The ranking of the top 20 players of the year has been a tradition of HLTV since 2010, aimed at honoring players who have performed excellently and outstandingly throughout the year. Over time, this prestigious ranking has gradually become an essential part of the CS:GO community at the beginning of each year.
Just like in 2019, the top three positions of the 2020 ranking were predicted by many in advance as they are all well-known and outstanding names compared to their peers: Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Na`vi), Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut (Vitality), and Nicolai “device” Reedtz. After device was announced in the third position early on January 19, many eagerly awaited the top two spots since in 2019, S1mple and ZywOo were also the two names honored.
Early this morning, HLTV announced the name that claimed #1, and that is ZywOo, the young prodigy currently competing for Vitality. In their announcement, HLTV described this duo as having the “most intense race in history” as both had an incredibly successful year with prestigious championships and MVP titles for themselves. S1mple stood out more in personal statistics such as rating (1.30), kills per round (0.86), or K/D difference (1125), however, ZywOo surpassed the Ukrainian superstar thanks to his impact stats in the most important tournaments along with the number of MVP/EVP titles.
Although this is only ZywOo’s second time in the HLTV top 20, he has become the third and youngest player (20 years old) in history to be honored as the best player of the year two years in a row (after GeT_RiGhT at 24 years old – 2013-2014 and Coldzera at 23 years old – 2016-2017). 2020 was truly a successful year for this 20-year-old player as he and his teammates secured two prestigious championships and a second place finish at the BLAST Premier Spring Final. Individually, ZywOo added 4 MVP titles and 6 EVP titles, thus matching the achievement of 11 MVP titles with S1mple (despite only having been a professional player for just over two years).
Regarding this achievement, ZywOo could not hide his emotions: “Being honored as the best player for two consecutive years is truly amazing. I am at a loss for words. This is a success for the entire Vitality team; I would not have achieved this without my teammates. […] S1mple had a very successful year, and if this title were awarded to him, it would be completely deserving. Device also had a successful season with Astralis, and I am very happy for him to secure the #3 position.”
Currently, ZywOo, S1mple, and Device are all competing at the BLAST Premier Global Final, the opening tournament for the 2021 season with a total prize pool of $1,000,000. After this tournament concludes, the teams will have a week off before entering a busy February with two tournaments: the BLAST Premier Spring Series 2021 and IEM Katowice, one of the most prestigious tournaments of this year.