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NiKo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Niko (disambiguation).

NiKo
NiKo in 2020
Current team
TeamTeam Falcons
RoleRifler
GamesCounter-Strike 2
Personal information
NameNikola Kovač
Born (1997-02-16) February 16, 1997 (age 28)[1]
Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina[1]
Career information
Playing career2015–present
RoleRifler, Secondary AWPer
Team history
2012–2013; 2015iNation
2015–2017mousesports
2017–2020FaZe Clan
2020–2025G2 Esports
2025–presentTeam Falcons
Career highlights and awards

Nikola Kovač, better known as NiKo, is a Bosnian professional Counter-Strike 2 player who plays for Team Falcons. NiKo is often cited by many professionals and analysts alike as one of the greatest Counter-Strike players of all time and the best rifler in the history of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.[2][3] He has been named a Top 20 Player Of The Year by HLTV nine times, tying dev1ce for the most top 20 player appearances in counter strike history.[4] NiKo is widely considered as one of the most mechanically skilled players in Counter-Strike and has been in contention for the title of the best player in the world at multiple periods throughout his career.

Early life

[edit]

Nikola Kovač was born in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina.[5] His parents were owners of an internet café where Nikola would play the earlier Counter Strike games with his cousin Nemanja aka "huNter-".[6][5]

Career

[edit]

2011

[edit]

NiKo began his playing career on Counter-Strike 1.6. His first professional team was FullProof. Other teams he played for included eu4ia, neWave, maksnet and DEFUSE.maksnet.

2012–2014

[edit]

His first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team was iNation. He shuffled through myDGB, e-Sports.rs, Team Refuse, GamePub and aimface while taking breaks from iNation.

2015

[edit]

His impressive performance with iNation gained him notoriety throughout Europe. He would be signed by mousesports in March 2015. That led to a sensational rookie run where his team was often dubbed "Nikosports" due to his amazing individual performances, most notable of them being his desert eagle ace on Cache.[7]

2016

[edit]

NiKo stayed on mousesports for the entirety of 2016. During this time they won Acer Predator Masters Season 2 and were ranked 3-4th in ELEAGUE Season 1, ESL One: New York 2016 European Qualifier, ESL Pro League Season 4 - Europe and ESL Pro League Season 4 - Finals.

2017

[edit]

In February 2017, NiKo was acquired by FaZe Clan as they formed a star-player team. Kovač's first big tournament win was at StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3, followed by a winless period of five months with a near miss at Esports Championship Series Season 3. Following a re-shuffle of the FaZe roster, bringing in the two of the highest rated players of 2015; Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer Gustafsson and the star AWP player, Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács,[8][9] FaZe was rejuvenated and managed back-to-back flawless victories at ESL One: New York 2017 and ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017. At ESL One: New York 2017, NiKo dropped 1.70 HLTV rating, a record that was only equaled by donk's legendary Katowice run in 2024.[10] Following this, the team went two months without a win before taking the Esports Championship Series Season 4 trophy over mousesports at the end of the year. He was ranked in #2 in the year end HLTV top 20 and had a rivalry with SK Gaming's coldzera throughout the year.

2018

[edit]

Faze Clan fell just short at the finals in ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, choking a 15-11 lead in map 3 to the home region team Cloud9. The Major finals is widely acknowledged as the best professional matches of CS:GO ever played by the community.[11][12] After choking another grand finals at IEM Katowice 2018 to Fnatic, FaZe entered another lull. However the team managed to take home Intel Extreme Masters XIII - Sydney with Richard "Xizt" Landström standing in for olofmeister, and the ESL One: Belo Horizonte 2018 event with Jørgen "cromen" Robertsen as a stand-in.

In October 2018, FaZe came first place in the EPICENTER 2018 event in Moscow, Russia, making this his seventh first-place victory at a premier event with FaZe Clan. NiKo was ranked No. 3 at the HLTV top 20, having been in contention for the title of best player of the year for the at the beginning but exited the race after his form cooled in the 2nd half.[13]

2019

[edit]

FaZe went through a number of in-game leaders (IGLs) during this time after the removal of karrigan last year, before settling on NiKo. By the end of 2019 Faze's trophy count had gone up to ten as they won BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, but didn't finish top 4 at either major. Statistically, this was the worst year of NiKo's career thus far as he had to settle for 11th place on the HLTV top 20 list as a result of his IGL duties and he finished outside of the top 10 for the first time since 2016 in the HLTV top 20.

