GuardiaN reveals why he retired from CS2 esports
Image credit: BC.Game Esports Counter-Strike 2 veteran Ladislav ‘GuardiaN‘ Kovács announced he is officially retiring from pro play at the age of 33. GuardiaN is regarded as one of the all-time greats in the CS scene, boasting a career spanning over two decades of professional play and coaching. But leaving CS2 esports was not a … Continued The post GuardiaN reveals why he retired from CS2 esports appeared first on Esports Insider.
Counter-Strike 2 veteran Ladislav ‘GuardiaN‘ Kovács announced he is officially retiring from pro play at the age of 33.
GuardiaN is regarded as one of the all-time greats in the CS scene, boasting a career spanning over two decades of professional play and coaching. But leaving CS2 esports was not a hard decision for him.
2025 has seen several high-profile esports personalities stepping back from the CS2 scene, with teams such as Cloud 9 and Endpoint pausing activities related to the game.
GuardiaN Shares Reason For Esports Retirement
On March 4, 2025, GuardiaN shared online that he would no longer pursue CS2 as an esports professional to the surprise of many long-time fans.
In an interview with BC.GameEsports, he explained his reasoning behind his retirement.
He said: “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.”
GuardiaN Leaves CS Esports After Two Decades
GuardiaN first began his venture into esports back in 2006, earning over $800,000 in prize money throughout his entire career.
In 2012, he had brief stints with Virtus.pro, which recently entered the Marvel Rivals esports scene. From there, his aptitude for using the in-game AWP sniper rifle became more well known, and his popularity skyrocketed.
He joined the Ukrainian esports team, Natus Vincere (NAVI) in 2013 and established himself as one of the best AWPers in the world. He contributed towards NAVI reaching multiple Major finals and helped them win S-tier events like ESL One New York 2016.
GuardiaN was even part of FaZe Clan between 2017 to 2019, reaching the grand finals of ELEAGUE Boston 2018. This was the closest he came to winning a Major trophy.
Many may recall his iconic one-versus-five showdown against Fnatic at IEM Katowice 2018, one of his favourite plays that helped cement his legacy as one of the game’s greatest snipers.
However, recent years have seen his activity come to an abrupt halt. Despite returning to NAVI, he was eventually benched as the organisation introduced a revamped team.
He then joined BC.Game in June last year as a CS2 coach, and saw brief action as the team’s designated AWPer in November. However, in January, 2025, the organisation announced that he too would be benched.
Altogether, GuardiaN has appeared in 14 majors, won 12 S-tier LAN titles, and has been awarded eight MVP’s.
GuardiaN Considering Streaming After Retirement
There are plenty of top CS2 players to watch out for in 2025, but GuardiaN will no longer be one of them — at least for the esports side of things.
What lies in store for the now-retired CS2 pro remains uncertain, but he has expressed interest in pursuing streaming and content creation.
He said: “I’m not the youngest anymore. It was time to focus on something else in life. Some streaming, or some business. I still love CS, I’m happy to do that.”
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