Edouard "SmithZz" Dubourdeaux has officially announced his retirement from competitive Counter-Strike.
SmithZz: The unsung hero of the French scene
SmithZz began his career way back in 2006 in Counter-Strike: Source. Through years of shuffling different French teams with varying success, he would hook up with Richard “shox” Papillon – a bond that would extend into Global Offensive.
When the new version of Counter-Strike dropped in August 2012 SmithZz was on a VeryGames team that was quick to make the transition, and so his CS:GO journey began. Aside from VeryGames, he would go on to play for Titan, LDLC, Envy and G2 in the following years, winning a dozen trophies in the process.
SmithZz was front and center for the multiple roster alterations in the mid-2010s that would go on to be known as the “French shuffles”, and the very first one of those would prove his lucky omen. The player exchange threw SmithZz on the LDLC roster alongside his pal shox, Nathan “NBK” Schmitt, Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey and team captain Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer. This lineup would go on to win the fourth ever CS:GO Major - DreamHack Winter 2014, the peak of SmithZz’s professional playing career.
The veteran’s playing days seemed to have reached an end when he moved into a coaching role with G2 in February 2017, but the team’s disastrous results at the start of 2018 brought SmithZz back in the server for one last push.
His return would not last long, however. SmithZz’s final game would be a 2-1 loss to Renegades at the ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals on December 6, 2018 – putting an end to a career spanning over a decade. The now-former player has been streaming actively throughout 2019 and his future plans are to continue doing so.
SmithZz was never the flashiest of players and would take the unrewarding support role on some of the best French teams in a time when French Counter-Strike was a force. That led to him usually being forgotten in CS:GO conversations but the truth is that the 31-year-old has served the game we love better than most and deserves a salute from every real fan in his retirement.
