Natus Vincere star Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev is the recipient of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award of DreamHack Winter by HLTV.org & Betway.

The 20-year-old was already the clear-cut favourite to win the honour leading up to the final, and he further cemented his credentials against mousesports, especially on the first map, Cobblestone, where he boasted a 2.18 Rating. With that performance and with Na`Vi's comprehensive victory, he overshadowed Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool, who had entered the final with an average 1.50 Rating.

Aleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev, who had the highest tournament Rating at 1.52, did not have a single below-average Rating across nine maps and shined even in Na`Vi's losses, against Gambit (1.58 Rating) and Heroic (1.37).

s1mple wins MVP award

He averaged 1.01 frags per round, killed at least one opponent in 59.5% of the rounds, had the most opening kills (52) and clutches (six) of all players, and also the highest AWP kills per round ratio (0.41).

This is the second MVP award in s1mple's career after he also won the honour at ESL One New York 2016, and it confirms the Ukrainian's status as one of the best players in the world. Despite Natus Vincere's lack of silverware in 2017, the 20-year-old has averaged a stunning 1.26 Rating on LAN this year.