Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut earned four MVPs in the first half of the year, but he's had to wait for his fifth as Vitality declined in form.
But at StarSeries, he decided that enough was enough as he dragged his team to the title with a 1.50 rating and 1.24 KPRW.
With a whopping +6.13% round swing overall, there wasn't even a hint of an MVP race once the grand final started and ZywOo started running out Mid on Cache with an AK-47.
Usually coy on individual honors, ZywOo admitted that breaking his duck was a relief here: "I wanted at least one MVP for the second part of the season," he told HLTV post-game, "just to be a bit more confident and to win also a trophy. So I think it will come also with that. So now it feels good to have this MVP."
Radar Chart Stat Glossary
Rating 3.0: HLTV's composite rating of kills, damage, survival, KAST, multis, and Swing
Swing Added: win probability added from positive actions
eKPR: eco-adjusted kills per round
eADR: eco-adjusted damage per round
eKPRW: eco-adjusted kills per round win
2k+: rounds with two or more kills
Positive Swing Rounds: rounds with more than 0% round swing
KAST: rounds with a kill, assist, survival, or trade
eNetDmg: eco-adjusted damage differential per round
eNetKills: eco-adjusted kill differential per round
Round Swing: the win probability sum of a player's actions
Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato
There is more pressure on KSCERATO to deliver with Danil "molodoy" Golubenko's eye issues, but he is delivering with four events in a row above a 1.20 rating.
StarSeries was even stronger, at a 1.26 with 89.9 ADR for the event, which allows him to claim the top EVP spot despite FURIA not making the final.
He posted seven standout maps, only two fewer than ZywOo, including big map wins against MOUZ and MIBR.
KSCERATO was also the only one to put up a fight against the big dogs, with a 1.23 rating against top 10 teams and his highest teammate on 0.97.
Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo
We said there wasn't an MVP race, but if there had been, it would have been Jimpphat who could have challenged ZywOo for the medal.
An awful final prevented that, but he was brilliant beforehand with a 1.41 rating in map wins en route to the final and three player of the maps.
The demolition of Vitality in the upper final may not have been for elimination, but it showed the sky-high potential still present inside the Finn.
Having endured a quiet few years, this is his first EVP since IEM Rio at the back end of 2024 as Ashley "ash" Battye makes good on his promise to make him a star anchor once more.
Robin "ropz" Kool
ropz was definitely the second fiddle in Barcelona, but he still added plenty of value via 0.98 KPRW, a 1.28 rating in map wins and a 1.24 rating in the six maps Vitality played on the final day.
Outside of the upper final against Aurora, where he struggled badly, this was the ropz of the first season and not the one who has averaged a 1.06 rating since July.
On that Sunday, he was great on Cache against FURIA with a 113 ADR first-half that set the tone for a day of Vitality domination reminiscent of the first half of the year.
It's easy to focus on ZywOo's heroics, but ropz's return to form might prove just as important as we head towards the Major.
The best players of StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026, in order:
- Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut
- Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato
- Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo
- Robin "ropz" Kool
Honorable mentions
Shahar "flameZ" Shushan was as good as ropz over the last two series, but didn't have quite as much credit for their wins before that last day, so missed out.
Ali "Wicadia" Haydar Yalçın made a late push for an EVP with a 1.17 rating in playoffs, and a team-high 1.15 rating in the grand final. But he wasn't too important in getting Aurora into that final, and only had a 1.05 rating in map wins.
Felipe "insani" Yuji and Tomas "tomaszin" Corna both came close to nods for great group stage form but couldn't get over the line because of middling form against FURIA, the only top ten team MIBR played against.
Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov did all he could in the elimination series against MOUZ, but could not prevent another group stage exit for Natus Vincere. Abdurakhim "mo0N" Issa was also impressive in defeat for magic.
All-Star
Unlike normally, we only have two players from the champions with Dan "apEX" Madesclaire slotting in alongside MVP ZywOo.
KSCERATO beat out ropz for closer, while Jimpphat is the other easy pick for anchor.
Opener is a bit more tough between flameZ and insani, but insani smashed him on KPRW (1.16-0.84) and was more important to his team's run.
Multi-award winners
ZywOo's tenth award also makes it his fifth career year with five or more MVP medals.
The EVPs of 2026
- Bounty S1
- Cluj-Napoca
- Rotterdam
- Rio
- Astana
- CAC
- XSE PL
- EWC
- FPG3
- Krakow
- EPL S23
- Bucharest
- Rivals S1
- Atlanta
- Cologne (M)
- Bounty S2
- Porto
- StarSeries
- Natus Vincere
Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov
Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen
Mihai 'iM' Ivan
Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy
Drin 'makazze' Shaqiri
Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy
Jimi 'Jimpphat' SaloPast 3 months
Aurora
Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Özgür 'woxic' Eker
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski
Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın
Ashley 'ash' Battye
Robin 'ropz' KoolPast 3 months
MIBR
Linus 'LNZ' Holtäng
Lucas 'nqz' Soares
Felipe 'insani' Yuji
Carlos 'venomzera' Eduardo
Tomas 'tomaszin' Corna
Nestor 'LETN1' Tanić
Tomas 'tomaszin' CornaPast 3 months
Felipe 'insani' YujiPast 3 months
Ashley 'ash' Battye
Kaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoPast 3 months
Danil 'molodoy' GolubenkoPast 3 months
Abdurakhim 'mo0N' IssaPast 3 months
Shahar 'flameZ' ShushanPast 3 months
MOUZ
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautPast 3 months
magic
Abdurakhim 'mo0N' Issa
Svyatoslav 'MaSvAl' Masko
Vitaliy 'sFade8' Marushka
Andrey 'AW' Anisimov
Nikita 'tenzy' Kochenyuk
Danila 'eksiver' Yurkov
Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePast 3 months
FURIA
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo
Yuri 'yuurih' Santos
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Sid 'sidde' Macedo
Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar YalçınPast 3 months
Ihor 'w0nderful' ZhdanovPast 3 months
Vitality
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam