The beginning of a new game cycle like CS2 can be the perfect opportunity for unproven talent to show their skills and a scary prospect for veterans. But dupreeh is proving his dominance thus far, even though many would say he’s becoming too old to be a pro player.
The only five-time CS:GO Major champion as a player is currently 30 years old and is yet to have a bad map, statistically speaking, since the beginning of CS2. Dupreeh has played a total of 15 CS2 maps since he joined Heroic on Oct. 23 and hasn’t had a negative rating in any of them. He’s averaging a 1.28 rating at the start of CS2, according to data provided by HLTV.
Dupreeh was cut out of Vitality’s starting lineup one month after helping them win the BLAST Paris Major in May as the organization favored the signing of young star Shahar “flameZ” Shusha. Fans had their doubts about whether dupreeh was still capable of playing at the highest level after turning 30 years old and becoming a father in 2023.
Though fans insist on believing in the theory that age plays a decisive factor in esports pros’ performance, this has been contradicted by a physical therapist and former professional players interviewed by The Washington Post in 2022. The former pros told The Washington Post that other factors such as stress, overwork, and job instability were more pivotal in their decision to retire, not their age.
Age definitely isn’t a factor for retirement for dupreeh, as he made it clear after Vitality benched him that he still wanted to compete at the highest level of CS esports.
What is most surprising, in my opinion, isn’t that dupreeh is dominating opponents in a new game at 30 years old, but the fact he’s doing it while playing with a dysfunctional Heroic, which already lost cadiaN permanently and could lose Martin “stavn” Lund and Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard forever as well in the near future.
We’ll see if dupreeh can keep up this form in the coming days as he helped Heroic to qualify for the quarterfinals of the $500,000 CS2 tournament Thunderpick World Champion, which will be played on Friday, Nov. 3.
