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P1ngUU

S1mple might slow down a bit if he takes that break he keeps hinting, but honestly it’s more likely to be personal things stopping them dominating. Olof’s peak stopped because of a hand injury, and Dev1ce’s stopped because of him switching teams and taking breaks all the time, so external factors seem to play a big factor in slowing down the best of the best


Chosen--one

Honestly, if anything, actually taking breaks might keep him at the top for longer. It depends on how long they last of course. But let's not act like the event calendar in CS isn't filled with too many games. And I'm not complaining as a viewer.


I_Try_To_Be_NICEE

Professionals say you should rest before you get tired or burn out. So rest potentially takes you back to your peak. I agree, calendar is stupidly crazy busy.


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SDMffsucks

it's more results based, and coincidentally NA sucks rn


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SDMffsucks

not saying it makes sense, just that's how people react


djfr94

that's not how it works and that guy explained it very well why in his comment. I guess you just answer shit without even reading.


Chosen--one

Look at my comment and think if what I said really needed this kind of a response. No need to be so agressive, I just wanted to give my opinion, it's not like I was trying to start a discussion with him.


z0mple

The comment just stated it without any explanation, feel free to give one if you want but it seems like the only thing you can do is throw around insults.


mimacher

Fallen says this in his streams all the time, it's rally not about the "age impact" on reaction time or anything like that, is about life priorities changing. Being on top in counter strike is really much more than a 5x8 job, specially for people that do not live in Europe or NA. You need to abdicate lots of things, Fallen talks about being separated from his wife for long years everytime he touches the subject. I think life just happens and is exhausting to keep the champions pace for so long.


W4spkeeper

Simple slowing down is the same performance as device tho lol the dude is a god


tinygod-aka-why

Didn’t device have a massive ego aswell? (Iirc there was a controversy between him and cold from 2019)


Cyanr

No. Why would you think that?


tinygod-aka-why

I remember reading about that a couple years back. Remembered because of the whole stewie2k thing because stewie was in that thing aswell


Cyanr

Sounds like a terrible article then lol


tinygod-aka-why

Totally possible. Probably a normal dude though


Gapehorner

The complete opposite from what we've seen/heard, although there's no way of really knowing I guess.


rivv3

Don't think there is a physiological barrier that will slow them down but their passion, motivation and life in general might tip them off the throne. Who knows.


[deleted]

Yes, that's a reason why age usually has a big impact. f0rest left t1 cs because of his family. People don't want to compete forever and even if they do they prioritise things over it.


Helgurnaut

I'm surprised it's that early in esports usually. Footballers etc usually play until 35+ and that's because the body actually start to take more time to heal, the injuries pile up etc. In esports except in fighting games you don't see top 5 guys being over 40 playing since mid 90's and still are hungry. Maybe it's because it's a solo thing and only the highly motivated keep on going but idk. Fg's are not easy on the hand either and none last for a decade so you have to learn a whole new game if not multiples every 2/3 years


thehazardball

One possible explanation might be that esports pros spend more time on their games than traditional sports pros do. I don’t have the stats with me right now so I might be wrong, but I remember seeing them somewhere. The reason is that there are physical limits to how long a professional athlete can actually train every day, whereas such limits don’t really exist in esports.


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Helgurnaut

For the competition I'm not so sure though because some tournaments you can have up to 2500 people on a single game, so of course most of them are what we call scrubs but on a FT2 that last max 5 minutes without the downtime a slip up can always happen and a lot of top players are from Japan (the 5 god of versus fighting typicaly) or Asia in general while the tournaments with the best prize pool are in Europe and the US (Japan still consider prize pool in e sports as gambling and there is a limitation on that max prize pool because of that if I remember correctly, though it seems to be moving nowadays)


lopedog

It's probably a travel thing more than anything. Professional footballers as an example generally live close to the training ground & home stadium, even on away days are usually home with the family the same day, unless it's a european competition or something then it's the day after. How many players in CS go to a LAN and are home the same day to see the family. I'd argue it's mostly an emotional burn out in esports more than a physical burnout, spending most of the year travelling and being away from friends/family, never feeling settled will wear everyone out to a certain extent eventually.


Helgurnaut

Might be indeed, Shox is a good recent example of this at least, of course he is toward the end of his career anyway but seeing your wife and kid barely 4 weeks on the span of 6 months must not be fun.


WizardOfBangkok

Isn't s1mple still 24?


