S1mple Awarded IEM Cologne MVP

Aleksandr “⁠s1mple⁠” Kostyliev has clinched the Most Valuable Player award by HLTV and Bitskins.com at IEM Cologne after leading Natus Vincere to the title at the stacked $1 million tournament with terrifying form.

There was no question that it would be none other than the 23-year-old megastar to secure the individual accolade ahead of the best-of-five final against G2 already, as s1mple was heading into the title decider with a 1.56 rating following wins over Renegades, Vitality, Astralis, and FaZe, and he went on to top the charts in the narrow grand final affair, as well.

In the end, the Ukrainian is sporting some staggering numbers in just about every category imaginable, averaging a 1.51 overall rating (#1), 0.96 kills per round (#1), 78.5% KAST (#1), 1.70 impact rating (#1), 93.1 ADR (#2), and 0.54 deaths per round (#3) across 14 maps played over the course of the event.

Closing the gap to Nicolai “⁠device⁠” Reedtz, who has 18 to his name, s1mple has now increased his total MVP count to 15 after locking down his fourth individual award of the year, having previously been named the best player of the BLAST Premier Global Final, DreamHack Masters Spring, and StarLadder CIS RMR in 2021.

2021 MVPs by HLTV.org

BLAST Premier Global Final – s1mple
cs_summit 7 – Jame
IEM Katowice – sh1ro
ESL Pro League 13 – Ax1Le
FunSpark ULTI Europe Final – FaNg
DreamHack Masters Spring – s1mple
Flashpoint 3 – frozen
EPIC League CIS – Hobbit
IEM Summer – Ax1Le
BLAST Premier Spring Final – Hobbit
StarLadder CIS RMR – s1mple
IEM Cologne – s1mple