Top 20 players of 2022: ZywOo (2)

Immense overall statistics and the most convincing MVP performance of the year earn Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut back-to-back second-place finishes in the HLTV Top 20 Players of the Year ranking, powered by 1xBet.

Top 20 players of 2022: Introduction

ZywOo was a lauded talent before he even began his career proper, already receiving nods from the likes of French legend Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon as early as 2017. The young AWPer delayed his entry into the upper echelons of CS in order to finish school but in the meantime wrought havoc on the French sub-top scene, as evidenced by his stunning performances in the ESL National Championship Summer 2018 where his squad took the title.

He finally stepped into tier-one by joining Vitality late in 2018 and wasted no time in providing his pedigree, carrying the squad to the DreamHack Open Atlanta title in his first notable LAN. Since then ZywOo has been one of the premier superstar talents in CS:GO, regularly putting in the kind of tournament performances that lesser players can only dream of and constantly battling Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev for the mantle of best player in the world. He has twice won that battle, in his first full year as a pro in 2019 and then again in 2020, but he was knocked off that pedestal by his Ukrainian counterpart in 2021.

For a more in-depth look at his early career, check out ZywOo's top 20 article from 2019 here.

Vitality came into 2022 on something of a high, having ended the previous year with three top-four finishes at LAN events featuring strong fields, most notably winning IEM Winter. Regardless, the roster had generally struggled to produce results that matched the potential of their superlative talent, ZywOo, and as such the organisation sought a blockbuster move that would reinvigorate their lineup. The move itself was reported as early as November 2021, and with the turn of a new year the high-profile signings finally came to fruition: Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen, Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif and Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen joined Vitality, bringing with them a wealth of Major-winning experience.

There was much anticipation surrounding the new-look Vitality as they began their 2022 campaign, as surely the removal of an under-performing Jayson "⁠Kyojin⁠" Nguyen Van and the addition of multi-Major winning stars would propel the team to the heights that ZywOo deserved to occupy. The AWPer bore no illusions about the work ahead of his team, however.

"So the expectation at the beginning with the Danes… It was kind of hard because it was also the beginning of being an international team, so it was hard to set expectations. Of course we wanted to lift more trophies, to have more victories, but at the beginning it was really tough because communication was not on point."

The first tournament on the docket, BLAST Premier Spring Groups, went off without a hitch. Best-of-one wins over FaZe and Evil Geniuses gave way to series wins over MIBR and G2, with the latter sporting a reinvented lineup of their own. Vitality did suffer a Bo1 loss to FaZe to take a bit of sheen off the performance, but with a Spring Final spot secured and ZywOo in dominating form (1.39 rating, 1.47 impact), there was little to complain about.

A much sterner test followed, IEM Katowice, and Vitality were able to forgo the play-in largely due to their excellent end to the previous year. The tournament began well with ZywOo continuing his storming start to the year, posting a 1.42 rating as his team triumphed in a closely fought series with MOUZ. It all fell apart quickly for the Franco-Danish mix however, as they were seen off first by Heroic and then Gambit to go crashing out of the event in 9th-12th place. Much of this could be attributed to the usually potent ZywOo falling off a cliff, as the talented AWPer mustered measly 0.92 and 0.77-rated series respectively as his team exited the first big event of the year early doors. Nonetheless his spectacular showing against MOUZ was enough to grab the Frenchman his first Valuable Player award of the year.

ESL Pro League Season 15 came around quickly to offer the squad a chance to redeem their early Katowice exit, but they faced a difficult group draw, finding themselves pitched against the likes of FaZe, ENCE, FURIA and Outsiders. It was a group that proved too much for ZywOo and co. as after an opening win against underdogs Sprout they struggled, suffering three losses in a row to end their playoff qualification chances. ZywOo was of course a shining light in the victory over Sprout, but he couldn't find his best form when battling against the group favourites. Vitality did end their run with a victory over Outsiders, where ZywOo thrived and particularly in a 1.82-rated opening map win, but it was not enough to prevent them from once again being dumped from an event before the playoffs. Nonetheless, the sniper's dominating play in the two victories earned him another VP nod.

