Danil “molodoy” Golubenko was arguably the Counter-Strike revelation of 2025. A comparatively unprecedented AWPer surprisingly signed by FURIA forward of the BLAST Austin Main, he ended the 12 months with two MVP awards and along with his title held up subsequent to the likes of Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut.
It’s no shock, then, as AWPers proceed to battle within the rifler-dominant CS2 meta, that the common viewer asks why extra groups can’t simply do what FURIA did and discover spectacular AWPers from decrease down the CS ladder.
Nevertheless, what may come as a shock is that Martin “STYKO” Styk doesn’t assume that groups essentially must be aiming to take action.
The Good Touchdown
STYKO’s opinion is that though molodoy is a generational expertise, and that “the place you land issues loads.” He added: “If molodoy had gone to a workforce with out FalleN or YEKINDAR, who’re each nice mentors, then I’m unsure he can be the place he’s proper now.”
It’s laborious to argue in opposition to. Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo is named probably the most influential gamers in Counter-Strike historical past, a determine who didn’t simply lead groups but in addition led a complete nation into Counter-Strike relevance.
Mareks “YEKINDAR” Galinksis, too, is a transparent management determine. A former IGL himself, the Latvian has been praised by each his present teammates on FURIA and former teammates on Liquid for his skill to speak and set up.
On high of that, YEKINDAR can also be somebody from an identical tradition to molodoy, who speaks the identical language as him. As a rookie who was thrown into tier one on a majority Brazilian workforce, having YEKINDAR there has seemingly been integral to the younger AWPer’s success.
“It’s not solely about discovering that participant, but in addition being able to make him mature sufficient to play nicely, raise trophies, and sustain communication when issues are tough. That’s one thing I love about this FURIA workforce, it’s not about molodoy simply being insane, it’s about FURIA making him insane.” STYKO advised Esports.internet.
It’s additionally essential to not overlook that molodoy seems to be a generational expertise in a time the place many AWPers are struggling. Gamers like him don’t come round typically, and though his utilization of the AWP might shift the meta, as Alex “Mauisnake” Ellenberg prompt in our interview with him, STYKO is fast to level out how stacked the present meta is in opposition to snipers.
“I requested a number of AWPers all through the Main why they is likely to be struggling, and I acquired combined solutions. A few of them blamed playstyle, the place quite a lot of AWPers are required to do quite a lot of soiled work by way of supporting riflers as a result of rifles are so robust in comparison with CS:GO, and that additionally signifies that holding angles is extra disadvantageous than it was.” STYKO mentioned.
There’s additionally an absence of deal with AWPing. Gamers like m0NESY and ZywOo play with rifles loads and to nice success, a consequence of each their respective talent making whichever weapon they maintain largely irrelevant and MR12 putting a limiting issue upon the cumbersome financial system required to help an AWPer.
However possibly that isn’t a foul factor. STYKO comes from a time the place AWPers had been the dominant pressure for many groups, and he says he likes that the AWP has “grow to be extra of a utility weapon than the carry weapon it was.”
In the event you’ve been round any esport lengthy sufficient, you’ll know that metas are ever-changing. The identical is true for CS, though these meta shifts could also be much less apparent generally than in different video games like VALORANT.
One among molodoy’s strengths since coming to FURIA has been that the workforce has largely ignored the meta. As a substitute of getting their AWPer put up with utilizing rifles and throwing utility, they construct methods round him, placing him within the place to be a real star with the gun and to nice impact.
Mauisnake pointed it out, and it’s one thing STYKO strengthened by saying “molodoy has figured it out. So we is likely to be speaking about extra AWPers subsequent 12 months, extra folks will determine what molodoy has and that might be an attention-grabbing meta shift.”
It was already evident that Vitality had been trying extra in direction of ZywOo as an AWPer throughout their profitable StarLadder Budapest Main marketing campaign, in order that trickles right down to different groups who look to reflect FURIA’s unlikely late-2025 success, possibly they don’t have to exit and discover the following molodoy. Perhaps they only have to put belief in what they have already got.
