Counter-Strike 2
Hall of Fame: f0rest
Two clear names come to mind when considering who was the Greatest of All Time in Counter-Strike 1.6. Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg was simply unrivaled in his prime, dominating the game from 2007-2009, while Filip "NEO" Kubski's titles, longevity, and individual excellence made him absolutely unstoppable through much of the game's early years.
While f0rest believes the Pole edged him out in that race because of how much longer he played at the top, there is no argument about who finished in second.
f0rest's incredible mechanics and cockiness on the server made him lethal in his rise, and when combined with a long-time partnership with Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund that carried into a historic era in CS:GO, there is no question that the now 36-year-old is one of the franchise's all-time greats.
His innate talent was apparent early on, more so to others than himself. His early days playing Counter-Strike were spent LAN hopping around internet cafes in Sweden with his friends until his abilities were noticed by other Swedish players — mixed in with a healthy dose of skepticism.
"At some point people started calling me a cheater and I started to get some offers," f0rest says. "I remember there was this internet cafe where I lived called Virtual Experience Online which had some well-known players at that time, you had cop, Tentpole, JAEGARN at some point as well.
"They asked me to come and try out for them and I was like, 'Hey, sure,' but then they said, 'But you have to come to the cafe and play,' and [...] they basically straight up said, 'We want you to play for us but we think you're cheating, so come here and play, and if you can perform, then join.' And that was the beginning of the whole journey of me realizing I might actually have some impact."
It was with Kristoffer "Tentpole" Nordlund that f0rest first broke out into proper competition with Embrace, a lineup that also featured Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström, at Optihack 2005. Only 16 years old then, f0rest beat NEO and Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas's Pentagram lineup and finished as runners-up to Skolpojkarna (Swedish for "Schoolboys"), a mix-team that included f0rest's future fnatic teammate, Harley "dsn" Örwall.
That tournament marked a huge stride forward for f0rest in Sweden, but it wasn't until six months later that he played in an event that truly changed his mindset, one that he says kickstarted his whole career and set him on the path to greatness.
WEG 2005 Season 2, a month-long tournament in South Korea where some of the world's elite were absent, was that proving ground. It was f0rest's first-ever international tournament and the first big LAN he attended, and his BeGrip team (with Tentpole and RobbaN) came out of nowhere and won it all despite the three of them lacking any international experience.
"We beat all these amazing teams, all these amazing players that I've now seen and kinda like, 'Oh shit, they're good,' we went in there and we won that tournament," f0rest recalls.
"After that tournament, it felt like everything in my brain, everything surrounding Counter-Strike just unlocked. 'Okay, I can do this, I can do this [well].' My family was convinced, I was convinced, teammates around me were convinced, everything just made sense.
"From that point forward, there was no looking back. I just steamrolled ahead and now I had bigger ambitions where I wanted to be the best. I was not only playing Counter-Strike, I wanted to be the best Counter-Strike player."
It wasn't with BeGrip that f0rest would realize those ambitions, however, with other players on the team not wanting to travel frequently and forfeiting their spot in WEG Season 3 later the same year.
The team had its swan song with a sixth-place finish at CPL Winter 2005, and as the new year dawned, f0rest and Tentpole became a part of a brand-new fnatic lineup with dsn and Patrik "cArn" Sättermon.
While f0rest believes the Pole edged him out in that race because of how much longer he played at the top, there is no argument about who finished in second.
f0rest's incredible mechanics and cockiness on the server made him lethal in his rise, and when combined with a long-time partnership with Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund that carried into a historic era in CS:GO, there is no question that the now 36-year-old is one of the franchise's all-time greats.
His innate talent was apparent early on, more so to others than himself. His early days playing Counter-Strike were spent LAN hopping around internet cafes in Sweden with his friends until his abilities were noticed by other Swedish players — mixed in with a healthy dose of skepticism.
"At some point people started calling me a cheater and I started to get some offers," f0rest says. "I remember there was this internet cafe where I lived called Virtual Experience Online which had some well-known players at that time, you had cop, Tentpole, JAEGARN at some point as well.
"They asked me to come and try out for them and I was like, 'Hey, sure,' but then they said, 'But you have to come to the cafe and play,' and [...] they basically straight up said, 'We want you to play for us but we think you're cheating, so come here and play, and if you can perform, then join.' And that was the beginning of the whole journey of me realizing I might actually have some impact."
It was with Kristoffer "Tentpole" Nordlund that f0rest first broke out into proper competition with Embrace, a lineup that also featured Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström, at Optihack 2005. Only 16 years old then, f0rest beat NEO and Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas's Pentagram lineup and finished as runners-up to Skolpojkarna (Swedish for "Schoolboys"), a mix-team that included f0rest's future fnatic teammate, Harley "dsn" Örwall.
That tournament marked a huge stride forward for f0rest in Sweden, but it wasn't until six months later that he played in an event that truly changed his mindset, one that he says kickstarted his whole career and set him on the path to greatness.
WEG 2005 Season 2, a month-long tournament in South Korea where some of the world's elite were absent, was that proving ground. It was f0rest's first-ever international tournament and the first big LAN he attended, and his BeGrip team (with Tentpole and RobbaN) came out of nowhere and won it all despite the three of them lacking any international experience.
"We beat all these amazing teams, all these amazing players that I've now seen and kinda like, 'Oh shit, they're good,' we went in there and we won that tournament," f0rest recalls.
"After that tournament, it felt like everything in my brain, everything surrounding Counter-Strike just unlocked. 'Okay, I can do this, I can do this [well].' My family was convinced, I was convinced, teammates around me were convinced, everything just made sense.
"From that point forward, there was no looking back. I just steamrolled ahead and now I had bigger ambitions where I wanted to be the best. I was not only playing Counter-Strike, I wanted to be the best Counter-Strike player."
It wasn't with BeGrip that f0rest would realize those ambitions, however, with other players on the team not wanting to travel frequently and forfeiting their spot in WEG Season 3 later the same year.
The team had its swan song with a sixth-place finish at CPL Winter 2005, and as the new year dawned, f0rest and Tentpole became a part of a brand-new fnatic lineup with dsn and Patrik "cArn" Sättermon.
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