Spinx waited a long time for his first MVP, and this time, after crushing Spirit in the BLAST Bounty Hunt final, he didn't let the opportunity slip away.
All three of his best-performing maps came on Champions Sunday, when MOUZ swept the only top-10 team to qualify for the LAN finals.
As a four-time annual Top 20 selection, he has long deserved an MVP award, and now this specific career goal has finally been achieved.
Next, he needs to prove that this brand-new MOUZ roster can consistently maintain this level of performance.
Radar Chart Data Glossary
Rating 3.0: A composite rating derived by HLTV combining kills, damage, survival, KAST, multi-kills, and Swing. Swing Added: Win probability gain from positive actions. eKPR: Economy-adjusted kills per round. eADR: Economy-adjusted average damage per round. eKPRW: Economy-adjusted kills per round won. 2k+: Rounds with two or more kills. 1k+: Rounds with one or more kills. KAST: Rounds with a kill, assist, survival, or traded death. Swing in RW: Swing in rounds won. eNetDmg: Economy-adjusted net damage per round. eNetKills: Economy-adjusted net kills per round. Round Swing: Total win probability from all of a player's actions.
torzsi
Before the Bounty tournament kicked off, torzsi was under intense scrutiny, with his average rating standing at just 1.02 over the final three months of the first half of the year.
But like Spinx, a break and a honeymoon period with his new teammate PR were enough to rejuvenate him. He got off to a strong start, posting a 1.48 Rating online (not counted towards EVP consideration) and a 1.22 at LAN.
Before the finals, he was the clear favorite for MVP, posting a Rating of 1.20 or higher on five maps against 3DMAX and Astralis, including a crucial 39-kill performance against the French team on Nuke.
In the finals, his impact was underwhelming (though his kill difference remained solid), which gave Spinx the chance to claim the award, but undoubtedly, torzsi's return to form was the key factor behind MOUZ lifting the trophy again after 18 months.
BLAST Bounty S2 Finals Best Players (by ranking):
Spinxtorzsi
Honorable Mention
xelex was the player closest to winning the award, with four solid maps and an outstanding Mirage in the grand finals, but the depth of his performance was insufficient to meet the EVP criteria.
PR demonstrated their strength in the match against 3DMAX and on the first two maps of the finals, but similarly failed to meet the high threshold required for a nomination.
Despite holding two bounty tournament MVP trophies, donk was out of form for most of the semifinals and finals, failing to even secure an EVP here and squandering his 1.76 Rating start against Liquid.
Staehr performed excellently in the consecutive overtime rounds against paiN to advance to the semifinals, but finished poorly against MOUZ.
In the quarterfinals, 910 (1.20 Rating) and Jorko (+4.37% Swing) stood out in their respective teams, but a single match alone is not enough to win an award.
All-Star lineup
MOUZ's comfortable championship victory means three of their players made the tournament's All-Star Team, with IGL xertioN joining EVP torzsi and MVP Spinx.
Since we already have three players from MOUZ, this leaves no spot for xelex and PR.
Despite occasional slumps, donk remains the best entry fragger, while Staehr's floor is also relatively low.
The anchor position was the hardest to decide on, but we ultimately chose Neityu over zont1x and ryu, as he is the only support player with a KPRW over 0.93, reaching 1.06, and on the CT side, he outperformed his role's expectations the most (1.08 Rating, 4.04 above expected ADR).
Multiple award winner
Spinx and torzsi both joined this list.