Who is chrisJ?

Dutchman Chris “chrisJ” de Jong was his country’s most iconic representative in CS:GO for over eight years, as Valve’s competitive shooter developed into a global phenomenon. Now at 32, chrisJ can look back at almost an entire decade spent on the payroll of MOUZ. A legend for the German organization, de Jong was a cornerstone of the brand’s CS:GO division, looking over the development of many of the scene’s most beloved players.

Although he consistently failed to secure individual accolades, chrisJ was a likable figure in the community for many years, eventually garnering many fans and even becoming a Counter-Strike meme for his ability to return to the active lineup after being removed. In recent times, however, de Jong has become a controversial figure partly due to his polarizing stances on various social issues, including vaccination.

Nonetheless, his time on MOUZ established him one of the most relevant players of the 2010s, especially as one of the great pioneers of international CS:GO. At a time when most rosters were regional or national, chrisJ made the jump from his native Benelux to form a successful partnership with MOUZ. To this day, chrisJ, therefore, remains the Netherlands’ most influential and accomplished player.

ChrisJ is one of MOUZ’s most iconic players. Credit: ESL/Helena Kristiansson

chrisJ‘s Counter-Strike beginnings

chrisJ’s career started in Counter-Strike 1.6, although the AWPer claims to have taken his first steps in CS on Source in 2005. It would take a few years before the AWPer flourished into an internationally recognized talent. In the early 2010s, he started appearing in international events with Dutch quintets in KaOs, LowLandLions, and Antwerp Aces. de Jong became his country’s primary sniper in Nations Cup, with limited success, and made an international splash with Spanish organization Karont3 e-Sports Club, playing alongside future teammates Johannes “TabseN” Wodarz and Nikola “LEGIJA” Ninić.

Unlike many, chrisJ almost immediately made the jump to CS:GO alongside his Dutch colleagues, first in a mix called chillteam and then in LowLandLions. His first break came in May 2013, when he was recruited by German organization n!faculty, fielding TabseN and LEGIJA alongside long-time players André “Kirby” Kempa and Simon “smn” Beck. Even though the roster was short-lived, chrisJ and LEGIJA stuck together on Playing Ducks, led by Finn “karrigan” Andersen, and then on mix PartyDaddlers. The team recorded solid results domestically and internationally, eventually signed by MOUZ in October 2013.

chrisJ in MOUZ: the German and NiKo eras

The new MOUZ roster would pick up Fatih “gob b” Dayik and TabseN. Still, mediocre international results would turn the organization into a revolving door of players around names such as karrigan, Aleksi “allu” Jalli, and Tizian “tiziaN” Feldbusch. When MOUZ acquired Nikola “NiKo” Kovač in April 2015, the quintet finally became more competitive in European events, although they could not break into a Major top-eight. After crashing out of the ESL One Cologne Major in July 2016, the German organization finally committed to their international turn and acquired Czech AWPer Tomáš “oskar” Å tastný, Spanish talent Christian “loWel” Garcia Antoran, and Ukrainian coach Sergey “lmbt” Bezhanov.

loWel’s addition partly helped alleviate MOUZ’s firepower issues. Credit: ESL/Adela Sznajder

Although oskar would remove himself from the lineup after just two months because of personal issues, chrisJ led NiKo, loWel, Denis “denis” Howell, and Timo “Spiidi” Richter to a top-four placement at ESL Pro League Season 4 finals and a further playoff finish at ELEAGUE Season 2. Unfortunately, the Major proved to be chrisJ’s bane once again, as the team crashed out of ELEAGUE Atlanta in late January 2017 and lost its star, NiKo, in the process.

The ropz era: chrisJ‘s first titles and his fall

chrisJ was benched in late January to make room for oskar but returned to action soon after that. He turned a new page in his career, developing into a solid supportive rifler with invaluable talent on the secondary AWP. MOUZ then secured the services of Estonian prodigy Robin “ropz” Kool, but once again, a failed Major run would be the catalyst for improvement. The day after crashing out of the PGL Major in Krakow, loWel and Denis were removed to make room for Martin “STYKO” Styk and Miikka “suNny” Kempi of HellRaisers and PENTA, respectively.

The quintet remembered as the “budget superteam” took home MOUZ’s first CS:GO title in their second LAN, ESG Tour Mykonos 2017, with a dominant showing. The team became a true contender over the last few months of the year, recording a top-four placement at DreamHack Open Denver and second place at the HellCase Cup 8, DreamHack Open Winter 2017, and the ECS Season 4 Finals. At the Boston Major in January 2018, chrisJ finally broke the curse and led MOUZ to the playoffs, where they would be eliminated by NiKo’s FaZe.

