ptkovsky
Sometimes, one of the best players in the history of Counter-Strike have a tendency to make a comeback, at least once in a while. And just recently, another notable case presented itself, as one of the strongest team currently standing in the list of top Danish CS: GO teams, know as Heroic, recently made an important announcement through their official Twitter account:
Welcome to the Heroic family @Xizt!
Xizt will join us as an analyst and step in as coach for the Major. We are excited to have a true CS legend onboard! We are certain he will help us elevate our team to new heights in 2021.
We are honored to have you as a part of our team? pic.twitter.com/QNc8vozIG3
— HEROIC (@heroicgg) October 20, 2021
The Danish CS team’s announcement states that the former professional Swedish CS 1.6 and CS: GO player Richard “Xizt” Landstrom joined the likes of the Heroic esports organization as an analyst for their CS: GO team.
It is additionally said that the legendary Swedish rifler and in-game leader, who throughout his professional player career was famously competing for various prominent Counter-Strike teams, such as Begrip, H2k Gaming, Norway‘s LIONS, Ninjas in Pyjamas, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, and Dignitas, is also set to take on the coaching role in the Danish CS team.
Xizt’s legacy and the Major win
There is no coincidence that the Heroic organization picked up the famous Swede for this important role on the team, as Landstrom is an old-school Counter-Strike player who started his esports career in 2009. He then transitioned from CS 1.6 to CS: GO in 2012. Xizt managed to earn more than $550,000 of total prize money during his professional player career.
One of Xizt’s biggest and most notable wins on the entire professional CS: GO landscape was most definitely reaching the top of the standings of one of Valve’s first major CS tournaments — the $250,000 ESL One: Cologne 2014 LAN championship, which took place in August 2014 in Germany.
During the ESL One series Cologne 2014 tournament, Xizt’s NiP team was able to place second in group A of the event, and then in the playoffs they managed to beat strong opponents like Cloud9, Team LDLC, and also win the classic Swedish CS: GO teams‘ derby against the opposing Fnatic squad — the Ninjas in Pyjamas vs Fnatic finals of the event. All of the playoff matches in that year’s Cologne event finished for the NiP team with exact same 1:2 score in the Bo3 series.
One of the other Xizt’s biggest professional achievements was winning the StarLadder i-League series event in 2016. Xizt’s Ninjas in Pyjamas squad managed to place first at the StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 2, which was held in September 2016.
The Swedish CS: GO roster won the final match with the 2:0 score against the opposing G2 Esports organization from France, grabbing $130,000 for their first place finish at the Ukrainian StarSeries event, which was held in the National Palace of Arts “Ukraina” in Kyiv.
Speaking of the other Xizt’s achievements, the famous Swede also came first at the Intel Extreme Masters XII — Oakland championship in November 2017, where his NiP squad was able to beat the European CS: GO roster of FaZe Clan in the final match of the North American IEM series tournament with the close 3:2 score throughout a full Bo5 series.
One of the Swede’s most recent big offline events was the StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 7 competition, which was played out in April 2019, and where Xizt’s Fnatic roster lost the final match in front of the audience of the Baoshan Sports Center in Shanghai, China.
The final Fnatic’s match in the Natus Vincere vs Fnatic matchup ended with the 0:3 score against the likes of the Ukrainian Na’Vi squad. The British-Swedish multigaming esports organization earned $80,000 for placing second right after the best CIS CS:GO team in the Chinese LAN tournament.
Xizt became inactive in Dignitas roster around the end of 2020, when he stopped playing official matches and competing for one of the oldest US esports organizations on par with his fellow teammate — Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund.
Landstrom then was loaned and acted as a stand-in for the North American CS: GO roster of the Gen.G Esports organization, specifically, during the Flashpoint Season 2 $1,000,000 tournament in November 2020, a part of Flashpoint championship series which was organized by FACEIT league.
In September 2021 another news came in that the famous 30-year-old Swede announced his complete retirement from professional CS: GO as a player, additionally stating about his future plans for a comeback to the competition in another role.
The Swedish Major
It is now reported that Xizt will supposedly fill the coaching shoes for the controversial Danish CS team Heroic, which recently got sponsored by Red Bull, at least for the biggest upcoming Counter-Strike tournament — the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 championship.
As the most recent Swedish CS: GO tournament which will be the first Valve’s major event happening on the competitive CS: GO scene since the StarLadder Berlin Major in August-September 2019, the PGL Major event is set to take place from October 26 till November 7.
The very much anticipated international championship will most certainly host a lot of highest level CS: GO matches. The games of the New Champions Stage of the now reportedly already $2,000,000 total prize pool event, organized by PGL and featuring 24 best CS: GO teams from around the globe, will be held offline on the Avicii Arena venue.
Another star comeback
Speaking of the recent famous Counter-Strike player comebacks, we also previously wrote about the comeback of one of the other iconic CS 1.6 players — Martin Alexander Bang Heldt, who is better known to the Valve’s competitive FPS community under the nickname trace.
The legendary 31-year-old Danish player who previously represented various esports organizations such as Spirit of Amiga, mTw, SK Gaming, and Fnatic, recently became the head coach one of the best up-and-coming Danish CS: GO teams in the EU region — Lyngby Vikings
trace’s new CS: GO team already managed to win one of the most recent Eden Esports series events — the Malta Vibes Knockout #3, the series of tournaments that we covered in one of our earlier and detailed articles.
The Danish Vikings took down team 1WIN from Russia with the 1:2 score in the Lyngby Vikings vs 1WIN final match of the Malta Knockout 3 event and brought home $24,000 of prize money.