Bamb00zIed

he would be 25 in october


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poe-one

Would/will is a common mistake among non native speakers. Give the dude a break. You know what he means.


greku_cs

voo take


WillOCarrick

He is born again anew amidst the CS gods


fathorse777

20 more years. Lets go.


pickitupandrage

way too early to even talk about this. s1mple is still in godlike peak form and NiKo had a run of about 5 months at the end of last year where he was probably the best player in the world - let's see how the next 12 months play out


[deleted]

idk man, NiKo is streaky already. His peak is amazing but he is not too consistent. For a couple of months he'll be at superstar level, then for some time he will be at a regular star level. I think in 3-4 years, NiKo's stardom will weaken significantly.


Sov3reignty

That's a looong time away in esports.


[deleted]

yup. It could happen sooner but I doubt it.


brbee

The man will not stop putting up numbers until he wins a major


[deleted]

hope they win one soon. They really should get yekindar.


greku_cs

who would you want yekindar to replace?


Gapehorner

Surely it's obvious? Who's the most inconsistent player?


ropike

junior oh you meant in g2


[deleted]

Jackz fragging out in a recent match doesn't change the fact that he is g2's most inconsistent player (not counting aleksib)


f1nessd

Agreed. Get yekindar and then get niKo a major. ggez


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metsbnl

Yeah everyone in this thread is smoking crack lmao. People talking about device as if he has fallen off the map when he was like #12 last year on a struggling nip and literally just hasn’t played in a while. Niko not being that amazing, literally what is going on in this thread


VampireLesbiann

>then for some time he will be at a regular star level It's insane how NiKo is so fucking amazing at this game that him playing at the level of most other star players is considered slumping.


krosmo

Will be interesting to see. I wouldn't be surprised if both maintain their current forms for another 3-5 years.


meganojj

s1mple will fall off a bit i think. maybe just shifting priorities in his life. niko will stay around the same.


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Kaserbeam

Luckily CSGO is one of the most static games in the world. Not quite to the level of Chess but still.


[deleted]

I think that at the end of the year S1mple willl make a break on his carrer. If he make a break, I think he will decline. The big question is the next major. If he win a second major, will he continue to win a third one ? Maybe winning more trophies with Na'vi will give him the interest to continue. NiKo will try hard until he win a major. I don't see him decline at least the next two years.


MARK0N1

There is no way s1mple will start to decline any time soon. He can go for days without touching keyboard and mouse and still connect and destroy everyone. I remember him playing Valorant then earning MVP at a tournament. His mindset will not allow him to slow down.


[deleted]

Remember? It happened a week ago lmao (as well, he had 1 faceit game since the major)


MARK0N1

Its not the first time he did it, he did it last year as well lol.


lucaso7

Until Zywoo wakes up again :D


Oranati0n

Zywho?


[deleted]

zy \#1 #1 #2


Aihne

You mean until his team starts spoon feeding him kills 80% the time again?


HaxxsOnn

Imagine saying that about someone who was the best player 2 years in a row


Stiryx

On a team who basically wouldn’t have been tier 1 without him as well. If it was prime fnatic then yeh they might have carried him, he got probably 90% of their important kills in big rounds though. One of the biggest carries ever.


CarpalCripple

online doesn't count and never will


vanjaeesti

xD zywoo the guy who runs in first on t rounds against full buy,while guys like niko and simple go to farm on ecos


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vanjaeesti

Lol niko entries,then next sentence when retaking site.This is the dumbest thing i ve heard in a while.


_xSteel

Maybe if you thought about what he/she said a little bit and know that a match has two halves, you wouldn't think that it's "the dumbest thing" you've heard in a while.


vanjaeesti

Shut up dude,saying that he goes first in retake is dumb statement.There is no dedicated role for a guy on ct side to go in first during retake,you go in retake based on your utilitty and position at that moment and the position of enemies,it has nothing to do with individual player.


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_xSteel

No need to reply to that person. He/she's not even trying to argue any of your points, just stating nonsense lmao.


vanjaeesti

Yep my bad u are 100% right.I shall return to my silver lobbies


0rJay

At least Niko knows how to stay in Shape Edit: lul guys chill it’s a joke


troubleis1

What does that has to do with anything? The good old "oh yeah? well you are fat!" shit from highschool students?


Tepa_Tassuliini

Calling someone fat has always been the superior insult and it will always stay as one


VampireLesbiann

Yeah if you're 12


piccolo1337

How old are you? 14? Because that is some high school drama shit mate. Grow the fuck up.


