BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026: ropz Wins MVP as Vitality Dominate All-Star and EVP Selections

BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 ended with Vitality not only lifting the trophy, but also dominating the individual awards conversation. HLTV’s post-event selection placed Robin “ropz” Kool at the top of the tournament’s player ranking, ahead of Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Shahar “flameZ” Shushan, with Drin “makazze” Shaqiri, Danil “donk” Kryshkovets, and Ali “Wicadia” Haydar Yalçın completing the top six. The same HLTV piece also made clear just how extraordinary Vitality’s level was in Rotterdam: three of their players were viewed as legitimate MVP-caliber performers over the course of the event. 

The award ultimately went to ropz, whose playoff run appears to have tipped the balance in his favor. According to HLTV, his arena performance was decisive enough to separate him from two equally compelling Vitality teammates, and it earned him his first MVP medal as a Vitality player. That distinction matters, because HLTV noted that he became the first Vitality player other than ZywOo to win one of the organization’s MVP awards. In practical terms, the decision reflected not only his individual level in Rotterdam, but also the role he has played in turning Vitality into a relentlessly efficient title-winning side. 

The backdrop to those individual honors was Vitality’s title run in Rotterdam. The team beat NAVI 3-0 in the grand final, taking Inferno 13-7, Anubis 13-10, and Dust2 13-10. With that victory, HLTV reported that Vitality secured their third Big Event title in a row, while extending their map win streak to 22 and their series streak to 16. BLAST’s own tournament listings confirm the broader playoff picture as well: NAVI defeated PARIVISION 2-1 in one semifinal, Vitality beat Aurora 2-0 in the other, and the final ended in a clean sweep for the French organization. 

ZywOo, despite missing out on MVP, still delivered one of the event’s strongest campaigns. HLTV credited him with a 1.47 rating across the tournament and highlighted the fact that every map he played was rated above 1.00. He also posted the event’s best Swing metric and produced one of the tournament’s signature moments with a 1v5 against PARIVISION during the group stage. His playoff rating of 1.28 showed there was no real drop-off once the tournament moved from Copenhagen to the arena in Rotterdam. In most events, numbers like that would be enough to secure the medal outright. 

FlameZ was another central figure in Vitality’s success. HLTV described Rotterdam and PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026 as the strongest Big Event performances of his career so far, underlining that his current form has reached a new level. The same report argued that he was unfortunate not to win MVP either in Cluj-Napoca or Rotterdam, but also suggested that Vitality’s depth is exactly what makes individual award races inside the roster so difficult. One night it is ZywOo, another it is ropz, and in another stretch flameZ looks like the most explosive player on the server. 

Outside of Vitality, the standout name was makazze. HLTV placed the young NAVI rifler fourth overall and called him the best non-Vitality EVP of the event. That continued a remarkable March for the 19-year-old, who had already claimed the MVP award at ESL Pro League Season 23 Finals earlier in the month. In Rotterdam, he again led NAVI’s fragging output and remained effective even in a difficult grand final against the hottest team in the world. His rise is no longer a one-event story; it is the clearest sign that NAVI’s newest generation already has a genuine star. 

Donk’s inclusion on the EVP list was unusual, because Spirit did not make a deep playoff run, but HLTV emphasized that his numbers were too strong to ignore. The report states that he posted a 1.61 rating in the group stage, broke his own mark for the highest-rated EVP in CS2 history, finished six of eight maps above a 1.60 rating, and produced multi-kills in 31% of rounds. In other words, his individual level was historically elite even though Spirit’s team result fell short of expectations. 

Wicadia’s place among the award winners was tied both to his own play and to Aurora’s circumstances. HLTV noted that XANTARES’ injury had begun to affect Aurora, creating more responsibility for Wicadia, who responded by leading the team in map wins with a 1.34 rating. The report also stressed that Aurora’s map victories came against FaZe, FURIA, and The MongolZ, while their losses were only to the two eventual finalists, Vitality and NAVI. Related HLTV coverage on Aurora confirmed that XANTARES had indeed been managing a hand injury during the event. 

For the All-Star team, HLTV built the lineup around the three main MVP contenders — ropz, ZywOo, and flameZ — then added Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen as in-game leader and Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy in a supportive role. HLTV explained that the maximum of three players per team kept apEX out despite Vitality’s title run, while b1t got the nod because no anchor specialists made the EVP list and his role balance stood out for NAVI. 

The event itself ran from March 18 to March 29, with the group stage held in BLAST’s studio near Copenhagen and the playoffs staged at Rotterdam’s 15,000-seat Ahoy Arena. BLAST lists the total prize pool at $1.1 million. By the time the tournament ended, the individual awards told the same story as the server: Vitality were the best team in Rotterdam, ropz produced the defining playoff run, and the rest of the scene is now chasing a lineup that currently looks deeper, sharper, and more complete than anyone else in Counter-Strike.