Where are they now: DeadFox

Before torzsi or sl3nd, it was DeadFox who put Hungary on the world stage.

Though his career may not be defined by a trophy cabinet full of silverware, Bence "⁠DeadFox⁠" Böröcz holds a place in CS:GO history as a player from a small scene who broke out in the early days of international rosters to become the first Hungarian player to qualify for a Major and reach the playoff stages at top tournaments.

As was common at the time, DeadFox began his career in his local scene, playing for household names in Hungary, such as Ancients and WiLD. Despite having only 2,000 hours under his belt in CS:GO when he received his first professional contract, he showed enough potential to earn a chance at the international level.

DeadFox's first big opportunity came with HellRaisers in late 2016, where he joined Kyrylo "⁠ANGE1⁠" Karasiow, Vladyslav "⁠bondik⁠" Nechyporchuk, Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk, and Patrik "⁠Zero⁠" Žúdel as the international lineup's new AWPer, and was given the chance to show what he was capable of against stronger opposition.

DeadFox's rise continued with deep runs at tournaments such as StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3 and several DreamHack Open events, qualification for the ELEAGUE Major in 2017, where he would become the first ever Hungarian player to compete at a Major, and it reached its zenith after winning the CIS Minor for the FACEIT London 2018 Major, where he and his teammates would go on to make it all the way to the playoffs.

Despite a promising start to the project, as well as HellRaisers’ capacity to punch above their weight class on occasion, DeadFox ended up parting ways with the team after three eventful years, which included highs, lows, an unfortunate role swap, and a revolving door of teammates.

"There is this word: burnout. That’s pretty much what happened to me, unfortunately. This was mainly a problem towards the end, but you can also say that it developed during the last year with HellRaisers," DeadFox recounts.

One significant factor for reaching that point, and one that would later become one of his biggest regrets, was the decision to step away from AWPing. In late 2017, as HellRaisers appeared to hit a ceiling, internal discussions began on how to improve the team, and DeadFox voluntarily offered to give up the sniper if someone they thought would be better could be brought in.

"I don’t know what was going through my head," DeadFox admits. "The thing is, we weren’t really good then. STYKO left the team, so did Zero, and everyone was really down emotionally, including myself. I think I just wanted for something to finally happen."

Another curious concession DeadFox made was that he briefly took over leadership duties as part of an experiment initiated by in-game leader ANGE1, who was considering stepping back from calling. It wasn't completely out of the blue as it may seem, however, since he already had some experience in this area having contributed to mid-round calling while holding the AWP.

"I had a good overview of the game while AWPing. I could throw good supportive utility and coordinate people from behind, but when I moved away from AWPing, this changed. I had good insights, but I wasn’t a good ‘end-to-end’ in-game leader," DeadFox explains.

The experiment was also cut short by timing. It coincided with Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker and Issa "⁠ISSAA⁠" Murad joining the team, which effectively meant starting from scratch. The duo, coming almost directly from FPL, had little experience in structured team environments and didn't operate with the same understanding of team dynamics as more seasoned players.

Shifting from AWPing to a more supportive role, DeadFox’s individual performance began to wane. Compared to averaging a 1.06 rating during his first months with HellRaisers in 2016, that figure steadily dropped to 0.87 over his final half-year. The change in role also showed in his opening kill rating, which fell from 1.11 to 0.84 by the end.

Combined with growing criticism from fans, the pressure started to take a toll on his mental state and it culminated in the infamous despicable positions post, where he lashed out against critics and made a case for his unseen contributions to the team.

"I mean, it really was despicable'," he says with a laugh before reflecting on the context behind the comment. "The thing is, I usually filled positions that other players didn’t want. It usually went something like this: 'Bondik, do you want this spot? No? Okay, then I will do it.'"

Back then, with roles and positions not always as clearly defined or paid attention to as they are today, players such as DeadFox were labeled under the blanket term of support players, those who sacrificed elements of their own game in order to set their teammates up for success, and they were often first on the chopping block when things went South.

As critique of poor performance often clashed with teams explaining this unseen value, tensions sometimes boiled over, leading to outbursts such as the one from DeadFox.

"I don’t really remember the post, or the way it was written, but it’s highly likely that I was in a bad place at the time," DeadFox admits. "I guess what I wanted to explain is that I was doing these things because others didn’t want to."

He believed he was better equipped than his teammates to take on these less desirable roles due to his ability to learn quickly and his habit of watching demos regularly. He recalled a moment during a team discussion when he asked ISSAA what he thought defined skill in Counter-Strike. "Aim, nothing else," came the straightforward response from his Jordanian teammate.

