The Frenchman has now overtaken s1mple in offline Most Valuable Player awards.

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut has been awarded his 23rd HLTV x 1XBET Most Valuable Player award after shining throughout BLAST Open Lisbon.

It's his third MVP in three events, after IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League Season 21, as the Frenchman kicks off 2025 with a bang.

It also means he moves to 17 LAN MVPs, 16 of them coming at Big Events, to beat Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev's offline record.

HLTV LAN MVPs
Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut: 17 (16 Big Events)
Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev: 16 (14)
Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz: 16 (11)
Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub: 10 (3)
Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund: 10 (2)

"Normally, the start of the season is not [ZywOo]'s thing, historically," Rémy "⁠XTQZZZ⁠" Quoniam told L'équipe after Pro League.

"Though... I think he was a little upset by the top 3 [in last year's top 20], even if he doesn't really say so. I say that we recruited two players this year: Ropz and the ZywOo top 3 [...] I think it does him good to have fresh blood."

It's the best ever start to a calendar year for the Chosen One as he sets an early course for a record-breaking fourth Player of the Year award.

The MVP in Lisbon was never truly in doubt, even if MOUZ had prevailed in the five-map grand final, as ZywOo finished proceedings with a 1.44 rating, +5.61 round swing, and 90.3 damage per round.

Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Age: 24 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.27 Maps played: 1420 KPR: 0.84 DPR: 0.60 MOUZ #4 Ludvig 'Brollan' BrolinÁdám 'torzsi' TorzsásLotan 'Spinx' GiladiJimi 'Jimpphat' SaloDorian 'xertioN' Berman Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund Age: 34 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1765 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.64 Nicolai 'device' Reedtz Age: 29 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 2155 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.62 Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam Age: 36 Team: VitalityC Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Age: 27 Team: Natus VincereB Rating 1.0: 1.24 Maps played: 1740 KPR: 0.85 DPR: 0.64 Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub Age: 29 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 1991 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.63