Who is the best rookie of 2019? | Dexerto Awards

It’s hard to make the breakthrough in esports, but we’re seen four rookies that have revolutionized their game’s scenes forever. You’ve been voting for your best rookie of 2019 in the Dexerto Awards, and the results are in…

• Vote for your favorite esports players in the Dexerto Awards
• Check out the results for the best CSGO player of 2019

Tekken 7 player Arlan Ash sweeped the field with a whopping 45% of the vote, and was crowned people’s best rookie player of 2019.

You can check out all the nominations for the best rookie player of 2019, and discover why they each deserve recognition below.

Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut (CSGO)

While ZywOo has been stomping players in the CSGO server for a couple of years, his 2019 season with Team Vitality was his breakout moment. 

After joining the French organization in October 2018, they went on to win DreamHack Atlanta and make it to the IEM Katowice Major. Wins at ECS Season 7, ESEA Season 31, cs_summit 4, and a second place at Cologne had Team Vitality peak as high as second in the HLTV rankings for 2019.

• Read more: ZywOo pulls off insane pistol ace at Berlin Major

ZywOo was the spearhead of that insurgence, with the 19-year-old averaging a rating of 1.32, and almost a kill per round across the entirety of 2019. Only Na`Vi veteran s1mple came close to matching ZywOo’s numbers across the year, making him arguably the best CSGO player all year.

Chris ‘Simp’ Lehr (Call of Duty)

Simp was a weapon in eUnited’s back pocket for years before the support player made huge waves on his full-time entry into professional Call of Duty in 2019. The Search and Destroy star finally turned 18 in February, and eUnited wasted no time in promoting him from their Cadets academy team to the main roster.

He came second at his first CWL event in London in May, before stepping it up during the CWL Pro League playoffs. He helped eUnited secure the $500,000 main prize in Miami, and then put on a great show to take home the World Championship in Los Angeles in August, and an MVP medal to boot.

• Read more: eUnited win CWL Champs 2019, Simp named MVP

Simp also took home Console Rookie of the Year at the Esports Awards, and has a spot in the Call of Duty League in 2020 with Atlanta FaZe. After a stellar rookie year, all eyes will be on him and FaZe during the league’s inaugural season.

Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf (Fortnite)

Bugha went from quiet performer to instant millionaire, dominating Fortnite in 2019 to take home the World Cup solos event and pocket $3 million. He didn’t win the World Cup by a small margin either – he almost doubled the points of any other player in one of the game’s most jaw-dropping performances.

His success didn’t stop in New York, though. He took out numerous Cash Cup and Fortnite Champion Series heats, and was one of the most consistent solo players across 2019. 

• Read more: Bugha wins Fortnite World Cup solos

Bugha’s efforts have already netted him PC Rookie of the Year and PC Player of the Year at the Esports Awards, where he beat the likes of Overwatch’s Jay ‘Sinatraa’ Won and CS:GO’s Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz. He even got a nod in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, meaning the 16-year-old prodigy has firmly fixed himself into the mainstream conscience during the course of his rookie year.

Arslan ‘Arslan Ash’ Siddique (Tekken)

Pakistan was never a country anyone associated with Tekken – that was until Arslan Ash came along. The Kazumi main started off 2019 dodging border officials on his way to small-time events, and ended it with two EVO titles, and an unforgettable story.

Arslan Ash won EVO Japan and EVO Las Vegas 2019, taking down some of the game’s best players, such as Bae ‘Knee’ Jae-min and Yoon ‘LowHigh’ Sun-woong. Having beaten Knee in late 2018, he wasn’t completely unknown, but his dominant 2019 turned the Tekken community’s attention to Pakistan.

• Read more: Arslan Ash wins EVO 2019

Since then, numerous players have followed in Arslan Ash’s footsteps to make their way onto the world stage, and Pakistan has become the place to bootcamp for Tekken pros. Arslan Ash’s rookie year wasn’t just for himself, but his entire country, and he managed to pull off the impossible.