Ilya has surpassed Donk with a rating of 1.31 compared to Danil's 1.28. Donk's death rate is 0.69 per round, a low figure for a top player, while Ilya averages 0.57 deaths per round.
Danil had a negative rating twice over six summer tournaments and barely reached a positive rating of 1.04 at EWC. Ilya had only one poor performance with a rating of 0.88 at the Blast Spring Finals, which he played right after a long flight. He ended two tournaments with ratings close to 1.5, including 1.39 at IEM Cologne. Danil’s best rating was 1.55 at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade, a step below IEM Cologne.
Ilya had a successful summer, winning IEM Dallas, reaching the IEM Cologne playoffs, and making the Esports World Cup 2004 finals. Danil’s highlights include a Blast Premier Spring Final win, a semi-final at IEM Dallas, a poor showing at EWC, and a last-place finish at IEM Cologne 2024. Both players received MVP awards – Ilya for Dallas and Danil for Blast London. Their teams had similar win rates: G2 won 25 of 39 maps, while Spirit won 24 of 37.
Ilya received numerous accolades from pro players and analysts. Even Donk acknowledged Ilya's success, calling him "M0nesy – GOAT." Ilya noted that playing against Spirit felt easier at IEM Cologne:
“I don’t know what happened to Spirit. It was harder to play against them at Esports World Cup than at IEM Cologne. They hadn’t changed their game, and it felt like we were prepared 200 percent.”
Analyst Thorin has named M0nesy the best player of the year and rates him higher than Danil: “A Russian has never been the best in CS. Lex was a top 5-10 player, Dosia was good early in CS:GO, but M0nesy could become the best, with Donk having the potential to stand alongside him.”