[EMEA] The Story of Angelboy (BSEN Exclusive)
- BSEN
- 1 hour ago
- 11 min read
Yaroslav “Angelboy” Labunets is an Ukrainian professional player who has been around the BSC scene for 4 years. Having attended multiple LAN events and delivered multiple outstanding performances, Angelboy is seen as one of the best players in EMEA. But, how exactly did he rise to be the strong and feared player that he is today?
Rocky Start and Important Signing
Angelboy debuted in 2022 where he began his competitive journey in a Russian organization, BakS eSports EU. He was signed to the organization alongside teammates Lars and NeeDeeN, previous players for an F/A team Two and a Half Men, coach Selavi, manager Selas, and content creator VitRein.
Together they have played in the May EMEA Finals, where they unfortunately weren’t met with satisfying results. In the quarterfinals, they faced Reply Totem, whom they swiftly defeated 2-0, but in the Semifinals they had to confront Tribe Gaming EU, one of the strongest EMEA teams at the time. As fate would have it, BakS fell to Tribe EU 1-3. After the May Finals, Angelboy leaves the team due to roster instability and not wanting to play with stand-ins.
Angelboy was then signed to NAVI to play with EECA legends Cube, Alekzz, and MMA. He saw this signing as a chance to “make the team shine like never before.”
Finishing the season, NAVI gathered enough points by finishing 2nd place in the final two Monthly Finals of the year to qualify for the World Finals as 5th seed in EMEA, securing one of the last spots for the region. On the stage in Paris they were met against the powerhouse of North America, Tribe Gaming NA. The runner-ups of the 2021 World Finals were not able to withstand Tribe, as they lost the match in a sweep, and thus ending Angelboy’s first competitive year.
Terrible Season, Great Offseason
For the 2023 season, NAVI decided to keep the same roster, but Alekzz had other plans. He departs from the organization on December 15th, 2022, leaving the team as just a three-man army. To add more salt to the wound, the team wasn’t performing well. In February they were defeated by Reply Totem, and in March they were unable to qualify for the Monthly Final. The rest of the season was not much better for them; however, in April, they were able to come out on top, securing a much needed boost in BSC points.
NAVI finished the season in a disappointing 7th place in EMEA, thus starting Angelboy’s streak of LCQ attendances. While the regular season didn’t show it, NAVI still had something in them, and during LCQ, they went all out. They were placed in Group D alongside REJECT (EA), SKCalalas (SA), and Marcos Gaming (India). In their opening match against SKCalalas, there were not any issues in sweeping their opponents, who didn’t even take a game off of Angelboy’s squad. Moving to the Winners Match, the same fate that SKC met was awaiting REJECT, as NAVI left them barely any room to breathe, dropping only a single game.
On the final day NAVI was drawn to EMEA’s 5th seed, VN Esporting, consisting of Mebius, Rama, and Nob. Judging by the EMEA leaderboard, this seemed to be VN’s game, but one of the many things NAVI is known for is their LCQ 2023 performance, and they did not disappoint. They defeated VN Esporting 3-1 and grabbed the Golden Ticket to World Finals as their own.
As great as NAVI’s LCQ performance was, the same cannot be said about their World Finals performance. They were put in Group B with Tribe Gaming and Reply Totem. The North American squad showed dominance in their group, leaving NAVI and Totem to fight for their tournament lives, and they sure did. Totem first takes the opening set while NAVI takes the next two. Set four and five were a true test for both teams, as it was truly down to the wire, but in the end, the double match point was not in Angelboy’s favor, and NAVI exited the tournament with a mere 9th-12th place finish.
Many Roster Changes, Results Still the Same
The next year started the worst it ever could for Angelboy. MMA announced his retirement, the organization moved to the East Asia region, signing I see, Achapi, and Levi, leaving Angelboy and Cube in an inactive position. A week after NAVI’s new roster was announced, the two players from last year left the organization, leaving them to compete under an F/A status. They joined forces with Nob, a player who was trying out with Angelboy and Cube after 2023’s LCQ and playing tournaments instead of MMA. This marked the beginning of Team Ogurchiki, who kicked off their season on the right note by qualifying to March’s Monthly Finals from the upper bracket, defeating SK Gaming. Before they could even play the Monthly Finals, an organization by the name of Oceanus Gaming signed Team Ogurchiki.
What seemed to be a great season for Angelboy turned out to be yet another year with subpar results, as his team wasn’t performing all that well playing for Oceanus Gaming. After their defeat against HMBLE in the May Monthly Finals, Cube called it quits and retired from the competitive scene. Following this decision, the organization announced the discontinuation of their Brawl Stars roster on June 6th, 2024, leaving Angelboy and Nob once again without an organization and without a teammate.
