Our predictions come to an end with a look into the HLTV Awards. The HLTV Awards are the crème de la crème of the HLTV Awards Show and are decided in-house by HLTV themselves. They decide the best male and female team of the year, the best male and female player of the year as well as the rookie of the year. And therefore, without further rambling, here are our predictions for the HLTV Awards at the HLTV Awards Show 2024.
This is the final part of a prediction series and you’ll find our previous predictions for the Community Awards here and for the Panel Awards here.
Contents
Team of the Year – Natus Vincere
For the first award in the HLTV Award segment, the staff in-house at HLTV are deciding the “Team of the Year” with the three nominations being G2, Natus Vincere and Spirit. G2 are a step behind the other two in our opinion, despite three victories at IEM Dallas 2024, the BLAST Premier Fall Finals and the BLAST Premier World Finals. We believe it is a close-fought competition between the two Major winning sides of 2024, Natus Vincere and Spirit. Spirit started the year with a bang, lifting the trophy at IEM Katowice massively thanks to Danil “donk” Kryshkovets and his record-equalling 1.70 rating across the event. They also finished massively, lifting the Major trophy in Shanghai.
However, our pick for the “Team of the Year” in 2024 is Natus Vincere, thanks to their consistency throughout the year. Unlike Spirit and G2, Natus Vincere do not have a stand-out star player and instead are a well-functioning unit created by the combined genius of Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy. This system led to four tournament victories in 2024, including the PGL Major Copenhagen, the second for the organization.
Women’s Team of the Year – Imperial Fe
The award for “Women’s Team of the Year” is a lot more clear cut, with Imperial Fe clearly the favourite for this accolade. The other two nominees, however, are getting closer with NAVI Javelins achieving multiple grand final victories over Imperial Fe over the course of the year. The same is true for FURIA Fe, who won two LANs to finish off 2024, with the second featuring a triumph over Imperial Fe at Rainhas do Clutch, a LAN which took place in Brazil. However, as mentioned, Imperial Fe are our pick, having won both Impact LAN tournaments this year, continuing their dominance over the female scene and even netting themselves a place at a male tournament to start 2025 – BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 1.
Rookie of the Year – Danil “donk” Kryshkovets
Again, this next award feels fairly clear cut, with Danil “donk” Kryshkovets, a player in contention for “Player of the Year”, also in the “Rookie of the Year” category. The other two finalists are Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa and Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotia, who both also had fabulous rookie years. The two Spirit members both had great years, with them lifting three substantial trophies throughout 2024, with zont1x shining particularly bright as an anchor and also gaining attention for his tendency to bodyshot. Now on G2, malbsMd started the year on M80 but ended on G2, where he carried on his strong form, lifting two trophies at the BLAST Premier Fall and World Finals, where he performed excellently. However, without question, donk is the deserved winner of this award. The Russian youngster won five MVP awards in 2024, equaling the record for the highest-rated event of a 1.70 at IEM Katowice and also smashing the record for a Major MVP, with a 1.49 at the Shanghai Major. The sky’s the limit for this kid and we eagerly await seeing him on the server once again in 2025.
Women’s Player of the Year – Ana “ANa” Dumbravă
Next up is the “Women’s Player of the Year” award, again a fairly simple one. The nominees are Ana “ANa” Dumbravă, Victoria “tory” Kazieva and Zainab “zAAz” Turkie, who all play for Imperial Fe. Our winner is ANa but let’s first touch on the other two nominees. Now 33, zAAz joined Imperial Fe at the start of 2024 and immediately got to work, she had a spectacular year, averaging a 1.23 rating. Finishing in third place last year, tory once again returns as a nominee but this time with an MVP medal to her name, narrowly edging out teammate ANa in the race at the ESL Impact Season 6 Finals.
However, with all that said, it is ANa who once again triumphs in our opinion, she is the undisputed best female player in the world. She was incredible in 2024 and with the accolade won in both 2022 and 2023, she is almost certainly going to make it a hat-trick.
Player of the Year – Danil “donk” Kryshkovets
Now, the one everyone has been waiting for. The nominations are yet to be announced, with them set to be revealed on the day of the Award Ceremony on January 11. However, we feel we can quite easily predict the top three and we think it’ll be Danil “donk” Kryshkovets, Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut. These three were incredibly close throughout the whole year and pushed each other all the way. In terms of LAN rating in 2024 against the top-20 teams, ZyWoo takes it, averaging a 1.34, compared to a 1.33 for donk and a 1.27 for m0NESY. It is so tight though and minorly changing the criteria alters the order of those three players.
The next criteria that needs to be considered are MVP awards as well as trophies won. The French sniper won just one event this year, IEM Cologne 2024, picking up the MVP Award as well as a second one after a second-place finish at ESL Pro League Season 19. The Baby Goat, m0NESY, won three events this year, picking up the MVP Award at all three. However, our winner of the “Player of the Year” award is donk, who, in his rookie year, picked up a staggering five MVP Awards which includes a Katowice MVP as well as a Major MVP. He is our pick for the Best Player in 2024.
Image credits: Joao Ferreira, PGL; Helena Kristiansson, ESL Faceit Group
