CSGO: Player of the Year 2019

In 2019, we don't think there's any place for s1mple in the MVP race. This year the choice is even harder.

Last year, the competition for MVP award was extremely stressful, but clear – Nicolai “device” Reedtz and Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev met each other in a tough battle, and s1mple came out as the winner.

Contents

1 device
2 ZywOo
3 EliGE
4 Winner

device

Astralis

Device with head set on sitting at his monitor ready to play.

Nicolai “device” Reedtz is the AWPer of Astralis. The Dane is not only a decent player, he also forms an important part of the most successful team in CS:GO history. Collectively, sooner or later, he deserves to get an MVP award, but will it happen this year?

In 2018, s1mple was far ahead by most personal statistical values. Despite a great start for Astralis’ last year, device lost the battle, but hadn’t lost the war.

If we compare device with other contenders, what can we say? ZywOo is ahead by personal values, but the difference between the average level of Astralis and Vitality is simply immeasurable.

Another point in device's favour; he did a big part of the work for the Danish team at the StarLadder Berlin Major. He earned the MVP award and was the best player during all play-off matches. Nobody came even close to him!
Considering all of the above, we've marked device as a favourite for our CSGO Player of the Year 2019.

MVP awards (2019): 3, including 1 Major
Events won (2019): 6, including 2 Majors
Rating 2.0 (2019): 1.22

ZywOo

Vitality

ZywOo dressed in a grey hoodie pulling the thumbs up at the camera and smiling

French prospect, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, showed what everyone wanted to see from him this year. Sometimes he carried Vitality, but sometimes it was his team helping him. These were the moments when Vitality found some real success. But ZywOo stably performed at a top level right from the beginning to the very end of the 2019.

Mathieu showed a lot of progress this season, and passed the test to reach real tier-1 level status.
But is he ready for the MVP of the year award?
His personal stats are insanely good, but Vitality didn't perform that well overall. And one of their main problems is whenever ZywOo starts underperforming, (even slightly,) his team can’t do much.

Vitality try to capitalize on ZywOo’s potential as much as possible, but he hasn't reached his real peak yet.

Not only in his favour are his impressive personal stats. If we take a look at a calendar – suddenly, Mathieu has one more big advantage. A chance to shine even brighter at the EPICENTER 2019, S-tier event in Moscow.

Unlike EliGE and device, who've already ended their competitive year, ZywOo has a real chance to change the balance in the MVP race.

MVP awards (2019): 3
Events won (2019): 3
Rating 2.0 (2019): 1.31

EliGE

Liquid

EliGE in front of his monitor, smiling as he jokes with his team mates who are off frame

It was a difficult choice, but Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski is looking more preferable than s1mple in the case of 2019's MVP race. EliGE earned 3 MVP awards during the year, including his career-first MVP medals. He doesn't only have impressive stats – especially his high ADR compared to lower K/D ratio and rating 2.0. EliGE also puts in a lot of rough work for the team.

Thanks to his impact and strong performance Liquid saw some real success. Including grabbing the Intel Grand Slam S2 trophy with 4 consecutive great victories.
Another big tick is EliGE's constant improvement, both overall and when it comes to the details. Let’s just track his growth on a simple stats (rating 1.0) over the career:
A visual break down of EliGE's stats over the past 4 years showing all his win rates at lans and majors

No doubt, it was the best year for him. We'll see the same thing if we take a look at ADR, rating 2.0 and K/D ratio.
EliGE keeps growing and he is an important part of one of the best CS:GO teams right now.

MVP awards (2019): 3
Events won (2019): 7
Rating 2.0 (2019): 1.21

Winner

device

Device cheering in front of his monitor right after Astralis won the Berlin Major

No doubt, device deserves to take Player of the Year in 2019.

In our eyes, he was the most stable tier-1 player across all of the year. Nicolai's performance in the Playoffs at StarLadder Berlin made an important contribution to Astralis' success.

Also, CS:GO is a team game anyways, so, it's important not to ignore a team's achievements and performance when coming to a decision.

In summary, slightly lower personal stats don't matter as much as what a player brings to the team overall. Device carried all the matches he needed to carry. It was device who pulled off clutches in the most important moments. He's often the brightest player on the #1 team in the world.