REZ claims IEM Oakland MVP award

HLTV.org's Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for IEM Oakland goes to Ninjas in Pyjamas youngster Fredrik "REZ" Sterner.

The 19-year-old was already a strong contender for the award leading up to the final, and he acquitted himself really well in the best-of-five series, averaging a 1.13 Rating despite his team suffering two heavy losses.

Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner had the highest rating among playoff players at 1.28 and only one below-average rating in 13 games. His remarkable consistency throughout the competition and his team-leading performance in the semi-final series against SK ended up earning him the award over teammate Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg, who was Ninjas in Pyjamas's top performer in the title decider (1.18 rating).

REZ wins his first MVP award

The former Epsilon member also stood out in opening kills by quite some distance (54), with his closest suitor being Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard (45), who was also a strong candidate for the MVP award alongside Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács.

This is REZ's very first MVP award, and it comes just five months after he joined Ninjas in Pyjamas, replacing veteran Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg.

SK #1 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaRicardo 'boltz' PrassMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de Melo Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács Age: 26 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 1027 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.62 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Age: 23 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 730 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.69 Adam 'friberg' Friberg Age: 26 Team: OpTic Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 1203 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.67 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 20 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 705 KPR: 0.82 DPR: 0.68 Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg Age: 29 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 1227 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.64 Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner Age: 19 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 492 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65 Ninjas in Pyjamas #9 Fredrik 'REZ' SternerPatrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundRichard 'Xizt' LandströmWilliam 'draken' Sundin