Ilya m0NESY Osipov once again found himself among the main stars of CS2: based on the results of 2025, he finished 4th in the HLTV ranking of the world’s best players. The paradox of the season is that despite this position, m0NESY ended the year without a single title for the first time in his career — but he compensated for it with consistency, a series of peak performances, and individual awards that directly highlight his personal level.
A Year of Contrasts
2025 was a year of contrasts for m0NESY. Over the long run, he remained one of the most effective AWPers on the scene, regularly giving his team early advantages, “closing” difficult maps with raw statistics, and carrying series when others lacked resources. At the same time, the season unfolded under the sign of turbulence — role changes, different game systems, and transitions between teams created a context in which individual peaks did not always convert into championships.
This shaped the overall portrait of the year: m0NESY looked like a top-4 player in terms of raw power and impact, but his résumé noticeably dipped at the most “golden” points of the season — where the difference between top-3 and top-4 is often decided by medals.
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Why m0NESY Finished 4th
The key argument in favor of m0NESY is the combination of an extremely high baseline level with bursts that decide matches. Throughout the year, he almost never had outright failures over tournament distances and often remained the main source of impact even when his team lost series or exited earlier than expected. For a sniper, this is especially important: his role is more “visible,” and the impact is directly reflected in round tempo, opening kills, and control of key areas.
The second factor is individual awards that highlighted the quality of his play. Two MVP awards earned in finals where his team did not win the title is a rare case even at the top level. This is a clear indicator that in decisive matches he played at the level of the best player of the tournament, even if the team result remained second place.
The third factor is consistency against strong opposition. In 2025, m0NESY continued to keep the elite in his sights: even against top-5 and top-10 teams, he delivered productivity befitting a top-4 player. This is what separates a flashy highlight season from a true elite campaign — not one tournament fueled by momentum, but the ability to replicate performance against opponents of any caliber.
Why He Is Not in the Top 3
Despite strong statistics and awards, m0NESY’s season had a weak point — conversion into trophies and the most prestigious peaks of the year. Some of his strongest stretches came at tournaments that carry less weight than the most prestigious events of the season, and at Majors and the toughest playoff stages he did not always look as dominant as during his very best periods. For a top-3 race, this is usually not enough: that tier is defined either by a large number of titles or by a flawless series of super-elite performances without weak stages.
Key Tournaments of m0NESY’s Season
- BLAST Bounty 2025
The start of the year set the overall tone: m0NESY already showed a high ceiling, but the team was still searching for the optimal configuration of its game structure. For him, this stretch looked like a starting signal for the season — at times very strong maps and matches, but without full stability in series against the toughest opponents. - ESL Pro League Season 21
EPL S21 became one of the first tournaments where m0NESY clearly looked like a player capable of keeping his team in the game almost single-handedly. His AWP work combined aggressive openings with discipline in the mid-round, and his overall efficiency was enough to earn individual recognition even without a championship. - PGL Bucharest 2025
One of the key storylines of the first half of the year — a tournament that felt like an important “transition point” in the season. Over the course of the event, m0NESY maintained a high level and confirmed his class against top opposition, but the team final did not turn into a happy ending. For his personal résumé, it became another piece of evidence: he is almost always present in the late stages, but does not always receive the final “medal.” - IEM Melbourne 2025
After transitioning into a new system, m0NESY quickly proved that he does not need a long adaptation period to be a top factor. His play in Melbourne often determined whether the team had a chance to close out a series, and the overall picture of the tournament reinforced the thesis of his “superstar” level even during a rebuilding phase. - ESL Pro League Season 22
One of the most illustrative tournaments of the year. m0NESY played the event in a way that made his individual contribution impossible to ignore: he consistently created round advantages, won difficult duels, and maintained form throughout the playoffs. An MVP award in a final his team lost became the most telling marker of the season — he did the “work of a tournament’s best player,” but the title went elsewhere. - BLAST Rivals Season 2
The second “symbolic” final of the year — another situation where m0NESY looked like the brightest player of the event, but the team result again stopped one step short of the trophy. For the HLTV ranking, such tournaments matter: they do not add championships, but they strengthen the argument that the player was elite regardless of final placement.
m0NESY’s Role Throughout the Year
In 2025, m0NESY remained the “engine of tempo” for his teams. His value lies not only in saves or flashy highlights, but in systematic map control: he regularly creates the first advantage, forces opponents to respect AWP lines, opens space for riflers, and knows how to switch from aggression to round-closing discipline when composure is required.
It is also important that against an unstable team backdrop, he often looked like a “point of stability”: when structure cracks, a sniper with this level of mechanics and game sense can preserve chances in a series, turning individual rounds into turning points.
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m0NESY’s 4th Place
m0NESY’s 4th place in the HLTV ranking for 2025 is a story of a season without trophies, but not without proof of greatness. Two MVP awards in lost finals, strong consistency over the year, confident matches against top opposition, and an almost complete absence of “empty” tournaments secured his place in the world’s top four.
If in 2026 his teams learn to convert such deep runs into championships, m0NESY has all the prerequisites not just to return to the top-3 fight, but to enter a real race for the number one spot.
