
Analyst Jacob “Pimp” Winneke assessed Legacy’s recent performances in the latest episode of the Counter-Points podcast and spoke separately about the progress of team captain Andrei “arT” Piovesan.
arT has been in this game for ages. dumau and latto have been here for ages, too. They were those Brazilian players everyone kept calling “talents”—though you can’t really call them that anymore—and about whom everyone thought: yeah, they’re the next ones to join FURIA. They’re the next ones to take the next step. And in a way, that’s exactly what they did. And for me, that’s the most impressive thing about Legacy. And perhaps also the most interesting topic of conversation. These players have, to a certain extent, reinvented themselves in order to take another step into Tier 1 Counter-Strike.
To be honest, he’s outgrown his former self. He’s not the same arT he was back in FURIA. His playstyle has become much more balanced. There’s a lot more nuance to it now. Of course, there are still elements of the flamboyant arT—all-in calls, aggressive plays, and that fast-paced Counter-Strike style. But it feels like he’s found a great balance: he also plays standard strategies, and he allows certain players to have some freedom and take the initiative in specific rounds, while he himself sticks to a very slow, methodical standard strategy. arT would never have done that before. What’s more, he’s improved as a player, because at FURIA he was very often a liability.
If someone had said this out loud a year and a half or two years ago, I would have laughed in their face and told them it was the silliest thing I’d ever heard, because arT had spent four years at FURIA during which he achieved absolutely nothing. But now he’s a different player. He’s changed. Legacy looks much, much better.
A team that’s ready—I wouldn’t even say “to take a risk”—a team that’s ready to proactively change its roster when it sees an opportunity on the market, when it sees a player who can benefit the team and make it better, shouldn’t dwell on how successful they were before. If such an opportunity arises, you have to take that step. And Legacy did just that. So, whether you’re looking at the captaincy, the team’s structure, or—I think—how Legacy as an organization manages its roster, it’s fair to say that they’re now one of the most interesting teams in the world of Counter-Strike.
Previously, Legacy won the championship title at FISSURE PLAYGROUND 3 — CS, which took place in Suzhou. In the grand final, the team defeated G2 Esports 3–0 in maps. The victory earned the South American squad $300,000 in prize money.
Photo by Igor Bezborodov, StarLadder.