HLTV.org are running a European player of the decade poll, which will decide the European representative who goes into the overall 'Player of the decade' poll. There are five choices, all of who are up there in the Counter-Strike pantheon without a doubt. Three of the five have also played for SK at one point in time and won some oversized cheques for the team during their tenure. The poll's voting ends at 13:00 CET tomorrow, along with the others.

The nominees:

ola "elemeNt" Moum
Accomplishments: 2nd CPL Summer 2002, 1st CPL Oslo, 2nd CPL Winter 2002, 2nd Clikarena, 3rd ESWC 2003, 1st CPL Summer 2003, 1st CPL Winter 2003, 1st CPL Winter 2004, 1st WEG s1, 3rd WEG s2 and 2nd CPL Winter 2006.

If ever there were a prodigy in CS elemeNt was it. As a young kid he broke out by beating GoL, third best team in the world, at a Norwegian LAN as a mere youngster. Joining GoL he took them to back-to-back 2nd at CPL seasonal American events, with an interlude winning CPL Oslo with eoL. Back with eoL he came 2nd at Clikarena and then moved onto SK and after a troublesome 3rd at ESWC began their reign of glory. From mid 2003 to the beginning of 2004 SK won everything. He went on to join NoA and eventually steered them towards a CPL victory of their own as well as the first WEG title.

Later in his career he made yet another comeback to help a team of talented young norwegians, MYM, to 2nd at CPL Winter 2006 to cap off a great CS career which perhaps could have been greater had he not been so quick to move on from incredible situations with high winning potential.


Filip "neo" Kubski
Accomplishments: 1st SEC 2005, 1st WSVG UK, 1st WCG 2006, 3rd CPL Winter 2006, 2nd SEC 2007, 1st ESWC 2007, 1st EM I, 2nd SEC 2008, 1st DreamHack Summer 2008, 1st ESWC 2008, 3rd EM III Dubai, 3rd EM III Europe Finals, 2nd EM III Global Finals, 3rd KODE5 2009, 3rd EM IV Dubai and 1st place WCG 2009.

Ever since his team beat D-Skyline out of what seemed a sure victory at the InveX cup in 2004 neo has been a force to be reckoned with. He has led his team to two WCG golds, two ESWC 1st places, an EM title and numerous 2nd and 3rds. All this from a country far from known for Counter-Strike success.


Jørgen "XeqtR" Johannessen

Accomplishments: 2nd CPL Europe Cologne 2000, 2nd CPL Europe Holland 2001, 1st CPL Europe London 2001, 1st CPL Europe Berlin, 3rd CPL Winter 2001, 1st CPL Europe Cologne 2002, 1st CPL Summer 2002, 2nd Clikarena, 1st ESWC 2003, 2nd CPL Summer 2003, 4th CPL Winter 2004, 1st CPL Winter 2004 and 1st WEG s1.

Before elemeNt if you spoke of the "lone Norwegian tactical genius whose clutch play helped lead non-Norwegian teams to titles" you'd have been referring to XeqtR. Many all time greats have paid their dues and taken their lumps early on to become great on LAN. XeqtR was born great on LAN and from day 1 was stacking up placings. He may have won the least of everyone on this list but he still has some very memorable and impressive placings on his resume.


Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg
Accomplishments: 1st WEG s2, 2nd ESWC 2006, 2nd WEF, 2nd NGL ONE I, 1st CPL WT Singapore, 3rd WSVG Finals 2006, 1st CPL Winter 2006, 3rd EM I Finals, 2nd NGL ONE II, 3rd ESWC 2007, 1st GameGune 2007, 1st NGL ONE III, 1st EM II LA, 1st NGL ONE IV, 1st SEC 2008, 2nd KODE5 07/08 Finals, 3rd ESWC 2008, 1st EM III Finals, 1st KODE5 08/09, 1st EM IV Dubai, 2nd WCG 2009 and 1st WEM 2009.

In the last five years nobody has been as magnificent a Swedish CS player as f0rest. Seemingly gifted in every area of the game this Swede started winning and placing highly and never stopped regardless of who was on his team or who he was facing. From a WEG title as a relative nobody to winning CPL Winter 2006 the f0rest train never showed signs of slowing down. In 2009 he has added more and more to his trophy cabinet to make himself one of the true greats of all time.


Emil "HeatoN" Christensen
Accomplishments: 1st CPL Europe Holland 2001, 1st CPL Europe London 2001, 1st CPL Europe Berlin, 1st CPL Winter 2001, 1st CPL Summer 2002, 3rd CPL Winter 2002, 1st CPL Europe Cannes 2003, 3rd ESWC 2003, 1st CPL Summer 2003, 1st CPL Europe Copenhagen 2003, 1st WCG 2003, 1st CPL Winter 2003, 1st CPL Summer 2004, 1st GameGune 2005, 2nd CPL WR UK, 1st WSVG Dreamhack, 1st WEF and 1st NGL ONE.

The original Counter-Strike Wunderkind HeatoN showed up on the scene as this young guy with amazing spray... really amazing spray. Before the switch to 1.5 perhaps nobody ever had as intuitive an understanding of the rifle spray in CS as HeatoN did and he used that talent to help drive his teams to all the CPL titles of his era, nearly. His star may have shone less brightly in later days but nine CPLs and a WCG gold medal is a haul which will never be matched in merit but by a mere handful of the other greats in CS.

HeatoN, XeqtR and elemeNt were all members of SK Gaming over the years, though never all at the same time. It is conspicuous that Potti is not included in the poll though, which takes away from the credibility of it.

Source: HLTV.org