Vitality, G2, Cloud9 first teams confirmed for HLTV Award Show

12-12-2023 13:00

We're starting to unveil the attendees for the show in Belgrade.

The HLTV Award Show presented by 1xBet, taking place on January 13th in Belgrade, Serbia, will once again bring together the Counter-Strike elite for a celebration of our favorite game.

The ceremony will see 16 awards handed out, and while we can't unveil the nominees yet, we can confirm the first three teams that will participate in the ceremony: Vitality, G2, and Cloud9.

ZywOo in a suit? Coming right up

All three of these teams are filled with stars that we can't wait to see walk down our red carpet, but their 2023 results were quite different. While G2 and Vitality took home trophies, Cloud9's year will be remembered more for the big signings than the big results.

These three teams will be joined by many other squads, as well as notable Counter-Strike personalities.

As you may have noticed on our Social Media, legends such as Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub, Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski, and Ola "⁠elemeNt⁠" Moum will be present in Belgrade as guests of the show, tasked with handing out awards to the standout performers of 2023.

We can already assure you that the HLTV Award Show will feature significantly more active pros than the previous iteration of the event, and have more than double the number of total attendees.

Stay tuned for more updates regarding players, talent, creators, and industry leaders who will be present at the event.

HLTV Award Show broadcast talent revealed

As a reminder, here is the list of the 16 awards that will be handed out in January:

Community Awards
- Event of the year
- Talent of the year
- Streamer of the year
- Creator of the year

Panel Awards
- Opener of the year
- Closer of the year
- Anchor of the year
- AWPer of the year
- IGL of the year
- Coach of the year
- Highlight of the year

HLTV Awards
- Rookie of the year
- Women's team of the year
- Team of the year
- Women's player of the year
- Player of the year

If you are interested in attending the HLTV Award Show, sign up for an invite via the dedicated Award Show page or reach out to Professeur directly. The show isn't open to public, but all industry members are welcome to attend.

Vitality is top 1 team this year, that's 100% FaZe and G2 are fighting for a chance to become top 2 this year on the World Finals. There's a high chance for FaZe to win this tournament and end this debate. Although I think Vitality is really motivated to end this year on a high note, so I bet on them.

2023-12-12 13:03

19 replies

and zywoo player of the year

2023-12-12 13:01

15 replies

Yep

2023-12-12 13:02

zywoo 100% player of the year, has also forever easily surpassed s1mple for best player of all time (sadly for me)

2023-12-12 15:06

13 replies

Nobody will ever surpass the goat ;)

2023-12-12 16:10

11 replies

they already have. check stats on hltv. also zywoo will get 3rd #1 hltv medal while s1mple only has two

2023-12-12 16:26

10 replies

s1mple has 3 as well 2018,2021,2022

2023-12-12 16:27

9 replies

idc check hltv stats tab (i like s1mple more as well, but have to admit zywoo surpassed him this year, in total for all time)

2023-12-12 16:34

8 replies

no player will ever have the gamesense s1mple used to have in his prime years, zywoo is exceptional, sure but majority cs experts would take peak sasha over peak zywoo every day of the week for a reason

2023-12-12 16:44

7 replies

Zywoo has better gamesense than S1mple It's like he's playingn with wallhacks basically It's in raw skill that S1mple is better

2023-12-12 17:12

6 replies

You clearly have not been watching s1mple's prime years, he literally never got caught off guard, never got killed from behind and his crosshair placement is as good as some faceit level 7's S1mple was just impossible to play against, zywoo is still vulnerable in many aspects of the game, and is too early to say such nonsense that he surpassed sasha Even tho I can say that he's one of a kind player My honest opinion is that nobody will never surpass his peak, but we'll see I guess

2023-12-12 17:20

5 replies

I'm gonna sound like the "I remeber a guardiaN flick" guy but s1mple has a ton of legendary plays that just make you remember them. Add to that the ego/eccentricity in his game that s1mple had backed up by his skill people will just remember it more.

2023-12-12 19:49

2 replies

only bc of his personality, zywOo have way better clutches and plays than s1mple sorry most famous s1mple play = 1V2 with a lucky noscope, most famous zywOo clip = 1V5 with 9 hp vs navi in grand final people are just too nostalgic, same effect with the fraud kennyS

2023-12-12 19:58

1 reply

Yep ppl looking at numbers but zywoo has way more impactful (if not gamechangers) clutches (like coldzera's one on mirage by exemple) than simple. He turned the tide by himself so many Times. He doesnt have an extra original playstyle nor personnality (despite looking kind and humble) but he's methodic and has the biggest gamesense, even according to zonic. God am I gay?

