Ukrainian in-game leader Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko has announced his upcoming retirement from professional Counter-Strike. The Natus Vincere veteran will play out one more event with the team. Zeus first joined NaVi in 2009, then playing Counter-Strike 1.6 for the organization.
Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko’s Global Offensive career began in 2012 with the game’s inception. Already a storied CS 1.6 player, his veteran skill allowed him to become one of the best in-game leaders in the scene. Natus Vincere consistently made top placings at big events, and is the only organization to compete in every CS:GO Major so far. During Zeus’s first tenure under the NaVi banner in GO, the squad made it to the grand final of both DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca and MLG Columbus. Zeus was released from NaVi shortly after the ESL One Cologne 2016 Major, where they were eliminated in the quarter-finals. Natus Vincere signed Team Liquid star Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev in his place.
Following his departure from NaVi, Zeus joined Gambit Gaming. Former 1.6 teammate Mykhailo “kane” Blagin was coaching the team, offering more incentive for Zeus to join their ranks. The squad saw mediocre results, taking home trophies at only two relatively small events. Rumors were circulating of the team’s disbanding prior to the PGL Krakow Major in 2017. Gambit then shocked the CS:GO world in Poland, reaching the play-offs with a 3-0 record before taking down Fnatic, Astralis, and Immortals to win the CIS region’s first Major title. Zeus rejoined Natus Vincere just weeks after Gambit’s Major victory.
Natus Vincere won multiple premier events throughout 2018, including StarSeries Season 5 and ESL One Cologne. The squad also made it to the FACEIT London Major grand final, falling to a dominant Astralis. Going into 2019, the team looked to try again in the year’s first Major. IEM Katowice would not be kind to them, as they were upset by ENCE in the semi-finals. NaVi would then win StarSeries Season 7 before replacing Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev on the main roster. Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov would be brought in with the promise of taking over the in-game leader position after Zeus’s retirement.
Natus Vincere’s latest showing saw them fall to NRG in the quarter-finals of the StarLadder Berlin Major. Their next appearance will come later this week at BLAST Pro Series Moscow. The Moscow event will be Zeus’s final showing with the team.
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