Kévin ‘Ex6TenZ’ Droolans helped define the early metagame of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He is a legend of the game and a tactical genius. Love him or hate him, you have to respect him; however, in recent days he has found himself in a position where his dream of winning a major looks impossible. Today I’ll reflect on his illustrious career, and look forward to where he could be going.

The Source Days

Many people may not know this, but Ex6TenZ was considered by many to be the best Source AWP player of all time. He was not an in-game leader during most of his time in CS:S. He played for VeryGames for the majority of his CS:S career, easily the best Source team of all time, that included Source legends like Richard ‘shox’ Papillon, and Cédric ‘RpK’ Guipouy. This team dominated all of the competition for the major part of Counter-Strike: Source – from 2008-2012 the team amassed a total of 25 finals appearances, with 22 tournament wins. They were a model of consistency and showed why they deserved to be talked about today as the greatest of all time.

A few months after the official release of CS:GO, Source was completely defunded, as most organizers from the scene were more interested in the new game. Source players were forced to adapt to the new game, while most 1.6 players rode the game to its bitter end.

The Rivalry

VeryGames was the second best team in the world for the first year – only Ninjas in Pyjamas was better. Any tournament where the Swedes and the Frenchmen were on opposite sides of the bracket, they met in the final. They surpassed every other team by far. The Ninjas came out victorious nearly every time, until around the time the first CS:GO major rolled around. The Frenchmen would finally surpass their Swedish counterparts to take the number one spot in the world rankings; however, it was not all smooth sailing from there.

The Upset

VeryGames was poised to win Dreamhack Winter 2013. Fnatic awaited them in the final, which would have been an easy win for them. All they had to do was beat their rivals from Sweden one more time. The Ninjas were too much for them, however. VeryGames took their exit in the semifinals, and while Ex6TenZ couldn’t have known it, that would be the closest he would get to winning that elusive major title.

The Titan Era

The organization VeryGames dissolved, and Titan was there to steal the loot. After ESL One Cologne, where Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire and Hovik ‘KQLY’ Tovmassian put on an incredible showing, a French shuffle. Vincent ‘Happy’ Cervantes’ LDLC, who had more success at the major acquired Nathan ‘NBK’ Schmitt, and ‘SmtihZz’ from Titan. They also sniped shox and Fabien ‘kioshima’ Fey, from Epsilon. Titan acquired apEX and KQLY from LDLC. A team that would’ve most likely been the best in France, and possibly even outshone Fnatic during their era. This was cut excruciatingly short by the infamous VAC ban of KQLY.

Titan until about July of 2015 was hovering around the 5-8th spot in the world. On July 15, 2015, apEX and Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schraub, left Titan for Team EnVyUs. This was the start of a slide that would take Ex6TenZ to his lowest point.

The new Titan roster was shox, RpK, Mathieu ‘Maniac’ Quiquerez, Ex6TenZ, and SmithZz. Titan the organization made a massive buyout of Adil ‘ScreaM’ Benrlitom to replace Maniac. This roster was for a long time considered to be the ‘guardian’ of the top 10 in the world rankings. If you could beat Titan, you were most likely a top 10 team.

The G2 Mishap

Gamers2, after selling their old roster to FaZe Clan, picked up the ex-Titan team that was left without an organization after Titan folded for economic reasons. After two months, Ex6TenZ was oddly removed for the up and coming Alexandre ‘bodyy’ Pianaro. It was likely due to inner-team turmoil with shoxie, but there was never any official reason given.

The mastermind was left with a tier three team, in shambles. LDLC lost both of their best players, bodyy and Timothée ‘DEVIL’ Démolon. Ex6TenZ was left out to dry, on a team of lower tier players. Things are on the uptrend; however, as Ex6TenZ just received some help in the form of DEVIL. Who knows, maybe Ex6TenZ will take his revenge one day.

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Featured image via HLTV.org