Eddie "eastRab" Montville, 72, perhaps the oldest player ever to rise through the ranks in ESEA, has officially qualified for Intermediate after his Iron Wolves team lost in the third round of the ESEA Open playoffs this season, it was revealed courtesy of Dust2.us. The team was ranked 10-4 and qualified for the playoffs among other teams.
Montville's journey started long before that. He was first introduced to Counter-Strike when he followed Olof "olofmeister" Kaibjer Gustafsson in fnatic and then in FaZe. He became interested in the game in 2016 when his son gave him Counter-Strike for Christmas at the age of 65.
While playing solo lineup at the Silver I rank, Montville met BigBeefHarrison, s1ip, R54 and REKMEISTER, all of whom were in school or just out of college. These young players accepted him into their circle, which was a rarity in solo queue. REKMEISTER took him under his wing and set a goal to bring his ranking up to Global Elite. Montville gradually improved his skills, reaching the rank of Silver II in June 2021 and Gold Nova I in February 2022.
Very fun season. This is the best oldest CS player ever. He needs to recognized and studied for how great he is at this age. https://t.co/8hqcTFoS5b
— Alex (@REKMEISTER) June 6, 2024
By December 2022, at the age of 70, he reached the Global Elite rank and claimed on Twitter that he may be the oldest Global Elite in the world. No one disputed that claim. As he continued to play matchmaking, Montville watched his friends play in ESEA leagues. He never thought he could find a team on his own until REKMEISTER invited him to join the Iron Wolves for the ESEA Open season.
Despite difficulties caused by arthritis in his left hand and wrist that affected his ability to use the standard WSAD keys, Montville found ways to adapt by reconfiguring his movement keys to ASDF and other bindings to be more comfortable.
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In the playoffs, Iron Wolves earned a first round bye and defeated DeepFriedFrenz 2-1 to qualify for Intermediate. Montville admits that his team played better than he did, but it was a big deal for one of the oldest players in the game.
Montville believes it's not the competition, the league, the playoffs or even the game itself that makes this season memorable, but the friends he's made. When he plays, he doesn't feel like an old man with chronic aches and pains and fatigue, but just one of the guys, which brings him great joy.
Montville's story evokes Lenovo's Silver Snipers project, which shows that age is no barrier to participating in cybersports. It is unknown whether Montville will continue to participate in ESEA in the future, but this adventure was not only a fun experience for him, but also an opportunity to play with friends and achieve goals he didn't even realize he had. His 29-year-old son is proud of his father's accomplishments and shares them with his friends.
Source: Dust2.us
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