After the end of IEM Rio 2026, the tournament’s main individual intrigue has narrowed down to three names. ZywOo, donk, and TN1R are all in contention for the MVP medal, but only one of them will take it. And if you look at the numbers and the weight of the matches, the favorite in this race currently looks fairly obvious.
Three remain in the race, but the gap between them is not the same
At the end of the tournament, the top three contenders for the title of most valuable player look like this:
- ZywOo — 1.40
- donk — 1.28
- TN1R — 1.24
In dry form, everything looks simple: the French player is first with a solid gap, and behind him are the two main chasers. And this is exactly where the main problem for ZywOo’s competitors lies: they need not just to be impressive, but to genuinely overcome his advantage in both numbers and overall tournament impact.
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ZywOo looks like the main favorite not only because of his rating
When a player finishes a tournament with a 1.40 rating, that alone is enough to put him first on any shortlist. But in an MVP story, it is not only the numbers that matter, but also how exactly they were produced. And this is where ZywOo is traditionally strong: he does not just consistently put up elite statistics, he does so in matches where the tempo of his team’s game genuinely depends on him.
That is critical for MVP. The medal most often goes not to the player who simply “farmed nice stats,” but to the one who was the clearest face of his team’s success throughout the entire event. That is exactly why ZywOo currently looks not just like the leader of the table, but like the most logical candidate for the award.
donk is in the race again, but this time not from the position of favorite
A 1.28 rating for donk is, strangely enough, no longer the kind of cosmic gap the scene has gotten used to. For most players, such a tournament would be almost ideal, but in donk’s case the standard has long been different. When ZywOo is sitting next to him on 1.40, the Russian no longer looks like the player who is simply blowing everyone away on the road to the MVP.
And that is an important nuance. donk remains individually monstrous, but this time his numbers do not create the effect of an unquestionable tournament dominator. So yes, he still has a chance, but to win a race like this you usually need either to catch the favorite in raw numbers or to deliver one decisive match so powerful that everything else fades into the background.
TN1R is the main outsider of the trio, but definitely not a random one
TN1R with a 1.24 rating looks like the third man on the list, but the very fact that he is in this company already says a lot about the strength of his tournament. To stand in the same line as ZywOo and donk is not the story of a random upset, but of a genuinely notable individual performance over the course of the event.
TN1R’s problem is that in a race like this, the simple fact of having a “very good tournament” is usually not enough. When ZywOo stands ahead on 1.40, and donk is also beside him with both a higher rating and greater media gravity, TN1R needs either a seriously stronger decisive match or a very powerful narrative around his performance to truly flip the balance.
Formally, the intrigue is alive, but the favorite is already drawn
If you look at the numbers without emotion, the picture is fairly direct right now:
- ZywOo has the best rating;
- his lead is noticeable;
- he looks like the clearest face of his team’s success;
- donk and TN1R are still behind both statistically and in the weight of their case.
So formally, the race is still alive, but by the logic of the tournament it is ZywOo who currently stands closest to the medal. For anything to change, there would need to be either a very strong final note from one of his competitors or a match so resonant that it completely overturns the perception of the entire event.
Only one will take the medal, and for now this looks like ZywOo’s story
After IEM Rio 2026, three players are realistically in contention for the MVP: ZywOo, donk, and TN1R. But if you evaluate the overall picture of the tournament, it is the French star who currently looks like the clear favorite. A 1.40 rating, a clear role as his team’s main star, and a noticeable gap over the chasers make his position the strongest.
Still, in races like this, it is often not only the overall distance that matters, but also the final impression. And that is exactly why the main question right now is not whether there is a favorite, but whether donk or TN1R can snatch the medal away from him at the very last moment.
