rain clinches IEM Sydney MVP

22-10-2023 14:56

The Norwegian secures the award thanks to unrivaled impact in FaZe's wins and crucial peaks in series deciders.

At 29 years old, rain becomes the oldest Big-Event HLTV MVP

Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard has been named the HLTV x 1xBET Most Valuable Player of IEM Sydney following FaZe's narrow title-winning victory over Complexity in the grand final.

The Norwegian came out on top of a particularly tight race to the award, edging out three other close candidates for the MVP in two of his teammates, Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants, as well as his grand final opponent Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski.

FaZe claim IEM Sydney trophy in thriller against Complexity

This was in large part thanks to the sheer impact rain had on FaZe's wins throughout the whole tournament. In just their 12 map victories the 29-year-old recorded the highest kills per round (0.84), damage per round (88.5), Impact rating (1.50), and overall rating (1.34), outperforming his FaZe teammates by significant margins.

Another contributing factor was that most of rain's biggest peaks came in crucial moments when FaZe reached deciding maps of do-or-die series, in the grand final against Complexity and in group stage matches against Vitality, Natus Vincere, and GamerLegion.

While these weren't the only factors, given that ropz and broky outperformed rain overall deeper into the tournament, they provided some key context to just how valuable the Norwegian was to FaZe's title-winning campaign and especially when the going got toughest.

FaZe's stats in map wins at IEM Sydney

FaZe's stats in map 3 deciders at IEM Sydney

FaZe	K - D	Swing	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard rain	92 - 62	+4.19%	100.0	80.2%	1.50
Helvijs 'broky' Saukants broky	74 - 56	+3.67%	76.4	82.3%	1.24
Robin 'ropz' Kool ropz	73 - 55	+2.92%	81.0	72.9%	1.22
Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Twistzz	68 - 60	-1.41%	74.4	72.9%	1.10
Finn 'karrigan' Andersen karrigan	53 - 60	-0.85%	62.0	71.9%	0.94

unexpected

2023-10-22 14:56

23 replies

deserved. ropz did carry playoffs tho hltv.org/stats/teams/players/6667/faze?s..

2023-10-22 14:58

22 replies

#rainMONSTA #FazeUp

2023-10-22 15:03

19 replies

sheesh. bro had 1.50 rating in a grand final with 100 adr and people were calling -rain a few weeks ago.

2023-10-22 15:44

18 replies

Most of those claims weren't really being kind to rain, to be honest.

2023-10-22 15:51

5 replies

Rain's issue is he's not super consistent. He's very skilled and he reads the game really well, but he's also a weak link a lot of games. FaZe usually win events when he and Broky are on point, which is telling because the past year that's not been often.

2023-10-22 16:26

4 replies

Yeah, one tournament doesn't automatically save rain from criticism, I get that. Just that tournaments like these more or less save rain from said criticism because it proves that FaZe rely on and need rain.

2023-10-22 18:33

1 reply

The thing about rain is he basically never makes big mistakes. He may not always win a duel but he is very aware of what's going on around him. I actually prefer him staying to broky, since I feel like broky is actually the opposite. He overplays his hand sometimes. It is pretty impressive that he still can get an MVP at a large event given he's 29. I do feel like FaZe without rain would be weird given how long he's been on the team.

2023-10-22 20:26

Pretty much no entry fraggers are super consistent. The only ones I can think of in tier 1 is yekindar in vp and dupreeh in Astralis' era

2023-10-23 01:35

Rain was super consistent at points. I mean, I don't disagree with you about entry fraggers, but his inconsistency usually shows itself in having a tremendous map followed immediately by a terrible one. I'd be less critical of it if his 1.0+ rating wasn't because he'd have these giant maps followed by ones that are totally no-show. But, as I mentioned in #101, I think he's less the issue when compared to broky.

2023-10-23 04:02

One good game doesn’t change the fact that he has been mediocre for the past year

2023-10-22 16:19

highest peaks lowest valleys. there's a reason he's a major mvp though.

2023-10-22 22:47

As per usual. At this point I think he refuses to play DM until -rain threads start popping up.

2023-10-22 16:48

Lol

2023-10-22 22:37

he didnt have them stats in final by the way its his stats in third map deciders

2023-10-22 16:57

Which shows an insanely good mental tbh

2023-10-22 21:08

the fuck u on ? rain just played in map 3... he ended 1.08 rating and 78 adr in the grand final

2023-10-22 18:36

2 replies

he's a rifler who plays shit roles and he still manages to pull it off, it's commendable even if it's for a map which also happened to go in 2x overtime

2023-10-22 19:50

bro, i didnt say it wasnt commendable.. but from 1.5 with 100 adr to 1.08 and 78 goes a huge diff

2023-10-22 22:27

cs2 has the cause of his motivation.

2023-10-22 19:41

Thats been going on for years. As for any entry fragger and support players. Most kids in here only read stats

2023-10-22 20:51

Yeah, its like they can only think in one direction which is bad stats -> lose while it goes the other way too.

