Vitality’s dominance hit another high at BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 as the team locked-in its third trophy in a row in 2026. Through the group stage, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Shahar “flameZ” Shushan dominated their opposition, but a resurgent Robin “ropz” Kool powered Vitality through the playoffs to knick the MVP medal away from his teammates at the thirteenth hour.
But with all the build-up behind flameZ and ZywOo’s MVP battle, the community reaction saw many arguing against the final result. Afterall the storylines were impressive, flameZ blazing through the likes of 9z and The MongolZ, ZywOo in imperious form once more. So how did ropz win the MVP medal?
How did ropz get BLAST Open Rotterdam MVP medal?
According to HLTV’s post announcing the award, ropz averaged a 1.54 rating across his five playoff maps in the Ahoy Arena, edging out both ZywOo and flameZ who each posted a 1.28 rating. He also led his team with 1.2 kills per round won (KPRw), compared to 0.97 for ZywOo and 0.95 for flameZ, showing just how efficient he was at converting his kills into round victories.
While the numbers in themselves are solid, the timing of his performances mattered just as much. ZywOo registered no player of the map showings inside the arena, while flameZ led the internal race heading into Championship Sunday before cooling at the worst possible moment. The rifler finished the final with just a 1.01 rating and negative K-D, a far cry from his group stage best.
That left a vacuum at the top end for Vitality which ropz filled with carry performances that dragged Vitality over the line. The Estonian earned player of the map honors on three playoffs maps and was neck-and-neck with William “mezii” Merriman on a fourth in the grand finals.
A true wingman to ZywOo
ropz’s performance at the StarLadder Budapest Major had already put him in MVP contention with ZywOo, but the French prodigy barely edged out a win in another closely contested battle. ZywOo then entered 2026 with a bee in his bonnet, wanting to prove that he was the clear best after the conversation at the HLTV Awards 2025 was largely dominated by talks of Danil “donk” Kryshkovets being “robbed” of the number one spot.
All that should have led to a veritable stronghol on the MVP medals for ZywOo. Yet, such is the dominance of Vitality, that ropz not only challenged for the medal once again, but actually clinched it at Rotterdam. He becomes the first Vitality player other than ZywOo to win an MVP award. The medal is also ropz’s sixth career MVP, and his first since CAC 2023 with FaZe.
