Kovacs, Ladislav

Ladislav first tried playing Counter-Strike when he was 8 years old. After about 4 years, he began to play in amateur teams. These were the teams of zTs and notorix . Later, Ladislav and his brother Franciszek “ tri0 ” Kovacs started playing in the IQFIGHTERS team, which was soon signed by the multi- gaming organization Faberi Bellatores . The team successfully performed at local tournaments, but did not show results on the international CS-scene. At 15, GuardiaN became the best sniper in Slovakia, having won the 1on1 format tournament organized by the United-Games eSports portal. ^[2]

In 2008, due to the lack of major 1.6 championships locally, Ladislav decided to try his hand at Counter Strike: Source. He played in the amateur team Corecell , which took third place in the Creative League championship, and a few days later became part of the DEFEATERS organization. Also, GuardiaN first proved itself in the international arena, playing at the European Championship, as part of the national team of Slovakia. The composition of DEFEATERS became one of the strongest in the Czechoslovak region, but in January 2009 Kovacs left the team due to a conflict with his teammate. Soon after, the team loses support for the organization and completely breaks up. But Ladislav himself did not sit idle for a long time: one of the strongest European teams Reason Gaming , which lost two of its players, and needed a new sniper drew attention to a promising Slovak. Such a replacement strengthened this composition, and he brought many titles for his organization in the period 2009-2010.

In 2010, after an unsuccessful performance at DSRack LAN # 2 , Reason Gaming refused to cooperate with the squad, and the team continued to play under the flag of OX ENERMAX . After some time, Kovac decides to leave Source and return to the game Counter-Strike 1.6.

Ladislav conquers several local LAN tournaments with his new BEASTS team. Despite a successful start, in April 2012, he ends his career, motivating it with the fact that “he has lost his taste for the game”.

But two months later, in June, 2012, Kovacs returns and plays on the LANs in the Czech Republic as a member of the BEASTS team, and also goes on a mix to LAN to Hungary. In August, he announces that he and his team intend to try his hand at the new version of Counter Strike: Global Offensive. A promising team is immediately signed by the eternal PlayerZ organization. However, after a few months the team moves under the banner of the Serbian multi- gaming myDGB.net . GuardiaN and the company declare themselves to be one of the strongest squads in Europe, taking prizes in two major championships. Surprisingly, 3DMAX is announcing its CS: GO division, which includes players from myDGB . But after a series of unsuccessful tournaments, the organization dissolves the team, and GuardiaN tries on itself in the TCM-Gaming mix. And then he is invited to the Russian-speaking team Virtus.pro .

After the collapse of Virtus.pro , Ladislav tries himself in several mixes, but does not linger in any of them. In December 2013, she joined the multi-gaming Natus Vincere .

In July 2017, after a series of unsuccessful tournaments, Kovacs left the Na'Vi team, and already in August transferred to the international organization of the American organization FaZe Clan .

As part of Reason Gaming

Kovac joined the ranks of this British organization in 2009, replacing sniper Tomasz “ WT ” Hiroot. At that time, the Reason Gaming team had already won a number of prizes at major European tournaments. The new roster debuted at the ESL Major Series online tournament. Despite the unsuccessful start, Reason easily defeated their rivals in the lower bracket of the championship, but in the semifinals they could not oppose the French from redLine , taking third place as a result. The first serious test for the newly-made team was the largest English LAN-tournament Multiplay i-Series 36 , where the strongest representatives of the British Source-scene were present. The team was considered one of the favorites of the tournament, as it was the vice champion of the Multiplay i-Series 35 . Indeed, Reason easily reached the finals, where they defeated the current Team Dignitas champions in additional rounds. At all subsequent Multiplay i-Series , Reason Gaming also won prizes.

Reason Gaming was the only team from Eastern Europe that could compete on equal terms with the dominant teams on the continent from France, Great Britain, Denmark and Germany. She was rightly noted in the ratings of Heaven Media 2009 Team of the Year and Cadred European Rankings , where she won first and third places respectively. The team made a name for itself with bright victories at such major championships as DreamHack , Copenhagen Games and Lan78 . Despite good results, in the fall of 2010 the composition was dissolved. According to rumors, the financial instability of the organization became the main reason for the breakdown in relations between players and management: recently Reason had problems with sponsors, and Ahmed “Nordy” investor from the UAE was fully covered by his own funds ^[3] .