Considering their early-year form, Vitality went into the PGL Major Antwerp cycle looking worse for wear. The dramatic moves made in the off-season had yet to really bear fruit and ZywOo was a touch short of his best form, although still more than capable of carrying maps on his back. Despite the new personnel it still seemed that the team needed ZywOo to perform to his peak if they were to succeed. To echo Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's sentiment from the previous Major in Stockholm: "If he's not there, we're not gonna qualify."

When Vitality arrived in Bucharest for the RMR, ZywOo was most definitely there. First the Frenchman posted a 1.66 rating to brush aside Dignitas, before helping mount a valiant resistance in a 14-16 loss to Katowice champions, FaZe. Next came a victory over Eternal Fire, but ZywOo had to play second fiddle to dupreeh for this match; still the sniper produced a 1.20-rated performance. Natus Vincere came next, a matchup that often gets mouths watering in the CS scene as it pits the two best players in the world against one another.

In this instance s1mple came out firmly on top, the Ukrainian superstar proving to be the difference maker in two closely-fought maps. Still ZywOo was the most potent opposition, his 1.12 rating for the series dwarfing his next closest teammate at 0.98. With qualification on the line ZywOo rose to the occasion and decimated MOUZ, helping his team recover from an opening map loss by battering Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong and co. with a 1.89-rated 30-bomb on Dust2 before closing things out with 95 ADR and the top rating on Mirage.

Finally it seemed Vitality were starting to ramp up, not just as a team but also as individuals. dupreeh was finally producing some fragging numbers to support the immense firepower of ZywOo, and Magisk posted a solid map here and there. Coming through such a tough Major qualification schedule, one apEX called "the hardest I have ever played," was a testament to their improvement from the previous two events, and the elevated form of ZywOo was a more than welcome sight. "He did not get immediately used to some people getting some space and doing that kind of stuff" apEX said of the young AWPer, providing some insight as to his slight dip in the early portion of the year. The IGL also alluded to another effect bringing together the new roster had on his star, opining "I think he needs to feel more comfortable with more time because ZywOo's English at the beginning of the team was pretty shit, and he's getting much, much better."

Thus Vitality and ZywOo arrived in Belgium for the Major in seemingly decent shape, and they set about proving that from their first match in the Challengers Stage, trouncing Complexity 16-1. The star man ZywOo posted an 11-0 scoreline with 100 KAST such was the domination of the opener, and he clearly began as he meant to continue because the very next match, a 16-8 win over Astralis, also bore witness to a ZywOo masterclass. The Frenchman produced over 100 ADR and a staggering 1.70 rating to put the Danes to bed. A Legends Stage berth was secured with a 2-1 series victory over FORZE as ZywOo once again topped the scoreboard, although he did get some excellent supporting work out of Magisk and apEX on the final two maps.

Whatever groove the Franco-Danish side had managed to get themselves in didn't extend to the Legends Stage, as they found themselves 0-2 down and facing elimination after struggling to muster much fight against Ninjas in Pyjamas or Outsiders. A series win over Liquid kept them alive, with Magisk and ZywOo getting the heavy lifting done, before ZywOo alone pulled a hard-carry performance out of the bag to decimate BIG; the AWPer posted over 90 frags and 90 ADR across three maps, finishing with a 1.36 rating. Heroic proved a step too far for ZywOo and his squad and the French sniper was out of sorts in this 1-2 series defeat, underwhelming in an opening loss on Mirage before posting a 0.95 rating as he was carried to a win on Overpass. He did come alive for the decider of Inferno, but it was not enough as his teammates, particularly dupreeh and Kévin "⁠misutaaa⁠" Rabier, let him down and caused the team to exit the Major in 9-11th place.