MOUZ captured their first-ever CS:GO title at the picturesque ESG Tour Mykonos event. Credit: ESL Tour

As its stars flourished, MOUZ took home back-to-back titles at StarSeries Season 4 and the V4 Future Sports Festival and dominated the European Pro League Division. Among the plethora of top-four placements, a second place to FaZe at ESL One Belo Horizonte stands out, as chrisJ picked the AWP back up due to oskar missing the event. As a result, the Dutchman recorded the event’s third-highest HLTV rating of 1.29. MOUZ, however, then crashed out of the London Major with an abysmal 0-3 record, leading to STYKO losing his place to Janusz “⁠Snax⁠” Pogorzelski.

With Snax in the fold, MOUZ dominated the opposition at ESL One New York, defeating home favorites Liquid in the best-of-five final thanks to a spectacular performance by chrisJ, which earned him the “Wolf of Wall Street” nickname. Unfortunately, MOUZ would never again reach the heights of the American event, crashing out of the following tournaments and recalling STYKO from his Cloud9 loan, citing “a clear mismatch in chemistry in-game” with Snax. The decision would prove unfortunate, with MOUZ missing the following Katowice Major and changing the roster.

The end of chrisJ‘s career: where is he now?

Despite the failure of the last months of his tenure, chrisJ would again return to the active roster in March, as MOUZ unveiled the signings of Karrigan, David “frozen” Černanśki, and Özgür “woxic” Eker. Unfortunately, as the team shifted away from two-AWP setups, chrisJ’s stats took a big hit, and the team stumbled from mediocrity to the eventual deep run. The end of 2019 meant success for MOUZ, who took home the CS:GO Asia Championship, the EPL Season 10 Finals, and cs_summit 5, but this was short-lived. As 2020 rolled around, the COVID-19 pandemic saw chrisJ’s individual performances drop off significantly, even after woxic lost his place in August, and the Big Green was handed over to the Dutchman.

In early 2021 chrisJ was benched for a third and last time to make room for Fredrik “acoR” Gyldstrand. chrisJ has since tried a short-lived return to professional CS on loan to FPX. After negotiations with the Chinese organization fell through, he stopped actively looking for a new team. As a player, chrisJ was one of the founding board members of the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA) and the association’s World Ranking Player Committee. His role was marred by controversy, as the Dutch AWPer appeared unprepared on key issues. Counter-Strike players faced, and often unprofessional.

Today chrisJ is one of the few former players not to dabble in Twitch streaming, rarely appearing on social media. However, according to esportsearnings.com, chrisJ earned over $600K USD in prize money throughout his career and has collected various skins. Most recently, he was seen using a Bayonet | Stained as his knife of choice, the Asiimov for his AWP skin, the AK-47 | Aquamarine Revenge and the M4A1-S | Nitro for his rifles, and the Glock-18 | Water Elemental, the USP | Cortex, and the Deagle | Trigger Discipline for his pistols.

chrisJ‘s crosshair settings

In CS:GO, chrisJ used the following crosshair settings:

• Draw Outline – 1
• Alpha – 255
• Color – 4
• Blue – 0; Green – 0; Red – 0
• Dot – 0
• Gap – 1
• Size – 3
• Style – 4
• Thickness – 1

chrisJ‘s keyboard and mouse

de Jong’s preferred keyboard is the Razer Blackwidow Chroma TE V2, while his most recently used mouse in professional play is the Dream Machines DM2 Comfy, with the following settings:

• DPI – 800
• Sensitivity – 1.19 (although he has also used 1.11)
• eDPI – 952
• Zoom Sensitivity – 1.00
• Hz – 1000
• Windows Sensitivity – 6
• Raw Input – 1
• Mouse Acceleration – 0

chrisJ‘s monitor and video settings:

chrisJ’s monitor is a 240Hz ZOWIE XL2546 with the following video settings:

• Resolution – 1280×1024
• Aspect Ratio – 5:4
• Scaling Mode – Stretched
• Color Mode – Computer Monitor
• Brightness – 100%
• Display Mode – Fullscreen

Furthermore, his graphical settings are:

• Global Shadow Quality – High
• Model / Texture Detail – Low
• Texture Streaming – Disabled
• Effect Detail – Low
• Shader Detail – Low
• Boost Player Contrast – Enabled
• Multicore Rendering – Enabled
• Multisampling Anti-Aliasing Mode – None
• FXAA Anti-Aliasing – Disabled
• Texture Filtering Mode –
• Wait for Vertical Sync – Disabled
• Motion Blur – Disabled