2020

[edit]

2020 marked another victory for FaZe and now IGL Kovač, as they won the European division of IEM New York 2020 Online over OG.[14] On October 28, 2020, after a three-and-a-half-year venture with FaZe Clan, Kovač was acquired by G2 Esports and was united with his cousin huNter.[15]

No longer an IGL, NiKo was back in his old form again this year and was ranked No. 4 in HLTV top 20.

2021

[edit]

NiKo led G2 to the grand finals of the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 but lost to a dominant Na'Vi team. The grand finals also featured the infamous NiKo whiff on s1mple at Nuke in map 2,[16] which ultimately Na'Vi won to lift the major trophy.

They had also been runner-up to the same Na'Vi team at Intel Extreme Masters XVI - Cologne earlier in the year. He went through a career best run in the second half of 2021 with CSGO's return to LAN, posting a consecutive 34 map 1+ rating streak, the highest of his career and of any top 20 players that year. He finished third in the HLTV top 20, behind ZywOo and S1mple.[17]

2022

[edit]

G2 signed a young prodigy Russian awper, m0nesy[18] leading G2 and Niko to a 2nd place at IEM Katowice.[19] NiKo's G2 fell 3-0 to FaZe Clan in the grand final, with FaZe forced to field jks as a substitute. The match featured the legendary Mirage map, extending to 58 rounds before FaZe clinched victory with a 31-27 scoreline.[20][21]

Soon the team's form dropped as Blast Premier Spring Finals and ESL Pro League Season 16 were their only top 4 finish till December 2022.[22] G2 did not qualify for the IEM Rio Major,[23] with Niko commenting that these times are his toughest months of his career but reassured that he will never give up.[24] NiKo and G2 bounced back and won the Blast Premier World Final 2022.[25] He finished 5th in the HLTV Top 20.[26]

2023

[edit]

On 12 February 2023, G2 won IEM Katowice 2023 undefeated, only suffering a loss on a single map to the hands of Heroic in the grand finals. This was NiKo's first win at IEM Katowice and having lost the previous three finals there in 2017, 2018, and 2022.

NiKo and G2 qualified for the 2023 Blast.tv Paris Major 2023 through the RMR into the Challengers stage, where they would qualify for Legends stage following a 3-0 run in the Challengers Stage. NiKo and G2 would go on to be eliminated in the Legends stage by Fnatic in a 1-2 elimination game, thus ensuring NiKo would never win a CSGO major.

G2 became the champions of IEM Cologne 2023, where NiKo earned his eighth MVP award.[27]

NiKo's exceptional numbers at the biggest events and against the best teams saw him place second on HLTV's Top 20 Players of the Year list, behind ZywOo.[28]

2024

[edit]

2024 began rough for NiKo, who suffered a dip in form compared to his CS:GO performance, averaging a 1.15 rating in the first half of the season in contrast to his usual 1.2+ performances.[29] However, NiKo exhibited more sublime form in the latter half of the season, which earned him the 4th place on HLTV's Top 20 Players of the Year list after another year of overall strong individual play. NiKo also set a new record for most consecutive appearances in the top 20 with 9 consecutive appearances.[30]

NiKo finished in the top 4 of the PGL Copenhagen major. He, however won IEM Dallas 2024 with a stand-in Stewie2K.[31] NiKo struggled against Na'Vi throughout the season, enduring nine consecutive losses before finally securing a victory at the BLAST Premier Fall Final.[32] G2 rebuilt the roster adding malbsMd and veteran Polish player, Snax, in place of the players, Hooxi and Nexa.[33] The revamped lineup went on to claim the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024, defeating Team Vitality in the semifinals and Na'Vi in the grand finale. During the semifinal clash against Vitality, NiKo made headlines by smashing a hole in the table after failing to convert a 1v5 clutch attempt.[34] However, his struggles continued in the following tournament IEM Rio, where he posted a career-worst 0.51 HLTV rating and exited in 13th–16th place. Despite this setback, G2 rebounded strongly, winning the BLAST Premier World Final with a triumph over Team Spirit in the grand finale[35]. NiKo’s run with G2 ultimately ended in the semifinals of the Perfect World Shanghai Major, where he fell to FaZe Clan.[36]

2025

[edit]

On January 3, 2025, NiKo departed G2 and joined the Saudi organization Team Falcons, becoming a key part of their efforts to rebuild and assemble a star-studded roster.[37]

On February 23 2025, NiKo won his 9th HLTV MVP[38] at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 despite losing the finals to MOUZ.[39]

On April 13th 2025, NiKo along with his team Falcons won their first trophy together in PGL Bucharest 2025, beating G2 Esports in the Final.[40]

