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Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut won his first award for the best player in the world by HLTV.org in 2019, as a rookie. He had to snatch it from none other than the best of all time, Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev. Now, in CS2 and with s1mple out of the picture (benched/on pause at NAVI), a new challenger has emerged. Coming from the CIS region, 17-year-old Danil “donk” Kryshkovets is trying to do the same as ZywOo did to s1mple.

Donk is Leading, But for How Long?

During the season, players probably don’t bother too much about personal rankings and awards. CS2 is a team game, and you won’t win many personal accolades if your team doesn’t perform. As the season is coming closer to the end, with a couple of MVP awards, some might start thinking about it—at least a little bit. On the other hand, the community is always eager to discuss who will be the next king of CS.

A lot goes into winning the best player award: ratings, impact, MVP awards, performance, and so on. But for now, it looks like the two players most likely to win it by the end of this season are donk and ZywOo. The young Russian has already claimed three MVP trophies this year, including the BetBoom Dacha 2024, in which his Team Spirit finished 2nd. He was the best player at BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024 and IEM Katowice 2024, a tournament that holds a high place in the scene. In the past three months, he boasted a 1.27 rating across 37 maps—insane stats for a rookie. But we have seen something like that before—with ZywOo. There is always speculation about wunderkinds transitioning to the tier 1 scene and whether they will be able to perform at the highest level and at LAN events as well. Donk has answered those questions. He established himself in the scene, and at his age, he still has a lot of room to grow.

ZywOo claimed the IEM Cologne 2024 MVP and trophy. Vitality had to wait for 8 months for their first trophy in 2024. That didn’t stop ZywOo from earning another MVP award, although his team finished second at the ESL Pro League S19. Across the 45 maps, he has an insane rating of 1.31 in the past three months. So donk won more, but are the tournaments he won more valuable than those of ZywOo?

Let the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Be the Decider

There are several important tournaments left to be played. Both players are or will be competing in the ESL Pro League S20 and BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024. ZywOo and Vitality will also be playing at IEM Rio 2024 in October, while donk won’t. And, of course, the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 in December, where we hope to see both of them, will be the last tournament of the year. If everything goes as it should, the Major could be the decider. The Frenchman has already won one, and he was the best player in the tournament. That might give him the edge.