From CS 1.6 to VALORANT: ANGE1’s Epic Story is Told Across Generations

The discussion regarding the age difference in professional VALORANT goes on, and recently, it was fueled by an interesting post from Rocket. Rocket decided to focus on the generational gap and compared the careers of 35-year-old Kirill “ANGE1” Karasiow from Natus Vincere and 18-year-old up-and-comer hiro. In a tweet that went viral, he pointed out that when ANGE1 played her first offline tournament in 2006, hiro was only 44 days old. Likewise, when FNS started in 2012, Verno, another new talent, was just six years old. The post generated a lot of engagement with almost 10,000 likes and hundreds of comments.

Still, ANGE1 does not pay attention to the noise and is happy about his incredible story. It is important to note that age is something that people do not like to advertise: he asked. I am playing at the Tier 1 level at 35 years old, and that is something I am very proud of. It is not just talent that has kept them at the top for such a long time.

A Legendary Career in Competitive Gaming

Having been in competitive gaming for two decades, ANGE1 is one of the oldest players in the gaming scene. He began his career in 2005 with CS 1.6 and played for legendary teams such as HellRaisers and forZe and participated in more than ten international tournaments. Transitioning to CS:GO in 2012, ANGE1 remained successful for seven years playing for HellRaisers, receiving awards and earning more than $180 thousand in prizes.

In 2020, ANGE1 decided to switch to VALORANT, where he became a team’s leader and showed his potential. He signed for FunPlus Phoenix and contributed to the team’s victory in the VCT 2022 Masters Copenhagen. The following year he joined NAVI and became a key player in the team’s success at events such as VCT 2023 LOCK//IN.