2023-10-22 22:39

ropz robbzed

2023-10-22 17:13

He got DHL MVP, so whatever

2023-10-22 18:31

Absolutely deserved

how

2023-10-22 17:28

pog major mvp is back!

Gigachad, expected and deserved.

2023-10-22 14:57

monsta

I’m satisfied with this choice

RAINMONSTA~

2023-10-22 14:59

rainMONSTA

lfg deserved goat

rain cs2 headshot era

Goat

2023-10-22 15:00

Truly deserved. Highest impact of FaZe player

100.0 ADR WTF

and 1.50 impact on map wins

2023-10-23 02:51

Ropz 2 Broky 2 Rain 2 Twistzz still 0 Thats kinda unlucky and unfair

17 replies

why unfair? twist only had a couple of good games rain all of them

8 replies

I meant in general He should’ve won Cologne but ESL wanted to ride S1mple’s dxck His ratings were just slightly lower than his teammates in majority of those events which was because of his roles

2023-10-22 15:10

7 replies

Twistzz wasn't even the best player on his team at cologne.

2023-10-22 15:26

Stats might not show that but everybody know he was the reason why they won Cologne Im not discrediting anybody tho

2023-10-22 15:31

3 replies

Sure he had an insane final But the mvp is for the whole event not just for 1 match.

2023-10-22 15:32

Thats true but its not like he was shxt either :) 1.16 1.11 impact Also s1mple had a 0.87 rating in a decider map while twistzz was 1.40 so is he really the most valuable player when he cant show his value when it’s needed?:) Regardless he was us FaZe fans MVP :)

2023-10-22 15:46

flair and cope

2023-10-22 18:28

Hltv and esl mvp are not the same?

2023-10-22 19:18

Nope

2023-10-22 20:47

He will get one soon

When zywoo is there? Yeah no He is going to have the same roles just slightly better or worse which wouldn’t change anything about this subject actually makes it even more improbable

2023-10-22 15:08

He will get way worse roles most likely. I can already see him playing shitty anchor roles while botpex has the high impact positions.

2023-10-22 15:20

He got Blast MVP at this year's fall groups 😃😃

2023-10-22 15:09

I hope that would’ve counted :)

we will talk about it again when Twistzz get consistent with his play, so far he still has its ups and downs

2023-10-22 15:27

Sure

2023-10-22 15:28

yeah i thought that too, how player like him didnt get even one MVP in faze

2023-10-22 15:48

Well deserved! cold as ice serial killer, always performs when needed

rain the difference maker

2023-10-22 15:01

Deserved

2023-10-22 15:02

Ok, at this point HLTV is just messing with people who bet on who’s gonna be the MVP. Little wonder, considering this is a "1xBET" award. Sad, I remember the times when HLTV MVPs actually meant something…

2023-10-22 15:04

they really are inconsistent with this award to the point where its pointless

2023-10-22 18:21

And yet it's the biggest decider regarding end of year player rankings

2023-10-22 23:56

well deserved. Handsome, sexy, and probably a human being with the coolest name in The world. Havard Nygaard Shesh

2023-10-22 15:12

+1 <3

2023-10-22 15:38

Hell yeah, love it when Rain puts in absolute monster performances.

2023-10-22 15:14

Rain mvp age 29. Washed ? To older ? Where are you hltv fucking kids ? U need to learn this is esport and not sport. We don’t have knowledge about pro player reaction time evolution on video games only about casual people who didn’t play video games.

2023-10-22 15:17

15 yo kids didnt respond to this ofc lol. Im curious how they are gonna cope when Niko/simple/device still putting monster numbers at 30 years old. Main reason that old players started to fail at old age was game is changing and they played different version of counter strike most of their lifes (neo,taz,gtr,shox etc.)

2023-10-22 22:40

6 replies

I guess is more about two factors they drop to prime performance with good team and on other side at 30 years old you start to care about your family. It’s hard to found a great relationship with someone traveling in the world. So basically less motivation and time to focus on the game

2023-10-22 22:48

Ofc that is the main reason. I didnt wrote that since everyone surely understand that right now. Anyway cs2 and csgo very similar already (at least the way game happening its not like 1.6 vs csgo) so its gonna be interesting to see how these players gonna look when they become older.

2023-10-22 22:53

Yes :) I’m fucking hyped to see forest get right shox/ kennyS etc … try to make their comeback cause they are motivated to play on this new version of cs2

2023-10-22 22:57

Yea i watched even their open qualifiers lol. I support basically every pro from 2014-2017 era.

2023-10-23 11:29

also the motivation to grind was not that high for them..

2023-10-22 22:50

+1000 motivation dropped by far All this the biggest team fall after only one moove. Nip with makelele Fnatic with dennis or olof idt remember who was moving first C9 Stewie2k and tarik Envyus with kioshima Astralis with device Navi with bombl4

2023-10-22 23:02

Why not elige tho ?

