Ropz: the completionist of Counter-Strike
The man behind the two best roster moves of the 2020s.
Robin ‘ropz’ Kool has stood out as the most singular rifler in the last three years of Counter-Strike, but in more ways than one. Singular in his playstyle, he can play alone and reactively in an era of pushing with explosive site hits. He has managed to propel two different teams right to the top just a couple of tournaments after his joining - and this time it’s even more earth-shattering.
A singularity that draws one or two key opponents in - no one seems to escape ropz’s pull - not even the trophies that he seems to be a magnet for these days.
The first time it happened was in 2022, when he joined a FaZe Clan whose best result was semi-finals run at IEM Cologne 2021. Right at the return of LAN events, FaZe had to compete with the best version of Natus Vincere (Na`Vi) and s1mple, as well as a newly formed G2 super-team.
Not only did FaZe win their first tournament together, beating both of these teams, they went on to win the Antwerp Major and the Intel Grand Slam. FaZe’s unforgettable clutch factor and “magic“ was definitely aided by ropz’s joining, as he was one of the pieces that maintained the consistency of this explosive and unpredictable FaZe team.
Cynics may argue that the strength of this team was to the weakness of the field. Na`Vi was hampered by extraneous events occurring in their home country, and the other best teams like Heroic and Cloud9 just couldn’t bring their best form to offline play after dominating online CS for the better part of a year.
However, ropz has now gone and done it again, quieting doubters in more ways than one after a quiet 2024 on FaZe. He has helped Team Vitality reach even higher heights, completely dominating the field without even a BO3 series loss, winning 7 tournaments in a row, including another Major and Grand Slam. While Vitality was a strong contender in 2024, they only got one important trophy the whole year.
And not only that, ropz has done this in an era where fans only harp on the strength of playing aggressively and “overpeeking” in order to win, thanks to phenoms like donk. The Estonian has managed to repeat his excellence with his cool and reactive playstyle, where he can just be left alone, and depended upon to find the right timing to help his team.
A stud in a sea of misfits
In CS2, there is a very short list of lurkers that have been finding success. At best, they’re inconsistent, like jL, b1t and Jimpphat. At worst, they find no impact whatsoever, like NAF and zont1x. Somehow, ropz has been able to maintain his playstyle at a time where CS has been undergoing this shift towards aggression and unpredictability. There is no other player other than ropz that you can fully depend upon to leave completely alone and have a high chance of finding impact. That’s why these teams find so much benefit in adding him – he’s able to fulfill a role that nobody can, at least as efficiently as he does.
Spirit’s addition of zweih may work towards changing that, but he is still only a prospect. Vitality is miles ahead of everybody in how each player is able to fulfill their role.
Ropz plays a game within a game
People often say that when an in-game leader joins a CS server, it’s a different game for them. They still have to aim, move and shoot efficiently, but they also have to play the additional game of captaincy and leadership to guide their team to victory.
When ropz loads into a CS server, it’s also a different game. While other players will find their teammates around them often, which serve as guides for what they should do, ropz almost always finds himself alone.
With the pressure of the clock winding down, and maybe only a few windows where it will make sense to make a move, ropz has to make sure each and every time that he chooses the right one. Not doing so can mean losing the round to time, leading to economic damage, hurdling towards disaster.
Each time ropz loads in, it’s a solo adventure while being a team game. He is slowly making his way each time, patiently, repeating an initial process until he gets to the spot he needs to. Every now and again he’ll make a small alteration, hoping it’ll throw off the opponent and catch them. But no matter what, he’ll always make sure he is in a spot where he is a nuisance, every time.
On top of that, he has enviable skills for any CS player. His movement is impeccable, rarely making any mistakes that will put him out of position and caught out. His aim is consistent without being spectacular, and often gets all his required kills without using more than 6 or 7 bullets per player.
This is an underrated skill, as playing alone requires that you use your resources in a much more efficient way, as there are no teammates to bail him out.
An eternal nuisance for opponents
A lot of these characteristics come along with being called a “baiter”, essentially, waiting for your teammates to put themselves in harm’s way so you can take all of the spoils. Although being this type of player does artificially inflate his HLTV rating, from the opponent’s POV, it is no less of a nightmare to play against. No matter what, you always have to be worried about ropz’s presence if you’re on the opposing side. One mistaken clear while rotating or retaking can mean the end of the round for your team.
If you’re on the offensive side, rushing into the site is never easy against ropz. You can be sure he picked a difficult spot to clear while he has some visibility advantage.
All in all, lurker players should strive to be like ropz, though I doubt many will succeed. The patience and meticulousness alone are already difficult to find in anyone, let alone the skill and devotion to the game.
The way he manages to adapt to his team and provide exactly what they need has borne fruits to an impossibly high standard that I doubt will be replicated. No future player will make two roster moves in a row as successful as ropz’s.
The question now is if he can keep up this level, and be a part of a team that is undoubtedly one of the top three to ever play CS. As of today, we are seeing several top teams who were repeatedly cast out by Vitality make moves to upgrade. Now the true challenge for Vitality will begin, and it remains to be seen if they can still stand out at the end of it all. If that happens, we may begin to realize that we are watching the best team ever, with the best ever lurker and passive player to touch the game, in the same category as the likes of GeT_RiGhT.