NAVI Valorant pro ANGE1 retires after 20 years competing

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 05/09/2025

Valorant and former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) pro Kyrylo ‘ANGE1’ Karasov has announced he is retiring from competing.

The 35-year-old has had a storied career after competing in esports tournaments for 20 years, with his first appearance coming in 2006.

That is the same year that his Natus Vincere teammate, Emirhan ‘hiro’ Kat, was born.

The Ukrainian says he is now shifting his focus to coaching ahead of the VCT 2026 season.

Speaking about why he has now decided to retire, ANGE1 explained:

“After taking a small break, I understood that it takes too much focus and energy for me to compete on the highest level.

“I truly did my best in the last 2 years, but expectation and reality unfortunately did not meet.

“I still believe in my vision of the game. And there are a lot of things I learnt during this long-ass career. So let’s not be sad; one journey ends, and another one begins.”

Now, Ange1 is looking to channel his vast experience into coaching, having led NAVI as in-game leader since 2022.

Considering his knowledge, any teams that secures ANGE1 as a coach will surely go up in the estimations of Valorant betting sites.

It was a disappointing year for NAVI in VCT EMEA.

They finished amongst the bottom teams in the Kick-Off and 5th-6th in Stage 1 of VCT EMEA. They then failed to qualify for the Esports World Cup.

NAVI appeared to bounce back in Stage 2 but had to settle for fourth place after losing 2-1 to GIANTX.

Reflecting on the defeat, ANGE1 said: “Proud of the progress we showed this split, but it was clearly not enough.”

That defeat meant that NAVI didn’t rack up enough VCT Championship Points to be one of the 16 teams competing at Valorant Champions Paris 2025.

The 20-year CS:GO and Valorant esports career of ANGE1

ANGE1 had a very impressive career competing at the top level of CS:GO for around 15 years before then switching to Valorant.

Most of his success came during a six-year stint on the roster of HellRaisers, winning various A-Tier tournaments and finishing top four in the StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3.

Despite various accolades, ANGE1 told HLTV in 2019: “I have not left my mark on the history of CS:GO.”

A year later, his quest for glory took him to Valorant as he helped FunPlus Phoenix found their first team in the game.

With FPX came the greatest triumph of his career, winning the Valorant Masters Copenhagen in 2022.

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

In my seven years of esports writing, I've introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I'm most proud of the latter.

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