This mindset, according to DeadFox, was also evident in ISSAA’s approach to demo watching, which often involved loading up one of his own demos, skimming through a few rounds, and then heading straight into a session of aim_botz. "His aim was certainly really good," DeadFox acknowledges, though his frustration stemmed from the lack of willingness among some of his teammates to improve in other areas of the game.

While there were several issues toward the end of his time on the team, one of the key reasons behind his growing discontent was the departure of coach Ivan "⁠Johnta⁠" Shevtsov at the end of 2018. They had the closest relationship in the team and viewed the game in a similar way, making that split particularly difficult.

Left feeling isolated as the team atmosphere gradually deteriorated around him, DeadFox found himself slipping into a depressive state. "I was on survivor mode, basically. I was in a really bad mood, and there were even times when I cried," he recalls, "I was feeling so down."

The combination of internal conflicts, role-related struggles, and a steady decline in mental health, ultimately led to DeadFox being benched after a disappointing showing at the IEM Katowice 2019 Major. But for DeadFox, that outcome wasn’t a blow, it was a relief.

"You could see that I was there in body, but not in mind," DeadFox reflects on that last tournament. "I already knew that this was the point where I had to tell them this is no longer healthy, but in a way, they beat me to it."

In typical esports fashion at the time, he found out about his benching through an article on HLTV that went live while he was streaming Escape from Tarkov. "ANGE1 messaged me on Steam a few hours later, saying they didn’t want the announcement to happen like this," DeadFox recalls, still musing about how sloppy the situation was.

The news didn’t come as a shock. By that point, it was clear that the team wasn’t functioning properly, and they had been meaning to talk internally about it for some time. That chapter didn’t close immediately, however.

A few months after his benching, DeadFox received a message from ANGE1 asking if he would consider returning to the roster, this time with a higher salary. "They said they needed me," he recalls. "But I didn’t want to. It wasn’t about the money at that point, it was just unhealthy for me." He declined the offer and left that part of his life behind for good.

With time, the frustrations and memories of hard times have softened. Now older and with more perspective, DeadFox looks back at the period with a more measured view. "With an adult head I can say that there were more positives than negatives. It’s obviously easy to say this now that I’m happy and healthy, but I could have probably also done things better."

Following his departure from HellRaisers, DeadFox never returned to that level of competition. This was partly due to a loss of motivation stemming from his previous experience, and partly because there were limited opportunities, with only a handful of international teams operating at that level at the time.

Many players transition into coaching or organizational roles after stepping away from active competition, but that path never materialized for DeadFox. "I don’t think I would have been a good coach," he admits. "As an analyst I would have done well, but it was not a very common position back then."

What ultimately reignited DeadFox’s hunger for competition was the release of VALORANT, Riot’s entry into the FPS genre, which launched the year after his exit from HellRaisers. Like many former Counter-Strike players, he saw the game as a blank slate and gave it a serious try. He trialed with FunPlus Phoenix, where he reunited with former teammates Johnta and ANGE1, as well as Vitality.

Neither opportunity materialized in the end, whether due to role mismatches or the team looking for a different profile, so DeadFox turned his attention to a Hungarian project, need for DM, which was later picked up by HEET. The team showed signs of potential, coming close to qualifying for VCT and putting up competitive results against some of the best regional squads, but the project lasted less than a year before falling apart.

"Unfortunately, the typical Hungarian approach showed itself,” DeadFox reflects. "If something doesn’t work, people immediately start to blame each other instead of finding a solution. There was also a problem with professionalism, players not showing up on time for practice. That mentality just doesn’t sit well with me."

DeadFox enjoyed the game at the time, and he believed it was better and less chaotic compared to now. He saw real potential in it and felt reinvigorated by the fresh start. "That fire was in me once again," he says. "I wanted it a lot, I grinded a lot, and I wanted to improve and win."

Ultimately, with the Hungarian project narrowly missing out on important results and the game’s mechanics and playstyle shifting in a direction he didn’t enjoy, DeadFox lost his appetite for VALORANT and let go of his competitive ambitions.

Back at a crossroads, he began considering work outside of esports. Earlier in his life, he had completed a qualification as a system administrator, which could have served as a fallback option. Instead, he turned his attention to the family business and set his sights on becoming a property manager.

"My father is a property manager at multiple buildings here in Veszprém, and there was a period when I joined him and helped him out with this," he explains. "It was planned that in due time I would take over some of the properties, however I didn’t enjoy this that much, so we didn’t continue with it."

While assisting with the family business, DeadFox also tried to maintain his streaming career. Due to his schedule, he could only stream irregularly, and he quickly noticed that his viewership dropped significantly when he wasn’t playing Counter-Strike, which limited his options.