As part of Virtus.pro

Line-up:

•   Cyril " ANGE1 " Karasev
•   Emil " Kucher " Akhundov
•   Michael " Dosia " Stolyarov

•   Sergey " Fox " Stolyarov

•   Ladislav “ GuardiaN ” Kovacs

For the first time for this organization, Kovacs played on May 28 at RaidCall EMS One Cup # 3 instead of Dauren “ AdreN ” Kystaubaev, who was unable to participate in the tournament due to computer problems ^[4] . A few days later, GuardiaN also acted as a stand, but within the framework of the FACEIT CUP. On May 6, 2013, a message appeared on Virtus.pro's website that AdreN decided to leave the team. On the same day, the announcement of a new composition took place. The team successfully performed in 5 tournaments, was one of the top ten teams in statistics portal hltv.org. On July 18, due to the departure of Kirill “ ANGE1 ” Karasev and Mikhail “ Dosia ” Stolyarov to Astana Dragons , CS: GO, the membership of Virtus.pro was disbanded ^[5] .

As part of Natus Vincere

2013

NaVi rather weakly spent 2013: the team did not win a single tournament, and earned less than a dozen prizes. In summer, the key players left the team: sniper Egor “ markeloff ” Markelov and the best shooter of the team John “ Edward ” Sukharev . Young players Denis “ seized ” Kostin and Anton “ kibaken ” Kolesnikov were not able to significantly improve the team's results in the international arena: the year ended in complete failure at the DreamHack Winter 2013 major tournament. In December 2013, the organization decided to invite GuardiaN, which for the last five months could not find a stable team for itself. as well as Edwarda, who was kicked from Astana Dragons .

The announcement of the composition took place on December 9. On the same day, the squad was to play 4 online matches in the framework of the SLTV StarSeries Season VIII , of which NaVi could win 2. According to the results of online qualifications, the team took sixth place in the ladder, and could not reach the LAN finals. However, due to the refusal to participate, LGB and Clan-Mystik , NaVi got a slot, and won second place in their debut lan.

2014

The team for a long time shows an unstable game. The composition was able to get to the EMS One Katowice 2014 major through the CIS qualifications, but the LAN was again failed: NaVi did not leave the group again.

They received their first title only in May at the SLTV StarSeries . With varying success, the team plays online and LAN tournaments, but this does not bring other significant achievements to the organization's piggy bank in the first half of the year.

In August, NaVi re-engage in major (now ESL One Cologne ). They were finally able to leave the group and secure a direct invite to the next tournament. The team progressed very quickly: in October they got their second title, winning the Game Show League , took fourth place in the Electronic Sports World Cup and entered the top 4 in the last major of the year DreamHack Winter 2014 . GuardiaN took eleventh line in the ranking from HLTV.org, becoming the only player from its team to be in the top 20.

2015

The year began again with a major. At ESL One Katowice 2015, NaVi were able to leave the group, but did not develop success, and completed their performance at the tournament in the quarter-final. After that, Sergey “ starix ” Ischuk decided to leave the lineup and became his coach. Ischuk was replaced by Egor Vasiliev, also known as flamie . This substitution had a positive effect on the team's results: in April 2015, NaVi took first place in the big lan in Cologne, and in July became the world champions according to the Electornic Sports World Cup . SLTV StarSeries XIII and the CS: GO Champions League Season 1 online tournament have also been added to the piggy bank. Nevertheless, in the next major, the team again remains at the top 8 level.

The team is plagued by failures: NaVi fail the qualifiers for ESL ESEA Season 1 , finish the Counter Pit tournament in only fourth place, and the organizers of the LAN in Slovenia, in which they take second place, turn out to be scammers. However, in November, in the next major, the team was able to get into the finals for the first time and take second place. They also show great performances at IEM San Jose and ESL ESEA . By the end of the year, NaVi is becoming the world's top 3 according to hltv.org.

Kovacs himself was also noted in high positions in several ratings: HLTV.org put him on the second line in his top, the GosuGamers.net community called him the sniper of the year, and GuardiaN's game against the Titan team was included in the list of the best highlights of the year.

