Speaking of players who had their prime in 2015, GuardiaN finally got off Na'Vi's bench. After a full year. Talk about being patient.
Now, we're about to get in to personal analysis territory, and since the writer of this piece had to be carried to Supreme, take this with a few grains of salt. Or maybe a metric ton of salt.
What GuardiaN's long bench tenure highlights, is how the AWPing territory is evolving.
GuardiaN is part of a very strong, old school, group of AWPers who have a solid grip on the weapon, but isn't as dynamic as the new generation.
We're not saying teams don't use dedicated AWPers anymore - just look at syrsoN for crying out loud - but the meta seems to be changing.
Teams are either looking for a hybrid AWPer, who's proficient in more roles than one, or skip the idea of a dedicated AWPer role altogether, and just bank on their players' sheer talent with the gun on certain maps or contexts.
That's why a player like GuardiaN, who has multiple MVP medals, and six HLTV top 20 appearances under his belt, stay pretty much permanently on his team's bench for a year. That and s1mple wanted to play the AWP, so that's pretty game over.
Oh by the way, is that the sound of olofmeister, krimz and GuardiaN being free agents at the same time? Could it be...?
Never miss a thing! Get our recap of the biggest news and matches straight to your inbox, twice a week.