ZywOo was awarded another VP nod for his stunning play in Vitality's Legends Stage victories, and he was also a force to be reckoned with throughout the Challengers Stage. Perhaps had he been more of a factor early on in the Heroic series the result might have been different, but the sniper was very close to his peak form in this event, earning him a third VP award for the year.

IEM Dallas provided Vitality an opportunity to build on a solid if unspectacular showing in Antwerp, but it was an opportunity that was squandered. The European superteam got a 1.67-rated carry from ZywOo to get them past Astralis, but suffered two convincing defeats at the hands of FaZe and G2 either side of a win over MOUZ to once again depart the event prior to the playoffs. ZywOo earned his first EVP of the year despite the disappointing finish as he was in the green for every map of the tournament bar one, and was absolutely vital in grabbing the two victories Vitality registered. His worth was emphasised by a healthy 1.30 impact rating for the event.

"We were a bit disappointed when we didn't go to the playoffs many times. That's a sign you can see when a team doesn't show up or show good results, and it was at this moment when we don't go through to the playoffs two or three times in a row that you could see there was a problem in the team. There were a lot of mistakes, because of communication and being an international team. For me it was a really hard moment individually, and it was a hard moment for the team."

The BLAST Premier Spring Final followed and by this point it was clear that everything was not quite clicking for Vitality. ZywOo had gotten back to his best after a slower start to the year, and Magisk and dupreeh were serving as a reasonable supporting cast, but still Vitality couldn't quite take that next step and prove themselves a consistently playoff-worthy team. This trend seemed to continue for the group stage of the event in Lisbon, with Vitality being handily beaten by G2 before somewhat labouring to victory over heavy underdogs paiN to make the playoffs. ZywOo was the top-rated player for his team in both games, unsurprisingly.

ENCE awaited in the quarter-finals, a matchup that seemed tough as the European mix had proved themselves to be the second-best team in the world in the first part of the year, but Vitality surprised and managed to claim a 2-0 victory. A rematch with G2 came in the semi-finals and once again Vitality surprised by securing a win, with a stunning overperformance by apEX on the opening map key in making it happen. ZywOo was continuing his recent world-beating form, posting a 1.31 rating or better in four of the five playoff maps thus far, but something had apparently clicked for the rest of the team that hadn't previously. "Getting over that bump to start progressing as a team again, that's what I think we did today," said Magisk after the win over ENCE, whilst dupreeh further elaborated after beating G2, saying "I just think that we started believing a bit."

The final against Natus Vincere was an entirely one-sided defeat, the CIS giants being in the midst of a tournament run that had them looking like the team that dominated the latter half of 2021, but the event was still a success for ZywOo and his team. The AWPer grabbed another EVP award and was second in the MVP race, whilst the team had finally managed a deep playoff run to lend credence to the idea that they could perform at an elite level.

"There was no pressure. It was one of the last tournaments of the first season and we knew we had a bad season, so we just wanted to have a great show. Everyone was with no pressure, we knew what we are capable of at any tournament, and also individually we were super good at this tournament. I remember apEX and Magisk were good. With that we were able to go to the playoffs and go to second place. I remember against NAVI it was a bad moment because we got wrecked (laughs) but overall it was a good tournament.

The most important thing was we had fun playing this tournament, I remember laughing with dupreeh and Magisk and everyone in the team, so that is good when you feel like you are in a great moment, when you are laughing with your teammates and having a good time. That was great."

Thus Vitality began the final tournament before the summer player break, IEM Cologne, with wind in their sails, although they had to navigate the Play-In before getting the chance to test their mettle in the main event. Their Play-In run was anything but smooth, as after a routine opening win the squad were soundly beaten by Movistar Riders, forcing them to battle through a relatively close qualification bout with Sprout. Vitality did ultimately succeed but it in a less convincing fashion than they might have liked, and ZywOo was shy of his usual domineering level, needing Magisk to step up to the plate to help get the job done.

