Best Five of BLAST World Final 2023

Vitality end the year with another four-man appearance in our all-star lineup.

Vitality could not have ended 2023 better. Since adding William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman, they have won all eight series they have taken part in and added two trophies to their cabinet to boot.

Star man Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut's blip at IEM Sydney is all but forgotten after he took home his second MVP in two tournaments, entering a blistering level of form that all but guaranteed the French organization the trophy.

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ZywOo claims BLAST World Final MVP award

But we must find ZywOo four teammates, and for that we delve into the role-based system we have used all year. If you're still unfamiliar, here are the categories:

Anchor: Supportive players on CT Side. Players get points for each spot; e.g. B Mirage is 0 points, A Connector is 10, and other spots scale between that. Anchors must average below 3 points overall.
AWPer: Players who record more than 20% of their kills with snipers.
Closer: Lurkers on T side. Points are awarded like for Anchor, but on T spots. Full lurk spots are 0 points, roaming pack spots are 10. Players' averages must be below five to qualify for the Closer category
IGL: In-game leaders and captains. The primary strategic caller.
Opener: The inverse of Closer: Pack riflers on T side. Their average must exceed five points.

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Replacing Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif was supposed to be an impossible job, but mezii has made it look easy. The Brit may have been carried to victory in Copenhagen but you cannot make the same accusation here.

It is on T side where he shone brightest with a 1.42 rating and it is no coincidence that his T side role in Vitality closely resembles his fnatic one, as the fourth man in defaults that returns to the pack for executes.

Key in this role is mid-round fragging and making space for the team's closers to win rounds. mezii ticked both boxes, with a solid 76 ADR and a whopping 35% of his deaths getting traded.

Even with his relative struggles on CT side (1.01 rating), mezii's signing is already bearing fruit.

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What is there to say about ZywOo that has not been said already? He is even ticking Alex "⁠Mauisnake⁠" Ellenberg's cultural impact box.

World Final is yet another event in a long catalog of dominance for 2023, and his competitors will not have enjoyed reading that the man himself feels like there is more to come.

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ZywOo: "I feel I can play much better than that"

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Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool is the sole FaZe member to crack the Best Five, leading his side in ADR (85.2) as they made their fifth successive final on Counter-Strike 2.

Plenty of his frags came in lost rounds, but he was FaZe's highest contributor in terms of damage in round wins (97.5) and put up a strong fight in the final.

It is a strange quirk that the event's best lurker converted zero clutches, which has led to a weird radar chart to say the least, but you can still see ropz's output as a lone wolf clearly. He may not be CS2's best player anymore, but he is still up there with the very best.

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A collector's item for Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire, who takes home not just the IGL crown for the event (in which Vitality dropped 0 maps and boasted a 69% round win percentage on T side) but the Opener one too.

The highlight was his top-fragging performance against Natus Vincere in the semi-finals, where his 1.48 rating was too good even for ZywOo to match.

He is not in a role where fragging is expected. That he did anyway speaks to the heater Vitality were on all tournament and the system that apEX has created.

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Because apEX took home two categories, there is room for one more player to round out the lineup.

And, the best remaining player at the event was Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi. In a comparable event to ropz, Spinx showed a remarkable level of fragging from his lurk positions and was the foundation upon which apEX and company built the trophy.

He joined Vitality from ENCE to win trophies, and this tournament takes his tally to six.

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There we have it, the final Best Five of 2023 is complete. The performances of Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan, Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás, Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan, Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy, and Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov also deserve credit but it was a clear decision in favor of the eventual final squad.

We'll be back at the award show, where the best players in these categories will be crowned on stage in Belgrade. Voting for the year-end prizes will be done by an expert panel of players, talent, and HLTV.org staff with the nominees to be announced after Christmas.

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Announcing HLTV Award Show 2023 presented by 1xBet