Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen is rarely G2 Esports’ top fragger, but that hasn’t stopped fans from treating him like a superstar.
Shortly after becoming G2 Esports captain, HooXi was immediately torn to shreds by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans for his low-impact rifling skills. Now just a few short weeks later, those same fans are celebrating every kill and brigading MVP votes in his favor. What caused HooXi to go from a total meme to CSGO esports’ biggest gigachad?
HooXi is the newest member of the G2 Esports CSGO roster. After a suspenseful search for a new in-game leader, the former Copenhagen Flames captain was brought in to lead the squad on August 16. With so much fragging power on the team already, it made sense to bring in a less statistically impactful player. However, HooXi’s first matches on G2 Esports were some of his worst-ever performances.
On his debut map at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups, HooXi scored nine kills with 22 deaths averaging 50.3 damage per round in a loss to Team Liquid. In a later series against Team Vitality, HooXi scored only two kills on the decisive third map. In addition to abysmal score lines, HooXi was also involved in multiple blunders and silly mistakes at BLAST Premier Fall Groups. G2 Esports ultimately placed sixth.
Unsurprisingly, CSGO fans immediately took the chance to roast the IGL. Fans began treating any instance of decent play as godlike with no equal. HooXi’s name became synonymous with the GIGACHAD emote, which flooded chat every time he appeared on stream. More-involved fans even began raiding HLTV MVP votes to put HooXi on top. Even the G2 Esports organization itself jumped on the dogpile.
HooXi gigachad meme suddenly becomes reality
As fans became more and more invested in HooXi’s relatively mediocre play, something strange began to happen. Instead of maintaining his forgettable killscore, HooXi began visibly improving.
In a matter of weeks, HooXi went from single-digit scorelines to consistent 1+ HLTV ratings. He has so far averaged 67.8 damage at ESL Pro League Season 16, helping G2 secure top seeding in its group. He earned a peak 1.39 rating during a 13-2 stomp over Outsiders. HooXi also picked up a few highlights along the way including a spirited two-man clutch against MiBR.Â
As a result of his lightning-fast improvement, the HooXi GIGACHAD meme has flipped around to being completely unironic. Despite not being obligated to score kills in any way, HooXi is definitely pulling his weight on G2 Esports. If the squad rides its top seed to victory at ESL Pro League 16, there’s no doubt that fans will flock to vote for HooXi MVP.
