Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba is a professional cyber athlete training in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive taking on the role of rifler for the current Cloud 9 lineup. He used to rush through playing aggressively perhaps that how he got his alias but now not so much, making smarter decisions as a pro player.
Growing up, Wierzba used to listen to the American rock Band, Linkin Park famous for their single ‘In the End’. Gaming aside, RUSH spends his free time catching up on tv series like Fargo, Better Call Saul and Game of Thrones.
Where it all began:
Will began practicing Counter-Strike when he was about 18. He used to play with his older brother who was also into video games. He never planned to play competitively even though he felt he was pretty good at CS: GO.
The first gaming team RUSH joined was Monomaniac Esports in 2013 and since then has never stopped gaming. With his skills improving, pro teams took notice of his gaming potential such as elevate, Tempo Storm, Conquest and Optic Gaming.
The Team:
Cloud 9 is a North American esports association that was created by Jack Etienne. The gaming company started out with a League of Legends team making a name for themselves qualifying in the LCS. Since then the C9 has grown to support different teams that focus on LOL, CS: GO, Overwatch, Hearthstone, Rocket League, Smash, VainGlory and Battle Royale.
Cloud 9 founded their CS: GO roster in August 2014 where they competed in their first ever competition, the ESL One Cologne 2014. N0thing and shroud are no longer active players with C9 CS: GO and Tarik and RUSH will be replacing them as well as Skadoodle, Stewie2k and automatic who together will bring their team to new gaming heights.
Competition Participation:
The latest tournaments that Rush participated with Cloud 9 was DreamHack Masters Malmo where C9 lost to the world’s top team SK Gaming. On the other hand, Cloud 9 have qualified as the North American team for the upcoming ESL One New York 2017 event, acquiring the spot winning over Rise Nation with a record of 2-1.
Over the past year and a half, RUSH was playing for Optic Gaming, the squad have participated at ESL One Cologne 2017, qualifier – PGL Major Krakow, ECS Season 3 Finals, IEM Sydney, CS Summit among many other matches. Having the experience of competing against some of the best CS: GO teams such as Renegades, G2 Esports, Counter Logic Gaming, Gambit, North, Godsent and Hellraisers, they learnt from their mistakes to play better in future Counter Strike Leagues.
Winnings:
The greatest win for RUSH and his team at the time, Optic was at the Eleague Season 2 premier competition. The CS: GO team beat Astralis, taking home the title to win first prize of an amazing $400K. Another personal esports achievement for Will was his outstanding performances in the CS: GO tournament, awarding him the MVP of Eleague Season 2 by HLTV.org.
Wierzba’s second accomplishment was at the Esports Championship Series Season 2 Finals. While RUSH was playing for Optic, they lost to Astralis in the finals with a score 0-2, finishing in second place to scoop their second highest reward of $120K.