Awards and recognition

[edit]
  • Was voted the 11th best player of 2016 by HLTV.[41]
  • Was voted the 2nd best player of 2017 by HLTV.[42]
  • Was voted the 3rd best player of 2018 by HLTV.[43]
  • Was voted the 11th best player of 2019 by HLTV.[41]
  • Was voted the 4th best player of 2020 by HLTV.[44]
  • Was voted the 3rd best player of 2021 by HLTV.[45]
  • Was voted the 5th best player of 2022 by HLTV.[26]
  • Was voted the 2nd best player of 2023 by HLTV.[46]
  • Was voted the 4th best player of 2024 by HLTV.[47]
  • Was voted the MVP of 9 different tournaments.[48]

Tournament Results[49]

[edit]
Placement Tournament Location Date
With Faze Clan
2nd IEM Katowice 2017 Katowice, Poland March 1, 2017 – March 6, 2017
1st SL i-league StarSeries Season 3 Finals Kyiv, Ukraine April 4, 2017 - April 9, 2017
2nd IEM Sydney 2017 Sydney, Australia May 3, 2017 - May 7, 2017
2nd ECS Season 3 Finals London, United Kingdom June 23, 2017 - June 25, 2017
1st ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017 Atlanta, United States September 8, 2017 - October 13, 2017
1st ESL One: New York 2017 New York, United States September 15, 2017 - September 17, 2017
2nd IEM Oakland 2017 Burbank and Oakland,

United States

November 14, 2017 - November 19, 2017
2nd ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals Odense, Denmark December 5, 2017 - December 10, 2017
1st ECS Season 4 Finals Cancun, Mexico December 15, 2017 - December 17, 2017
2nd ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 Boston, United States January 12, 2018 – January 28, 2018
2nd IEM Katowice 2018 Katowice, Poland February 27, 2018 - March 4, 2018
1st IEM Sydney 2018 Sydney, Australia May 1, 2018 - May 6, 2018
1st ESL One Belo Horizonte 2018 Belo Horizonte, Brazil June 13, 2018 - June 17, 2018
1st EPICENTER 2018 Moscow, Russia October 23, 2018 – October 28, 2018
1st ELEAGUE CS:GO Invitational 2019 Atlanta, United States January 25, 2019 - January 27, 2019
With G2 Esports
2nd IEM Cologne 2021 Cologne, Germany July 6, 2021 - July 18, 2021
2nd PGL Major Stockholm 2021 Stockholm, Sweden October 26, 2021 - November 7, 2021
2nd IEM Katowice 2022 Katowice, Poland February 17, 2022 - February 27, 2022
1st Blast Premier World Final 2022 Abu Dhabi, UAE December 14, 2022 - December 18, 2022
1st IEM Katowice 2023 Katowice, Poland February 4, 2023 - February 12, 2023
1st IEM Cologne 2023 Cologne, Germany July 29, 2023 - August 6, 2023
1st IEM Dallas 2024 Dallas, United States May 27, 2024 - June 2, 2024
2nd Esports World Cup 2024 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia July 17, 2024 - July 21, 2024
1st Blast Premier Fall Final 2024 Copenhagen, Denmark September 25, 2024 - September 29, 2024
1st Blast Premier World Final 2024 Singapore October 30, 2024 - November 3, 2024
With Team Falcons
2nd PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 Cluj Napoca, Romania February 14, 2025 - February 23, 2025
1st PGL Bucharest 2025 Bucharest, Romania April 6, 2025 - April 13, 2025
2nd IEM Melbourne 2025 Melbourne, Australia April 21, 2025 - April 27, 2025
2nd BLAST Rivals 2025 Season 1 Copenhagen, Denmark April 30, 2025 - May 4, 2025