2023-10-22 15:21

should've won

wasnt a problem before. s1mple got mvps while loosing finals

2023-10-22 20:22

because his stats were completely insane, happened to zywoo as well I think

2023-10-22 22:58

KING

Pog

2023-10-22 15:23

YEEEEEEEEEEEEE BABEEEEE

2023-10-22 15:24

playing on a such hard sports and still delevering like this? MONSTA

2023-10-22 15:25

Broky ropped

2023-10-22 15:33

NORWEGIAN PRIDE <33333333333

2023-10-22 15:37

Oldest ever Major MVP and now the oldest ever big event LAN MVP? Guy is truly a consistency legend.

2023-10-22 15:52

stolen from elige tbh

2023-10-22 16:01

13 replies

2023-10-22 16:38

explain?

2023-10-22 17:00

I mean elige carried his team through the finals and had the best rating out of both teams. The only contender in my opinion would've been broky, but not rain??

2023-10-22 18:04

rain 10 maps vs top5 opponent, 1.33 rating as a hard entry elige 4 maps vs top5 opponent, 1.20 rating as a star player dont see elige as the higher rated player, literally played free side of the bracket except g2 and c9. rain eliminated vitality, ence, navi, mouz, and GL.

2023-10-22 18:32

fair enough

2023-10-22 19:48

Tell me you're a stat reader without telling me

2023-10-22 20:54

yeah well honestly I haven't really watched any of the games so don't be surprised if I am looking at stats lmao

2023-10-22 22:11

then don't comment stupid takes if you literally haven't seen it lmao

2023-10-23 09:43

From your profile: Fan of teams: Faze Fan of players: Rain

2023-10-23 13:56

Has a player from a losing team ever won the MVP?? Must be insanely rare

2023-10-22 20:16

yeah, I've seen zywoo for example but I mean, he's zywoo

Ya I guess it can happen seeing how the grand final was 3 maps and super close with overtime

2023-10-22 20:33

s1mple's also done it a few times

2023-10-23 12:52

deserved by the GOAT entry more -rain threads please

2023-10-22 16:16

Spreadsheet man delivers!

2023-10-22 16:28

deserved for chad rain.

2023-10-22 16:34

EliGE got robbed

2023-10-22 16:40

probably the only Faze player I can respect, aging like wine

2023-10-22 16:41

Ain't a Faze fan but happy for rain. Deserved

2023-10-22 16:51

2023-10-22 17:02

my man

2023-10-22 17:03

Rain-kickers now can finally shut up xD

2023-10-22 17:47

Got confused by this i guess Ropz was MVP of the match in finals?

2023-10-22 17:53

Ropz won the IEM mvp and rain won the hltv mvp. I was confused too as I’ve literally just woken up and watched the game last night

2023-10-22 21:10

when motivated bros top 5 rifler easily

2023-10-22 18:05

niceeeeeee

2023-10-22 18:30

what a legend

2023-10-22 19:19

gigachad

absolute rock steady monster

2023-10-22 19:53

So is this the first time HLTV just randomly picks stats in map wins as the main criterion for MVP? Or do the cherry-pick each time based on their preferred player?

2023-10-22 20:35

They always mattered rating in map wins more. Most of the times a player that has highest rating overall has highest rating in map wins as well. But this one was different, that's why picking rain as MVP is a suspicious thing. k0nfig was MVP back in 2016 despite having much worse stats than Magisk hltv.org/news/19032/epicenter-top-playe

2023-10-22 20:53

It's a weird measure, but ok. ESL's pick makes more sense.

2023-10-23 02:09

pog

2023-10-22 20:42

Bump

2023-10-22 20:52

thats a player from Faze that i respect

0o hltv.org/stats/players/events/8183/rain?.. vs hltv.org/stats/players/events/18053/brok.. .......................................................

2023-10-22 21:14

ropz robbed

Deserved!.

GOAT

BOOMER BOOSTED BOT

2023-10-23 00:05

WOW SO MANY ECO KILLS WOW

2023-10-23 00:28

WHAT A LEGEND 5HEAD 5000IQ GIGACHAD

2023-10-23 01:24

mr 💩

2023-10-23 01:25

Take pills

2023-10-23 02:22

Legend of the game

2023-10-23 02:15

anyone saying -rain at this point deserves straight abuse.

2023-10-23 03:59

goated on a stack no cap

2023-10-23 04:23

Daddy

2023-10-23 04:46

Deserved. He played so well this tournament and he had difficult positions, like Outside on Nuke and Cave on Ancient.

2023-10-23 07:49

goat

2023-10-23 08:13

why did they only include maps that were won and not all? across all the maps (17) Rain still had the highest adr 82,0 of FAZE team. broky had highest kill per round 0,8 and he was the best rated player too so personally I would have given the award to broky.

2023-10-23 15:58