ZywOo named HLTV’s best player of 2019

Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut has been named the number one player of 2019 via HLTV.org. The 19-year-old Frenchman had an incredible year, averaging a 1.30 rating and 86.1 average damage per round  (ADR). ZywOo single-handedly led Vitality to two big event championships and two small event championships.

.@zywoo takes the No.1 spot in our ranking of the top 20 players of 2019, after a remarkable year that is consigned to the history bookshttps://t.co/gyv3p6dtUB

Powered by @Xtrfy and @Loot_Bet pic.twitter.com/NfLg0BzaPK

— HLTVorg (@HLTVorg) January 20, 2020

ZywOo’s record-breaking rookie season

ZywOo’s contributions helped Vitality win their first tournament of the year at Charleroi Esports in Charleroi, Belgium. He averaged a 1.32 rating, the best at the event. A month later, he helped bring home Vitality’s second tournament of the year at cs_summit 4 in Los Angeles. ZywOo’s 1.33 rating helped to conquer Team Liquid in the grand final of the $150,000 event. This event would be his first MVP award of the year.

The player’s first big event win came at the ECS Season 7 Finals in London. After averaging a mind-boggling 1.41 rating, he earned his second MVP award of the year. Then, his success carried over to Vitality’s next event at ESL One Cologne. Averaging a 1.33 rating over 17 maps, he carried Vitality over Astralis in the semi-final that ended 2-1. However, Vitality narrowly fell to a red-hot Liquid in the grand final with a 1-3 score. Despite the loss, this would prove to be ZywOo’s third MVP award of 2019.

🏆@TEAMVITALITY ARE THE ECS SEASON 7 CHAMPIONS! 🏆🇫🇷🇫🇷@NBK @Vitality_ALEX @RpKTANKK @Vitality_apEX @zywoo @XTQZZZ #ECS7 pic.twitter.com/Va9ZBujGFm

— Flashpoint (@Flashpoint) June 9, 2019

ZywOo did not slow down in the second half of 2019. At Vitality’s first event after the Starladder Berlin Major, ZywOo led Vitality to another major grand final at Dreamhack Masters Malmo. Despite averaging a 1.36 rating, Vitality fell to fnatic 1-2 in the grand final. Although Vitality lost the grand final, he was still awarded as MVP for his stand out appearance at the event.

At Vitality’s final event of the year, EPICENTER, ZywOo overpowered all enemies in his way and won the event. He averaged a season-high 1.53 rating, consequently resulting in him winning his fifth MVP of the year.

As the best player of 2019, ZywOo also earned five EVP awards at Dreamhack Masters Dallas, IEM Chicago, Starladder Berlin Major, Starseries Season 8, and IEM Beijing. As the youngest best player of the year, ZywOo will be a rising star to look out for in the future.

If you enjoy reading about CSGO, I recommend reading about how Complexity and Gen.G qualified for DreamHack Anaheim.