Danish player dreams about - to join Astralis. Only 20 years old at the time, Magisk slotted perfectly into the lurking roles, which were freed up as Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen returned back to his natural, aggressive playstyle.
It took two events for Astralis to get everything to click, and then they arrived at DreamHack Masters Marseille, dominating their opposition to secure the first of 10 titles they won that year. Besides winning back-to-back ESL Pro League and ECS Seasons, the team brought the ELEAGUE Premier and IEM Chicago trophies to the team's headquarters in Copenhagen, but the crown jewels were the FACEIT Major title and the $1,000,000 Intel Grand Slam prize. Adding the cherry on top, at the last event of the year, BLAST Pro Series Lisbon, Magisk finally earned his first MVP award after being an EVP nine times in 2018.
"It was quite a good year! Honestly, I had never had so much fun playing CS. I went from a decent team to suddenly playing with my idols and winning a lot of tournaments with them. I don't think any of us ever felt that we were invincible, but we just had so much confidence as individuals and as a team that no one could touch us. I would even say that people were afraid of us because we were playing so well, which also made them make more mistakes!
"As a team, we all know that long breaks away from CS and big tournaments can be dangerous since you kind of lose the 'feeling' when you don't play tournaments for a long time. So we knew that we had to work really hard once 2019 started to get back in shape as fast we could since there was a Major in March already. Obviously we knew Liquid was going to be hungry, but, in all honesty, we didn't expect Evil Geniuses to be one of the contenders to take us down."
The first event of 2019 and the only one Astralis were scheduled to play before the Major was iBUYPOWER Masters. The "warmup" tournament had a respectable team list, but the issues that plagued it resulted in Liquid's grand final victory over the Danes being marked with an asterisk.
At the IEM Katowice Major, Astralis showed almost no weaknesses, breezing through the group stage, in which they only dropped one map, in overtime to Renegades, before cleaning up in the playoffs. Magisk was brilliant throughout, but especially impressive in the bracket stage, in which he averaged a 1.37 rating, earning himself the title of the MVP in Astralis' second consecutive Major victory.
"[Ahead of IEM Katowice] I actually did quite a lot of individual training after team practice, so I had a really good feeling about my own game. And if you get a good start to a tournament you just have a lot of confidence as a player.
"I think many people struggle to play their best once they get to a Major, I think our team has so much experience that it doesn't pressure us the same way that it does them. But that's obviously just my thoughts!"
Everything was looking great for Astralis after their win in Poland, to which they added a direct win over Liquid in the grand final of BLAST Pro Series São Paulo, confirming their dominance and the No.1 spot in the rankings. However, after that, they skipped a number of big events, including IEM Sydney, StarSeries i-League Season 7, and DreamHack Masters Dallas, while the results at the next two BLAST tournaments they attended weren't up to par: group stage finish in Miami and a grand final loss to ENCE, who also broke Astralis' streak on Nuke.
The low point was reached at ECS Season 7 Finals, where two losses to FURIA sent Astralis packing in the group stage - the first time they didn't make the playoffs since adding Magisk at the start of 2018. That being said, Magisk was still doing a good job individually, finishing those three unsatisfactory events with a rating of 1.15 or higher, even securing an EVP in Madrid, where he was second in the MVP race despite the runner-up finish.
"In my opinion, we just got to the point where everyone was feeling a little exhausted. We had been the #No.1 team in the world for a very long time, which is very demanding and difficult to maintain since everyone is trying to counter you and is hungry to take you down. Obviously, the other teams also played really well, but it's easier to become the No.1 team than to actually stay there for such a long time as we did back then. We have a lot of good talks and tried to make a good schedule so there would be time for family, friends, and girlfriends as well. It might be our jobs, but if we want to stay as one of the best we also need to have a social life and time for such things. Otherwise, it's not possible to perform at the highest level.
"I think all teams make mistakes, but I don't regret any of the decisions we made last year. At the beginning of 2019, we made a schedule for the whole year and it might have backfired on us, but at the time we were making the decisions that felt like the right ones. So yes, we made mistakes, but today I see them as lessons and something we learned from, which made us a stronger team."