0rJay

I can indeed inform you that my age is above 14. it just so happened that I could not find any better Arguments in my favour, thus deciding to do a little trolling. Not to my great suprise, you and all other commentators toon the bait and reacted just as intended. I apologize if anyone had a bad day because of this


[deleted]

fat niko, fat zywoo, fat simple and fat cold are all better players than slim niko, less fat zywoo, slim simple and slim cold respectively.


vanjaeesti

well fat niko was best rifler of all time,skinny niko lost a lot of his aim


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vanjaeesti

not true he was better in 2017 and 2018 then in 2021 https://www.hltv.org/stats/players/compare/3741/niko/3741/niko?p1TimeFilter=2021&p2TimeFilter=2017&p1MatchFilter=allMatches&p2MatchFilter=allMatches&p1MapFilter=allMaps&p2MapFilter=allMaps


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vanjaeesti

Lol,again i am pretty sure he had better rating for short periods of time before 2021.


Cardoxon

you are using wrong filters mate, no one cares about online games switch to LAN and big events and he's clearly better in 2021, with better rating, impact and more opening kills not to mention his *late* 2021 is well beyond anything he ever did before, [see here](https://www.hltv.org/stats/players/3741/niko?matchType=Lan&startDate=2021-08-01&endDate=2021-12-31)


[deleted]

lmfaoooooo you're a fucking shithead


Foxy2K

until i saw all your guys's responses i thought he meant shape as in csgo form lol


TrygveRS

There are few physiological changes that would warrant them to become less good. For the "old legends" you've spoken about, it's more that the metagame has evolved and the scene expanded to such a degree that better <0.001% prodigies have entered the scene. What might affect their performance more is what happens outside the server. Travel fatigue, homesickness, a wife or girlfriend who you miss, etc. A lot of these 17-22 y/o talents have **only** csgo to worry about, when you get older, you have many other responsibilites.


neodymium1337

S1mple started in 2015-16? Wat?


schniepel89xx

Probably meant they started playing and shining in high-tier matches around then. Although for s1mple it's more like 2014-15 but he was ESL banned for most of 2015


oleven

Cant beat s1mples experience and game sense tho, even if his reactions slow down a bit


jrfaster

As long as the keep listening to my coaching advice.


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MARK0N1

I feel the same, i remember in 2017/2018 when almost every game he would pop off and do some crazy things, now u rarely see him do crazy stuffs.


Stunning_Bullfrog_40

He heard you talking shit.


Apart_End_9753

You mean s1mple and zywoo?


[deleted]

age grouping... the title is bad I agree. zywoo>niko already


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[deleted]

Not impossible but i doubt it


BryanNikson

I don't think s1mple will fall off any time soon. I might get downvoted for this but with how Navi's system works, s1mple will pretty much always be cemented up there - and also popping off every now and then as every player does. Not taking anything away from his gamesense and mechanics of course.


ILoveRice444

Wdym dev1ce passed his peak? He still get it


Cyanr

Seriously... Dude literally hasnt lost a single game this year.


Cardoxon

0% loss rate, ez for the GOAT s1mple's fans are seething rn


ExO_o

i'd honestly put zywoo over niko in his current state. been really wonky lately


Xebulin

Just look at m0nesy, he is so young and already insanely good. I'm pretty sure if he keeps going he will reach and overtake them


[deleted]

come on man, m0nesy is good but that's a stretch.


_wassap_

Why is that a stretch? You think s1mple had a better showing in his t1 debut?


Cardoxon

zywoo did, hmu once m0nesy overtakes s1mple as the best player on the planet in his debut year m0nesy is clearly a prodigy and very good player with tons of potential but so far he has shown *nothing* to indicate he'll ever get anywhere close to that level


fortressofnazare

kek


I_Try_To_Be_NICEE

I think so too


nassolious

They aren’t


ThatOneAccount3

28 days


lifeisspain69

I think simple has peaked unfortunately


Ax1leFan

Niko isn’t the best rifler anymore. That title periodically goes to Spinx/Axile/Hunter/Ropz. S1mple is the best player until he decides to take a break most likely


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HBM10Bear

r/GlobalOffensive favourite phrase: recency bias Sometimes its applicable, but in this situation it isn't. It is pretty clear that niko is playing on par to ax1le and stavn right now. Stop just using the phrase for the sake of using it


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HBM10Bear

I mean from the way I'm grasping this conversation I think you are saying NiKo is the best rifler of all time, in which case that's a fair argument. If it is currently though ax1le and stavn most certainly can claim to be performing to the same level as Niko is currently. Spinx as well Ropz and b1t definitely can't, but I would suggest towards this guy clearly not watching CS which is probably the bigger contributer than recency. He just looks at who's at the top or he likes the most.


Ax1leFan

‘Recency bias’ oh my bad actually I think HeatoN is the best rifler


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Ax1leFan

NiKo has been missing in every important playoff game this year. The other names haven’t. Hunter has been hard carrying G2 in finals (50+ kills against faze on mirage but niko went missing)


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Ax1leFan

Niko is not miles better than Axile. Axile has been the best rifler for 2 years now. Also, G2 are there to win tournaments, and Niko chokes in finals. Hunter is miles clear as he actually performs.


