Since going international at the beginning of the year, Vitality won their first trophy after five maps and 155 Counter-Strike matches.
Meanwhile, their now legendary player, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut ended a 10-month MVP drought by being awarded the Most Valuable Player of the ESL Pro League Season 16. The 21-year-old phenom was by far Vitality's best player during the European team's trip to Malta to win the trophy.
The Frenchman now has 13 career victories to his name after winning this year's lone MVP award and his first since the IEM Winter 2021. ZywOo easily defeated competitors including Nikola “NiKo” Kova, Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, and Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gainskis to win the prize thanks to his stellar play throughout the competition.
The MVP Performances
ZywOo was unstoppable at EPL, dominating the scoreboard in every game throughout the group stage to ensure Vitality's unblemished record in Group A. His performances in the games versus Spirit and Endpoint, which received ratings of 1.69 and 1.61, respectively, are just a few of his standout ones.
After making it to the playoffs, the Frenchman kept his foot firmly planted on the throttle as he led Vitality to triumphs over Outsiders in the quarterfinal and G2 in the semifinal. ZywOo led his side to triumph over Liquid in the previous match by posting a record-breaking 143 frags and a 1.39 rating across the five-map series.
The European team's top player, Vitality, averaged a 1.42 rating overall and only showed one map with a rating below 1.00. Additionally, K-D differential (+207), impact rating (1.52), and rounds with more than one kill (56.3%) were all tops for ZywOo.
Additionally, the AWPer shown excellent performance in terms of KPR (0.91), clutches won (15), and overall kills (536).
