Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut officially became the best player of 2025 according to HLTV and set a historic record: the French Vitality sniper won his fourth Player of the Year title — more than anyone in the entire history of the ranking. After dropping to third place a year earlier, ZywOo responded with a season of absolute domination: a record-breaking series of MVP awards, two Majors, and a year in which Vitality turned into the most consistent team in the world.
The Story of ZywOo
ZywOo’s story in the HLTV Top 20 is not a flash and not a “lucky season,” but many years of stability at a legendary level. He has long belonged to the players who define an era: his presence in the top 3 has become almost routine, and his rivals have to measure their own peaks against his standard.
For him, 2025 began as a year of revenge. After an imperfect 2024, Vitality entered the new season with the feeling that the team had to take a step forward not “locally,” but systemically. The roster became more cohesive in terms of roles, and ZywOo received an environment in which his style worked as efficiently as possible: structured play, clear conditions for the AWP, a stable foundation, and enough freedom to decide key rounds.
Vitality spent the first half of the year in a mode of “serial victories”: one trophy reinforced another, and ZywOo regularly entered tournaments in a form where opponents either had to change their plans or lose before the middle of the map. After the summer break, the domination became less ruthless: matches appeared where the team no longer looked unreachable, and in some finals they had to fight tooth and nail for the advantage. But this is exactly where the number one is tested: ZywOo did not “disappear,” but remained the factor that holds the level and returns the team to its peak at the right moment — at the end of the season.
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Why ZywOo Took 1st Place
The key argument in favor of ZywOo was the unique combination of the scale of awards and the weight of the tournaments, supported by consistency over distance. He finished the year with an MVP series that, in both quantity and prestige, looks like something from a video game: eight MVPs in a calendar year, including the most important trophies of the season, among them both Majors.
It is also important that ZywOo was not “a player of only the first half of the year.” After the break, Vitality went through a less ideal stretch, but even there ZywOo remained at a level that brought the team deep runs and awards, not just “nice numbers without impact.” His advantage over competitors is not one tournament and not one highlight, but a calendar where most key events passed either under his domination or at least with his participation in the race for awards.
An additional factor is playoff weight. This is where first place is formed: elimination series, arenas, finals, matches against direct rivals for “number one.” In 2025, ZywOo was too often the one who closed the most important maps for the ranking to end any other way.
Key Tournaments of ZywOo’s Season
- IEM Katowice 2025
Katowice became the first major signal of the year: ZywOo immediately returned to a mode of absolute control and laid the foundation for Vitality’s early trophy wave. It was at this tournament that he looked like a player who was not “finding form,” but entering the season already ready to win the hardest stages — from playoffs to the final. The first major MVP of the season became the starting point of his record-breaking series. - ESL Pro League Season 21
Pro League is a distance where random “hot weekends” do not work. It requires stability, discipline, and the ability to go through long brackets without collapses. ZywOo played the tournament as a systemic leader of the team: not just fragging, but constantly providing Vitality with advantages in rounds where the opponent had a chance to fight back. This trophy and MVP reinforced the feeling that in 2025 Vitality were a team that had to be dethroned by force, not waited for until they “slipped” themselves. - BLAST Open Lisbon 2025
Lisbon added an important feature to ZywOo’s season — domination in matches where the opponent had already adapted. This was a tournament where even in difficult stretches of series Vitality had a player capable of restoring control with one or two key decisions: a won duel, a change of pace, a perfect AWP setup. Another MVP here looked like a logical continuation of the trend: ZywOo did not lower the bar. - BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
The first Major of the year was the moment when Vitality’s season stopped being just “very strong” and moved into the historical category. For ZywOo, this was a decisive argument in the fight for number one: a Major title and an MVP at the tournament that weighs more than any other event. These are the victories that shape the Player of the Year, because they are about endurance, pressure, and the ability to decide what matters most. - StarLadder Budapest Major 2025
The end of the year closed all questions. The second Major, another MVP, and finishing the season at the peak — this is what separates “the best year” from “the best stretch.” Budapest confirmed that even after a more difficult autumn ZywOo is capable of returning to maximum level at the decisive moment and bringing the season to a perfect conclusion.
ZywOo’s Role in Vitality Throughout the Year
In 2025, ZywOo was not just a star sniper, but the central element of Vitality’s system. His AWP set the pace of rounds: opening maps through first duels, giving the team space control, and forcing opponents to play more cautiously than they would like. In moments when matches entered a “nervous mode,” ZywOo acted as a stabilizer — the one who neutralizes the most dangerous points on the map and returns the game to a controlled scenario.
It is especially important that his impact was not limited to highlights: he won rounds with decisions — correct timing, positional discipline, patience in key situations. For Vitality, this meant one simple thing: even if a round was going badly, the team almost always had a “plan B” in the form of ZywOo, who could either open the round or close it without unnecessary risk.
Statistics and Playstyle
Statistically, ZywOo played the season at an elite level across all segments: from groups to playoffs and from regular LAN events to Majors. His style in 2025 was a combination of maximum efficiency and a minimum of unnecessary movement: he rarely “damaged the economy” with needless duels, but regularly found moments where one kill changed the round.
For modern CS2 this is especially valuable: when the pace is faster and space is taken more aggressively, an AWPer must either win early decisions or lose the initiative. ZywOo could do both: sometimes setting the tempo from the first contact, and sometimes patiently holding a position and taking the most important frag at the end.
Career Context and the Importance of This Year
First place in 2025 is a career milestone that lifts ZywOo into a separate category. Four Player of the Year titles are not just “being the best one more time,” but a historical level of long-term domination that effectively cements him as one of the greatest players of the era.
The narrative is also important: ZywOo returned to the top at a moment when competition looked as fierce as possible — with young superstars putting up “inhuman” numbers. And yet the final result showed: when it comes to trophies, Majors, playoffs, and the weight of awards, ZywOo in 2025 was the most valuable player on the scene.
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Conclusion of 2025
ZywOo finishes 2025 in 1st place in the HLTV ranking, becoming the first four-time Player of the Year. Eight MVPs, two Majors, and a season in which Vitality dominated over distance made him the main symbol of the year in CS2.
If Vitality maintain discipline and their pace of development, ZywOo enters the next season not as a “title holder,” but as the active standard: a player who knows how to win not only with statistics, but with the most important trophies of the year.
