Lotan “Spinx” Giladi has been one of the best CS2 players of the last three years. In 2022, he finished in the top 20 at the individual level for the first time in his career.
The move from ENCE to Team Vitality was by far the best decision of his career, and playing with Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut is quickly turning him into one of the best players in Counter-Strike.
Yesterday, HLTV announced him as the 5th best CS2 player of 2023. That is a spectacular achievement that will guarantee his future not just at Vitality, but also internationally. For the foreseeable future, he will continue to compete for the French organization. But in 2-3 years, who knows what will happen?
Spinx’s results in 2023
Spinx started 2023 with two promising results: 5th – 6th at IEM Katowice and 5th – 8th at ESL Pro League S17. They weren’t ideal, but they were good enough to give the team a lot of hope for the rest of the season. At that point, nobody imagined that Vitality would go on to win five S-tier tournaments including the BLAST.tv Paris Major.
The first victory of the season came at IEM Masters Rio, where Vitality made a spectacular comeback in the semifinal match against Cloud9. The score was 1-0 for C9 and 12-3 on the second map. And from there, Vitality ended up winning.
Needless to say, Spinx played a major role in this and had almost as many kills as ZywOo, who was the best player on the team.
Vitality’s next trophy came at the Paris Major, where Spinx was once again consistent and highly motivated to win. For Vitality, this was the first Major trophy in five years. Despite ZywOo’s talent, it was also the first Major trophy for him as well. At this point, Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev also has only one, so 2024 will be a big year for both of them.
Top 5 in 2023!💛
Thank you for everyone that was part of this year https://t.co/NeE7QNM8xD— Spinx (@SpinxCS2) January 11, 2024
Vitality won one more tournament before the end of CS:GO and the start of CS2. It happened at Gamers8, where they defeated ENCE in the Grand Final. To claim the title, Vitality had to beat strong opponents like G2 Esports and Natus Vincere. ENCE was also one of the world’s best teams back then.
With the start of CS2, FaZe Clan initially dominated all tournaments and obtained three consecutive victories. But by November 2023, Vitality had managed to catch up with them in prowess. And that allowed them to win both BLAST Premier: Fall Final and BLAST Premier: World Final.
Once again, Spinx was a key member of his team and his performance proved to be the deciding factor in many matches. Despite losing both Danny “zonic” Sorensen and Emil “Magisk” Reif, Vitality continued to demonstrate that they are one of the world’s best teams and can adapt to a new version of Counter-Strike faster than almost any other competitor.
It remains to be seen what Spinx can do in 2024. As long as he has ZywOo, he should be able to play his part and get excellent results.
Header: Team Vitality