The EVPs and Best Five of PW Shanghai Major

ropz earns his first EVP of 2024 as donk grabs his fifth MVP.

The Perfect World Major was the last chance for players to make a case for themselves with the HLTV Awards and the top 20 just around the corner.

Enter Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets.

donk's 2024 was already one of Counter-Strike's great rookie years, but he added as big a cherry on top that was possible by firing Spirit to a Major title and his first Major MVP.

The Siberian phenom averaged 0.99 KPR during Spirit's run, and broke the Major ace record with four. That included a sensational 1v5 versus HEROIC, and one against FaZe in the grand final on Ancient.

Read more

donk on POTY award: "It should be the one who shows stable results throughout the year; I failed at two events"

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See a full list of career EVPs here

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Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool's 2024 has been below his standards, and he would be the first to tell you that. But in Shanghai he came alive to spearhead FaZe's remarkable run past the two Major favorites in the form of Vitality and then G2.

The Estonian lurker had a bite to his lurks, averaging 0.14 opening kills per round and 0.23 multi-kills per round as he stepped up the aggression.

But he was also an ultra-consistent fragging force with 1.21 kills per round win and an average rating of 1.51 in FaZe's playoff map wins.

Had he and FaZe a stronger start to Dust2 (where he started 0-0-7) he could have even challenged donk for the MVP but instead it's the top EVP for ropz.

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Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač's hunt for a Major goes on after a semi-final exit in what increasingly seems like his final event with G2.

He was G2's key man, even above Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov, in China and led their steamrolling of FaZe in groups before demolishing HEROIC on Nuke with a 2.09 rating in the quarters.

The Bosnian did fall off afterwards, getting saved by Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa on the Mirage decider versus HEROIC and going 31-38 in the fateful semi-final defeat to FaZe.

But his form beforehand was good enough for the second EVP, with plenty of holes in other players' cases too.

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Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev was an unlikely hero but he was a true one, turning an unremarkable group stage into an inarguable EVP award.

Spirit's usual support ended the arena matches with a 1.28 rating and 94 Firepower, outshining even donk's impact on occasion.

Over the semis and final, even with a bad Nuke versus MOUZ, that rises to a 1.41 rating — with 1.20 kills per round win.

donk's event was record-breaking, but without magixx's step-up it's unlikely he would have taken the trophy home alongside his MVP medal.

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Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut and Vitality spent a month in China but played just 11 maps as they went 3-0 in the RMR and the Elimination stage only to lose in quarters.

That always makes it hard to evaluate his impact, with Vitality beating what was in front of them but also playing just one series against a true top team in that quarter-final with FaZe.

As always, ZywOo's raw numbers are mightily impressive and he did put up a fight against FaZe with 1.40 and 1.44 ratings in two of the three maps.

But his round win numbers were close to Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi (1.01 to his 0.99) and he was not always a key factor in the first halves of Vitality's group stage games where the games were decided, putting him below NiKo and magixx.

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Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov scraped an EVP after a quiet final after being donk's sidekick for much of the event before magixx took over.

His final is not as bad as it initially looks, with his 4-15 performance on Ancient not affecting the outcome of the final too much, and a more middling 1.05 rating on the other two maps. He also won two key 1v2 clutches, the first on Nuke with a Tec-9, and the second to win the tournament on Dust2's B site.

But it was his form beforehand that secured the EVP, averaging a 1.40 rating in the semi-final and hitting peaks of 1.70 versus Natus Vincere and 1.69 versus HEROIC.

He's often criticised for his passive nature, but it was not just survivals that enabled his rating; fragging figures of 0.74 KPR and 0.19 multi-kills per round are more than adequate for a usual EVP.

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Best Five

donk and magixx represent the Major winners in our best five, with ZywOo just pipping sh1ro for the AWP.

ropz, as the top EVP, takes up the lurking mantle and Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen arguably did more for FaZe's underdog run than Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov did for Spirit's.

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Honorable mentions

Guy "⁠NertZ⁠" Iluz came closest to an EVP nod, just failing to confirm what had already been a great tournament in the quarter-final decider against G2 (where he went 0-6 in openers).

m0NESY fails to grab an award but did come close, his case being slightly weaker than NiKo's and his round win numbers not standing out next to Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač and malbsMd.

Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin had the highest peaks in MOUZ but it was a classic team effort where credit had to be shared and, thus, no EVPs were handed out.

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MVPs and multiple EVP winners

Our table for 2024 is complete! But remember, EVPs and MVPs are just one (albeit very important) part of the top 20.

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Think you've got what it takes to guess the top 20? Make your picks in the new prediction widget here.

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The EVPs and Best Fives of 2024