Pakistan CS:GO community has grown a lot in recent years. Even though we started slow and steady when the whole world migrated to the new version of the game, we will be the difference maker in near future.
Not only the professional players and teams, the community also supports and accepts the change. I have been focusing on covering the Counter Strike side of the Esports industry in Pakistan for two weeks now. The support and viewership from the Pakistani people and their interest in knowing the players have been amicable. This is my third part of the set, where I will be covering the individual talents, furthermore their achievements.
Two more stories are drafted prior to this. Should you wish to read them they are published here:
Top Pakistani individual talents
Syed ‘HARMZ’ Arsalan
HARMZ is one of the most highlighted players in Pakistan. He started his CS journey with Counter-Strike 1.6 on LAN only in early 2006 and started playing online in 2010 till 2012. He then switched to CS: GO with Team beastly, played 4 months then the team got disbanded. He went to play a tournament in Karachi for 1.6. His friend invited him to play CS: GO as well. He beat Pakistan’s best team on LAN at that time (Amigos), they used to call him a hacker before that so he proved himself and since then all of Pakistan knows him. After the event, they invited him to play for their team.
They offered him sponsorship so he and his brother (MEETYOURMAKERS) joined them in 2013, they won 3 tournaments with that team on LAN in Karachi. In 2015 he got a better offer from team VG. He played in team VG for 2 months then the team got disbanded because of sponsorship issues. He then got an even better offer from Team Game4Glory, from then till now he is in G4G.
HARMZ was asked what CS: GO meant to him and if he thought it was considered an eSport in Pakistan. He answered: “Obviously, this game is considered everywhere in the world, then why not Pakistan? It’s been my passion since the start, I am very much motivated and focused, but the current situation in Pakistan is very disappointing.”
Achievements In CS: GO
Champion at Backlist Random Players Tournament 2012
Champion at KGA CSGO Tournament 2013
Champion at Cafe Amigos CS: GO Tournament 2013
Champion at Cafe Amigos CS: GO Summer Tournament 2014
Champion at CSGO Randoms Tournament 2015
Champion at PTCL PGL KickOff Tournament 2015
Champion at Gama Gaming League 2015
Champion at CSGO Challenger Series 2016 by ESEM
Champion at Pak eSports Expo Lahore 2016
Champion at PTCL PGL Ramadan Tournament 2016
Runner-up at Imposters Tournament Organized by Mani 2015
Runner-up at CSGO Knockout Tournament 2015
Runner-up at Cafe AmiGos All-Star Tournament 2016
DreamHack Cluj-Napoca Asian Pre-Qualifiers placed 16-32/128
DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016 Asia Open Qualifier 16-32/128
PGL Kespa Asia Minor Qualifier 16-32/128
IEM Taipei Other West Asia Open Qualifier 3rd/4th
Runner-up WESG South Asia 2016
Anas ‘traNz’ Ayub
Started CS:GO in late 2012, traNz is one of the best aimers in SEA region. He joined Intex Gaming Revolution as an Entry Fragger. He is still playing in Intex for 2 years now. traNz was born on 31st July 1997 and is a player from Karachi.
Achievements:
Winners of IBA PROBATTLE 2016 all-star tournament
Winners of FAST Procom 2016 tournament
Winners of Cafe Amigos all-star LAN Tournament 16
Winners of G6 Gaming zone all-star tournament 2015
Finalist of GHQ summer Rage Lan tournament 2015
Finalist of CS: GO random tournament by G4G 2015
Semi-finalist in Cafe Amigos EID all-star Tournament 2014
Semi-finalist of G6-CSGO Rush Tournament 2014
Babar ‘KRNEL’ Mairaj
Started CS: GO in 2014, Babar is one of the best heavy fraggers in Pakistan. He first joined G4G as a support player and played in the team for 4 months. He later joined SNF as an Entry Fragger and played in the team for 2 months then went back to G4G. Babar was born on 9th September 1998 and is a player from Karachi.
