The EVPs and Best Five of BLAST Spring Final

sh1ro adds a fourth EVP of 2024 as Spirit dominate the post-London award handouts.

Spirit's win in London saw them rise to No. 1 for the first time in the organization's history after a deserved win.

They started the season with a trophy and a Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets MVP at IEM Katowice, and, on paper, it's the same here.

But at Spring Final a still superb donk was actually below his annual average statistically; it was a true team performance that saw them clinch the trophy.

That is reflected in the EVP list, which has two more Spirit players, and just how much our Best Five is dominated by their white-and-black jerseys.

After missing IEM Chengdu and ESL Pro League, there were concerns that Spirit's smaller sample size might hold them back come Awards season.

Victory at Spring Final, with all of the big hitters firing and then some, allays those fears.

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donk awarded BLAST Premier Spring Final MVP

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Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov was in MVP-level form in England, putting together a four-map streak that all but confirmed Spirit's name on the trophy.

He hit 1.48 and 1.55 ratings in the semi-final in wins against Vitality, and started the final with 1.46 and 1.53 ratings as Spirit went 2-0 up — remember, Spirit themselves are the only team to come back from a 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five at a notable LAN.

However, with donk on your team, you cannot slip up at any point in the MVP race, and sh1ro did not confirm his MVP in the final two maps of the final.

donk also cleared sh1ro in round wins (1.19 KPRW, to sh1ro's 0.94) and overall output.

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Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut completes his 2024 recovery mission with three EVP+ events in a row after missing out entirely at IEM Katowice and the PGL Copenhagen Major.

ZywOo was the key man behind G2's elimination after putting up a fight against Virtus.pro even as Vitality collapsed around him, and had a solid if rarely spectacular playoffs to confirm his EVP.

It speaks volumes about ZywOo that an event where he ends on a 1.28 rating is still seen as a disappointment in some quarters, after he went 31-30 in the last two maps of the semi-final.

After a 0.60 rating in the deciding map of IEM Dallas' grand final, and 1.05 over Pro League's entire best-of-five, though, alarm bells are ringing for ZywOo's efforts to retain his status as HLTV Player of the Year.

Such a tight race, against fellow immortals donk and Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov, may come down to these big moments — but there is still half a year for ZywOo to make up ground.

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Major MVP Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius admitted to HLTV that his motivation was at an all-time low after earning the game's biggest prize.

"At Dallas, I just broke down and couldn't get any fire inside of me," the Lithuanian told us. "There was no fuel left"

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jL: "I got humbled at Dallas and EPL; I really want to win again"

That changed as Natus Vincere put serious work into BLAST Spring Final and were rewarded with a trip to the grand final, where they were outclassed by Spirit.

jL warmed into the tournament and was the highest-rated player at the event in playoffs (1.34, compared to donk's 1.25 and sh1ro's 1.24).

He did not boast the best round win numbers, and his strong overall rating was due to consistency more than map-winning peaks, but you can believe jL: He's back.

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Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia just missed out on an EVP for IEM Katowice, making this his first of the year.

He is fully deserving of one too, an 18-year-old Swiss army knife who puts up numbers while anchoring on CT side (1.28 CT Rating).

The impact of his frags is obvious when watching, but everyone's favorite bodyshotter — his figure of 36.9% headshots is lower than some AWPers — shows up in stats too.

Spirit won 79% of rounds in which zont1x earned a kill, and capped the tournament off with a 1.61 rating on the final map of Nuke.

Even those numbers downplay how often it was zont1x who provided the crucial frag in the arena as he, like sh1ro, proved he could shine under the lights.

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Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan is our final EVP and grabs his second of 2024 after yet another event where he shone on T side (1.28 T rating).

He is an explosive entry-fragger by trade, and that means his peaks nearly always come in wins.

His last EVP came after he single-handedly put Cloud9 to the sword in the arena at the Major, and he repeated that feat with a 27-11, 142.4 ADR, 2.28 rating in the deciding map of Mirage against FaZe in quarters.

It was not just one map, either: flameZ was Vitality's best performer in the semi-final (1.27 rating, ZywOo second on 1.20).

He now has a 1.20 arena rating for 2024, 0.07 above his yearly average of 1.13; this is Counter-Strike's newest big game player.

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Best Five

jL has the privilege of joining the Spirit quartet for the Best Five, though some of his CT spots in this theoretical squad might not make it seem like a privilege.

Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov enters as IGL after the four top EVPs, after utterly out calling Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire in mid-rounds in the semi-final and adding a second trophy of the year.

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Honorable mentions

Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz was the highest-rated player at the event, but farmed SAW and dropped to a 1.19 rating in his other two best-of-threes. Still, he deserves credit for those peaks — and for still performing on stage, as his teammates fell away.

The same is true for David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský, who performed best as FaZe's exhaustion took its toll in their quarter-final exit.

There is also NAVI's fragging core of Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan, Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov, and Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy, who all had their moments in the run to the final but fell short of EVPs.

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MVPs and multiple EVP winners

The season ends with flameZ adding his name to an ever-expanding list of multi-EVP award winners.

For more on the top 20 as it stands, as well as the frontrunners for the role-based Panel Awards, make sure to check out the VOD from the HLTV Awards launch show below:

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The EVPs and Best Fives of 2024