GuardiaN retires as CS pro

Famous Slovakian esports athlete Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács has officially announced his retirement from professional Counter-Strike at the age of 33. Kovács explained his decision as follows:

The decision was not hard to make. When you spend half of your life competing in tournaments and flying around the world, you get burnt out[...] it was time to focus on something else in life.

I'm not sad, I've done everything I could in esports. I've been to Majors, I've been to Major finals, I've won tournaments, I had amazing teams[...] I've done it all. I don't have a Major trophy, but that's not all it takes to be happy.

Ladislav is one of the most decorated esports athletes in competitive Counter-Strike: from 2014 to 2019, he won 17 international titles under the tag of Virtus.pro, NAVI and FaZe. He began his career back in 2006 and has since earned about $800,000 in prize money.

GuardiaN has not played on the pro scene since departing Sampi in late 2022. In June 2024, he returned to CS, taking over as the coach of BC.Game. In November, after a series of roster changes, he moved to the AWPer position. Finally, in January of this year, the organization benched him and unveiled a revamped starting five.

Origin: x.com