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DarK

From Liquipedia Counter-Strike Wiki
[e][h]DarK
Player Information
Name:
Ruben Bielenberg
Nationality:
Born:
December 12, 1983 (age 40)
Status:
Years Active (Player):
2001 – 2006
Approx. Total Winnings:
$16,375
History
2000-??-?? – 2002-??-??
2002-06-25 – 2002-10-12
2003-04-?? – 2003-06-13
2003-07-01 – 2004-11-24
2005-04-21 – 2005-??-??
2005-08-30 – 2006-01-04


Ruben "DarK" Bielenberg (born December 12, 1983) is a retired Norwegian professional Counter-Strike player.

Biography[edit]

DarK is one of the few players that entered competitive Counter-Strike with an already established reputation. As a Quake 2 player he was part of the legendary Memento Mori team. After a short spell in Quake 3 he jumped into the world of Counter-Strike and it didn't take long before he had made his mark. Playing for Massive Attack he took 4th place at CPL Winter 2001, a big result as this was the most prestigious tournament at that point in CS. Massive Attack crumbled in the next few months and DarK joined up as a member of the vesslan led Nordic Division. Around this point in time his team leader would declare him the best player in the world. As a member of Nordic Division he won CPL Cologne before following stand-in XeqtR into a new SK Gaming lineup.

If his play with Nordic Division and Massive Attack had been impressive then playing with SK Gaming was a step up to another level. The team overcame a poor performance at LAN Arena 7 to win CPL Summer 2002. DarK's play in the finals in particular was key as he secured a number of important 2v2 2v3 type rounds against a GameOnline team who were hungry for the win. After winning this event SK Gaming took a short hiatus from competitive play while XeqtR vacationed meaning DarK attended CPL Oslo in his home country but only as a spectator. As chance would have it the team he watched win the event, eoLithic, would become his new home only months later when SK Gaming decided to go all Swedish.

Playing with eoLithic things looked promising as the team won the EuroCup VI finals over mTw and won the MindtrekLAN CPL qualifier convincingly. At this point they were considered the best team in the world thanks to their dominance of the best European teams. When CPL Winter 2002 came around things quickly went wrong at every step for the Norwegians and DarK. Losses to zEx, team9 and rs left eoLithic in a paltry 8th place. Before the mood in the eoLithic camp could get too down element was brought back into the fold in place of Damien and an allstar lineup looked set to do big things in the near future. At Clikarena DarK and eoL barely lost in a tense final against vesslan's esu. Having beaten SK Gaming on the way to that 2nd they followed that up with another victory over them in the ESWC qualifier. Again eoLithic looked to be poised for huge things but yet again disaster struck. elemeNt decided to join up with SK Gaming and quickly the team fell apart.


DarK's old SK Gaming team-mate Xenon heard he would be moving to the UK to study and so invited him to play with 4Kings. At CPL Summer 2003 the team played to a high level before placing 5th but with the promise of a better placing. The team had lost in the most narrow of fashions when Bullseye infamously won a 1v3 with a deagle in overtime. Playing for 4Kings meant a life of leisure as the team was notorious for rarely practicing, instead hoping they would play well on the day of an event. At CPL Winter 2003 the team placed 8th after a satisfactory but not stellar tournament's play. Summer of 2004 proved a less successful period for DarK and his 4Kings team-mates as they first lost the ESWC qualifier to =WOLF= and then went out to NoA in overtime at CPL Summer 2004 well outside of a respectable placing. The =WOLF= result especially stung since DarK had experienced computer problems at one point when the machine froze while he was defusing meaning they lost the round. This caused him to throw the monitor in a momentary lapse of rage.

That period of poor results combined with his school work meant DarK bowed out of international competition for a while. He resurfaced in 2005 after accepting an invitation from GamerCompany to play for them at WEG season 2 in Korea. The team were unable to make any significant progress there but with a team featuring method as a stand-in they took 3rd at CPL Summer 2005. When his old buddy XeqtR asked him to join NoA DarK headed back to Korea for another crack at WEG season 3. Despite some victories along the way losses to wNv.gm, serious and project_kr saw the team exit the tournament. The rest of 2005 saw DarK competing with a pug at the Norwegian WCG qualifier unsuccessfully and then attending CPL Winter as a stand-in for the Norwegian team Aftermath. In early 2006 he was replaced in NoA and after th departure has only been seen playing for XpreZ but not on a competitive basis

Impact and legacy[edit]

DarK is one of the few players whose career seems to have gone backwards. He came into CS as a gaming legend in his country, then had his best placings. Then each year saw good placings but gradually at lower and lower frequency until eventually he seemed to just be sticking around for overseas trips. That said his impact was more significant than some may at first give it credit. Coming from Norway, a country with a very poor record of fully sponsored teams, DarK managed to carve out a very respectable career for himself. Being headhunted by teams like Nordic Division and SK Gaming showed how highly his play was regarded by the Swedish elite of that period. In eoLithic he was a solid teamplayer and one can only wonder what those teams could have done but for sunman shooting Damien through two walls and elemeNt jumping ship.

DarK's legacy is as one of the best Norwegian players ever and someone who despite a lot of tournaments which didn't go his way always earned the respect of his team-mates and still took down some big time placings when all was said and done.

Achievements[edit]

DatePlacementTierTypeTournamentTeamResultPrize
2005-12-115th - 8thS-TierOfflineCounter-StrikeWEGWEGWEG 2005 S03NoA1/0/2Grp. S.$2,000
2005-07-103rdS-TierOfflineCounter-StrikeCPLCPLCPL Summer 2005GamerCompanyGamerCompany10 - 16SK GamingSK Gaming$7,000
2005-07-015th - 8thS-TierOfflineCounter-StrikeWEGWEGWEG 2005 S02GamerCompanyGamerCompany0/0/3Grp. S.$2,000
2003-08-162ndB-TierOfflineCounter-StrikeCampus Party 20034Kings0 : 2Advanced Online Losers$4,222.03
2003-08-035thS-TierOfflineCounter-StrikeCPLCPL2003 CPL Summer4Kings7 - 13Team9$12,000
2003-04-212ndS-TierOfflineCounter-StrikeClikArenaClikArenaClikArena 2003eoLithic7 - 13Team9$10,856
2002-12-228thS-TierOfflineCounter-StrikeCPLCPLCPL Winter 2002eoLithic11 - 13Team9$2,000
2002-06-241stS-TierOfflineCounter-StrikeCPLCPL2002 CPL SummerSK GamingSK Gaming2 : 1GameOnline$25,000
2002-05-191stS-TierOfflineCounter-StrikeCPLCPLCPL Europe Cologne 2002Nordic DivisionNordic Division13 - 8against All authority$9,205
2001-12-094thS-TierOfflineCounter-StrikeCPLCPLCPL Winter 2001Massive AttackMassive Attack14 - 16mTw$8,000
About achievementsComplete Results in any Tournament

Media[edit]

References[edit]