Two big events were left before Astralis would go on another break, the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals and ESL One Cologne, with winning the latter being one of the Danes' goals for 2019.
At the Pro League Finals in France, they suffered BO3 defeats to two North American sides, NRG and Liquid. The first one was a big shock, as they were a dead roster with Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz ready to replace Damian "daps" Steele, but the first Big event BO3 loss to Liquid was definitely the more painful one. Magisk was once again up to the task, averaging a 1.22 rating at the event and being crucial in a 16-12 Overpass victory over Nick "nitr0" Cannella and co., but Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander's men weren't able to close out the deal on Vertigo, where Liquid came back from an 11-4 deficit.
"I had this feeling that we were making more mistakes than we used to. Obviously, Liquid were coming off a period where they had won a lot of tournaments, but that one time we actually got to play against them in EPL Season 9 in France we lost the decider on Vertigo after having such a huge lead against them. So I felt like we could still beat them even though we were not playing our best at that time.
"We talked about the issues we were going through and did our best to fix them in practice, and in the end, it felt like we started gaining more confidence as individuals but also as a unit. Later we got back to old Astralis, which was a very good feeling since we had been working really hard to fix those mistakes."
Magisk was inspired in the group stage of ESL One Cologne, but he could not keep up that form for the semi-finals, where Astralis met Vitality and Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut for the first time. The French prodigy helped his side overpower their Danish opposition, leaving them to watch from the sidelines as Liquid won the much-desired title in Germany and the Intel Grand Slam Season 2 prize.
"Vitality had a really good tournament and we might not have performed to our usual level. I actually don't really remember that game except for the sick ace that device did in overtime on Inferno…
"[About his impressions of playing against ZywOo] In general he's a really good player. He's strong with pistols, rifles and the AWP, which is kind of like device and s1mple. So there's no doubt that he's a very difficult player to play against! They might have beaten us in Cologne, but the last time we played them in Malmö we did win with ease against them, so I'm not really afraid to play against them or ZywOo!"
As the player break was brought to an end and the second Major of the year kicked off, Astralis were on a five-month trophyless period. They had been overtaken in the rankings by Liquid and criticism directed at the organization and the team had been spreading for quite some time. Winning the StarLadder Berlin Major was something Astralis needed to get back on track.
"After being without a trophy for such a long time, I felt really motivated to prove everyone wrong, to prove to everyone that we are one of those teams that keeps working hard and doesn't need to change a player to start winning again. Everyone on Astralis had this hunger that we had been missing for some time. It was such a relief to see that we could bring ourselves back on top after some pretty disappointing months."
This Major run was much more challenging than the previous one, though. Early in the group stage, the Danes suffered a loss to NRG, and then they had a tough match against CR4ZY to get into the playoffs. It was then that they activated the "old Astralis" mode. Magisk had a standout performance that helped them defeat Liquid in the quarters (1.39 rating), and victories over NRG and AVANGAR ensued as Astralis made history with their third Major title in a row.
"[Favorite Major win?] Honestly, I want to say 'all of them'. Each one of them has their storylines for me. London was my first Major win, which made it special. Katowice was special for me since I got to be the MVP, but also because dupreeh was going through a very tough time since he had lost his father right before the Major - seeing him lift that trophy crying… I just can't put it into words how much it mattered to me and the whole team to win that Major for him and his dad. Also, it was the first time my family was there when we played, being able to see them so proud was such an amazing memory for me. Berlin was special because we hadn't won anything in a couple of months and we kept fighting and did what many thought wasn't possible. We were also the first team in history to do it three times in a row."
A flawless playoff run at the Major didn't mean the domination of 2018 was back, though, as Evil Geniuses (formerly NRG) continued to cause issues to Astralis. stanislaw and his men secured two victories over them at ESL One New York, taking the title as well, while Astralis didn't even make the grand final of the next two events: DreamHack Masters Malmö and BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen.