Achievements:
Quarter finalist in PTCL Ramadan tournament 2016
National 2v2 tournament finalist
Skill group: The Global Elite
Abdul ‘HSB’ Haseeb
Started CS: GO in January 2015, HSB is also one of the best heavy fraggers in the country. He first joined Team Superheroes and then later joined Intex. HSB has been playing in intex from 2015 continued. He has multiple roles: IGL, Lurker and Secondary sniper. HSB was born on 17th October, 2000. He is one of the youngest semi-professional players.
Achievements:
Winner of Amigos LAN Tournament’16
Winner of Procom 2016 Virtual Warfare GFK Lan Tournament.
Winner of IBA’ Probattle 2016 Lan Tournament.
Winner of CyberAge’16 Online Tournament.
Winner of First Dodear CSGO Tournament’16
1-10th Place of PGL PTCL 1v1 Tournament’16
Finalist of CSGO Challenger Series by ESEM
Finalist of Gama Gaming League Online Tournament Fall’15
Quarter-Finalist of G6 Reloaded Summer Tournament’16
Quarter-Finalist of PGL Ramadan Tournament.
Skill group: The Global Elite
Syed ‘Naughtyyy’ Roohan
Naughtyyy started CS: GO in late 2014, and has prior experience from his years in the CS1.6 community. Having been in the Pakistani gaming scene for quite some time, Naughtyyy is one of the older, more experienced and competent players of the rising CS: GO community in Pakistan. He started his journey in CS: GO with his team ‘eQuilibrium’ then moved to ‘Slay N’ Flay’ where he further honed his skill as an IGL. He has shown exceptional command for leadership in-game and has the ability to multi-task as a primary awper and an IGL. He’s known for his clever game sense and deadly sniping and is always a force to be reckoned with in the cyber battlefield. He has been playing for Elusive.Pk for 9 months and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Achievements:
3-4th @ Apbox CSGO Tournament by Telenor 2016 (LAN)
2nd @ Pak eSports Expo CSGO 2016 (LAN)
2nd @ Gooline Gaming festival 2016 (LAN)
2nd @ Electronic Sports Festival (ESF) 2016 (LAN)
Semi-Finalist at GamaGaming 15.0 CS:GO Tournament (Team Slay N’ Flay)
3rd-4th – PTCL CSGO Ramadan Tournament 2016 ( Team Slay N’ Flay )
Zeeshan “Zeeky” Ali Khan
Zeeshan started playing Counter-Strike in 2008 and is now a veteran in the gaming community. At only 22 years of age, his years of experience have led him to be the caller for arguably the best team in the country as of now. He started off as a support player in Game4Glory under the In-game leadership of $Bills$, then took over as an IGL. He now plays as an assaulter and IGL in the Game4Glory. Even with many lineup changes, Game4Glory has managed to keep up its high standard of sportsmanship and aptitude in videogame proficiency under his leadership.
Achievements:
Finalist of APAC WESG South Asian Qualifier ’16 by Alibaba
Winner of Appbox Gaming GALA 2016 (Team Game4Glory)
Winner of PGL Ramadan Tournament 2016[Team G4G]
Winner of Pak eSports Expo Lahore [Team Game4glory]
Winner of Nust Olympaid 2016
Winner of Nascon 2016
Winne of CSGO Challenger Series by ESEM [Team Game4Glory]
Winner of ESF Islamabad [Team Game4Glory]
Winner of GamaLeague’15 [Team Visionary]
Winner of Lahore Gaming Championship by Cybnetic[Team G4G]
Runner-up of Gaming Arcade by Team Impost0rs[Team G4G]
Winner of PTCL PGL eSports Kickoff Tournament 2015[Team G4G]
Winner of CSGORandoms Summer Tournament 2015[Team G4G]
Winner of CS: GO Knockout Tournament 2015 hosted by A&T Events (Team G4G)
Fast CS: GO Tournament (2nd Place) (Thrown into Lower Bracket by hacker) (Team INF)
Edward College CS: GO tournament (2nd) (Because Of Hacker) (Team INF)
ESWC Regional Qualifier (top 4) (Team INF)
DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016 Asia Open Qualifier 16-32/128 (Team Game4Glory)
DreamHack Cluj-Napoca Asian Pre-Qualifiers placed 16-32/128 (Team Game4Glory)
IEM Taipei Other West Asia Open Qualifier 3rd/4th (Team Game4Glory)
Zaki “KLnT” Nasir
KLnT started playing Counter-Strike in 2009, with his team StarZ in CS1.6. He switched over to CS: GO in late 2014 and played with team Game4Glory where he quickly became arguably the most competent awper in the country. His gameplay speaks for itself and he has little competition in the region. He plays as a dedicated sniper in Game4Glory as of now, and will continue to do so in the near-future.
