Cloud9's duelist star claims the #15 spot as a result of his stunning performances at the tail end of the year.
Nathan "leaf" Orf transitioned from Counter-Strike to Cloud9's VALORANT roster at the beginning of 2021. The roster, however, was in turmoil following TenZ's decision to step down from the team. Therefore, Cloud9 was unable to secure a spot in Masters 1 North America despite leaf's powerful fragging ability on Omen.
leaf transitioned to the duelist role heading into Stage 2, leading the team to achieve far more success. Despite another rocky performance in Challengers 1, Cloud9 was able to qualify to the North America Stage 2 Challengers Finals following a 0-3 loss to Sentinels in the grand finals of Challengers 2. It was in this tournament that leaf established himself as one of the best players in North America, as Cloud9 swept both Envy and NRG Esports before barely losing in a nail-biters to Sentinels and Version1, ultimately finishing at 3rd place. leaf ended the tournament at a 1.25 rating, third highest of all players.
Stage 3 saw further roster changes for Cloud9, as leaf's team was unable to replicate the success they had found in Stage 2, losing early to Rise in the first qualifier before finally being eliminated by Luminosity in the second qualifier.
This underwhelming performance in Stage 3 led Cloud9 to bring in top IGL vanity, who instantly gave the struggling Cloud9 roster some new life. The squad was able to secure a spot in the North America Last Chance Qualifier. While the team faced an early loss to Rise, leaf led his team to an incredible lower-bracket run, with his squad defeating Gen.G, XSET and 100 Thieves before sweeping Rise in the grand finals, securing a spot in VALORANT Champions. Leaf once again demonstrated his incredible skill, performing with a 1.20 rating, second highest in the tournament.
leaf maintained his dominance heading into the biggest tournament of the year, Champions. Despite an early loss to FNATIC, leaf carried his team to a playoff spot as a result of wins over FULL SENSE and Vision Strikers. While the team was eventually swept by Team Liquid in the quarterfinals, leaf went an incredible 53-36 in this match with an ACS of 317. He finished the tournament with a 1.24 rating, third highest in the event.
Why was leaf the 15th best player of 2021?
While the star was unable to achieve results for half of the year, leaf's MVP-level performance in VALORANT Champions and Last Chance Qualifier were enough to secure him a spot this high. The lack of year-long consistency was hard to overlook, however, as his mediocre performances in Stage 1 and Stage 3 bring him to fifteenth in our ranking.
2021 Rankings
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