After four Top 20 selections, 17 EVP awards and years of being labelled Counter-Strike's most consistent rifler, Lotan "Spinx" Giladi finally has an HLTV MVP medal on his shelf. The Israeli was named Most Valuable Player of BLAST Bounty Season 2 Finals in Malta after leading MOUZ to a 3-1 Grand Final victory over Team Spirit on August 2.
Spinx held a 1.20 rating across the entire LAN, respectable rather than remarkable, but he elevated when the trophy was on the line. His Grand Final line reads 78 kills over four maps at a 1.54 rating, 89.3 ADR, 81.9% KAST and a round swing of +4.97%. He took Player of the Map on three of the four maps played.
His individual map ratings tell the story of a player operating at a different tier than everyone else on the server:
- Dust2: 1.91 (23-8 K-D)
- Mirage: 1.86 (20-5 K-D)
- Nuke: 1.41 (20-11 K-D)
- Ancient: 1.16 (15-14 K-D)
Interestingly, teammate Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás actually finished the event as the highest-rated player overall at 1.22, but the judges gave the medal to Spinx on the strength of the championship-deciding series. It is the second consecutive MOUZ MVP after torzsi's dominant campaigns earlier in the year.
The event's top performers behind Spinx also included The MongolZ's 910 at 1.20, paiN duo vsm and pr1jajr, Liquid's Jorko, and Spirit's donk, who despite his tournament-wide impact finished only seventh at the event as his Grand Final form deserted him. Astralis' Staehr, 3DMAX's Maka and MOUZ's xelex rounded out the top ten.
For MOUZ, having two top-two event performers is fuel heading into Esports World Cup Paris. For Spinx, it is career closure on a debate that has followed him for years: he is, unquestionably, one of the very best.
