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ZywOo was named the HLTV x 1XBET MVP of IEM Melbourne after another insane showing, helping Vitality close out their fourth straight tournament win — and with it, securing the Season 5 ESL Grand Slam.

Vitality edged out Falcons 3-2 in a nail-biting grand final to lift the trophy in Australia. This victory completed their Grand Slam run, following wins at IEM Cologne 2024, IEM Katowice 2025, ESL Pro League Season 21, and now IEM Melbourne 2025. Another $1 million bagged — no big deal.

ZywOo was Vitality's driving force the whole way through, topping the rating charts and leading the team through a dominant run where they didn’t drop a single map until the crazy grand final. In that deciding series, ZywOo showed up big when it mattered most, pulling off a massive 1v3 clutch on Nuke that flipped the momentum after Vitality were down 6-12.

This MVP pushes ZywOo even further ahead of Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev on the all-time LAN MVP leaderboard — now sitting two MVPs clear.

Top LAN MVPs:

ZywOo: 18 MVPs (17 Big Events)
s1mple: 16 (14)
device: 16 (11)
kennyS: 10 (3)
GeT_RiGhT: 10 (2)

As usual, ZywOo was a stat monster: he finished with a 1.39 rating, second-best for damage per round (90.5) and kills per round (0.84), and cracked the top five for both opening kills (42) and impact rating (1.34). Just pure dominance.

On the flip side, it was heartbreak for Falcons. After winning PGL Bucharest with Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov still on the AWP, they were chasing back-to-back trophies. But now, with Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov on the big green, they’ll have to wait a bit longer for that first title together.

Remember earlier this year when we debated whether ZywOo was the GOAT? Yeah — this win pretty much cements it.

Not only is he ahead of s1mple in total LAN MVPs (18 to 16), but it’s how he's doing it — dominating individually while carrying his team to major titles — that really seals the deal.

Four MVPs in a row.
Four straight championships.
Still just 24 years old.

It’s honestly scary to think ZywOo might not even have hit his ceiling yet. If anyone still had doubts about the "ZywOo GOAT" case, this Grand Slam run should officially put them to bed.