Fortunately for his squad ZywOo stepped his game up when the main event began, as evidenced by a commanding 1.35-rated performance to see off ENCE 2-1 in the opening match. A rematch against Movistar Riders followed and despite the AWPers best efforts, he could not carry his team through and they again fell to the Spaniards' wrath. This left Vitality facing an elimination game against MOUZ and the young European mix proved too much to handle as Vitality were eliminated, yet again, before the playoffs began.

ZywOo could not be blamed for his team's shortcomings by any stretch as he was in superlative form, in fact the sniper ended the event as the best-rated player and grabbed an EVP award, but he had precious little support on the fragging front from anyone outside of Magisk. With the player break on the horizon it had become apparent that ZywOo needed further firepower flanking him if the team were to be successful moving forwards, and thus Vitality entered the break on the hunt for a replacement for misutaaa.

"At the end I kind of new inside of my body we were going to change a player. Of course as you can see we did a good start with Spinx, we won EPL, and after that I was pretty sure we have a better team with him than misutaaa. Even though I love misutaaa, we needed more firepower.

When you are an international team you have to have firepower, you can see FaZe and also MOUZ, they did a good Major and are really good because individually they are on point. Same with FaZe winning early tournaments. They are good tactically, but individually all of them are on point and killing anyone. I think the most important thing for an international team is not just to have everyone on the same page tactically, but doing well individually."

Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi was the man identified to bolster the Vitality ranks, a player who spent much of the first half of 2022 playing like one of the best riflers in the world, and with the Israeli on board the team geared up for the BLAST Premier Fall Groups. The games in Copenhagen were a mixed bag for the new-look squad, with some promising performances and victories counterbalanced by the fact they ended up failing to qualify for Fall Final. ZywOo and Spinx were an excellent firepower duo in some matches, such as in best-of-one wins over OG and Ninjas in Pyjamas and a series win over G2, but the consistency was lacking and Spinx particularly fell off in the losses to G2 and Natus Vincere.

ESL Pro League Season 16 was a different story. Vitality strolled through their group with a flawless 5-0 series record, with ZywOo in sublime form and Spinx stepping up to be the secondary carry. The duo were one and two on the scoreboards for three of the five series played but ZywOo was a class above, his lowest rating for a series being 1.32 and lowest ADR 82.2. He continued to dominate in the playoffs, topping the charts in victories over Outsiders with 88.3 ADR and a 1.37 rating, G2 with 85.2 ADR and a 1.42 rating, and against Liquid in the final, with 91.7 ADR and a 1.39 rating over five maps.

Such was ZywOo's dominance in this trophy-winning campaign that he ended the event at the pinnacle of a plethora of statistical categories including rating (1.42), KD-diff (+207), kills per round (0.91), 1+ kill rounds (56.3%), impact rating (1.52) and clutches won (15). Make no mistake, this was a vintage tournament performance the likes of which CS had rarely borne witness to, achieved against a stacked field and with a new player in the lineup. Spinx did his part, but ZywOo was otherworldly, and deservedly took home his only MVP award of the season for his performance.

"When we played EPL we had like one week of practice maybe, we didn't have a lot. EPL for us, the group stage, was kind of practicing, seeing what was going good for us, what were the mistakes, what were the good tactics. It was practice to see what works in an official. Obviously when we got to the quarter-finals, semi-finals, then finals, we were like 'okay, everything is going good!'"

With a trophy in their back pocket Vitality went into the IEM Rio Major cycle a refreshed and reinvigorated squad, suddenly catapulted into the favourites category alongside the likes of FaZe and Natus Vincere. They duly secured qualification for the Major, getting the job done with minimal fuss and a 3-1 record. They were soundly beaten by Heroic in the 3rd place decider bracket to end any chances of securing a Legends Stage spot, but considering they had gone straight from their Pro League triumph into the RMR without any time to rest or practice, it was an understandable result.

