The discharge of Counter-Strike 2 considerably modified the sport’s meta. With wide-swinging and peeker’s benefit changing into far stronger, AWP dominance was changed by the age of the star opener. In step Danil “donk” Kryshkovets and Shahar “flameZ” Shushan.
Donk and his sheer expertise aided that meta shift, too, however regardless of his superstardom, Spirit stays one of many groups following the reigning kings of Counter-Strike, Vitality.
One of many greatest causes for that’s their opener — though he may not name himself that — flameZ. So what’s the distinction between the 2 gamers? And why does flameZ’s fashion of aggression result in extra trophies than donk’s?
Protecting it Previous Faculty
In a group with 4 clear stars, two of these having extremely excessive reputations in Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Robin “ropz” Kool, it’s straightforward to miss flameZ. After all, everybody is aware of the Israeli is gifted; his two-time seventh-place end within the HLTV Prime 20 is sufficient to show it, however his old-school playstyle is de facto what makes Vitality tick.
In a current interview with us, flameZ described himself as extra of an entry than an opener. In layman’s phrases, that implies that he specialises extra find opening kills on executes, or by making house to be traded in by his teammates, somewhat than trying to find kills in early-round map management fights.
He defined, “I’ve the boldness that the strats are constructed across the entry pathing. Possibly they’re not there for me to get a kill or do one thing loopy, however for me, gaining the information and making the sacrifice offers me the boldness, and I’m glad to do it. Me doing that provides my group plenty of house, so I’m glad to do it.
“Possibly doing it offers me a bit increased placement, too, as a result of there are gamers that do the opening function higher than me, however I do the entrying function higher than them. Possibly opening is extra meta, as a result of it’s the gamers like xertioN, XANTARES, they usually have extra alternatives to get duels initially of rounds, they usually do it higher than me.”
Of the rifles talked about by flameZ, and together with FURIA’s Mareks “YEKINDAR” Galinskis and Falcons’ Maxim “kyousuke” Lukin, solely kyousuke takes fewer T aspect opening duels than flameZ. The Israeli sits at 29%, with kyousuke simply behind on 27.8%; everybody else is both 30% or increased, with MOUZ’s Dorian “xertioN” Berman the very best on 34%.
flameZ’s assertion about not being as sturdy of an opener is additional backed up by stats; his 39.4% success price is the bottom, however the power of the Vitality system and flameZ’s level concerning him being an entry somewhat than an opener is proven by the traded deaths share.
When dying first, flameZ is traded an enormous 42.8% of the time, with the next-highest being Aurora’s Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dortkardes, all the best way down at 28.2%. donk, for the sake of comparability, is traded in simply 22.8% of the rounds through which he dies first, whereas taking 31.4% of Spirit’s opening duels and succeeding 58.2% of the time.
This selfless nature is an old-school mind-set, much more frequent within the days when Vitality IGL Dan “apEX” Madesclaire was nonetheless top-of-the-line entry fraggers in CS. It’s additionally much more outlined when it comes to roles than plenty of different groups – and the identical may be mentioned for ropz’ heavy lurking fashion – giving Vitality a consistency and understanding of their protocols that different groups simply can’t match.
No Honest Comparability
The reality is, you may’t actually examine flameZ to any of those different aggressive riflers, and particularly not donk. No less than proper now, anyway – the techniques they play in are simply too totally different.
In the event you return to 2022, when flameZ was nonetheless enjoying for OG, he took an analogous quantity of opening duels however had a better (44.1%) success price, placing him extra in keeping with the star openers we’ve talked about alongside him. Nothing we mentioned – and even flameZ mentioned within the interview – was to say that he can’t do it, simply that he doesn’t must proper now.
May Vitality nonetheless discover success in the event that they made flameZ into extra of a star? Most likely.
Likewise, may groups like MOUZ, FURIA, or Aurora additionally succeed in the event that they seemed to maneuver away from the reliance on opening kills from xertioN, YEKINDAR, or XANTARES? Who is aware of.
For now a minimum of, flameZ exists as some of the selfless gamers within the elite stage of Counter-Strike. A very old-school entry fragger who’s simply as glad dying for info as he’s getting the double entry that wins the spherical. It’s a thankless function that brings an unimaginable quantity of influence even with out getting kills, one thing the common viewer received’t respect within the second once they examine it to donk’s excessive kill tally.
The primary distinction, although, is {that a} kill-less donk, xertioN, or XANTARES, has far much less influence than a kill-less flameZ, and that’s the place the Israeli really shines.
