Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut just put together the kind of tournament run that forces people to update their all-time rankings. The French Counter-Strike star earned MVP honors at IEM Kraków 2026 after a series of clutch plays that carried Team Vitality to the title, adding yet another line to a resume that’s becoming increasingly difficult to argue against.
A resume that speaks for itself
He now holds three Major titles, having won in Paris in 2023, Austin in 2025, and Budapest in 2025. He’s been named HLTV’s Player of the Year four times, across 2019, 2020, 2023, and 2025.
HLTV’s Player of the Year award is the closest thing Counter-Strike has to an MVP trophy in traditional sports. It’s voted on by analysts and based on statistical performance across the entire competitive year.
At the Budapest Major in 2025, 42 professional players voted Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev as the greatest Counter-Strike player of all time. ZywOo received 12 votes in the same poll. s1mple’s case rests on peak individual performance during the CS:GO era, while ZywOo’s argument is built on sustained excellence and team success. Three Majors to s1mple’s one is the kind of gap that tends to matter in GOAT debates across every sport.
