Jan ‘waylander’ Rahkonen is a 23-year-old finnish cyber athlete that practices in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to compete for Flipsid3 Tactics. He takes on the position of a rifler that brings out his smart moves and accuracy shooting skills.
He stopped gaming for some time to attend his compulsory military service, giving him a more thorough understanding about weapons and real-life battles. Outside of gaming, he loves to spend time with his family and hang out with his friends and teammates, most especially celebrating when they win esports matches.
Where it all began:
Jan began showing an interest in video games through his friends at school. In his free time, he would practice playing computer games becoming a better player. Eventually Rahkonen came across the Counter-Strike Source in 2011 and then switched to play professionally Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
His competitive Counter-Strike career started in 2013 competing for b.s3x. He made a name for himself playing for PITER at the ESL One Cologne qualifying matches. Although the team did not advance to the main esports event, waylander’s fighting skills certainly turned heads.
The Team:
Flipsid3 Tactics is an American gaming company that was created in 2013. The association supports three teams that play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a CIS unit, a South African team and an academy lineup.
F3 created their CS: GO team in March 2014 starting out with the former highgrade roster. Nearly a year later the old roster parted ways and Flipsid3 acquired dAT team in February 2015. Two years on and the latest roster changes have seen electronic leave and was replaced by seized who joined the lineup to play alongside b1ad3, WorldEdit, markeloff and waylander.
Competition Participation:
Waylander and his team Flipsid3 have taken part in qualifying matches like DreamHack Winter 2017, ESEA Season 26, StarLadder i-League Invitational #2, the EPICENTER 2017, Eleague CSGO Premier 2017, DreamHack Montreal and ESL One New York. The F3 squad have also participated in Major tournament, World Cyber Arena 2017 and the Premier event, PGL Major Krakow 2017 among many others.
Rahkonen has had the gaming experience of going against top esports teams like BIG, Space Soldiers, Heroic, Penta Sports, Gambit Gaming, Immortals, Mousesports, Team Liquid, Navi and Hellraisers.
Winnings:
The greatest achievement so far in Waylander’s gaming career was while playing for Flipsid3 Tactics at the Major, Dreamhack Open Leipzig 2017. The CS squad won the grand final against BIG with an incredible score 2-0, winning the Championship title and taking home their highest prize of $50K.
The second highest winning prize was at the Eleague Season 1, waylander and his team F3. The CS unit was unsuccessful in this event losing to Renegades with a record 0-2 to finish in 11th place, claiming their reward of $40K.
Another accomplishment for Waylander was at ESL One Cologne 2016 while representing Flipsid3. The squad played their best but were defeated against top CS team SK Gaming in the Quarterfinals. They finished the premier tournament in 6th place, claiming their prize of $35K.