"Sometimes it's really hard because you win the first tournament and you lose energy. I remember for the final of EPL we played like seven hours, then the next day we had to do media day and go to the RMR, so we burnt too much energy. We enjoyed winning this tournament, but we also lost too much energy."

BLAST Premier Fall Showdown forced Vitality into yet more official play with little break. The online event did not go to plan as the team failed to grab the single Fall Final spot on offer, losing to Astralis in the semi-finals after dispatching TYLOO in the quarter-finals. Again ZywOo was devoid of blame as he was the highest rated player for the event and tried single-handedly to drag Vitality past Astralis with a 1.50 rating in that series, dwarfing his closest teammate's 0.96. The squad had not entirely shaken off the need for ZywOo to hard carry, it seemed, even with the recent roster swap.

A mere week later Vitality flew to Rio and began their Major campaign in the Challengers Stage. It was far from plain sailing for the squad as after an opening win against Imperial, they suffered a shock defeat to GamerLegion and were bested by Outsiders to put them on the brink of elimination. ZywOo was at his stellar best for two of the three games, and this continued as he helped carry the squad to series wins over Grayhound and OG to ensure his team's presence in the Legends Stage. Spinx by contrast was struggling to match his Pro League showings.

The Legends Stage was a disappointment, particularly considering the promise Vitality displayed in their victorious Pro League run. It began with a mammoth overtime affair on Mirage against Natus Vincere, one that Vitality eventually lost 21-25. ZywOo once again found himself outmatched by s1mple, with the Frenchman only mustering 70 ADR and a 1.03 rating whilst his rival produced 96.5 ADR and a 1.35 rating. The team and ZywOo personally were much improved in a 16-5 win over FaZe, with the sniper posting 110 ADR and a 1.84 rating, but considering the woeful form FaZe displayed at this Major it was a less impressive result than it seemed on the surface.

Another closely fought overtime loss followed, this time against MOUZ, and once again ZywOo was not providing his best level, barely scraping a 1.00 rating. Vitality were finally eliminated by ENCE in a fashion that echoed their entire Legends Stage performance; they matched the European mix for much of the series, but fell just short on both maps with the second going to overtime. ZywOo was also once again out of sorts, particularly in a 0.80-rated showing on the deciding map of Nuke, and his 1.08 rating for the Legends Stage overall was his worst return on LAN all year. Despite this the AWPer still picked up a VP award, emphasising just how impressive his floor level is; even in his worst tournament of the year he still hard carried a map against FaZe and was a Valuable Player for his squad.

"With the Major there is always another kind of pressure, people are playing differently. At this moment Vitality were not as good as before, and individually we were not on point and missed some energy. After EPL and the RMR we were exhausted, and we also played the Showdown and had a bootcamp, so I think in two months we burnt too much energy.

"We tried to take the last energy inside our body for the Major but it was already too late. We needed to take some rest. I am going to talk for me and also for the team, but I was feeling that everyone was exhausted. We talked about it after and everyone was exhausted, we needed more days off and more rest for us because we were practicing, travel day, practicing, media day, practicing. It was too much."

BLAST Premier World Final closed the year for ZywOo and company, and it was again a mixed bag for the team. They opened their campaign with a 2-0 victory over Natus Vincere, although the CIS squad were in the midst of testing the value of having academy player Andrii "⁠npl⁠" Kukharskyi in their lineup. ZywOo performed admirably with a 1.34 rating across the series, grabbing himself a win in the battle with s1mple. That was the only victory Vitality could muster however, and defeats by the hands of OG and G2 ended their tournament in 5-6th place. The result summarised Vitality's year in many ways, good enough to put away squads outside of the top 10 or short of ideal form, but often falling short against top-five opposition or teams on a good run. ZywOo picked up a final VP nod, again illustrating that even when his team struggled he could still perform; he was joint-fifth for rating (1.16) at the event and led in damage differential per round (+12.5).

When looking back over the year ZywOo was quick to reflect positively on the affect Spinx had on the team when he joined, and he is keen to work to lift more trophies with the Israeli in 2023.

