The release of Counter-Strike 2 significantly changed the game’s meta. With wide-swinging and peeker’s advantage becoming far stronger, AWP dominance was replaced by the age of the star opener. In step Danil “donk” Kryshkovets and Shahar “flameZ” Shushan.

Donk and his sheer talent aided that meta shift, too, but despite his superstardom, Spirit remains one of the teams following the reigning kings of Counter-Strike, Vitality.

One of the biggest reasons for that is their opener — although he might not call himself that — flameZ. So what is the difference between the two players? And why does flameZ’s style of aggression lead to more trophies than donk’s?

Keeping it Old School

In a team with four clear stars, two of those having incredibly high reputations in Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Robin “ropz” Kool, it’s easy to overlook flameZ. Of course, everyone knows the Israeli is talented; his two-time seventh-place finish in the HLTV Top 20 is enough to prove it, but his old-school playstyle is really what makes Vitality tick.

In a recent interview with us, flameZ described himself as more of an entry than an opener. In layman’s terms, that means that he specialises more in finding opening kills on executes, or by making space to be traded in by his teammates, rather than hunting for kills in early-round map control fights.

He explained, “I have the confidence that the strats are built around the entry pathing. Maybe they’re not there for me to get a kill or do something crazy, but for me, gaining the info and making the sacrifice gives me the confidence, and I’m happy to do it. Me doing that gives my team a lot of space, so I’m happy to do it.

“Maybe doing it gives me a bit higher placement, too, because there are players that do the opening role better than me, but I do the entrying role better than them. Maybe opening is more meta, because it’s the players like xertioN, XANTARES, and they have more opportunities to get duels at the beginning of rounds, and they do it better than me.”

Of the rifles mentioned by flameZ, and including FURIA’s Mareks “YEKINDAR” Galinskis and Falcons’ Maxim “kyousuke” Lukin, only kyousuke takes fewer T side opening duels than flameZ. The Israeli sits at 29%, with kyousuke just behind on 27.8%; everyone else is either 30% or higher, with MOUZ’s Dorian “xertioN” Berman the highest on 34%.

flameZ’s statement about not being as strong of an opener is further backed up by stats; his 39.4% success rate is the lowest, but the strength of the Vitality system and flameZ’s point regarding him being an entry rather than an opener is shown by the traded deaths percentage.

When dying first, flameZ is traded a massive 42.8% of the time, with the next-highest being Aurora’s Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dortkardes, all the way down at 28.2%. donk, for the sake of comparison, is traded in just 22.8% of the rounds in which he dies first, while taking 31.4% of Spirit’s opening duels and succeeding 58.2% of the time. 

This selfless nature is an old-school way of thinking, far more common in the days when Vitality IGL Dan “apEX” Madesclaire was still one of the best entry fraggers in CS. It’s also far more defined in terms of roles than a lot of other teams – and the same can be said for ropz’ heavy lurking style – giving Vitality a consistency and understanding of their protocols that other teams just can’t match. 

No Fair Comparison

The truth is, you can’t really compare flameZ to any of these other aggressive riflers, and especially not donk. At least right now, anyway – the systems they play in are just too different. 

If you go back to 2022, when flameZ was still playing for OG, he took a similar amount of opening duels but had a higher (44.1%) success rate, putting him more in line with the star openers we’ve mentioned alongside him. Nothing we said – or even flameZ said in the interview – was to say that he can’t do it, just that he doesn’t need to right now.

Could Vitality still find success if they made flameZ into more of a star? Probably.

Likewise, could teams like MOUZ, FURIA, or Aurora also succeed if they looked to move away from the reliance on opening kills from xertioN, YEKINDAR, or XANTARES? Who knows.

For now at least, flameZ exists as one of the most selfless players in the elite level of Counter-Strike. A truly old-school entry fragger who is just as happy dying for information as he is getting the double entry that wins the round. It’s a thankless role that brings an incredible amount of impact even without getting kills, something the average viewer won’t appreciate in the moment when they compare it to donk’s high kill tally.

The main difference, though, is that a kill-less donk, xertioN, or XANTARES, has far less impact than a kill-less flameZ, and that’s where the Israeli truly shines.