To replace Cube, Team Ogurchiki brought in Drage, who previously played for FUT Esports. Unfortunately for them, the results stayed the same, as the team was eliminated in both June and July during semifinals. It wasn’t all bad for Angelboy, as his team placed 4th in EMEA at the end of the season, which was his best finish yet, but not enough for a direct spot at the World Finals, which meant only one thing–LCQ once more. To add fuel to the fire, Nob’s visa was rejected, which meant he couldn’t attend the LAN.
The same year, long legends STMN, after their incredible 2nd place finish at the 2023 World Finals, did not manage to qualify for the postseason at all. Bobby wasn’t in the best shape after such a devastating result, staying inactive for the postseason, but that inactivity period was cut short as he was called to Europe to team up with Team Ogurchiki for LCQ as Nob’s stand-in. The roster was then acquired by STMN. This marked the third roster change in Angelboy’s team during the same year. Entering the event as a fan-favorite, STMN EU quickly took care of business in the group stage, sweeping Luminosity Gaming and defeating Connections 2-1. At this point everyone’s eyes were on STMN EU, as they had to face the dark horses in Eclipsar Esport. With a hectic match being pushed all the way, Angelboy once more had to make way for their opponents, as Eclipsar upset STMN EU in five sets, giving them the World Finals spot, and leaving Angelboy with yet another heartbreak.
Joining Forces with the Gladiators
Many rumors during Rostermania hinted that Angelboy would team up with the long-time duo in Maru and Maury at Reply Totem, and true those rumors were as Reply Totem announces Angelboy’s addition to the team on January 17th, 2025. Many fans were cheering on them, expecting Totem to be a World Finals caliber team, and Totem sure delivered to their fans by scoring a respectable 2nd place finish in the pre-season Champions Invitational tournament, only losing out to SK Gaming. Yet after that, Totem was nowhere to be seen.
In a shocking turn of events, the gladiators failed to qualify for the first Monthly Finals of the year, putting them at a huge disadvantage. In the following months, while managing to qualify for the Monthly Finals, they severely underperformed, exiting in the quarterfinals almost every time, except for July, where they bested Team Heretics in a double match point scenario. This seemed to many that Totem finally regained their momentum, and August should look really good for them, especially after signing the young prodigy in Guesti to a coach position, but they would be left in disappointment once more, as Totem fails to qualify for August’s Monthly Final, finishing off the regular season in 7th place and sending Angelboy to his third LCQ in a row, but this time, he definitely did not disappoint.
Ahead of the LCQ, in mutual agreement, Guesti has parted ways with Totem. In his spot, Drage was brought in, looking for a shot at redemption after a bad year with Team Heretics. Inside Totem's LCQ group was also NAVI (EA), his previous organization, Chapter of Happiness (China), and UPCore Esports (South Asia). Totem first showed CoH their spot by sweeping them 3-0, then what everyone thought would be a competitive match, Totem made look easy by also sweeping NAVI, qualifying to Day 3 very easily, but their Golden Ticket Match would be far from easy as they had to face North America’s superstars Team Elektros. Kicking off the match, Team Elektros showed no mercy, taking the opening two sets. It seemed like it would be yet another Championship Sunday exit for Angelboy, leaving him with more heartbreaks than he needed to have, but Totem weren’t called “Gladiators” for no reason. Set three? Totem sweeps. Set four? Totem wins despite match point. Set five? Totem pulls off a masterclass performance on Heist and reverse sweeps Team Elektros in what was one of the most memorable matches during the entire event.
Entering World Finals, Totem was finally seen as a strong contender, and carrying on their momentum from LCQ, they first shocked the world by stomping on Team Heretics 3-1. This was it, Totem was finally back in full swing, but so was the South American powerhouse LOUD who defeated them 1-3. The decider match of Group C wasn’t easy as well, as REJECT wasn’t feared for no reason. Totem opens the decider match by taking the first set, while REJECT takes the next two. Even if the situation seemed sour, Totem did not give up, taking the remaining two sets in spectacular fashion, therefore qualifying to Championship Sunday as Group C’s second seed. In the quarterfinals, however, one of the fan-favorites of the tournament was waiting for them, that being none other than SK Gaming, seen as one of the contenders for the title. While the result didn’t show it, Totem put up a great fight, but ultimately it was not enough to get them the win. SK Gaming moved on to the semifinals by sweeping Totem, ending Angelboy’s 2025 season. That same year, on December 28th, Reply Totem announced Angelboy’s departure from the roster.
The Breakout Year
This year, Angelboy has reunited with his 2024 teammate, Nob, as well as his former coach, Guesti to form an unstoppable team. Everyone speculated that this roster would sign to NAVI, who was going to return to EMEA after two years, but due to FUT Esports’ greater offer, the squad ended up being signed by them instead. Immediately they were seen as one of the strongest teams in EMEA, and in the opening month they showed everyone why.
