Two of the closest friends and allies in the world of Counter-Strike, Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas and Filip "NEO" Kubski will from now on be fierce rivals in CS2, as the two former Virtus.pro teammates are now leading two of the top teams in the world as head coaches. 

Filip "NEO" Kubski took over the reins at FaZe last month, while Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas was announced as the new head coach for G2 yesterday night. The two former teammates spent a total of 6100 days (almost 17 years) together on various teams during their playing careers. 

Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas retired from professional Counter-Strike on the 31st of March this year, and the head coach job at G2 will be the first time in his career, that he takes on the role of a coach. As a player "TaZ" was part of the Polish "Golden Five" lineup in Counter-Strike. On Virtus.pro he won the EMS Katowice 2014 Major alongside multiple other trophies. At G2 he will replace Jan "Swani" Müller, who has decided to step down as head coach after the BLAST World Finals.

Another player who was part of the "Golden Five" roster back in the day is also now a coach of a top-tier team in CS2. Jakub "kuben" Gurczyński, who also coached Virtus.pro from 2015-19, was announced as the new head coach for ENCE last month.

G2 Esports

Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas has announced his retirement from Counter-Strike after having competed for more than 20 years in the scene.

"That's all folks", it says on his shirt while revealing his decision to retire.

The 36-year-old ends his career as the player with the most competitive maps played in the entire history CS:GO posting a staggering 2385 map appearances.

He was a member of the iconic Virtus.pro squad that once was a dominating factor in the game with their victory in the EMS One Katowice Major in 2014 being a clear testament.

In the last couple of years, TaZ has represented the Polish team HONORIS, which he founded himself together with long-standing teammate Filip “NEO” Kubski back in 2020 – however, the [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/taz-company-call-quiz-failed-achieve-goal","isNewTab":true,"text":"organization ceased its operations"}] only Wednesday.

The Polish organization HONORIS is ceasing operations from this date on, co-founder Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas announced on Twitter.

This marks an end to a 3-year adventure in professional Counter-Strike which was established by TaZ and his former Virtus.pro teammate Filip "NEO" Kubski back in May 2020. TaZ himself played for HONORIS in the entire time, while NEO stepped down from the active lineup last year. T

In a Twitlonger, TaZ thanks the entire organization for its service through the years but also outlines the decision to close up shop.

- We are closing the HONORIS organization. This ends a certain stage in my life, but there will still be time for a summary, TaZ noted and continued:

- Finally, thank you Filip [NEO]. This time we failed to achieve the goal, but I appreciate that we gave a chance to ourselves and to the young generation of players. We tried to create a project on our terms and I think we have a lot to be proud of.

2-1 vs CPH Flames – ESL Challenger Melbourne Qualifier

2-1 vs forZe - ESL Challenger Melbourne Qualifier

HONORIS

Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas is one of the biggest legends of the game. The 36-year-old rifle and IGL have been playing professional CSGO since back in 2001 when he first became an active player in CounterStrike 1.6. The Polish legend is currently playing for HONORIS. TaZ is known for his time in Virtus.pro where he and his old legendary team won EMS Once Katowice 2014 and came close to winning several other big tournaments such as ELEAGUE major 2017, PGL Major Krakow 2017, and ESL One Cologne 2015. For the past three months, TaZ is averaging 0.91 Rating / 0,57 kills per round / 67.6 ADR.

Despite being 36, TaZ is still playing CS at a high level. In a match against Endpoint, HONORIS saw TaZ being left alone in a 1vs4 clutch in the pistol round. With 35 seconds left and the bomb on his back, the Polish IGL takes on four players of Endpoint. Four headshots later and HONORIS was looking at the perfect start to the second half as TaZ clutches the 1vs4.

Check out the impressive clutch by TaZ right here:

[twitchClip:MuddyOriginalPlumFloof-w1CvUFL8pYyTebcf]

Virtus.pro

The newly shaped roster of EXTREMUM took on Honoris in their opening round of the Snow Sweet Snow 1 event. Whilst it was far from a perfect performance from the new roster of EXTREMUM, they managed to muster up a solid victory against the Polish legends in "NEO" and "TaZ" from Honoris. They now need two more BO3 victories in order to advance to the playoffs.

