The EVPs and Best Five of IEM Chengdu

Six more players add some weight behind their run at the Top 20.

IEM Chengdu, the third Big Event of 2024, has concluded with FaZe cementing their grip on World No. 1 after making their eight final in a row and adding a fourth CS2 title.

Arms race fanatic Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants spearheaded FaZe's run through the playoffs with a 1.31 playoff rating and earned his first MVP since BLAST Spring Final 2022. The Latvian Laser's hybrid style suits CS2, and he has been an EVP or better at all three of 2024's Big Events.

But he was by no means a dominating force, and there is plenty of credit left to hand out. So without further ado, here are the EVPs of IEM Chengdu.

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broky named IEM Chengdu MVP

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Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo led the MVP candidates going into the final, and was MOUZ's most impactful player throughout the tournament.

Despite narrowly missing out on that aforementioned MVP, the young Finn ended with 1.16 kills per round win (1st out of playoff teams) and consistently made his anchor spots look like those of a star.

The 17-year-old was particularly good against Liquid in the Group A seeding match but kept it up against G2 in semis in a statement performance that (albeit briefly) extinguished concerns around MOUZ's level in big arena matches.

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Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov's worst event of 2024 so far is still enough for a second-place EVP and a 1.34 rating. Still just 18, m0NESY's blossoming into a Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev-level superstar has been the big story of 2024 so far but it has not quite translated into team success.

He was not blameless this event, failing to have much impact on the Overpass decider against MOUZ in semis, but his statistics remain mind-boggling for the whole event.

0.85 kills per round, 1.42 Impact, 8 clutches (3 1vs3s), 1.34 rating (1.32 in playoffs) are just a handful of those but we could go on. After this start to 2024, m0NESY should be aiming for nothing less than No. 1 come next January.

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Released from his role clash with Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer, we saw the old Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund again in Chengdu.

His dynamic play, particularly from B Cave on Ancient against FaZe, was a nightmare for opponents and he ended the event on a 1.36 rating in his favored T side roaming roles usually taken up by teams' IGLs.

The old stavn was also present in a negative sense, dropping from a 1.61 rating in groups to 1.02 in playoffs for his one series against FaZe.

But, regardless, this event — where he averaged a 1.30 rating vs Virtus.pro and FaZe over seven maps — was a proof of concept for Astralis, and stavn reaching this level of comfort would be impossible had blameF remained.

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David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský, like broky and m0NESY, has featured in all three of these lists in 2024 so far and has established himself as FaZe's primary rifling force over Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool.

His overall stats benefit from a 1.73 rating in FaZe's win over FlyQuest, and he drops to a 1.12 event rating against top 30 opponents, but the iceman still came up clutch under the lights with a POTM performance on Nuke in the grand final.

frozen has more than justified his transfer fee and the role shifts that FaZe chose to enact after his arrival. Having finally grabbed his first trophy after four second-placed finishes in his last five LANs, frozen is just getting started.

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Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman's entry-fragging role is not conducive to the consistency required to make it high up these lists, but his high peaks and decent floor before the grand final were enough for his first EVP of the year.

Those peaks came at key moments too, the decider against FURIA, and the map wins over Liquid to secure semis and G2 on stage.

A poor final was a reminder of why xertioN fell out of EVP contention at the Major, but his performance against G2 should prove that he (and MOUZ) are on the right track when it comes to arena games.

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Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač, to put it politely, doesn't love CS2. But 2023's best rifler is slowly and surely getting to grips with the new game, and is rewarded with his first EVP since Gamers8 nearly eight months ago.

He was right up there with m0NESY this event, sharing a 1.38 rating in G2's map victories in series wins.

His level dropped in the losses, but a poor semi-final against MOUZ was not enough to deny the good work he put in before then. He was G2's best player against HEROIC and on Overpass against Virtus.pro, and, while neither 9z nor Lynn Vision are great teams, his impact was crucial in what became tough tests of G2's abilities.

He is not back, just yet. But NiKo is, finally, on the right path.

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Our Best Five of the event has to leave out m0NESY thanks to MVP broky, but is filled with the three next EVPs: Jimpphat, stavn, and frozen.

Veto trickster Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen comes in to lead the troops, combatting exhaustion and burnout from reaching eight LAN finals in a row to take FaZe to a timely trophy.

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karrigan: "Retirement is not on the horizon for me"

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Honorable mentions

Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard and ropz were both close to EVP status in improved showings, with rain coming closest thanks to his play in deciders and playoff wins.

Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás was solid but only had one big peak, with his playoff numbers slightly inflated by some saving.

Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard overtook Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz in the semi-final but neither did enough for an EVP.

It was the same story for Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken and Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic, who ended the event with solid ratings in a very tough run (three top 5 teams, one top 10) but ultimately were only Valuable Players.

Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev led Virtus.pro in rating but that was largely off the back of him farming Wildcard (2.47 rating) and he was less of a difference maker against Astralis and G2.

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Multiple award winners

We'll leave you with a list of the players that have won either an MVP or multiple EVPs, one that is sure to grow as we get closer and closer to 2024's HLTV Award Show.

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