In total, the NaVi team earned over 350 thousand dollars in a year.

As part of FaZe Clan

On August 3, 2017, GuardiaN moved to FaZe Clan, replacing team sniper Alexi “ allu ” Jalli. At the same time, the star was joined by a Swedish star player, multiple world champion - Olof " olofmeister " Kiber , replacing Fabien " kioShiMa " Fie. May 13, 2019 FaZe Clan left Dauren “ AdreN ” Kystaubaev with the consent of both parties. The Polish player Philip “ NEO ” Kubsky joined the team, taking on the role of interim captain and replacing Nicola “ NiKo ” Kovacs.

Personal Achievements

• Nominated for the Heaven Media Awards CounterStrike: Source Player of the Year 2009 by Heaven Media
  • Third place vote Heaven Media Awards CounterStrike: Source Player of the Year 2009
• Tenth line in the ranking of Top 20 players of 2013 according to HLTV.org and esportsventure.com
• Eleventh line in the ranking of Top 20 players of 2014 according to HLTV.org and xtrfy
• Journalist Duncan “ Thorin ” Shields put him in seventh place in his Thorin's TOP 20 CS: GO Players of all-time ranking (2015)
• Third place in the ranking of The 10 best CS: GO players in the world according to PCGAMER (2015)
• Nominated for GosuGamers Awards 2015: Player of the Year by GosuGamers.net
  • Second place at the GosuGamers Awards 2015: Player of the Year by GosuGamers.net
• Nominated for GosuGamers Awards 2015: AWP player of the Year by GosuGamers.net
  • First place at the GosuGamers Awards 2015: AWP player of the Year by GosuGamers.net
• Eighth place in the list of Top 10 Frag Highlights of 2015 according to HLTV.org
• Second place in the Top 20 players of 2015 ranking by HLTV.org and EGB.com
• Nominated for the CS: GO GosuAwards 2016 Award: AWPer of the Year by GosuGamers.net
  • Third place in the CS: GO GosuAwards 2016 poll: AWPer of the Year by GosuGamers.net
• Fourth in the list of Top 10 Highlights of 2016 according to HLTV.org
• The seventeenth line in the ranking of Top 20 players of 2016 according to HLTV.org and EGB.com
• Ninth line in the ranking of Top 20 players of 2017 according to HLTV.org and EGB.com
• Third place on the list of Top 10 Frag Highlights of 2018 according to HLTV.org
• Eleventh line in the Top 20 players of 2018 ranking according to HLTV.org and EGB.com

MVP

• Multiplay Insomnia 36 (2009)
• Lan79 (2009)
• Game Show League (2014)
• ESL Pro League Winter (2015)
• SLTV StarSeries XIII (2015)
• Electronic Sports World Cup (2015)
• Intel Extreme Masters San Jose (2015)
• Counter Pit League Season 2 (2016)
• IEM Sydney 2018 (2018)

Over his career, Ladislav has advocated for:

1.   IQFIGHTERS, 2006, 2007
2.   faberi bellatores, 2007
3.   Corecell, 2008
4.   DEFEATERS, 2008
5.   Slovakia national team, 2008 - present
6.   Reason Gaming, 2008 - 2010
7.   Shockwave, 2009
8.   OX ENERMAX, 2011
9.   Spray !, 2011
10.   BEASTS (also known as SGC .BEASTS), 2011-2012
11.   KrakenRiders, 2012
12.   eternal PlayerZ, 2012
13.   myDGB.net (also known as Damage Gamers Belgrade), 2012 - 2013
14.   3DMAX, 2013
15.   TCM-Gaming, 2013
16.   Virtus.pro , 2013
17.   Generation of Miracles, 2013
18.   eSuba (also known as eSuba.INTEL), 2013
19.   Nostalgie, 2013
20.   TOPTOPTOP, 2013
21.   ANBU, 2013
22.   Natus Vincere, 2013 - 2017
23.   nEophyte, 2015 (stand-in)
24.   FaZe Clan, 2017 - present

GuardiaN is the only professional CS: GO player who has been in the annual top 20 for HLTV.org for 6 years now. The closest competitor for this indicator was the French sniper kennyS , but his series was interrupted in 2018. ^[26]