During the Monthly Qualifiers, they swept Snow Crystal and BIG and were staring down HMBLE in the Upper Bracket Finals. Unfortunately, HMBLE was the one coming on top, sweeping FUT Esports and sending them to the lower bracket. In the lower bracket, they were facing none other than their own academy. Teaching them how it’s done, they sweep FUT Academy and qualify for the first Monthly Finals of the year.
FUT Esports was simply unstoppable entering the Monthly Final, first taking care of business against Team Heretics, then sweeping away dark horses F/A CMM, and then the qualifiers would repeat, as they were once more facing HMBLE, but this time, it was all FUT. The team’s amazing drafts and impressive gameplay helped defeat the 2024 World Champions and 2025 Runner-ups in four sets, earning Angelboy’s second Monthly Finals title, Nob’s and Guesti’s first, and the organization’s first after 3 years of competition.
Moving forward into the 2026 season, BSEN had opportunity to interview Angelboy about his competitive journey and his expectations for the up-and-coming year.
— Having won the first monthly finals of the year against HMBLE, how do you plan to keep this momentum up for the rest of the year?
“We won the first monthly finals of the year, which is very important for our confidence—the confidence that we are doing everything right. But at the end of the day, to prove ourselves as the best team in Europe, we have to win at least two monthly finals in a row. HMBLE is probably the greatest team to ever exist, and they are still better than us in some key aspects, so we are not going to get complacent. We will continue to work hard to retain this position. We are still a young team with a lot of room to grow, and it takes time. I’m glad that we won this one early, but being realistic, we are yet to truly prove ourselves.”
— What has been the biggest issue you've encountered the past years that you hope to fix this year and the coming years?
“Issue of the past years? I can only speak about 2025, as it is the only season I spent without some random roster changes. I think the biggest problem for Totem is that we weren’t on the same page when it came to our gameplay. From day 1, it felt like we didn’t understand each other very well, but I’m glad that by the time we reached the World Finals, we were a strong team that was capable of becoming world champion on a good day. That day turned out to be the worst I’ve had to date, which is really unfortunate because I wanted to finish the story nicely.”
— What made you keep trying to play again each year in BSC?
“Even if I don’t enjoy the game as much as I once did, the goal hasn’t lost any of its importance to me. I want to be the world champion, and that means I would do anything to become the world champion. My hard work has been underpaid in terms of achievements, so winning the Monthly Finals felt like a breath of fresh air—a sign that whatever I’m doing is not for nothing. Last year, for the first four Monthly Finals, I spent 6-8 hours alongside Guesti and xCasta working on draft theory. Normally, people can’t do it for 30 minutes without getting bored. I did it for 8 hours, every day—for both qualifiers and Monthly Finals. I didn’t take a break; I kept going. I have nightmares before every match day, yet I’m doing what I’m doing, and all of that was just to lose in the quarterfinals—if we even made it—while others would win monthlies going in on 30 minutes of pep talk before the match. I have not given up in the worst possible times; I will not give up even if I’m hit with something worse. And sure as hell I will not get complacent from winning a single Monthly Finals. It’s not why I’m here.”
— It's obvious that Guesti is a star - and one you've known for a while, as we've seen in Matcherinos and other third party events. How did you come to meet EMEA's new super rookie and find yourself teaming with him for 2026?
“Guesti has the potential to become the greatest player to ever play this game. I have never stopped believing in him and never will. I met him when he beat my ass in 2024 in some of the matcherinos, and I decided to see for myself what the deal was, so I invited him to play some tournaments together. Tournament after tournament, I didn’t want to play without him anymore. That’s how it started. We kept in touch, and he kept changing my perspective about the game for the better—we would never lose together. When the time came to choose the way to go into 2026, it was very clear what I wanted.”
— After almost 3 years you have achieved a second monthly finals victory, at this moment do you think you are in your prime compared to your 2023 LCQ performance?
“Prime is a wide term. There are aspects to every player. Do I have more dominant mechanics than I did back then? No. I’m ass and I’m working on it every day. Is my game sense better than it was back then? For sure. Is my drafting better than in 2023? I didn’t even draft back then, so yes, I’m a better drafter. Two out of three aspects that I’m better at right now—that makes me a better player than I was back in 2023.”
— Was the ranked challenge with some of the SK Gaming players spontaneous or was it planned prior to OPE's tweet? Will there be any more friendly banters like this in the future?
“I just happened to beat OPE’s ass in one of the ranked games, and he wanted his revenge. Well, he bit off more than he could chew.”
— Anything you’d like to say to your fans?
“BUY THE FUT BUNDLE and pls put some respect on Nob’s name he is sacrificing himself in order to make us shine 😢“