As one might expect, the final year with HellRaisers, the inability to reignite his career in VALORANT, and the uncertainty surrounding his future all took a toll on DeadFox’s mental health. He spoke openly about the personal struggles he faced during and after his time in competition, and how he came to reflect on the way he dealt with them.

"These depressive thoughts have chased me for a long while. All the what-ifs, the maybes, rejecting the HellRaisers offer, the question of money," he shares. "Two years ago I had another moment where I felt like I hit rock bottom, and it affected my relationship as well. I don’t wish these times on anyone, it is really bad."

He also emphasized the importance of speaking openly about personal struggles, something he had neglected for far too long. "I dealt with these things alone and didn’t involve my parents, friends, no one. All people saw was that I ate, I played, I ate, I played. It’s also my fault that I didn’t tell them anything, and I made it harder for myself."

His mentality of trying to solve everything on his own, a mindset that had followed him since the HellRaisers days, only added to the problem. When things reached a breaking point, he attempted to seek help from a psychologist, but after being turned away due to availability, he abandoned the idea altogether.

In the end, it was his significant other and a few close friends who helped him get through the worst of it. While acknowledging it’s easier said than done, DeadFox believes that simply talking to someone can be an important first step for anyone finding themselves in a similar place.

"I think when you start talking to someone about this, and you release it from yourself, you already begin thinking about what you said, why it might have happened, and that could be the start of finding the solution," he explains. "You should also not stress over things you have no control over, that was a mistake I made often."

As his mental health improved, DeadFox began to approach streaming more seriously. He has since succeeded in building a community that follows him beyond just Counter-Strike. Since last fall, he’s been steadily growing his social channels with additional content, has secured partnerships, and continues to expand his presence month by month.

With content creation, DeadFox believes he has found his calling and hopes to continue down this path for the long term. "Fortunately, I love streaming a wide variety of games, and I hope it stays this way, because there will always be new games to stream. We also have Counter-Strike, which hopefully will never die, as it’s not a game that you can replace."

While he was never known as the most outspoken or extroverted personality, traits often associated with successful content creators, he has made a conscious effort to improve in that area. "My viewers like that I’m a calm streamer. I don’t yell, I don’t go crazy. Some people prefer that," he says. "They know I’m not someone who talks a lot, but in exchange I’m pretty good at games, especially story and puzzle ones."

Although he experimented with streaming in English for a time, DeadFox eventually recognized that embracing his Hungarian roots was the better path forward. Making good use of his status as a pioneer of the local scene, he often collaborating with other Hungarian Counter-Strike figures such as Balázs "⁠KODIAK⁠" Török.

While DeadFox never sought the spotlight, he was, for a time, the face of Hungarian Counter-Strike. His success led to coverage in local newspapers, TV broadcasts, and various online outlets. "I was the only player back then at this level, so I was basically under a magnifying glass," he recalls. "It was a strange experience to receive all this attention after being pretty much a nobody."

At the peak of his Counter-Strike career, DeadFox’s every move was under scrutiny, and local sites even published articles about individual frags or rounds he played. "To this day they recognize me on FACEIT sometimes and streamsnipe me," he says, laughing.

Looking back, DeadFox maske it clear that his career wasn’t defined solely by hardships. One of his fondest memories remains qualifying for the ELEAGUE Major 2017 in Atlanta. "Everything happened so fast," he says. "I joined HellRaisers, we placed second at the Minor, got through the offline qualifier, and I became the first Hungarian to qualify for a Major.

"During those times, I felt like I could outduel anyone, GuardiaN, kennyS, FalleN... you name it," he recalls. "I remember when we were playing the unbeatable SK once, and I kept fragging FalleN with the scout." DeadFox doesn't get ahead of himself, though. "I had days where I could frag anyone," he adds, "and then days where I could frag absolutely no one."

While the thought of a return has crossed his mind, his playing days are firmly in the past. "While I still have some great moments when I play, I know my life is too built up now to pursue competing again," he says. "I would have to invest a lot of time and give up a lot of things I have right now." That said, DeadFox hasn’t completely shut the door on a future in the scene, announcing that he is exploring opportunities as an assistant coach in Counter-Strike 2.

As he sets his sights on this next chapter, DeadFox leaves behind a piece of advice for those looking to begin writing their own stories. "If you aspire to become a professional player, only do so if you are also studying or doing something else on the side," he warns. "Also, if you’re 25 years old and in university, you probably shouldn’t start down this path."

These aspirations come with a price, he explains. "Don’t chase this dream blindly. You have to sacrifice a lot of things, and those choices may cost you more than you expect."