MVP Collectors. Players with the Most Tournament MVP Awards
There are many players in Counter-Strike tournaments who are famous for their excellent individual play and, thanks to their performance, teams manage to win even the most difficult matches. But this does not mean that each of them is capable of becoming the best in the tournament, the MVP medal is awarded only after the grand final and only a few can achieve this status. Despite the large number of tournaments, there are many excellent players on the professional scene who have not even once become the best in a tournament. But there is another category of esportsmen: they can be called “MVP Collectors”. When they reach the final stages of championships, there is no longer any doubt who will become the best player of the tournament, even if they lose in the grand final. In this article, we will discuss the players with the most MVP awards.
Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev
- MVP medals (21 pieces): IEM Cologne 2022, BLAST Spring Final 2022, BLAST World Final 2021, BLAST Fall Final 2021, PGL Stockholm Major 2021, ESL Pro League Season 14, IEM Cologne 2021, StarLadder CIS RMR 2021, DreamHack Masters Spring 2021, BLAST Global Final 2021, ESL Pro League Season 12 EU. IEM Katowice 2020, StarSeries i-League Season 7, BLAST Copenhagen 2018, ESL One Cologne 2018, CAC 2018, StarSeries Season 5, DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018, StarSeries Season 4, DreamHack Winter 2017, ESL One New York 2016
Almost from the very start, the career of Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev quickly took off. The young player quickly established himself in the list of the brightest and most promising esportsmen in Counter-Strike. Over the years, he confirmed this status, becoming the best player of the year several times. Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev became famous for being one of the first to receive the MVP, having lost in the grand final. There was no particular happiness from this medal, because in Counter-Strike, team results are more important than individual performance. But even when s1mple did not have a strong team that could compete for titles, he was considered one of the best players in the world and these achievements cannot be ignored. Since the release of Counter-Strike 2, Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev has gone into inactive, almost a year has passed since then. So far, he is in no hurry to return, since his buyout from Natus Vincere is a huge amount of money and almost no club can afford him. But the time will come and s1mple will return to the server. No longer as a favorite, but still as a player who has a huge number of MVP medals.
Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut
- MVP medals (20 pieces): IEM Cologne 2024, ESL Pro League Season 19, BLAST World Final 2023, BLAST Fall Final 2023, Gamers8 2023, BLAST Paris Major 2023, IEM Rio 2023, ESL Pro League Season 16, IEM Winter 2021, BLAST Fall Finals 2020, IEM Beijing EU 2020, DreamHack Open Fall 2020, ESL Cologne EU 2020, cs_summit 6 Europe, BLAST Spring EU Finals 2020, EPICENTER 2019, DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019, ESL One Cologne 2019, ECS Season 7 Finals, cs_summit 4
Second place went to s1mple’s main competitor, who caused him a lot of problems throughout his career. Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut appeared in Counter-Strike a little later, but quickly made up for lost time. Team Vitality’s main talent was also famous for his 1×9 game, when he allowed his team to win matches that depended only on the sniper’s personal performance. The battle between Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut and Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev was the most interesting to watch, now new young talents are appearing on the scene, but so far they cannot even come close to the level that these players showed in personal confrontations. Even the Frenchman himself noted that he got bored without s1mple and is looking forward to his return. And if Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev sits on the bench for a long time, he will hardly be able to catch up with Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut in the race for the MVP leadership, because the Team Vitality star is not going anywhere.
Nicolai device Reedtz
- MVP medals (19 pieces): IEM Fall EU 2021, IEM Global Challenge 2020, DreamHack Masters Winter EU 2020, ESL Road to Rio Europe 2020, ECS Season 8 Finals, StarLadder Major 2019, BLAST São Paulo 2019, ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals, ECS Season 6 Finals, IEM Chicago 2018, BLAST Istanbul 2018, FACEIT Major 2018, ELEAGUE Premier 2018, ECS Season 5 Finals, ECS Season 2 Finals, PGL Season 1, FACEIT League 2015 Stage 2 Finals, FBM S4 Finals, CCS Kick-off
The closest to the dangerous pair came the four-time major champion – Nicolai device Reedtz. In his best years, he could compete on equal terms with both Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev and Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut. But at some point in his life, he faced depression and paused his career for a long time, which hit his prospects hard. The Dane never returned to his best form, and he doesn’t have his old team, the current Astralis roster doesn’t have any great achievements. The sniper himself has also reduced his ambitions and taken the captain’s position and sometimes fails in matches. It’s also hard to overtake Nikolai device Reedtz in MVP, because he managed to get as many of them as possible during the times of Astralis dominance.
Christopher GeT_RiGhT Alesund
- MVP medals (10 pieces): CPH Games 2014, DreamHack Bucharest 2013, ESEA Season 14 Finals, StarSeries VI Finals, ESEA Season 13 Finals, EMS One Spring 2013, Mad Catz Vienna, AMD Sapphire CS:GO Invitational, DreamHack Winter 2012, ESWC 2012
The gap between third and fourth place is simply colossal – 19 MVP medals against 10. It is also worth considering that this line is occupied by a player who ended his career many years ago. Nevertheless, Christopher GeT_RiGhT Alesund is a living legend of Counter-Strike and during the formation of CS:GO, he was the best player on the planet for some time, and for the rest of his career – just a good player who can compete with other leaders. Age and ambitions no longer allowed the Swede to continue playing at a high level, so he had to end his career, but young talents have not yet managed to overtake him in MVP.
Kenny kennyS Schrub
- MVP medals (10 pieces): DH Masters Malmö 2017, ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals, DreamHack Open Tours 2017, WESG 2016 World Finals, Game Show Global eSports Cup 2016, DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015, DreamHack London 2015, IOS Pantamera, DH Stockholm 2014 #2, Mad Catz Birmingham
The top 5 players with the largest number of tournament MVP awards are rounded out by another esports athlete who retired several years ago. At one time, Kenny kennyS Schrub was the best sniper on the planet, until Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev and Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut appeared, and for some time he could even compete with them, but that was already the end of his career. Kenny kennyS Schrub is still a respected figure in Counter-Strike, but his mouse has long been hung up. During his career, the Frenchman managed to earn as many MVPs as Christopher GeT_RiGhT Alesund, which is still an extremely worthy result.
The leaders in the number of MVPs have not changed for a long time. No matter how other players perform, it is unlikely that they will be able to overtake the top three. For example, Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev has not played on the professional stage for about a year, but even his closest pursuer, Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut, who is in excellent shape and one of the best players in the world, could not overtake him. But soon the leadership of the former Natus Vincere sniper may pass to a Team Vitality player, it will be interesting to watch.