Less than four years ago, Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač and his team, Valiance, won the first season of the A1 (Vip) Adria League. Today, his new team G2 Esports is ranked 13th on HLTV’s World Rankings list. This is a short story about how A1 Adria League served as a stepping stone to huNter-‘s international career.
Nemanja’s love for Counter-Strike developed at an early age and he regularly played it with his cousin, Nikola “NiKo” Kovač. However, he started playing CS:GO much later than other players – after Nikola encouraged him to play CS full time. After competing for some time, he found a stable roster and started his grind towards the top of regional and later on, European CS:GO. huNter- and Binary Dragons, his team at the time, signed contracts with Valiance&co. towards the end of 2017.
When signing their contracts with Valiance, this team was competing in the first season of the A1 (Vip) Adria League which was a relatively new tournament at the time. The first season featured a BO3 Round-Robin group stage which only showed how ready BD/ Valiance were to conquer the region. They finished the group stage in the first place, with their only loss coming from Nemanja “k1Ng0r” Bošković’s Resistance that later withdrew from the group stage. huNter- was regularly putting up incredible numbers in the League and was the highest-rated regular player in the group stage.
The situation didn’t change on LAN during the League playoffs. According to HLTV’s 2.0 Ranking, huNter- boasted a 1.57 ranking on the four maps he played in the playoffs. In Zagreb, Valiance bested Miloš “dEE” Marčeta’s Zonic, and in the Grand Finals, the majority-Serbian Squared team. This was one of the first major successes for Nemanja, with plenty more to follow in the following years.
After the first season came to an end, Valiance suffered a loss against their bitter rivals, Windigo, in the finals of the Esports Balkan League. In 2018, this team had its ups and downs, with some of their more memorable successes being their victories in the 27th ESEA Main season as well as their consecutive second place in the second EBL season. huNter-‘s individual prowess grew more noticeable by the day, and just like his cousin, he was the star of his team.
With the start of the second A1 Adria League season behind the corner, Nemanja was ready to once more conquer the Adriatic CS:GO scene. Valiance had a worse group stage showing than in the first season but managed to secure a spot in the online playoffs. Once again, huNter- had a staggering 1.57 2.0 Rating, bested only by his teammate, Nestor “LETN1” Tanić. He was also the best player in other parts of the game, such as assists (0.24), KAST (83.5%), and damage per round (103.1).
Besides his mechanical skills, an important part of huNter-‘s success was his teamwork. He and his team were winning together and losing together. Map after map, match after match – the grind continued. Less than a year after the second A1 Adria League season, Nemanja and CR4ZY (the rebranded Valiance organization) were a part of the 15th CS:GO Major – StarLadder Berlin Major 2019. This was and still is one of the biggest successes for the regional Counter-Strike scene. huNter- narrowly missed the Major playoffs after a tough loss in the fifth SWISS round versus Natus Vincere.
Another team that missed the playoffs was G2 Esports, huNter-s future home. About a month after the Major, huNter- and his CR4ZY teammate, Nemanja “nexa” Isaković, signed contracts with the world-renowned esports organization. More recently, NiKo and huNter- united in G2 Esports which is currently a majority-Adriatic roster. The team has had its fair share of problems but is currently on the rise and looking to become the very best CS:GO team in the world.