The first map between the two rosters took place on Honoris' map pick, Mirage. The two teams went toe to toe in the opening rounds of the map and went to halftime as close as possible with a scoreline of 8-7, favoring the Polish side. The second half, however, was dominated by EXTREMUM as they managed to string together 9 rounds, whilst Honoris only managed a single round in the second half. This, of course, meant that EXTREMUM could walk away with a 16-9 victory on their first-ever official map together.

The second map took place on Inferno. Once again the two rosters refused to give an inch to their opponents and the rounds were as close as possible. In the end, however, it was Honoris, lead by Polish "reiko", to have the slight edge over their opponents and ultimately take home the narrow win on Inferno with a scoreline of 16-14.

This, of course, meant a third and final between the two competitors. They would have to prove themselves the better roster over on Nuke as the match was set to be decided there. The two previous maps had been close, however, this wasn't the case on Nuke. EXTREMUM started their t-sided half with absolute dominance and managed to create a 13-2 lead going into the second half. Despite Honoris' best attempt to make a comeback, EXTREMUM closed Nuke 16-8 and thereby also the series 2-1. 

The win against Honoris marks the first-ever BO3-series, as well as BO3-victory, for the new EXTREMUM roster. In order to advance to the playoffs of the event, they will now only have to win two more matches.

16-9 EXTREMUM (Mirage) | BnTeT 1.46 Rating / 92.7 ADR / 23-15 K-D

16-14 Honoris (Inferno) | reiko 1.27 Rating / 89.8 ADR / 24-19 K-D

16-8 EXTREMUM (Nuke) | Liazz 1.65 Rating / 98.5 ADR / 23-13 K-D

[twitchClip:GentleFuriousPlumageDendiFace]

Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad | 1.23 Rating - 54-46 K/D - 80.4 ADR - 77.2% KAST

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Copyright_-_Carlton-Beener-_jkaem_it0fhs","originalWidth":3840,"originalHeight":2160,"cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Carlton Beener ESL","alt":"CS:GO, Counter-Strike, jkaem"}]

Gratisfaction

jkaem

reiko

EXTREMUM

When looking back in time and discussing the greats of Counter-Strike it would be wrong not to mention Virtus Pro. Besides their impressive ability to perform at the highest of levels they were also beloved by fans, not only in Poland but across the entire world of Counter-Strike fanatics. 

The roster showed great signs of the pending success, even in the early stages, and managed to win their first Major in 2014, the year that they had been established as a roster, on their own home soil at EMS One Katowice 2014. With players such as "pasha" and "TaZ" the Virtus Pro roster became one of if not the most, beloved and charismatic roster the world of Counter-Strike has ever seen. 

However, it wasn't all just a fairytale with a happy ending. Virtus Pro experienced some major slumps but always seemed to bounce back and reassert their dominance when it mattered the most. This was true for many years, but when 2017 came around and the roster had been performing under par for quite some time, people began to question whether or not this was the end of the Polish Giants. The answer was, unfortunately, yes. The iconic five-man roster split up and never reunited. For once they didn't bounce back but instead left the Counter-Strike scene with their names engraved deeply into its foundation.

The longest-serving member of the iconic Virtus Pro roster was the fan-favorite "pashaBiceps" who announced his retirement on Twitter on December 13th. 2018

It has been quite some time since a Polish player has been in contention for the top 20 or has it? Whilst not being 100% Polish both Mateusz "mantuu" Wilczewski and Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski have the Polish blood in them and is perhaps one of the reasons for their impressive talent. 

However, all hope is not lost just yet. The Polish roster of PACT has shown to be a stable contender for the top 30 and could perhaps be the roster to bring back some of the glory days for the Polish Counter-Strike scene. They are currently ranked as the best Polish roster at 36th. in the world, with their current best performing player being Kamil "Sobol" Sobolewski. 

You can see more about Virtus Pro's history and greatest achievements right here: 

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TaZ

Player stats

Articles mentioning TaZ

G2 hire TaZ as new headcoach

Polish superstar retires

TaZ and company call it quit: We failed to achieve the goal

Video: Virtus.pro legend wins stellar 1v4 clutch

New EXTREMUM roster defeat Polish legends 2-1

Polish CS: How Virtus Pro Defined an Era of Counter-Strike

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