Ognian Gueorguiev

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Ognian "steel" Gueorguiev is a retired electronic sports player who famously competed in Counter-Strike for Team 3D from 2002 to 2005. He is also famous for winning the Cyberathlete Professional League's Winter event in 2002 and a gold medal at the first World Cyber Games in 2001, making him the first Counter-Strike player to hold titles with both organizations.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Teams

Gueorguiev began competing in Counter-Strike (CS) from around the age of 15 when he would attend Local Area Network (LAN) parties in his home province of Quebec. The first notable team he played for was xeno, Canada's best at the time. He joined 'Legends never Die' (LnD) with xeno team-mate Harlem "reek" Ahua to attend the Canadian qualifier for the first World Cyber Games. Shortly after their victory at the Korean finals of the event the team disbanded and Gueorguiev had a short spell in 'Domain of Pain' (DoP) with reek.

It wasn't long before Gueorguiev was picked up by the 'Gamers-X' (GX) team who thanks to sponsorship from a LAN center in the California area could cover his travel expenses to the CPL's Summer event in 2002. An impressive showing at the event, lifting his underdog team, caught the attention of Team 3D and he was invited to join them, an invitation he accepted. Following the team's victory at the CPL's Winter event in December of 2002 they picked up sponsorship from nVidia and CompUSA to become the first fully salaried professional Counter-Strike team in North America.[1] Gueorguiev remained a member of the team until early 2005 when he retired[2] to focus on his studies in the field of photography.

[edit] Accomplishments

[edit] World Championships

Placing Event Year Team Winnings
1st Flag of South Korea WCG 2001 LnD $40,000 + Gold medal
1st Flag of the United States CPL Winter 2002 3D $30,000

[edit] Other

Placing Event Year Team Winnings
1st Flag of Canada Polybash CPL qualifier 2001 xeno $2,500
1st Flag of Canada WCG qualifier 2001 LnD Tickets to the finals in Korea
1st Flag of Canada Dreamcité CPL qualifier 2002 mix $1,000
7th Flag of the United States CPL Summer 2002 GX $4,000
9th Flag of South Korea WCG 2002 LnD -
3rd Flag of South Korea WCG Continent vs. Continent 2002 America Bronze medal
2nd Flag of the United States KillerLAN 2003 3D $1,500
3rd Flag of the United States CPL Summer 2003 3D $28,000
13th Flag of the United States CPL Winter 2003 3D $1,000
13th Flag of the United States CPL Summer 2004 3D $1,000
8th Flag of the United States CPL Winter 2004 3D $2,000

[edit] Total

  • Over $115,000 in prize winnings
  • 2 time WCG medalist (1 gold, 1 bronze)
  • First CS player to win a CPL championship and a WCG gold medal

[edit] Business ventures

[edit] ESEA

During his active playing career Gueorguiev was an instructor with the E-Sports Entertainment Association (ESEA) and he remains a part of their operations with his post-playing career activities as a writer producing articles.

[edit] TAO-CS

Gueorguiev is co-author of a competitive guide to Counter-Strike titled 'The Art Of Counter-Strike' (TAO-CS) along with ex-team-mate Ronald "Rambo" Kim and electronic sports journalist Duncan "Thorin" Shields. The guide, which is sold digitally as an ebook, contains over 200 pages and 50 minutes of video footage.[3]

[edit] References and footnotes

  1. ^ Trevor Schmidt, "Team3D adds sponsors, CompUSA & NVIDIA", GotFrag eSports, 07 March 2003.
  2. ^ Stuart Brooks, "3D triple threat, two in while one retires", GotFrag eSports, 04 February 2005.
  3. ^ "[1]", TAO-CS