2023-12-12 23:31

Well I agree that ZywOo did not surpass S1mple's peak I just massivly disagree on the gamesense part S1mple's peak was also a lot more about insane flashy flickshots ones after the others ZywOo's strength is mostly about holding the good angle right at the moment where you'll peak every single time

2023-12-13 03:00

Well, we'd have to agree to disagree I guess. I think that s1mple's quick plays and flick shots were very well coordinated and none of them were hit lucky like #84 stated. It always seemed that he reads the game way more efficiently than anybody else on the server and when it comes to that part I don't think that nobody surpassed him either. Also, like #83 said, his ego just backed up his insanely good and smart plays and that's probably why nobody is flat about him, you either like him or not

2023-12-13 15:11

They'll be at 3 rank 1 each though

2023-12-12 16:51

G2 isnt even close to top team. Losing to aurora and eagles like that.

2023-12-12 21:24

Faze is top 1 u idiot

2023-12-12 21:35

Bad Bait

2023-12-13 15:57

Vitality team of the year confirmed. Congrats, deserved. m0NESY is in the top 3, most likely. Perfecto should be nominated for anchor of the year

2023-12-12 13:11

anchor of the year is magisk , not even a question. maybe jks but magisk won more

2023-12-12 13:27

Or it could be Ax1Le for the best highlight

2023-12-12 13:29

lmao, no fucking chance

2023-12-12 15:36

Which clip would Ax1le win? The 1v5 from Fall FInal pistol round?

2023-12-12 15:46

Could be. Although, his spray transfer vs G2 was sick as well

2023-12-13 21:25

he literally disappeared in the second half of the year

2023-12-12 16:14

best anchor 4sure (in terms of dragging his team down)

2023-12-12 18:24

lmao +1

2023-12-18 18:21

G2 wins worst roster move of the year wow!

2023-12-12 13:10

Nah, that goes to Heroic for -cadiaN

2023-12-12 13:12

4 replies

they were forced to make it so doesn't really count. nexa for jks was something someone actually tought was a good idea

2023-12-12 13:13

It's a decent move, beacuse HooXi's position is still in question. Nexa gives G2 more future transfer options

2023-12-12 13:23

losing cadiaN is a far worse move than losing jks, regardless of how it went down

2023-12-12 13:28

yep

2023-12-12 13:18

Bro, spoilers....

Not even top 3. +rainwaker to liquid -cadian heroic +alex nip

2023-12-12 13:36

its way too early to say if +nexa was a bad move

2023-12-12 16:38

Sorry I’m a delusional jks fan

2023-12-12 17:18

Why c11?

NiKo in a suit🥵🥵🥵

2023-12-12 13:14

lmao ahah

2023-12-12 14:44

lmao cloud 9? they had such a bad year

2023-12-12 13:15

Joke of the year award nominee

2023-12-12 13:20

Ropz clean sweep gg next

Huh? Why c9 and not faze?!

2023-12-12 13:25

Because C9 players are likely in Belgrade anyway most of the time if I have to guess, so it is easy for them to be "Yeah, we can come, how much bus stops is it?" Have no idea where FaZe bootcamps though, but they definitely don't live in Belgrade.

2023-12-12 14:26

the show is not open to public :(

Where is my fantasy?

2023-12-12 13:31

snax top 3

2023-12-12 13:33

C9 can get award for dumbest management

Rookie of the year, hmm, who would it be ?

2023-12-12 13:35

NertZ

2023-12-12 15:37

3 replies

1st he is 24 2nd he played in 4 teams before ENCE including Endpoint which is decent tier2. He is not new to the scene

2023-12-12 16:55

2023 is actually his first year on tier 1. I mean, who is is gonna be if not him? I doubt that they'll include donk because he's wasn't playing on tier 1 for the entire year. It can be jimmi, because Mouz had good results

2023-12-12 17:00

I understand "rookie of the year" as a person that is new to the professional competitive scene and in his first year had great success. You can't name a "rookie" Nertz who is on the scene since 2017

2023-12-12 17:27

gl hf

2023-12-12 13:45

The amount of brain cells and reading comprehension in this thread is lower than EG's wins this year. "Where is FaZe?" "Where bla bla bla" It clearly says FIRST teams announced

2023-12-12 13:48

ZywOo AWPer of the year Opener of the year Closer of the year Highlight of the year Magisk Anchor of the year Apex IGL of the year Zonic Coach of the year

