The 19-year-old Russian Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov is a huge talent in Counter-Strike 2, the biggest game on Steam. In 2022, he was voted Rookie of the Year and was ranked number 7 in the worldwide Counter-Strike rankings. In recent years, he has been on the rise. Now, the super-talent from G2 is supposedly switching teams for 2.5 million euros.
This was the career of the young player: The Russian rose to fame at “Natus Vincere”, the team of superstar s1mple, where he played since he was 15, in the youth team.
In 2022, he supposedly transferred to G2 for $600,000, where his career really took off. He was named Rookie of the Year. He then improved over 3 years from number 7 in the world, first to number 4 in 2023 and finally to number 2 in 2024. His team even advertised an online casino with m0NESY.
The AWP player is now supposedly moving to Team Falcon Esports for 2 to 2.5 million US dollars, backed by a Saudi investor. The transfer amount comes from an insider (via x).
G2’s CEO says: Please direct complaints about the transfer to him
This is what his team says: G2 states they have accepted the offer to let go of their young GOAT, meaning the “Greatest of All Time”.
G2’s CEO states (via x): If anyone has a problem with the decision, they should contact him directly and not the management of the Counter-Strike team or the players. It was a team-level decision.
The CEO hints that the young Russian’s contract would have expired in December and they decided to make the most of the situation and then rebuild. They are sad to let Ilya go; G2 has been extremely successful with him and has claimed 6 trophies in 2 years.
Why let him go? The CEO suggests that the approaching end of the contract was putting a strain on the whole team and made it difficult to recruit new players. Therefore, they wanted to bring clarity now.
Fans should not worry, as they are an experienced team and are not afraid to find new players and build a new team.
How can the new team hire the player? Behind Team Falcons is a Saudi investor. The team has benched the 23-year-old Russian “degster” to make room for the newcomer.
Are such sums normal? There are recurring reports of players in Counter-Strike 2 switching teams for around $1 million.
However, that is already at the upper limit – such amounts are extraordinary today, as the e-sport is generally in a crisis. A less favorable news recently befell a coach in Valorant: A coach in Valorant flirts so poorly that he loses his job
