flameZ secures #7 in HLTV Top 20

The latest entry in the HLTV Top 20 for 2025 is 22-year old Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan. Vitality's fierce entry fragger had an amazing year, stepping up time and time again at big matches, turning around rounds for Vitality. flameZ hit several roadblocks while breaking out of the Israeli Counter-Strike scene, missing out on important local LANs for being under 16 but then he shifted his focus towards FPL-C in an attempt to land an international callup.

His first big break came with Endpoint with whom he regularly attended A and B-tier online events during the pandemic. flameZ then went on to play for OG alongside Aleksib and won his first A-tier event at Spring Sweet Spring #2, taking down BIG in the grand-final. Unfortunately that would go on to be his only title win with OG as the team went dry for the next couple of years. flameZ made his maiden Major appearance at IEM Rio 2022 with OG.

the reason I'm here is because I've got great teammates and support from the staff; without them, it would be very hard.
flameZ

Despite OG's disappointing results, flameZ would still put up impactful numbers which eventually paid off as he received a career-changing opportunity. flameZ accepted the Vitality callup and won three S-tier events in the span of four months. The French org had a mediocre 2024 but coming into 2025, Vitality made a huge move. They brought in ropz, one of the best closers around at the moment to capitalize on flameZ's aggressive early round plays.

Vitality rounded off their near flawless first half of 2025 with a Major win at BLAST.tv Austin 2025, marking flameZ's first ever Major win and then bounced back after a brief form slump in the second half to win the StarLadder Budapest 2025 Major, bagging both Major titles in 2025.

Vitality couldn't sustain their first-half perfection throughout 2025, stumbling through a rough mid-year stretch with semi-final exits at IEM Cologne, BLAST Bounty Season 2, and Esports World Cup. flameZ's form took a noticeable hit during this period, bottoming out with a disappointing 0.96 rating in Riyadh, his worst showing since the season opener. A blistering three-tournament EVP streak at London, ESL Pro League Season 22, and IEM Chengdu saw flameZ rediscover his lethal form heading into the Budapest Major.

flameZ's standout performance of the year came in Vitality's grand final destruction of Falcons at ESL Pro League Season 22. An insane 1.65 rating with 102.6 ADR and +5.71% swing across three maps saw flameZ completely dismantle the star-studded opposition, dragging Vitality to their eighth trophy of 2025.

Despite playing a dangerous role, flameZ missed the 1.00 rating mark just twice in 2025. flameZ was Vitality's best performer at BLAST Bounty Season 1 and their second best at ESL Pro League Season 21, IEM Dallas, BLAST London Finals and IEM Chengdu. The Israeli entry-fragger won nine S-tier events with Vitality in 2025 including two Majors. flameZ's massive volume of game-changing performances towards the latter, decisive part of high profile tournaments nets him his second entry into HLTV's Top 20. flameZ picks MaiL09 for his bold prediction.