On February 26, 2024, it became known that Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev refused to sign a new contract with the organization Monte. Thus, sdy became a free agent, and his cooperation with Monte is over.
All we can do is shed a tear for the wonderful time when Vitya was in the team and wish Monte luck in the future. And to remember how sdy spent his time in Monte.
At the end of 2022, after performing for the NAVI team as a stand-in, the Ukrainian organization decided to say goodbye to sdy. Then, just two weeks later, Monte announced the signing of a contract with sdy. And so began Viktor's adventure in Monte.
At that moment, the organization also signed Sergey "lmbt" Bezhanov as a coach, and their lineup looked as follows:
The team's first tournament was the qualification for the OMEN WGR Challenge 2023, where, unfortunately, they didn't succeed and left taking 3-4th place. And then began the incredible grind from sdy and the team. In 2023, the team managed to play 44 official championships, including open and closed qualifications.
Out of the tournaments by CCT Monte, they played 10, with the most successful being:
- CCT West Europe Series #2 (1st place)
- CCT Central Europe Series #5 (1st place)
- CCT Central Europe Series #6 (2nd place)
- CCT West Europe Series #3 (1st place)
- CCT North Europe Series #7 (2nd place)
Other notable victories include championships like:
- European Pro League Season 6
- ESL Challenger League Season 44: Europe
Just think about it, in 2023, the Monte team played 163 maps in official matches. This was the best result among all teams last year. The players hardly had any days off, and they consistently had over 100 hours in Counter-Strike on Steam over the last two weeks.
From the tournaments, the team managed to win $380,000 in prize money! Well, with sdy's journey in the tier-2 scene with Monte sorted, let's move to a higher level.
The beginning of Monte's journey at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023
The last major in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for sdy started with a closed qualification, where they were invited due to their position in the Valve ranking. Overall, finishing the group stage of the qualification with a 3:1 score, the team went on to BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B.
Monte lost their very first game against 500, but then closed out all their opponents.
By the way, in this qualification, sdy was the second-best player among his teammates.
BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B
And so, the Monte team had already passed the RMR, meaning they only needed to win three matches to make it to the major in Paris. And here, sdy and Monte surprised the whole world by making it to the major with a 3:1 score.
In the end, finishing the group stage of the qualification with a 3:1 score, the team went into the group fighting for third place.
Along with them in this group were G2 Esports and Team Vitality. Due to the difference in the number of rounds won, which the teams needed to win the match, Monte immediately went to the final. But first, Monte and Team Vitality had to fight.
In the end, Team Vitality and Monte met in the match for third place, and here the future major champions were stronger, beating their opponents with a 2:0 score.
As a result of all their matches, the Monte team secured their spot in the BLAST.tv Major Paris: Challengers Stage 2023. Just one match was missing to advance directly to the legends. And here is how the players' statistics looked at the tournament:
BLAST.tv Major Paris: Challengers Stage 2023
The Challengers Stage consisted of 16 teams, and Monte were on the brink but still managed to secure a spot among the legends. Their final score in the group was 3:2.
In fact, credit must be given to the Monte team players, who were playing at the most prestigious championship in Counter-Strike for the first time. Understandably, all except sdy. And here is how the players' statistics looked:
BLAST.tv Major Paris: Legends Stage 2023
Monte finished the group with a 3:1 score, losing only one match to the future tournament champions.
In the end, Monte advanced to the championship playoffs, where, unfortunately, they lost to the GamerLegion team with a 0:2 score in their first meeting and left the championship.
The final statistics of the team players looked like this:
In the end, Monte took 5-8th place, earned $45,000 in prize money, and made Ukrainian esports famous worldwide, which cannot but rejoice.
What happened next?
Immediately after that, practically without rest, the team continued to play various tier-2 tournaments and qualifications, but until the release of Counter-Strike 2, the team did not have loud results. Except for a 3-4th place at ESL Pro League Season 18. Where, by the way, sdy was just a little short of becoming the best player of the team:
And then CS2 is released to open access, and tournaments based on the new game begin. Such as: Roobet Cup 2023 or Thunderpick World Championship 2023.
By the way, at Roobet Cup 2023, Monte reached the final but lost to Virtus.pro with a 0:2 score. And at Thunderpick World Championship 2023, the guys took 3-4th place. For Vitya, these tournaments were among the best in terms of statistics:
The first victory at a major LAN
ESL Challenger at DreamHack Winter 2023 - a significant tournament for both Monte and sdy. Because Monte managed to win their first major LAN championship. Then, in the final, Monte beat Eternal Fire with a 2:0 score on maps.
And sdy finally received his first MVP medal! Because he finished the tournament with a rating of 7.6, which was the best performance in the entire tournament.
All good things must come to an end
2024 comes, the Monte team is diligently preparing for the upcoming major. But they start the year with a 9-12th place at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2024. But then they win RES Eastern European Masters: Spring 2024, thereby securing themselves a spot at BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2024.
And so begins the very PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European RMR B, where Monte were invited for their successful performance at the previous major. But then begins the trouble.
Moreover, even despite his illness, sdy was one of the best players of the team:
And so ended the first major in Counter-Strike 2 for Monte and sdy. After which, probably, disagreements started in the team, and sdy decided to leave the team.
At the end, let's look at sdy's statistics in Monte in numbers for the last time:
- Five — first places at championships
- Three — second places at championships
- One — MVP
- 359 maps
- 6.2 - average rating
In conclusion
It's very sad to see how a promising Ukrainian organization, after failing at the RMR, starts to disintegrate, and something tells us that this is not the last change in the lineup.
What do you think, who can now take sdy under their wing, as he is already ready to join a new team?
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