G2’s CS:GO in-game leader Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen has been criticized more than any other captain over the past year since he joined the team in August 2022, but for NiKo—the team’s superstar and arguably most influential player on the roster—HooXi doesn’t deserve all the heat.
Each time G2 lose, fans are quick to write on Reddit or other social media that HooXi needs to be kicked, especially if he finished the game with poor individual stats. Some analysts, mainly Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunović, have also said more than once that HooXi shouldn’t be leading G2, especially after they didn’t qualify for the IEM Rio Major in 2022 and failed to reach playoffs at the BLAST Paris Major in May.
According to NiKo, though, HooXi is the victim of “unfair” treatment in comparison to other IGLs like karrigan and apEX, who are also leading starred rosters in FaZe Clan and Vitality, respectively.
“It’s unfair [when people say we should kick HooXi],” NiKo said in an interview with Dot Esports on Sept. 19. “If you take a look at his stats, he’s putting similar numbers than apEX and karrigan. Some people are biased toward HooXi because they never agreed that G2 picked him in the first place. When we lose, it’s easier for fans to just put the blame on him.”
We took a look at HooXi’s individual statistics ever since he joined G2, according to HLTV, and compared them with karrigan and apEX‘s statistics during the same period. NiKo’s point stands out, though apEX is slightly superior.
What the stats don’t say, though, is that HooXi is the player least set up for success in the entire scene as per HLTV’s findings on Sept. 18.
| HooXi’s statistics from August 16, 2022 to September 18, 2023 | Karrigan’s statistics from August 16, 2022 to September 18, 2023 | ApEX’s statistics from August 16, 2022 to September 18, 2023 |
| 0.86 rating | 0.88 rating | 0.93 rating |
| 0.75 K/D ratio | 0.78 K/D | 0.84 K/D ratio |
| 0.51 kills per round | 0.54 kills per round | 0.55 kills per round |
| 60.4 ADR | 64.3 ADR | 67.7 ADR |
| 67.4 percent KAST (kill, assist, survived, and traded) | 65.1 percent KAST | 67.7 KAST |
While some fans spend time checking HooXi’s statistics, it cannot be forgotten that the Dane led G2 to three tier-one tournament titles thus far—BLAST Premier World Final in December 2022, IEM Katowice in February 2023, and IEM Cologne in August 2023—which were the org’s first big trophies since DreamHack Masters Malmö in September 2017.
We’ll see if HooXi gets a break from the criticism this week during ESL Pro League‘s group D. G2 are one of the favorite teams to clinch a playoff spot and will debut against Lynn Vision on Sept. 20 at 9am CT. Team Liquid, Virtus Pro, Complexity, 9INE, Cloud9, and Eternal Fire are the other CS:GO teams in the group.
