Emir "Alfajer"
Ali Beder has been awarded the VLR.gg MVP Award for Masters Tokyo, after the 18 year-old put up the best performance of his career thus far to become the second straight teenager from
FNATIC
FNATIC
Europe
Unranked
Sayonara
Ștefan Mîtcu
stand-in
Boaster
Jake Howlett
kaajak
Kajetan Haremski
Chronicle
Timofey Khromov
Alfajer
Emir Ali Beder
to win the award.
Alfajer only led the event in two statistics: KD (1.63) and KAST (80%), but finished in the top of several categories during the playoffs, which include his 0.88 KPR and a 21% clutch winrate. Just after winning the grand final, FNATIC unanimously named Alfajer the MVP in the press conference, while the man himself nominated teammate Leo "Leo" Jannesson.
"I just remember Alfa having a lot of kills, and winning duels that nobody should win. Like, a lot," Jacob "Mini" Harris said at the time.
"I told you in the game, no one can peek me," Alfajer rebutted.
Derke recalled his teammate's ability to win duels that would balance and ultimately win FNATIC several rounds, as well as his agent's setups.
Two titles and two MVPs for FNATIC. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
Originally a VRL player, Alfajer quickly grew into a world-class talent and took on special form in the recent VCT EMEA. He improved upon his regional performance in Tokyo, growing from a 1.23 rating in EMEA to a 1.31 average rating throughout Masters — the highest he's recorded since last year's Stage 2: Challengers.
Expert opinions showed a close race between Alfajer and Leo for the top spot, while Chronicle trailed both. The MVP race was tight throughout, but Alfajer just edged out his teammate thanks to a standout grand final performance. Alfajer was also the most-voted #2 MVP candidate among the seven names voted in.
His debut match in Japan — against
NRG Esports
NRG Esports
North America
Unranked
FiNESSE
Pujan Mehta
s0m
Sam Oh
Verno
Andrew Maust
mada
Adam Pampuch
Ethan
Ethan Arnold
— was Alfajer's best, and where he tied with Alexander "jawgemo"
Mor for the highest match rating of the tournament at 1.55. FNATIC's signature sentinel player recorded an absurd 2.31 KD and 90% KAST, as well as six first kills, across the series. He shined particularly on NRG's Bind pick, where his 1.80 rating was the highest of the tournament on any given map.
Can anyone beat these two? (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
Alfajer and Leo finished close in many categories except for first deaths per round. The latter stood out with just two first deaths throughout the tournament (0.02 FDPR), totaling just nine first deaths in this year's LAN events so far.
While this is Alfajer's first MVP Award, he is also the youngest accoladed player at 18 years and 16 days, surpassing LOCK//IN MVP Leo by about six months. The Swede was the second-most voted Masters Tokyo MVP candidate overall. Boostio was also one of the standout candidates, putting up incredible numbers for an IGL in his first international LAN.
The Masters Tokyo VLR.gg MVP Award was the first to include broadcast talent members' opinions alongside coaches from partnered teams, whose opinion was exclusively sourced for the first award.
2023 VLR.gg MVP Awards:
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