The problem with cheaters in CS:GO and his emotions after winning the Major—highlights from the podcast with Dosia
Former esports player Mikhail “Dosia” Stolyarov appeared on a podcast on Artem “malik” Arkhipov’s YouTube channel. Here’s a quick rundown of the highlights in our article.
On getting into Counter-Strike, participating in early LAN tournaments, and his first team
Dosia explained that he initially started playing Half-Life, and began playing Counter-Strike in 1998, when it was version 0.6 or 0.7. Thus, Mikhail has been a CS fan for 30 years.
To participate in the first LAN tournaments, Stolyarov and his teammates would rent a car and head to various cities where qualifiers were held: Orenburg, Izhevsk, and Samara. At that time, prize pools ranged from 10,000 to 20,000 rubles.
In 2007, Dosia and his team took 3rd place at the Russian Championship. Three players were then invited to Moscow to play for CSKA, and Stolyarov joined them later.
On the move to forZe, NAVI, Moscow Five, UNiTED, and CS:GO
Dosia noted that forZe paid a lot of money at the time—$1,000. In addition, the organization had a boot camp, and the players were accumulating work experience.
In the early 2010s, Mikhail found himself at a crossroads: he was playing for forZe, but it was clear that the roster would soon fall apart. At that time, two other organizations—NAVI and UNiTED—were formed simultaneously. Stolyarov could have joined the latter, but the team decided that Dosia wouldn’t agree to it without his brother. As a result, the esports player ended up at Moscow Five.
When Counter-Strike: Global Offensive first came out, nobody liked it, Dosia said. At the same time, the game looked exactly like Source. Another problem was that there were a lot of cheaters during the transition to CS:GO.
On the Virtus.pro roster, the offer from Astana Dragons, and HellRaisers
After one of the tournaments, Dosia, AdreN, and ANGE1 decided to talk it over and agreed that they would put together a team and play together. That’s how the first Virtus.pro roster came to be, consisting of Dosia, Fox, ANGE1, AdreN, and kUcheR.
Later, the esports players received an offer from Astana Dragons. They were promised a salary of $1,000, but Virtus.pro refused to release the players, citing their existing contract.
They then moved to HellRaisers and ranked among the top 5 or top 7 teams in the world. However, Mikhail had to leave the organization after a conflict with the manager.
On s1mple, conflicts at Gambit, and the offer from Luminosity
Dosia spoke highly of his interactions and gameplay with Alexander “s1mple” Kostylev, noting that s1mple always delivered strong performances in practice matches. However, Sasha lacked experience, and he also occasionally quarreled with his teammates, particularly with markeloff.
There were also conflicts among the players at Gambit. Once, Zeus called a team meeting and announced that someone would have to be kicked off the team. Dosia volunteered to leave, but later he played well at a tournament and was named MVP, so everyone forgot about that argument.
Mikhail also mentioned that Luminosity had tried to poach them, but it didn’t happen because the teammates couldn’t agree on salary figures.
On winning the Major, in-game graffiti, and the challenges of being captain
Mikhail said that immediately after winning the Major, he felt a sense of emptiness and felt like a squeezed lemon. The esports player didn’t experience any real emotions until the next day. That said, Dosia was pleased when his graffiti was added to the game.
Stolyarov also noted that the hardest part of being a captain is earning his teammates’ trust; that’s where he felt some discomfort. Some of his calls might not have been to everyone’s liking, but overall, everyone else also had freedom of speech.
Read also:
- Dosia on how he got into CS: “I started playing it in 1998—it was version 0.6 or 0.7, something like that” (first part of the podcast).
- Dosia on his first impression of CS:GO: “Nobody liked it” (second part of the podcast).
- Dosia on the early Virtus.pro roster: “We were among the top three in the world with that lineup” (third part of the podcast).
- Dosia on s1mple: “Sanyok is just an awesome guy” (fourth part of the podcast).
- Dosia on his emotions after winning the Major: “I just stand there like this—it’s like we’ve done it all, we hugged each other, but honestly, it feels empty” (fifth part of the podcast).
Mikhail “Dosia” Stolyarov is a former Counter-Strike esports player. He began his professional career in 2007. Dosia’s main achievements over his 17 years on the pro scene include a 4th-place finish in the 2013 rankings of the best players and a victory at the PGL Major Krakow 2017.
Photo: PGL.