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "NiKo - Age, Height, Net Worth, Family Status and Full BIO - eSports Marketing".
  2. ^ "Who Is CS:GO's Greatest-Ever Player?". 11 October 2023.
  3. ^ "Nikola "NiKo" Kovač - One of the greatest CS:GO players | Pley.gg". pley.gg. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Who is CS:GO's greatest-ever player?". 11 October 2023.
  5. ^ a b "NiKo - Age, Height, Net Worth, Family Status and Full BIO - eSports Marketing". esports-marketing-blog.com. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  6. ^ "Articles about games in Esports ≺ Dota2 & CS:GO ≻ All about eSports games". Wewatch.gg. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  7. ^ "mousesports pick up NiKo". HLTV. Retrieved 17 February 2019.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ "Olofmeister joins FaZe, replaces kioShiMa". HLTV.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ "GuardiaN replaces allu in FaZe". HLTV.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ "donk equals Big Event record rating to earn IEM Katowice MVP". HLTV.org. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  11. ^ Biazzi, Leonardo (29 August 2023). "Top 5 most legendary CS:GO matches of all time". Dot Esports. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  12. ^ "Cloud9 beat FaZe to win ELEAGUE Major Boston". HLTV.[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ ""Top 20 players of 2018: NiKo (3)"". HLTV.org. 19 January 2019.
  14. ^ Cooney, Bill (11 October 2020). "FaZe Clan wins IEM New York EU: Results & final placements". Dexerto. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  15. ^ Sillis, Ben (11 May 2020). "Gaming squad goals: superstar NiKo signs to G2 Esports". Red Bull. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  16. ^ L4NC3L077, ch33n1 (9 November 2021). ""Niko...I am sorry!!": How Shroud, KennyS and Tarik reacted to the G2 Niko Deagle miss". The SportsRush. Retrieved 24 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ "Top 20 players of 2021: Introduction". HLTV.org. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  18. ^ "G2 unveil m0NESY signing". HLTV.org. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  19. ^ "FaZe sweep G2 to win IEM Katowice". HLTV.org. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  20. ^ "G2 vs FaZe at IEM Katowice 2022". HLTV.org. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  21. ^ Harbinson, Darragh (7 February 2025). "The emotion of IEM Katowice: 5 of Katowice's most remarkable Counter-Strike moments". Esports News UK. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  22. ^ "Vitality defeat G2 to claim grand final spot in Lisbon". HLTV.org. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  23. ^ "G2 eliminated from RMR, fnatic keep Major dream alive". HLTV.org. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  24. ^ "This will probably be the 2 toughest months in my career, you can hate all you want, it's well deserved. But you won't see me give up. That I can promise". Twitter. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  25. ^ "G2 sweep Liquid to claim BLAST Premier World Final title". HLTV.org. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  26. ^ a b "Top 20 players of 2022: NiKo (5)". HLTV. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  27. ^ "NiKo named MVP of IEM Cologne". HLTV. 6 August 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  28. ^ "TOP 20 PLAYERS OF 2023: NIKO (2)". HLTV.org. 14 January 2024.
  29. ^ "NiKo on not becoming IGL: "I believed I could still be one of the best players in the world"". HLTV.org. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  30. ^ "Top 20 players of 2024: NiKo (4)". HLTV.org. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  31. ^ "G2 complete miracle run with Stewie2K to win IEM Dallas". HLTV.org. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  32. ^ "m0NESY on breaking NAVI curse: "I was angry and hungry; I wanted to show we can't lose again"". HLTV.org. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  33. ^ "malbsMd interview: Journey to G2, anchor roles, learning from donk". HLTV.org. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  34. ^ "NiKo powers G2 to beat Vitality at Fall Final". HLTV.org. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  35. ^ "BLAST Premier World Final 2024". HLTV.org. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  36. ^ "Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024". HLTV.org. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  37. ^ Richards, Harry (3 January 2025). "Official: Falcons announce NiKo". HLTV.org. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  38. ^ "NiKo takes PGL Cluj-Napoca MVP". HLTV.org. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
  39. ^ "MOUZ vs Falcons at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025". HLTV.org. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  40. ^ "Falcons defeat m0NESY's G2 to win PGL Bucharest". HLTV.org. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  41. ^ a b Švejda, Milan. "Top 20 players of 2019: NiKo (11)". HLTV. Retrieved 3 August 2018.[permanent dead link]
  42. ^ "Top 20 players of 2017: NiKo (2)". HLTV. Retrieved 3 August 2018.[permanent dead link]
  43. ^ "Top 20 players of 2018: NiKo (3)". HLTV. Retrieved 21 January 2019.[permanent dead link]
  44. ^ "Top 20 players of 2020: NiKo (4)". HLTV. Retrieved 2 February 2021.[permanent dead link]
  45. ^ "Top 20 players of 2021: NiKo (3)". HLTV. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  46. ^ "TOP 20 PLAYERS OF 2023: NIKO (2)". HLTV.org. 14 January 2024.
  47. ^ "Top 20 players of 2024: NiKo (4)". HLTV.org. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  48. ^ "Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač's CS:GO Player Profile". HLTV.[permanent dead link] == Tournament results ==
  49. ^ "HLTV.org - The home of competitive Counter-Strike". HLTV.org. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
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