Statistically speaking, Magisk's performance hit a low point during the stretch of those three events, but even in his "poor form", he was still an above-average player, with his rating ranging between 1.01 and 1.05. The rifler even picked up an EVP in that period, at ESL One New York, showing he was able to contribute despite not getting as many frags as he usually would.
"I think everyone is going to have a 'bad' period. I try to contribute as much as I can if I don't have a good tournament, which is one of the reasons why I can be so consistent. Yes, you might play badly, but you can still help your team with finding information, talking for your teammates when you are dead, etc. Also during that period, we went directly from New York to Malmö so we didn't even have time to reset and we had some pretty bad jet lag. But many teams were having the same issue, so I probably just played poorly [laughs]".
gla1ve and co. started peaking at the perfect time to reclaim the No.1 spot before 2020, with IEM Beijing being the first tournament they displayed their power at as they didn't a single map on their way to the title. Magisk played well, but the fact that his 1.29 rating was below the team's average in China shows how dominant they were as a unit at that event. Magisk's contributions were needed significantly more at ECS Season 8 Finals: his great efforts against Evil Geniuses and Liquid were crucial to Astralis picking up their second trophy in the row, but despite his 1.22 event rating he would once again be edged out in the MVP race.
Victories over Liquid kept coming Astralis' way at the end of 2019: they added another one to their tally at the ESL Pro League Finals, but an upset by mousesports ended their run on home soil before the grand final. It took the Danes two more wins over Liquid at the BLAST Global Finals to secure their sixth title of 2019, with Magisk being the second-best performer at the event, ending the year with four EVPs in a row.
"It's always fun beating Liquid, let's be honest! I'm happy they finally had some success, as I really like them as people, but hopefully, we will be able to continue beating them in 2020 so there won't be a need to dethrone them again."
Despite having just one MVP to his name, Magisk still enjoyed a year that was nothing short of spectacular. He was named an EVP at ten tournaments and didn't dip below the 1.00 rating mark at any LAN, despite Astralis' struggles at certain points. From the eventful year, Magisk pointed out the climb back to the top as his favorite memory:
"For me, the best part about 2019 was being able to get back to being the best team in the world. Even after we had our struggles, we fought our way back as individuals and as a team. It's such a tough fight mentally to do that. I'm actually just very proud of the whole squad that they all kept working hard and were amazing teammates, even when it was a struggle."
"Our focus at the moment is to get back to CS and start grinding, so we can get back into shape again. The Majors are definitely on the list of goals in 2020, but let's see what the year brings us!"
Why was Magisk the 5th best player of 2019?
Magisk is ranked fifth after consistently turning in performances of the highest quality, peaking at the IEM Katowice Major, where he scooped the MVP medal. He was one of the very best at using utility (6.6 damage per round, fifth-most) and contributed with a lot of assists (0.16 per round, second-most), showcasing the lesser talked about side to his game. He was also ranked 15th for kills per round (0.72), 11th for damage per round (80.9) and 13th for deaths per round (0.61), resulting in a 1.17 rating that highlights his great individual ability.
"For me, it's pretty simple. CSGO is about adapting to the metas, and either you do that or you stop complaining about it. At least don't use it as an excuse as to why you can't perform or win games - it's the same for everyone! Yes, you might not like the meta, but being stubborn about the weapons being overpowered is not going to help you win tournaments. So I just did my best adapting, it might have helped me perform better than other players because I enjoy playing new metas and seeing new stuff."
Adding to that, Magisk was a standout player at 11 of 16 events Astralis played in 2019, with the MVP award coming off of one of the strongest peaks anyone had that year. Even though his EVPs generally weren't of the strongest variety, he was still in contention for an MVP medal at the BLAST Pro Series events in São Paulo and Madrid, the ECS Season 8 Finals and the BLAST Global Final, and played an important role in the trophy runs at the StarLadder Major and IEM Beijing.
With a very good 1.15 big event playoff rating, Magisk had no holes to poke in his performance, and the only reason he couldn't be higher on this list is that there were other players who displayed similar consistency while having more impact at even more tournaments.