Thorin: “The nickname Boombl4 could very well be mentioned in any discussion of the best captains of the modern era.”

Mauisnake: I think Boombl4’s track record has now become so outstanding that I’m ready to include him in my list of the best IGLs in modern CS history—which covers both Global Offensive and the current version—at number five. I’ll now try to explain my position and list his achievements; you can try to challenge this or suggest your own choices. Overall, it’s fairly easy to single out the top five—maybe the top six—but that’s where the problems start. As it turns out, I’m quite confident about the top four, but for the next two spots, I’m a bit torn between Boombl4 and another player.

So, he’s a Major champion, obviously. He has a Grand Slam title. At the 2024 Copenhagen tournament, if you look at the roster he played on, none of his teammates at the time managed to stay in Tier 1. At the time, they didn’t have a sniper, but they still managed to make it to the Major playoffs. On top of that, Boombl4, as captain, even took on those responsibilities and played with the AWP on some maps. Now, if you look at BetBoom Team, it’s essentially a squad that consistently fields two stand-ins. And considering all these facts, they not only managed to qualify for the Major with this roster—which many would already consider a great achievement—but they also made it to the playoffs. In case you didn’t know, the only two captains in history who’ve managed to lead their teams from the first stage all the way to the last are Boombl4 and karrigan. I think that’s simply an incredible achievement in the current era of CS.

kassad: I don’t even know—it seems to me you’re going a bit overboard with statements like that. There are so many big names in that position, if you think about it… I don’t think Boombl4 deserves the kind of praise you’re heaping on him right now. Yes, he’s a decent captain; he managed to lead his team to the Major quarterfinals. He had a strong run with NAVI, but how long did that era last—a year? Besides, just think about who was on that roster with him. He played alongside one of the best supports to this day, b1t, as well as top-tier players like electroNic, Perfecto, and, ultimately, s1mple. And after that, take a look at Boombl4’s trophy list—what do you see there? His stints with 1w Team and Cloud9 aren’t even worth discussing—there was nothing remarkable about them. Then he joined BetBoom, and a year and a half later, he managed to lead them to the Major playoffs. Are you saying this is downright incredible? He and the guys beat Team Falcons—that’s impressive. They beat The MongolZ—a team falling apart right before our eyes. And they beat FUT Esports 2-2 in the final stage. That’s all pretty good, but in my eyes, it’s clearly not enough to make him one of the top 5 captains of the modern era—or even the top 10. Maybe the top 15? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he’s talentless—he’s a good leader, aggressive, and knows how to perform under pressure—but in the top five? That’s a bit much.

Thorin: I think the nickname Boombl4 could certainly be mentioned in a discussion of the best captains of the modern era, but I, like kassad, would very quickly rule him out of the top ten by listing more deserving candidates. If I were compiling my own list of top IGLs, I’d easily fill 5–6 spots before I’d even think of Boombl4. The top three spots would very easily go to karrigan, gla1ve, and apEX. For the fourth spot, I’d probably put Aleksib, and for the fifth—Zeus. At the very least, because Zeus’s Major victories with Gambit and Aleksib’s with NAVI look far more impressive than Boombl4’s, simply due to the difference in the strength of the rosters.