Ognian Gueorguiev
Ognian "steel" Gueorguiev is a retired electronic sports player who famously competed in Counter-Strike for Team 3D from 2002 to 2005. He is also famous for winning the Cyberathlete Professional League's Winter event in 2002 and a gold medal at the first World Cyber Games in 2001, making him the first Counter-Strike player to hold titles with both organizations.
Playing career
Teams
Gueorguiev began competing in Counter-Strike (CS) from around the age of 15 when he would attend Local Area Network (LAN) parties in his home province of Quebec. The first notable team he played for was xeno, Canada's best at the time. He joined 'Legends never Die' (LnD) with xeno team-mate Harlem "reek" Ahua to attend the Canadian qualifier for the first World Cyber Games. Shortly after their victory at the Korean finals of the event the team disbanded and Gueorguiev had a short spell in 'Domain of Pain' (DoP) with reek.
It wasn't long before Gueorguiev was picked up by the 'Gamers-X' (GX) team who thanks to sponsorship from a LAN center in the California area could cover his travel expenses to the CPL's Summer event in 2002. An impressive showing at the event, lifting his underdog team, caught the attention of Team 3D and he was invited to join them, an invitation he accepted. Following the team's victory at the CPL's Winter event in December 2002 they picked up sponsorship from nVidia and CompUSA to become the first fully salaried professional Counter-Strike team in North America. Gueorguiev remained a member of the team until early 2005 when he retired to focus on his studies in the field of photography.
Accomplishments
World Championships
Placing |
Event |
Year |
Team |
Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1st |
WCG |
2001 |
LnD |
$40,000 + Gold medal |
1st |
CPL Winter |
2002 |
3D |
$30,000 |
Other
Placing |
Event |
Year |
Team |
Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1st |
Polybash CPL qualifier |
2001 |
xeno |
$2,500 |
1st |
WCG qualifier |
2001 |
LnD |
Tickets to the finals in Korea |
1st |
Dreamcité CPL qualifier |
2002 |
mix |
$1,000 |
7th |
CPL Summer |
2002 |
GX |
$4,000 |
9th |
WCG |
2002 |
LnD |
- |
3rd |
WCG Continent vs. Continent |
2002 |
America |
Bronze medal |
2nd |
KillerLAN |
2003 |
3D |
$1,500 |
3rd |
CPL Summer |
2003 |
3D |
$28,000 |
13th |
CPL Winter |
2003 |
3D |
$1,000 |
13th |
CPL Summer |
2004 |
3D |
$1,000 |
8th |
CPL Winter |
2004 |
3D |
$2,000 |
Total
- Over $115,000 in prize winnings
- 2 time WCG medalist (1 gold, 1 bronze)
- First CS player to win a CPL championship and a WCG gold medal
Business ventures
ESEA
During his active playing career Gueorguiev was an instructor with the E-Sports Entertainment Association (ESEA) and he remains a part of their operations with his post-playing career activities as a writer producing articles.
TAO-CS
Gueorguiev is co-author of a competitive guide to Counter-Strike titled 'The Art Of Counter-Strike' (TAO-CS) along with ex-team-mate Ronald "Rambo" Kim and electronic sports journalist Duncan "Thorin" Shields. The guide, which is sold digitally as an ebook, contains over 200 pages and 50 minutes of video footage.