IEM Cologne 2024The EVPs and Best Five of IEM Cologne 2024
iM once again takes the top EVP in an event where Vitality win and ZywOo takes the MVP.
IEM Cologne 2024 delivered in spades, justifying its status as one of the most prestigious non-Major tournaments with the fantastic underdog run of SAW and culminating in Vitality winning their first trophy of the year.
You would have bet your house on Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut winning the MVP if you knew that Vitality would take the trophy home, but it ended up being very close: ZywOo had a slow game in groups against FaZe, and only secured the MVP after hitting a 1.34 rating in the semi-final and final.
The team effort behind Vitality and Natus Vincere's runs to the final means we are handing out plenty of Extremely Valuable Player (EVP) awards, so let's not waste any more of your time.
See a full list of career EVPs here
We start with Mihai "iM" Ivan. Just like in Paris more than a year ago, iM put together a MVP-level performance only to falter in the final against ZywOo and Vitality.
The much-maligned Romanian opener has experienced an upswing as of late, and ended Cologne with 108.7 damage in NAVI's round wins and a 1.50 CT rating.
In the year since Paris, iM averaged a 1.04 rating. In the last three months, that figure has skyrocketed to 1.14.
The narrative around NAVI has been one of a fantastic team with a strong tactical identity, but sometimes lacking the firepower of the superteams in the international scene. If iM can maintain this form, that narrative has a very early expiry date.
Shahar "flameZ" Shushan came the closest out of any Vitality member to toppling ZywOo's record of taking the MVP in every Big Event tournament he has ever won.
He was ahead of ZywOo after groups having starred against FaZe and MOUZ, but in the arena just fell short of securing his first ever MVP.
Still, he ended just 0.04 rating points behind ZywOo on 1.29 in Vitality's map wins, and was similarly impressive in round wins (1.00 KPRW, 105.6 ADRW).
Speaking of debut MVPs, Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy grabbed his first at Esports World Cup and was set to go back-to-back after spearheading Natus Vincere's stomps past Group A and the win over MOUZ in semi-finals.
He ends up being fourth in the list, failing to improve his case in the final — and hurting it on Nuke with a 1-11 K-D start in a map that eventually went Vitality's way in overtime — but he still ends with a very strong EVP.
Lotan "Spinx" Giladi, the No. 5 player of 2023, has endured a quieter 2024 but at Cologne he stepped up when it mattered to grab his second EVP in three events.
His clutching was impactful, winning six total 1vX situations including two 1v3s. His 4K 1v2 against Natus Vincere on Nuke was particularly impressive for a player whose temperament in the big moments has been questioned.
Where to start with G2 and Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov? The Flash and company had a peculiar tournament, dropping to the lower bracket only to demolish Spirit, Astralis, and SAW with a 78-15 record in their six map wins (88-28 overall).
That left all of their raw statistics fairly inflated, but the difference with m0NESY is that he put up a hell of a fight against MOUZ in the arena as his team around him faltered.
Justinas "jL" Lekavicius had rightfully earned a reputation as a big game player after the Major, Spring Final, and Esports World Cup all saw him go up a level under the bright lights.
That narrative took a hit here — he had a poor final by his standards, ending bottom of the 10-player scoreboard at a 0.95 rating — but his superb group stage and impactful clutches against MOUZ still proved his value to NAVI's run.
SAW and Michel "ewjerkz" Pinto were the talk of the town after their run to the semi-finals, a stretch that featured wins over G2 (No. 5) and The MongolZ (No. 11) and was backed up in the quarter-final victory over FaZe (No. 6).
ewjerkz was poor in SAW's losses, but by far their most impressive in the wins: He averaged a 1.41 rating (with Rafael "arrozdoce" Wing on a 1.26) in the six map wins and 1.09 KPR in round wins, enough for an EVP.
Best Five
Dan "apEX" Madesclaire didn't get his EVP but he is recognised in the Best Five. Vitality earned a staggering 66.7% T side win rate in Germany, a clear sign of both their firepower and depth of apEX's calling.
In terms of roles, flameZ fits in as a CT anchor with b1t, which means one of him or iM will have to tweak their T roles. Given flameZ's 1.37 T rating, and iM's 1.01, we'll probably have flameZ on map control and iM as the aggressive lurker for a nicely balanced squad.
Honorable mentions
Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak was almost unknown before the summer break, but was scouted by Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and identified as the aggressive AWPer to alleviate Liquid's early-round issues. At Cologne, he has delivered the openers required (0.15 overall, 0.06 with snipers) but, more surprisingly, star level fragging output (0.81 KPR, 3rd).
Unfortunately, he could not quite crack the high bar required for a group stage EVP after he disappeared in the crucial decider against FaZe (where Liquid were 11-1 up). He also earned his high numbers against FURIA and Complexity, opposition outside of the top ten.
MOUZ, like HEROIC did in 2023, once again had a good team result but lacked a standout individual (with Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás coming closest) to crack the EVP list.
FaZe had a similar story, where Robin "ropz" Kool and David "frozen" Čerňanský came close but did not quite stand out enough on a personal level.
G2's rifling trio of Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa, Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač, and Nikola "NiKo" Kovač all recorded bonkers numbers in the lower bracket demolition job, but fell off in playoffs. When you split the value for the LB stomps in four, since the quartet all did so well, only m0NESY did enough for an EVP.
apEX had a run of three EVP-level maps starting in the semi-final against SAW and carrying onto his overtime fragging display on Nuke in map one of the final, but was too inconsistent outside of those three maps.
MVPs and multiple EVP winners
ZywOo and m0NESY both add to their No. 1 case as Danil "donk" Kryshkovets recorded his worst-ever LAN event.
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Helvijs 'broky' Saukants
Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken
Justin 'jks' Savage
Ludvig 'Brollan' Brolin
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Abdul 'degster' Gasanov
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski
Myroslav 'zont1x' Plakhotia
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Mihai 'iM' Ivan
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Big_Enjoyer
| 
DonkSh1roMazontn1r
| 
| 
| 
Inferrrn0
| 
| 
santanazin
| 
dayan141321
inferno_enjoyer
| 
| 
| 
