IEM Katowice has come to an end. According to ESL’s own publishing regarding its 2026 calendar, the legendary event is notably missing. Instead, ESL has posted simply that there will be a Polish event that occupies a similar date and time slot. There is a sinking suspicion that IEM will be moving out of the Spodek to another Polish venue in the coming season. Krakow seems to be the most likely suspect.
This is why it is incredibly important that a GOAT candidate was able to etch his name into the championship cup of one of the most prestigious events in Counter-Strike history. s1mple would have always held Katowice over ZywOo’s head had the French superstar never captured a trophy in the legendary esports venue.
Not only did ZywOo win it, but he also caught up with s1mple’s total HLTV MVP medal count in his leading performance in Vitality’s win at the event, with 21 apiece. Six of ZywOo’s MVP medals are from online events (BLAST Spring 2020 EU, cs_summit 6 online EU, ESL One Cologne 2020 EU, DreamHack Open Fall 2020 EU, IEM Masters Beijing 2020, BLAST Fall 2020 EU). Five of s1mple’s MVP medals are from online events (EPL S12 EU, BLAST Global Final 2020, DreamHack Masters Spring 2021, StarLadder CIS RMR 2021, EPL S14).
So, ZywOo can still catch up by winning one more offline MVP medal, but he is awfully close. With how Vitality has positioned itself with the ropz-for-Spinx roster move, ZywOo will pass s1mple sooner rather than later. I would claim that Vitality are the favorites for any event they choose in the upcoming season, as teams like Spirit have shown their reliance on donk, G2’s tactical distance from the other elite teams, Navi’s need for a perfect gameplan, and FaZe are still working out the kinks of integrating EliGE. Don’t get me started on how badly MOUZ has hamstrung themselves by benching their in-game leader.
By the numbers:
ZywOo:
- 21 total MVP Medals (6 online)
- 1 Major (and MVP)
- 1 IEM Katowice (and MVP)
- 1 IEM Cologne (and MVP)
- 6 placements on HLTV Top 20 (4 as #1 or #2)
- 11 S-Tier Offline Trophies
s1mple:
- 21 total MVP medals (5 online)
- 1 Major (and MVP)
- 1 IEM Katowice (and MVP)
- 2 IEM Cologne (and MVPs)
- 8 placements on HLTV Top 20 (5 as #1 or #2)
- 10 S-Tier Offline Trophies
So, of the elite events and Majors, s1mple holds a single IEM Cologne over ZywOo and a single offline MVP medal. After the recent IEM Katowice, ZywOo has captured a single S-Tier LAN trophy ahead of s1mple. The hardware cabinet between the two is damn near close. It really feels like the only huge difference between them is a single extra year of competing on LAN at an elite level from s1mple.
But let’s talk about their playstyles. This is where fans are fervent defenders of their declared number one. s1mple’s style is visceral. It’s explosive. He felt like he was bending the rules of the game to win the unwinnable. It was a point of contention early in his career. s1mple may have played too flamboyantly, always believing that he would hit every single shot—so much so that he would put himself in dangerous positions where a single missed shot spelled doom for him and sometimes his team. He turned his biggest weakness into his greatest strength by doing the unthinkable—he started hitting every shot. His peaks are still some of the highest in history.
ZywOo plays like a guardian angel to Vitality. He plays as close to flawless as one possibly can in a game that has thousands of iterations depending on various game states. He is where he should be two seconds before he needs to be there. ZywOo has the ability to make a hyper-competitive game look relatively pedestrian. I express with no hesitation that ZywOo’s read of the game on an individual level is better than anyone’s.
s1mple could claw back an unwinnable round unlike anyone else, but ZywOo would put a stranglehold on a game that few could unshackle.
My favorite nickname for s1mple was The Undertaker. In modern terms, this means that s1mple would prepare the bodies for burial, which is apt given that he so frequently placed a neat bullet in the forehead of opponents. But I actually like the more archaic usage of undertaker—a person that undertakes any significant task. s1mple would get his team out of the worst positions possible and make us all believe in the individual effect of a player in a game of competitive Counter-Strike.
The name that Bleh aptly gave ZywOo was The Game. A perfect nickname given that ZywOo was born on the day that Counter-Strike was officially released. That is what it feels like to defeat ZywOo—like you’re beating the entire game. A player whose movements so effortlessly punish a misplay from opponents and who so frequently demonstrates prescience of an adversary’s next move.
Many of the adversaries to ZywOo’s greatness seemed to want ZywOo to push himself harder—to become less of a soldier and more of a warrior. What the naysayers wanted from the greatest French player ever was to see him bend the rules of the game like s1mple did or even like his fellow countrymen, such as shox and kennyS.
When I debated with Thorin regarding Twistzz vs. EliGE for NA’s greatest ever, one category that Twistzz has never been able to contest EliGE on is individual peak. I would argue that this is where ZywOo still has to play catch-up to s1mple. Whereas the hardware edge is leaning toward ZywOo at this point, s1mple’s PGL Stockholm Major MVP is on a level that ZywOo still would need to catch up to in order to turn some of the strongest s1mple defenders. 94 ADR, 0.95 KRP, a 1.47 Rating 2.0, and defeating the world #3, #4, and #9 to capture the only $2 million Major is a far cry ahead of ZywOo’s BLAST Paris Major. Defeating the world #19, #22, and #28 in the playoffs is pretty sad in comparison. A win at BLAST Austin with an MVP medal would almost surely open a firm case for ZywOo passing s1mple in the conversation.
I find it incredibly difficult to keep a case for s1mple’s GOAT status if ZywOo wins a second Major over him and does so with stiff playoff competition while rivaling s1mple’s numbers. By the end of 2025, ZywOo will be within striking range of passing s1mple and becoming the greatest Counter-Strike player of all time.
In the meantime, m0NESY and G2 are falling further behind, NiKo seems to have chosen a paycheck over a competitive team, and donk is nowhere close in the longevity argument. There’s a long way to go for the field as ZywOo closes in on Counter-Strike’s greatest.
