GuardiaN, Dosia And AdreN Teaming Up: Is This The Next Great CIS Squad?

Three legends have joined forces in a mix-team called ‘OldG’ for the open qualifier of IEM New York CIS. We don’t know whether these players will remain together in the long run, but let’s just entertain the idea that they will. Would this be a Top 10 team?

GUARDIAN IS NOT DONE YET

The Slovakian player has stood in so many Major Finals, but never been able to win the coveted trophy for his team. At ELEAGUE Boston 2018, he came incredibly close with the FaZe Clan roster. In overtime, they conceded the victory to Cloud9, who went wild in front of their home crowd.

Since then, it has become quiet around Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs. His return to Natus Vincere was marked with a less than stellar performance and at the start of 2020, he has been replaced by Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy. He now returns in this mix-team, hoping to get back into shape. He still hasn’t won his Major and he probably won’t stop until he gets it.

ARE ADREN AND DOSIA UP TO THE TASK?

His tenure with Gambit, AVANGAR and Virtus.pro has given Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev plenty of time to grow into a good in-game-leader. Unfortunately, his personal performance has suffered massively. He currently holds a 0.91 rating on HLTV, which is miles away from his Major performance with Gambit, where he earned the MVP medal for his stellar play. Ever since then, his results have deteriorated.

But he doesn’t have to be a star-fragger if he manages to lead his team wisely. There are countless examples of teams succeeding even with individually weaker in-game-leaders. So the rest of the players need to rise to the occasion. But are they really able to?

Mihail “Dosia” Stolyarov has played his last professional match in May, where he lost to AVEZ. Since then, there have been no official matches recorded on HLTV. Obviously, this makes it incredibly difficult to make a judgment on his fitness in CSGO. But judging from past performances, he has never been a star fragger anyways. If this team wants to succeed, it will highly depend on GuardiaN and the young guns.

MOLDING NEW TALENT

Žygimantas “nukkye” Chmieliauskas was part of the Imperial roster when they first took off and became a relevant part of the Counter-Strike scene. He then joined HellRaisers, where his individual prowess unfortunately began to fade. Still, he has proven to be a wildly skilled player. Arguably, he hasn’t reached his peak yet and could become a centerpiece of this team. Alexander “lamp” Noviy is a real X-factor. He has virtually no recorded matches on HLTV, so either the players know him personally or he is just going to be a temporary fifth.

The team apparently didn’t make it through the IEM NY Qualifier. But there are enough competitions coming up where they will be able to test their might against established teams. If the veteran players are unable to get back to their former levels, there is hardly any chance for the team to succeed – even if nukkye and lamp should grow to become star players. Will we see a return of GuardiaN, Dosia and AdreN to the top of CSGO?