For the third year in a row, I was asked to be on the panel for the HLTV Awards. In 2022, I voted for Ax1Le as Closer of the Year. In 2023, I voted for Magisk as Anchor of the Year. Funny how neither of those players was up for nomination for any awards this year.
I took my 1st and 2nd place votes for each category seriously. Every vote you give for 1st place receives 5 points. Every 2nd place vote garners 3 points. Each 3rd place vote gives 1 point. Because the 3rd-place point award is minimal and there were very few awards where it really felt like a 3rd-place nominee had a chance compared to 1st or 2nd, I decided to use a couple of them as statement votes.
I will not be voting the same way next year, as I believe all these votes should be made public, similar to how the NBA reveals all eligible voters’ ballots and judges them. Once I sat down with some of my choices after the fact, I found it hard to justify some of them outside of a specific condition I made for 3rd place (you’ll understand once you read my AWPer 3rd-place choice, for example). If anyone is too far out of line or ridiculous in the NBA ballots, they can be excluded from the next year’s vote.
AWPer of the year
- 1st: m0NESY
- 2nd: ZywOo
- 3rd: torzsi
First and second are clear as day. ZywOo was an incredible AWPer this year, winning the Cologne MVP once he began to wield the weapon more frequently. However, a six-month stretch where he mostly chose to stay away from the gun in favor of the M4A1-S or any rifle made his campaign for AWPer of the Year a bit shaky when faced against the best sniper in the game right now.
The obvious question you may have is why I listed torzsi as third. Torzsi’s floor in arena games was impressively high despite his team crumbling around him. I find this to be one of the most difficult aspects for any player—not going down with the ship. Whereas sh1ro had to be carried through several arena games by donk and the rest of Team Spirit (including magixx in the Grand Finals of Shanghai), torzsi was the only member of MOUZ who showed up consistently at IEM Katowice (1.20 in Arena), PGL Copenhagen (1.11 in Arena), and IEM Cologne (1.15 in Arena). These performances, while the rest of MOUZ was crumbling, were consistently admirable as his riflers (xertioN, Jimpphat, and Brollan) all struggled in these same arenas.
Despite sh1ro being the overall better sniper for the year, I think it’s safe to say sh1ro’s rating is likely the most inflated of top-tier players right now due to the fact that over 15% of Team Spirit’s lost rounds end up with him saving. I have voted for sh1ro in years past, so maybe you could chalk this one up to voter fatigue as well.
Opener of the Year
- 1st: donk
- 2nd: NiKo
- 3rd: XANTARES
I actually will not be explaining 1st or 2nd for this one. XANTARES wins over EliGE, who would be my 4th-place vote, for a similar reason torzsi did for AWPer of the Year. He actually got reps in arenas and was practically the only win condition for Eternal Fire all year. XANTARES felt like he was carrying harder in games, as I would rate JT higher than MAJ3R for his calling, along with the game-planning behind Complexity being better than Eternal Fire. XANTARES was the game plan. He was the system.
Closer of the Year
- 1st: b1t
- 2nd: jL
- 3rd: Spinx
The T-side lurks from all three of these players were great. This one came down to the eye test. The number of lurk kills b1t found all year from Palace on de_mirage was simply absurd. It was like clockwork. jL was an incredible clutcher, and he and b1t were 1a and 1b for me here. I almost feel bad I couldn’t give them an equal amount of points. jL felt like the better overall player, but I gave slightly more points for being a truer lurker, in the sense which is how I perceived b1t. Spinx was a decent third due to his consistency on offense for Vitality. I liked flameZ’s offense as well, but he wasn’t nominated in this category. My 4th-place vote would likely go to frozen for his incredibly high floor with a FaZe that had consistency issues throughout the year.
Anchor of the Year
- 1st: b1t
- 2nd: Jimpphat
- 3rd: zont1x
B1t was just a stud for NaVi. I called him the prince of pit for his work on the defense of Inferno. His A holds on Mirage were also fantastic. He still plays ramp to kill and modernized the position in what used to be a “play-to-give” spot. Jimpphat was the most impressive B anchor on Mirage all year, but on big stages, he consistently left me wanting more. Zont1x’s discrepancy between his CT side and T side was so apparent—with how much of a rock he was on Spirit’s defense and how unimpactful he was on their offense. That being said, I wasn’t going to vote for a 35% headshot player (this is a joke; he just wasn’t as good as the other two).
IGL of the Year
- 1st: Aleksib
- 2nd: apEX
- 3rd: bLitz
Aleksib and B1ad3 combined to create the best offense in Tier 1 CS all year. I know other people thought that was too bold of a claim (SPUNJ on Talking Counter, lol), but I said it midway through their Grand Final appearance streak and still hold onto that for 2024. ApEX was working with a team that was not communicating well. As impressive as their players are on Vitality, I do not see who the tertiary voice is for that team behind flameZ. You have a dissatisfied Spinx, soldierly ZywOo, and timid mezii. In some of the biggest games all year against NaVi, apEX called some great shots.
I had to give credit to bLitz for maintaining a consistent top-12 team with a great, team-oriented style that found success without any players I would have considered Top 20 on my own list (video discussing my picks also released via SkinClub).
Coach of the Year
- 1st: B1ad3
- 2nd: hally
- 3rd: maaRaa
Refer to my Aleksib point for why I voted for B1ad3.
Hally was constantly credited by all members of Team Spirit for creating the system they used to win tournaments and achieve their deep runs. This is also why I did not put chopper in my Top 3 IGLs—donk was even raging at chopper midway through the year during Spirit’s struggles (this was shown on Jerry’s stream as he translated the Russian comms).
MaaRaa made the bold move of cutting multiple Mongolian players to revamp The Mongolz and elevate them to higher highs than they had experienced before. Despite already qualifying for a Major, he wasn’t satisfied and dug even deeper into the Mongolian LAN scene to make ruthless moves to find more skilled and disciplined players who could fit his system.
Highlight of the Year
- 1st: jL PGL Copenhagen Deagle/AK Ace vs G2
- 2nd: donk Shanghai 1v5 vs Heroic
- 3rd: skullz Shanghai 1v4 vs FaZe
I voted for jL’s play at #1 because it took place in the semifinals of the Major on Map 3 and against G2, who were already up 3-0 on that third map. This changed the entire face of the match and led to jL winning Major MVP along with NaVi capturing CS2’s first Major trophy. It’s pretty difficult to argue that anything else was more important all year.
I am considering whether I should change how I vote for this next year. I credited events that happened during the Major and Major playoffs as being the most important. That deserves the distinction of Impactful Play of the Year, but I might have voted for a m0NESY play at ESL Pro League or BLAST World Finals if the focus was purely on skill and shock value.
