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GUIDES
Simple Radar
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Yeah, he does still exist. Apparently.
ANGE1 retired from that other game this week, so we thought we’d take a look at his career when he still played a real game…
Also, tN1R moved to Spirit even if there’s some extra complications, and one of the best looking events of the year is about to get underway. Lovely.
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Nearly a month after HEROIC announced tN1R’s departure, with rumors of a move to Spirit quickly following, the deal has now been confirmed.
When the news first broke, the word on the street was that zont1x would be the one getting the boot. This came as a shock to most, given how integral he has been to Spirit’s success. Not to mention the fact the team had just won IEM Cologne, the most prestigious trophy outside of the Majors, and had done so right after a roster change.
Maybe they took a page out of NIP’s management playbook, who knows?
But Spirit’s statement cleared up the confusion. It turns out zont1x himself requested to be benched, asking for “some time off in order to solve certain personal issues.”
While this explanation clears up most of the uncertainty, it still leaves a big question mark over his return and what that might look like. According to OverDrive, “zont1x has not been put on transfer and is not going to search for a new team in the near future”.
So, what does that mean? Will he still have a spot in the lineup when he returns “this winter”? Will Spirit simply bench tN1R and reinstate him in the active lineup?
That seems unlikely, as Spirit probably paid the big bucks to HEROIC, so benching tN1R after a few months - especially if he performs well - would be questionable. That said, zont1x would be an upgrade to 99% of teams out there, so if a spot doesn’t open up in Spirit when he returns, finding a new home shouldn’t be a problem.
As for tN1R, he’s proven he can hang with the best and perform consistently as HEROIC’s centerpiece, clearly operating at a higher level than zont1x. But can he reach those same levels in an environment where donk and sh1ro are the stars?
His individual skill is undisputed, so it will be interesting to see how he meshes with the new team, starting in just a few weeks at ESL Pro League S22.
Sam’s back and apparently he now needs AI in order to complete a podcast - no, seriously.
You rarely see careers with such perfect symmetry.
ANGE1 started his career going negative for HellRaisers in 2008 (!) on 1.6, and ended it going negative for HellRaisers in 2020.
As long as you ignore his career in the other game, which he has retired from this week. Which we’re going to do. For obvious reasons.
His first recorded game was against Finnish team Power Gaming (terrible name), in which he put up a mediocre 15-16 scoreline in a 16-12 win. You’d hope they’d win - he was playing with markeloff.
Both were outfragged by Johnta. Not the point.
On the other side of the server, there was a familiar name for those of you who’ve been around for a while, or really hate Teslas; lurppis.
That flashbanged us when we saw it.
His first game in CS:GO was a big loss to Anexis, a Danish team with MSL, ruggah, Pimp and cajunb, who were excellent in the game. ANGE1 topfragged for Virtus.pro, but AdreN and Dosia didn’t really pull up any trees.
His last game in CS was the least glamorous of the three. His HellRaisers’ side lost 2-1 to Pompa, a Polish team with names you won’t be familiar with. A very sad ending.
Almost as sad as going to play VALORANT.
Ah, FISSURE Playground. The tournament we expect will soon go the way of YaLLa Compass.
Somehow, we’re actually excited to see you this time around.
Seriously, there’s a big gaping hole at this event when it comes to the three “elite” teams in CS, but of the teams attending, a whole bunch of them have a hell of a point to prove.
Starting with G2, they’ve just won BLAST London, so expectations for them are through the roof. Was it a fluke? Are they the fourth elite team we’ve been waiting for? Has HeavyGod had his 10,000 allotted calories for the day? So many questions.
Falcons will also be there. They haven’t been seen much since booting Magisk for kyousuke, and when they have been seen, it hasn’t exactly been great. donk 2.0 has looked phenomenal, but we knew that was going to happen. Now we want to see them actually win some games.
Then there’s the trio of Asian teams in attendance. TYLOO won the first FISSURE event, so hopes will be high for them to have a big event, whilst The MongolZ need to be looking to push on from their EWC win and pick up another trophy to also stand a chance at pushing themselves into that elite tier we mentioned earlier.
As for Lynn Vision, well, we don’t expect much, but we’re bloody happy to see them.
We’re also obviously happy to see FURIA at another event. They’re easily our favourite team to watch at the moment, and maybe this will be the time they manage to get over their playoff jitters.
And finally, there’s the FaZe and Liquid duo. Both are showing signs of improvement, but both still have so many chinks in their armour. Hitting the right form could see them fly at this event, but a bad day could easily see them fall 0-2 in the Swiss stage. Neither outcome would shock.
Overall, it’s hard not to be excited about this event. And considering it isn’t an ESL or BLAST event, we’re honestly really surprised (and quite happy) to be saying that.
An event that could fire a team into a new level of confidence as we approach the second Major of the year, it’s set to be a good week of CS.
