In recent days, the name Shahar “flameZ” Shushan has attracted a lot of attention as reliable sources report that he is being recruited by the OG team to replace ISSAA, a player who was benched at the end of last month. The final negotiation steps are being completed, and the official contract will be announced in the coming days for both OG and Endpoint to finalize their rosters in preparation for the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, which will start on April 13.
flameZ is now 17 years old and started playing CS 1.6 when he was just 10. By the age of 14, he was introduced to CS:GO by his brother Shushan and began participating in some small LAN tournaments. In 2018, flameZ began his professional career with several tier 3 teams in Europe. In September 2020, flameZ’s career officially took a new turn when he was recruited by Endpoint.
In this multinational team, flameZ quickly proved himself with top-notch performances, helping the team qualify for major and prestigious tournaments. Most recently, at the ESL Pro League Season 13, although they could not advance past the group stage, Endpoint still left a notable impression with two 2-0 victories against Fnatic and EG (considered a death group with the presence of Astralis, Virtus.Pro, Liquid, and EG). Endpoint finished 13-16 overall and will receive $17,000 in prize money.
With impressive performances in 2020, flameZ was predicted by 4 players: huNter-, NiKo (G2 Esports), syrsoN (BIG), and ropz (Mouz) to be a standout name in 2021. NiKo shared: “I remember he just started playing in FPL during the last summer break. I hadn’t played FPL for about 2 months; when I came back, I met flameZ and thought: ‘Who is this kid?!’ I had never heard of this name; he suddenly appeared and annihilated the opponents. […] Even though I don’t know much about him, if flameZ continues on this path, he will definitely be a big star in the future.”
Ropz also commented: “flameZ is really a standout player. Not only is he extremely talented, but he is also a very nice and likable guy.”
Here are some fun facts about this 17-year-old prodigy:
– flameZ has an older brother named Shushan who is also a professional CS player.
– To qualify for FPL-C, flameZ once played non-stop for 27 hours to rank in the top 100. 8 days later, he competed in the FPL-C qualifiers and easily passed.
– flameZ finished second in FPL-C and achieved an 80% win rate with an old computer that could only run CS:GO at ~100 FPS.
– When flameZ turned 17, the gift he received from his brother was a new PC, and shortly after, he qualified for FPL and competed in this prestigious arena.
If flameZ joins OG, the roster of this team in the near future will be:
Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen.
Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski.
Valdemar “valde” Bjørn Vangså.
Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen.
Shahar “flameZ” Shushan.