There's a new king of hell: Max "Demon1" Mazanov. His first great achievemement is the VLR.gg MVP Award for his Valorant Champions 2023 performance, in what was his best career performance.

After struggling in his international debut at Masters Tokyo, where his only notable stats were a 38% headshot rate and the second-most kills at the event, Demon1 came into full form at Champions. He was the highest-rated player at 1.23 and was also the player with the highest KD (1.39), KPR (0.92), and headshot rate (40%).

When asked about what he would say to aspiring players who wanted to follow in his footsteps, Demon1's two-word answer summarized his Champions performance.

"You can't."

Demon1 celebrates at Champions Photo by Yicun Liu/Riot Games

"He doesn't, think, I promise you," Boostio said of his teammate.

Demon1 kicked into high gear during the playoffs, where he put up his best numbers. In the knockout rounds only, he was the leading player in rating, ACS, KD, ADR, KPR and headshot rate, all the while dropping 346 kills in 17 maps. aspas trailed him as a runner-up in all of those statistics.

Evil Geniuses' star player had incredible performances in every match of the playoffs. The 1.58 rating he accrued on smokers when EG manhandled DRX DRX Korea Rank #4 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) was the second-highest match rating of the playoffs, but it was in the lower bracket final that Demon1 showed his true potential.

Across the five-map brawl with LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #2 dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira , Demon1 dropped 101 kills and set a record for the most kills in an international VCT match. Despite picking up Astra twice during that match, Demon1 was also the player with the highest rating, ADR, and even tied second for highest KAST and tied third for most first kills.

Demon1 holds the Champions trophy “Fuck the haters. Respect my fucking name. I'm the best player in this game.” (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

Unlike previous events, Demon1 was a standout and isolated MVP candidate for Champions. At LOCK//IN Leo — who ultimately took the award — and Shao were the two close contenders. Leo was again in contention for the award at Masters Tokyo, but Alfajer just edged him out in the final stages of the team's run.

Demon1 was overwhelmingly considered by experts the Valorant Champions 2023 MVP. Teammates Ethan , who has been praised for his prowess in utility usage and setting up plays, and jawgemo , whose Raze was one of the most notable at Champions, were also considered by experts as some of the best players in LA. Ethan, in particular, topped the charts in assists per round for the third event in a row (0.52 at VCT Americas, 0.58 at Masters Tokyo and Champions).

The VLR.gg MVP Award is primarily based on statistics and opinions from Valorant experts. While the first award featured only coaches from partnered teams, Masters Tokyo and Champions' MVP Awards also sourced opinions from VCT broadcast talent.

2023 VLR.gg MVP Awards