2023-12-12 13:55

Highlight of the year prob m0nesy in inferno :3

2023-12-12 18:21

zywOo 1V4 vs g2 in major paris is more impressive imo, but they are not gonna give all trophies to him lmfao

2023-12-12 20:00

BaitF for opener of the year

2023-12-12 14:01

Ballon d'or of cs

2023-12-12 14:32

Panel Awards Opener of the year: xertioN Closer of the year: frozen? Anchor of the year: Magisk? AWPer of the year: ZywOo IGL of the year: apEX or karrigan Coach of the year: sAw or NEO Highlight of the year: cadiaN 1v5 (BLAST Spring v Vitality) or ZywOo 1v4 (Major v G2) HLTV Awards Rookie of the year: Depends what "Rookie" is, siuhy? Women's team of the year: Nigma Galaxy Team of the year: Vitality Women's player of the year: ANa Player of the year: ZywOo

2023-12-12 14:34

Closer as clutcher? Should be ZywOo. IGL should be between apEX, HooXi and siuhy realistically. Should be apEX. I fear HLTV will try to spread the awards as much as possible between different teams.

2023-12-12 14:43

The roles will work like they do for the best 5, the same player can't appear in two categories. Even if roles are fluid and players can fit into multiple categories, they'll get put into the category they're associated with the most. ZywOo will be classed as an AWPer.

2023-12-12 14:52

Hopefully they don't rob apEX.

2023-12-12 14:58

karrigan is up there for igl too imo

2023-12-12 15:17

You can't be serious? FaZe won EPL, Sydney and thats it.

2023-12-12 15:21

They also won Bing Chilling Shanghai major

2023-12-12 16:39

Rename it to ZywOo Awards cause he'll snatch all of them!

2023-12-12 14:41

#38, I expect them to reward more players otherwise people will complain.

100% whats gonna happen

2023-12-12 15:49

without thinking any facts Community Awards - Event of the year Paris Major - Talent of the year Scrawny - Streamer of the year idk - Creator of the year STYKO Panel Awards - Opener of the year NiKo or xertioN - Closer of the year ropz or Spinx) - Anchor of the year ropz - AWPer of the year ZywOo - IGL of the year karrigan or apEX - Coach of the year sAw - Highlight of the year idk HLTV Awards - Rookie of the year donk? or then iM, siuhy, jL or Jimpphat if these count - Women's team of the year Nigma Galaxy - Team of the year Vitality - Women's player of the year ANa - Player of the year ZywOo

2023-12-12 15:18

iM played insanely at paris major and thats almost all

2023-12-12 23:37

Where is Man's team of the year and Man's player of the year awards?

2023-12-12 15:35

Such an easy Team of the Year award for G2 Cologne, Katowice and World Finals all in 2023? Better than a fluke major in my books

2023-12-12 15:41

Cct to hard for them

2023-12-12 15:45

oh well luckily its hltv doing it and not biased fans...

2023-12-12 16:29

G2 fluking Katowice and Cologne shouldn't count KEKW

2023-12-12 16:42

Yeah easy for Vitality

2023-12-12 17:19

Wish I saw some of these guys at last Award show. ZywOo in a suit sounds interesting :D

2023-12-12 16:11

C9 gonna get an award for most meaningless roster move?

2023-12-12 16:40

elemeNt ??? holy shit !!!

2023-12-12 18:12

Opener of the year = NiKo Closer of the year = ropz Anchor of the year = Magisk AWPer of the year = ZywOo IGL of the year = karrigan Coach of the year = zonic Highlight of the year = youtube.com/watch?v=k93FW6r5YAg or youtube.com/watch?v=8peaeECnDz8

2023-12-12 18:33

how is karrigan the IGL of the year? Karrigan didn't win anything beside EPL and Sydney in the year. apEX already proved that without zonic he can do it. Realistically apEX is probably taking that IGL of 2023 like he did of 2021 somehow beating Boombl4 but not suprising since he took crown jewel of NaVi's nuke

2023-12-12 19:10

won the grand slam, CAC and thunderpick, its very close between karrigan and apex

2023-12-12 19:37

GSL which was taken by karrigan was 2022/2023 run with most of their events being from 2022 so it's not impressive to the point it overweights major, its cool achievement of course. CAC and Thunderpick is literally a meme compared to Blast Premier Fall Finals and IEM Rio and even Gamers8 which was organised by ESL is way better than these two. Especially if Vitality was to win Blast World Finals, apEX is guaranteed to have IGL of the year while karrigan would be just closer to apEX at this point

2023-12-12 19:41