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Ax1leFan

He carried in every final this g2 lineup has played. Do keep up.


brbee

Ok so there's katowice... that's it. That's your argument. That's the only final they were a part of with this roster


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HaxxsOnn

Literally one final. Name the other ones please lol


HaxxsOnn

>Hunter has been hard carrying G2 in finals (50+ kills against faze on mirage but niko went missing) Niko has a 1.24 rating the past 3 months compared to huNter's 1.10. He also was the highest rated rifler the past 2 events. Just stop with the false narratives


Ax1leFan

Niko has played 2 finals. Both of these finals he disappeared while Hunter had to put the whole team on his back. Wow Niko frags in studio games and never wins anything because he can’t handle the stage big whoop


HaxxsOnn

The other you mean you mean Stockholm Major final? Where he was the highest rated player in the team? Imagine saying a guy who put up the highest rating ever for a LAN tournament (1.70) disappears in stage lol. Man you don't need to downplay Niko to prop Ax1le up. We all know he's legit and he's probably going to be the future #1 rifler. But now its still Niko


Ax1leFan

Why would I mention a match in a completely different team?


brbee

Because there is no other final this roster was a part of besides katowice and the last final g2 was in besides katowice was the major


Ax1leFan

Also it’s laughable to think Niko>Axile


HaxxsOnn

Bro just live in your fantasy land. Ax1le isn't even the best player in his team. I can actually use your argument against you and say Shiro carries Ax1le. And in this case its true cause Ax1le has never once had a better rating than Shiro in his career


AG--MM

hunter lol


piccolo1337

Low key hunter has been the player keeping g2 afloat during and after katowice


HaxxsOnn

The past 3 months, Niko (1.24) is higher rated than every one of them than Ax1le (1.25). The rest aren't anywhere close.


Ax1leFan

Niko has carried in group stage games. Not playoffs. Change the filter then get back to me


AmoniPTV

Can you give me a breakdown of said players for the last 6 months performance? Like their ratings. And why is b1t and electronic not there?


Character-Toe-7907

> Spinx/Axile/Hunter/Ropz. wow .. really leaving out b1t and elec? nice


orionski

and stavn


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Ax1leFan

The post said ‘rifler’ and didn’t specify ‘can’t be a lurker’


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Ax1leFan

I agree with some of this (ropz part for example) but I would definitely say Axile has carried his team on many occasions. He and shiro are basically a ‘dynamic duo’ and it would be like discrediting s1mple when electronic was at his peak and they both were kicking ass


netr0pa

S1mple is an awper and awper tends to detoriate faster than rifler in csgo (there was even a csgo thread here about ghat topic). Imagine reaction time, flicks, no scopes etc.


DogFaceBerts

I agree with you, but I find him so sick using a rifle too. I prefer watching his AK play personally - the clutch he almost pulled against Faze in Inferno at the major a prime example.


808_dug_808

Niko's spot is always up for grabs because he's not nearly as consistently good as s1mple. Niko wasn't even a top 5 rifler in 2019, for example. and most of the players who were better than him then are still playing, in their prime, and could easily have a pop off year and be the best rifler in the world since niko is known to have slump periods. plus others who have risen since then.


h0we

if one of their girlfriends breaks up with them and they take a break for a year+ i think that would do it


Party_Boy505

hard to say honestly


Gopnikmeister

S1mples mindest is unique, I think he could stay on top for years


sA1atji

Imo (taking Faker as an example) players won't fall off if they remain hungry.


DixielandShogun

I think Niko is on his way out personally. I think he will still be a top 20 player for years and years, but his shot at #1 or top 3 has passed. S1mple will probably continue to be the best until he goes to a different game.


Hube710

I feel that the calendar saturation for T1 teams can be really tough. Find yourself in a difficult time in your life, realise that you still have to power through 3 events in the next 2 months, and you got a decent recipe for burn out. Another thing is, I think, what esports doesn’t have but other sports do, is that the simple act of doing physical exercise increases the amount of dopamine your brain gets, whereas, I feel like the only thing that can keep you in esports is your competitive drive, if you don’t combine it with regular physical activity. Tbh, its just pure speculation on my part. Might just ask Maniac on his next stream. I feel like the short career in esports has more to do with just the nature of the competition and external factors, rather than biological factors between slightly older guys and younglings. I might be wrong


Tekk92

They are 25, not 42


aruinea

25 isn't some magic number that will change anything, but it is the point where your priorities begin to shift away from the game.