dsn retirement confirmed

Harley "dsn" Örwall's retirement has been confirmed by fnatic, seeing the 25-year-old leave competitive gaming and fnatic with immediate effect.

The rumor surfaced earlier today, that fnatic was set to lose Harley "dsn" Örwall to retirement. The rumor has now been confirmed, with fnatic announcing the departure of Örwall on their website.

Örwall joined the ranks of fnatic in October 2005, with the purpose of replacing Youcef "solido" Riahi. He went on to become captain of fnatic and later on rebuild the team, which reunited him with his former team mate Patrik "cArn" Sättermon. In the orange and black jersey Örwall has won a ton of tournaments, including dominant times in 2007, as well as the 2009 year, breaking the record of prize money won during one year.

Last year in September, Örwall went on to comment in an interview on fnatic's website, that he would end his career within fnatic: "I'm sure I will end my pro gaming run within FnaticMSI."

In his retirement announcent on fnatic's website, Örwall stated the following:

"After playing Counter-Strike since the release and competitively since 2003, I’ve decided to quit. It has been a great time indeed; all the traveling I’ve done with the team, all the victories we’ve had together and all the people I’ve met through playing.

The reasons I’m leaving the game behind are many, but first and foremost I feel that I’m too indifferent towards the game. The motivation I had to win no matter what when I was younger isn’t really there anymore, and when I do things I want to do them wholeheartedly. Also, I’ve always promised myself that I would quit the day I didn’t enjoy playing anymore and that day is now.

The results might have something to do with it, it would be stupid to deny it. It’s a lot more fun to stand with a trophy at a top of a podium than to unplug your gear after being knocked out early. In the beginning of the year before the IEM European Championship I had that drive to put in hours because I wanted to win so bad, mostly just to beat f0rest and prove the world wrong. And after we had won it was almost like I had climbed Mount Everest or something, I didn’t really think about any other tournaments, all that mattered was that tournament and that we won.

It’s just a game, but it’s been my life for a very long time and even though it will feel weird to watch the tournaments from home, I am happy about the fact that it will free up a lot of time.

I’ve been lucky to have so many great teammates throughout the year – just watching the metamorphosis of f0rest from talent to one of the greatest players of all time was pretty cool – and I want to thank them all for the fun times we had together. I will especially miss Patrik (cArn) a lot for his bad humor (equal to mine) and due to the fact that we’ve played together for almost our whole professional careers.

I also want to thank all the players in the other teams on the CS tour for the fun times we’ve had, all our fans (you’ve all been great!) and Fnatic with sponsors for giving me the opportunity to play CS for over five years. To me, black and orange are the best colors you can wear in e-sport. Even though this in a sense is the end of an era, it’s also the start of a new era for the team.

I want to challenge myself, to feel those butterflies I once felt when playing big games, like when we played 16-14 on de_train versus Team 3D in the semifinal at ESWC 2006 and Tentpole was left in a 1vs2 situation the last round and managed to clutch it and everybody screamed really loud in Ventrilo so he almost didn’t find the planted bomb that was beeping faster and faster, just like my heartbeat beating faster and faster.

Thank you everyone for making the last eight years such a pleasant experience!"

With Örwall calling his retirement, fnatic is now left with the following four:

Patrik "cArn" Sättermon
Richard "Xizt" Landström
Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl
Faruk "pita" Pita

What is your best memory of Örwall's career? Discuss in the comments below and feel free to write your goodbye to the Swedish legend there as well.

The next question on the rise is, will fnatic as the rumor suggests, go on to sign the Dane Michael "Friis" Jørgensen? Stay tuned as we will update you once fnatic have announced their new fifth.