BLAST.tv awards 2025: Best rookie, most improved, best coach

"donk, honestly I didn’t know who else to put, he starts of the year with a 1.70 rating at Katowice, they have some okay results throughout the rest of the year with an important Spring Final win, then at the end he’s able to bounce back and win the Major. That’s solid improvement!"

"Malbs. Super impressed with how he has entered the tier 1 space, considering he had to change a lot of his positions/his role to join G2."

"malbsMd. Shouting out malbs with this one because he only joined G2 halfway through the year, re-invented himself in completely different positions, and still delivered some of the most critical performances of G2's year."

"Senzu. Huge backbone of MongolZ dream run this year, coming from a region where you rarely see gems like himself, it is nice to see that players are improving probably at the faster rate compared to some Europeans, where practice is supposed to be much more effective. Sure, MongolZ traveled to Europe often and attended big events where he gained experience, but I am impressed by the rate of improvement overall in MongolZ. The fact Senzu stands out a little bit just underlines how excited I am to see them perform in 2025"

"JT from Complexity. I think he came into his own in 2024 as an IGL (and CS2 seems to look good on him)."

"To me, JL fits under this category well. He wasn't the star of Apeks during their Paris Major run but after a few months in the Navi jersey his impact in big rounds was second to none. He won some unbelieveable rounds in the first half of 2024 and was a massive part of their victory at the Copenhagen Major. This will be his first appearance as an HLTV top 20 player and he will certainly be in the top 10. A pretty incredible debut."

"jL, he went from a roleplayer with Apeks to a new star with NAVI."

"This is a pretty tricky category honestly. I think you could put someone like jL in here but maybe a shoutout to Senzu or Mzhino from the Mongolz too."

"donk, we’ve never ever seen a player like donk. He broke rating records, he has become the youngest major champion and major mvp, he’s dominating everyone that stands in his way and has shown the ability to bounce back even after tough games or tough tournaments. The most incredible rookie player we’ve ever seen"

"Donk. All you’ve got to do is look at the numbers he’s put up throughout the year, particularly on his first big stage in Katowice, alongside the Major in Shanghai."

"donk. A breakout rookie year that puts ZywOo's into question. Something we believed may go uncontested forever."

"It's hard to define "rookie", so I will go with pure rookie - kyousuke - a guy that no one even knew existed 12 months ago is literally hottest prospect among any academy teams around the world. That to me is a definition of best rookie, even though he did not get a chance to face true Tier 1 opposition yet, I believe it is only matter of time when he will show his game against more established and skilled teams."

"donk. Do I even need to give a reason here?"

"donk. Youngest Major winner/MVP of all time. Need I say more?"

"donk. Player of the year surely means rookie of the year since he qualifies."

"DING DONG DONK."

"B1ad3, at this point you can start to discuss him being greatest coach of all time having had 2 Majors with completely different teams and nationalities, even making it work in an international team. He’s highly intelligent, incredibly hard working and his system is so impressive"

"Hally. B1ad3 is definitely in contention, but hally takes the title for me just due to how he has had to bring the squad together from the beginning to the end of the year. Spirit clearly went through some emotional issues throughout the year, but being able to work & overcome those with a relatively young squad to end the year as major champions is impressive."

"B1ad3. To win PGL Copenhagen out of nowhere, without the world-class star players of his counter-parts, and maintain momentum longer than any other team this year - that's my coach."

"B1ad3 - Jumped into the waters of international squad was a big challenge, but B1ad3 is making sure that every time we see NaVi on the server, we see different and better version of themselves. They are being innovative, very sharp on individual part but also very solid on tactical part. That is hard to achieve on consistent basis, which I believe NaVi did during the year."

"maaRaa for The Mongolz is my coach of the year. He has found a way to take a team from a region with little to no backing and turn them from underdogs into top 10 contenders. Credit needs to be given here. B1ad3 is a close second obviously!"

"B1ad3 has snuck into the conversation as the greatest coach of all time this year. After bringing a second completely different Navi roster a major trophy his accolades cannot be doubted. Nor can the eye test. Navi's setups are perhaps the most structured of any team right now and when B1ad3 calls a timeout, they often win the next round. Whatever he is saying to this team clearly works."

"B1ad3 Best strategizing prior to match start easily."

"B1ad3. Again along with Aleksib, the two have forged NAVI into such a dangerous team. iM had a few months of playing worse and they managed to get him back online to become the dangerous player we knew he could be."