"Of course we are really happy to have Spinx because this is a great guy. He brings a lot for the team. Communication, because before he was playing for ENCE, was on point, way better than anyone else on the team. Also for the energy he brings, he is not a shy guy but he is really calm like me, and then we have apEX and Magisk who are more emotional, so there is a balance. We are still happy with Spinx, we are going to work out with him, we want to lift more trophies with the team and we want a Major. We are going to do everything for that."

The French superstar decided that the ESL Pro League victory was his best moment of the year, whilst the difficult adjustment period after bringing the Danes onboard was his toughest.

"I think I am going to say EPL, because we won it and had a good mood in the team, I remember feeling great in this moment. No pressure, no nothing, I was just playing for my teammates and it was a great moment. Even though we didn't celebrate the final because the next day we had media day, it was a great moment to have with the team. It was one of the best tournaments I had in 2022 as well.

At the beginning of the year, I was really bad individually. We changed to an international team, I moved to Paris so I had a lot to think about, I wasn't focused 100% in CS. I had to learn English and people were fucking me in the server (laughs) so I had to take a step back and calm down. The second season I knew what I was capable of, I knew I had the level to kill anyone."

When asked about the perceived rivalry with s1mple, with whom he has again battled for the top spot on the HLTV top 20, the AWPer was quick to downplay things.

"I don't really think about HLTV rankings. Of course I am watching s1mple because you have to watch good players, but I am not watching him because he is my rival, I watch him because he is a good player, nothing else. It's not making sense to put pressure because I am top one or top two and I want to beat him, if both of us play good in the game it's going to be a great game.

For me I don't put any individual goals, the most important thing is to lift trophies with the team. Obviously the first goal is going to be to win the Major, so that's it for me, lift trophies and win the Major."

Why was ZywOo the 2nd best player of 2022?

ZywOo made a late charge for the top spot, kicking into gear at IEM Dallas to end 2022 as the second highest-rated player of the year, and his MVP at ESL Pro League Season 16 was the most convincing of 2022, a 1.42 rating over a huge sample of 21 maps. Because that event was so long, a lot of ZywOo's stats are inflated by his MVP there, but it is still worth taking note of just how good his overall numbers are: 1.30 Impact, 1.20 T-Rating, with a 1.24 Big Event rating.

ZywOo was absolutely essential to any success Vitality had in 2022, finishing as their highest-rated player at all but two big events. Vitality only won 36.7% of rounds where ZywOo did not get a kill, the third lowest of the Top 20 Players of the Year, which stood out against Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov's 42.1% (20th) in their fight for second. In won rounds, ZywOo scored 1.10 KPR compared to sh1ro's 1.03.

What kept him from the No.1 spot was his failure to garner the awards to match s1mple, largely because he did not go very deep at Elite Events. He only garnered one (weak) EVP at IEM Cologne, and played in zero Elite Event playoff matches all year. Even in Big Events, Vitality only mustered seven maps in Big Matches outside of the ESL Pro League Season 16 run, and 16 overall.

Of course, this was not always his fault; a 1.17 rating at Elite Events shows as much. Yet, he was rarely his usual self in more than a few elimination series, directly leading to this lack of playoff runs. Because of this, the No. 1 spot became out of reach; s1mple recorded similar numbers in much deeper runs, and had a far superior award tally.

Bold Prediction by 1xBet

Not afraid to copy his peer's homework, ZywOo joined a multitude of other top 20 players in picking Daniil "⁠headtr1ck⁠" Valitov as his bold prediction.

In order to spice things up he also gave a mention to 18-year-old Victor "⁠Staehr⁠" Staehr, who doesn't quite qualify for the bold prediction category as Sprout spent time ranked inside the top 20 this year. The young Dane posted a 1.11 rating over 2022, and was his team's best player in their successful IEM Road to Rio RMR campaign.

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Take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the Top 20 players of 2022 were selected.