The old gods of CSGO have been around nearly as long as the "real" ones, but it seems like 2019 is the year we finally start to bid farewell to some of the names that defined the early years the game, and the games in the series before that. We know already that Na’Vi’s in-game leader Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko plans to leave the scene before 2020, and now another god of the game is also on his final lap.

The tweet above focuses on another player to leave NiP, and his replacement, but below the section about Plopski becoming a Ninja there is a paragraph that will break a lot of Swedish hearts, even if it’s probably a move that needed to be made. After more than a decade of CS, and seven years as a NIP player, Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund is on his way out of the team.

Furthermore, we have started talks with Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund regarding his future as an active CS:GO player. Together with him and the team, we have decided that he will continue competing with us until after the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, as we start looking for a suitable long-term replacement to take his place on the active roster. Christopher is one of the legends of Counter-Strike and a vital part of NiP. We will take our time on this change to ensure we find the best replacement for him and the team, with the goal of transitioning Christopher to a different role within NiP.

A proper legend

GeT_RiGhT currently plays for Ninjas in Pyjamas, and has done since he joined the organisation back in 2012. His career in Counter-Strike actually began 12 years ago with Begrip Gaming, but it was CSGO that really propelled him into the public consciousness, as the early days of the game saw NiP sweep all before them, winning 87 consecutive maps. At the heart of their strength was GeT_RiGhT himself, and his frankly insane statistical performance.

Before we go a word further, there is a small note from this, and no doubt many other CSGO writers. For all his greatness, GeT_RiGhT could have become Get Right, or even GTR, as we’re going to refer to him from now on. His upper/lowercase name almost seems too typically ‘gamer’ to be real, like a comedy stereotype, but then you realise he’s been around over a decade, and that all jokes start somewhere.

Back to the player, and the numbers we mentioned before our little rant about player names. This is CSGO, which means the current gold standard is young s1mple, the greatest player of the modern era, and probably the most talented of all time. To make sure the bar can’t get any higher, we’re going to use his as-yet-incomplete 2019 stats as a comparison, where he has a 1.52 k/d ratio, and a 1.36 rating overall on HLTV.

By comparison, GTR in 2012 was even more dominant, with a 1.82 k/d and a 44% headshot ratio. His 1.0 rating was 1.47, and his assists, deaths per round and kills per round all outstripped s1mple’s 2019, which as we’ve already said is the best on the Ukrainian’s record. Those numbers achieved in the early days are crazy, although we should also add some context around them.

If you wanna be a record breaker...

One of the defining factors in GTR’s career is his dedication to doing things the right way. His practise regime in the early days was far ahead of the curve, and even in 2019 he’s known for putting a lot of time into CSGO, which makes his decline that much harder to watch. In a world where people were still working out how to be a professional, he dedicated himself to being the best, and his reward was, well, being the best.

As people caught up, his ability to change games diminished, but when the magic struck for NIP it was invariably the f0rest and GeT_RiGhT show. Like many of the Swedish legends, he is also a beloved figure in the scene, and a hugely positive influence on it, too, which goes a long way to explaining why NiP would be so stupid to let him go if he decided now is the time he wants to transition from playing to some other role.

This is GeT_RiGhT, though, although GET_RIGHT seems more appropriate now (all caps when you spell the man’s name), and predicting what he will do next has never been possible. We could see him move teams, as Swedish orgs are very happy to recycle players, or even drop down a level and help the next generation of players coming through. Whatever he does, though, he can feel confident he achieved all he could as a CSGO player, and that his place in history is forever secure, a legend forevermore.

Picture: Copyright Helena Kristiansson / ESL