Achievements:
Finalist of APAC WESG South Asian Qualifier ’16 by Alibaba
Winners of Appbox Gaming Gala ’16 by Gooline GZ Lhr.
Winners of CSGO Ramadan Tournament ’16 hosted by PGL
Winners of Pak E-Sports Expo ’16 at Gooline GZ Lhr.
Winners of NUST Olympiad ’16
Winners of AirNexus ’16
Winners of NaSCon ’16
Ranked 16th-32nd in DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016 Asian Qualifier
Winners of CSGO Challenger Series by ESEM
Winners of ESF Islamabad
Winner of PGL Solo 1v1 Competition by PTCL
Ranked 16th-32nd in DreamHack Cluj-Napoca Asian Pre-Qualifier
Winners of CS: GO Gama Gaming League Fall
Winners of NaSCon ’15 [CS 1.6]
Winners of CS: GO Lahore Championship hosted by Cybnetic
Winners of CS: GO Knockout Tournament hosted by A&T Events
Winners of CS: GO Randoms Summer Tournament
Winners of PTCL PGL eSports Kickoff Tournament
Finalists of eSports Gaming League by Team Impost0rs
Underdogs:
Noor “DES1RE” Hassan
Formerly known as FYNATION, DES1RE made the switch from the older generation of counter-strike games to CS: GO in 2015. He quickly made a name for himself with his team Slay N’ Flay which used to be quite a dominant team in the scene, but has recently gone inactive. DES1RE is a noteworthy mention as he has showcased impressive individual plays and his LAN performances against notable teams such as Elusive.Pk and Game4Glory have been nothing short of excellent. He plays as an assaulter and usually plays the roles of an IGL, Trade fragger and secondary sniper.
Achievements:
1st at Gaming Arcade CSGO 2015 (Team SlayNFlay)
1st at Gooline Gaming Zone CSGO Championship LAN 2016 (Team 46&2)
2nd at Telenor AppBox Gala @ Gooline – LAN 2016 (Team YOLO)
2nd at PTCL PGL 1vs1 @ Mall of Lahore (Solo)
2nd at CSGO Randoms CSGO Tournament 2015 (Team SlayNFlay)
2nd at PTCL PGL Kickoff CSGO Tournament 2015 (Team SlayNFlay)
2nd at Lahore CSGO Championship LAN hosted by Cybnetic 2015 (Team SlayNFlay)
3rd at Electronic Sports Infinity Islamabad ‘ESF’ CSGO LAN 2016 (Team Desire)
3rd-4th at GamaGaming 15.0 CSGO Tournament 2015 (Team SlayNFlay)
3rd-4th at PTCL CSGO Ramadan Tournament 2016 (Team SlayNFlay)
Faiq “Epic” Asim
Epic is one of the more experienced players from the 1.6 era in Pakistan, however, he switched to CS: GO much later after his peers, which has led to some of his delayed competition. Asim still managed to quickly learn and adapt to high-level play which has led to impressive performances on LAN even against teams as good as Game4Glory. He is currently playing for Slay N’ Flay as a dedicated sniper.
Achievements:
Finalist of cybnetic tournament (Team SlayNFlay)
Runners Up of Telenor AppBox Gala @ Goolines – LAN 2016 (Team Slay N Flay)
Semifinalist of ESF islamabad (Team SlayNFlay)
Winners of Barsalego at Fast University (Faisalabad) 2015
In most of my coverage all across different segments, I have managed to derive it from the research that all we lack is regulations, events, and sponsors’ trust. I don’t blame companies for not being a part of the sponsorship line but things have just started to fall in place and expecting companies to pour in hundred thousand should be very eccentric.
The state and industry are still an ambitious dream for Pakistan and elsewhere. We are yet to be identified professionals in the diligence of digital gaming. I’ll be starting to cover the gaming events as they go!
