Written by Rusty Glaze

When I told my wife Jessica I was going to write a short story about Mishka Knyazev, she responded “Who is Mishka Knyazev?”. My response to her “One of the most dominant X-ball paintball players of all time”. Her response confirmed the reason I wanted to write a short story about Mishka Knyazev.

In other major professional sports, the fans and the media usually gravitate towards the players who are flashy, louder, and often times gimmicky. Professional paintball is no different, a select small group of players get a majority of the attention. Sometimes highly gifted professional players fly under the radar, even while stacking win after win. One of the reasons I helped create Paintball Win Count, was to highlight the professional paintball players that are doing the one thing that matters most – Winning.

Mishka Knyazev is one of those select individuals who has flown under the radar. Most of the media attention surrounding his accomplishments are showered on his fellow super star teammate Konstantin Fedrov. You may not know much about Mishka Knyazev, but there isn’t a professional paintball player out there who doesn’t know him. He is a factor on the paintball field that can’t be overlooked, teams watch Mishka Knyazev play paintball and make game plans against him. He is one of the most talented professional paintball players of all time and has the win count to prove it.

The first time I heard about Mishka Knyazev was the year 2002 and I was just a first year rookie on the professional Team Avalanche. We were at the Campaign Cup in England, our prelim draw had us playing the Russian Legion (back when they wore pajama uniforms). My Avalanche teammates warned me about this player on the Russian Legion with a leopard sandana named Mishka, as they put it “he is the Michael Jordan of European Paintball”.

Since we would be playing them in the first round, I had to go check this Mishka guy out. I was able to catch a Russian Legion game and see Mishka Knyazev in action for the first time. Mishka was over the top of a 50 yard line snake beam looking across the field and shooting at the player in the back left corner at the same time. He was able to shoot that player out without looking. Then without even turning his head to confirm the kill, he called it out, he knew he had shot the player. I knew right then, I was looking at a person who was specially designed to play the game of paintball.

Another example of his talent was at another event in Europe. Mishka Knyazev was such a damage factor that when Dynasty played the Russian Legion, they specifically chose the side of the field that forced Mishka to play left-handed (he could not shoot left-handed at that time – see above) in an attempt to handicap him. Keep in mind, Dynasty was in a peak period gobbling up a handful of tournament wins. Mishka Knyazev made such an impact on the paintball field, a top team like Dynasty had to consider unconventional ways to neutralize him.

In my opinion, Mishka Knyazev has earned the respect of every professional paintball player who has ever competed against him. No one could ever say “he is not that good”, every player had to respect his talent. He has been a top caliber player since the early 2000s and he still reigns supreme as an elite champion player. Mishka Knyazev has been a top paid professional paintball player for over 14 years.

Has Mishka Knyazev earned his pay?

Despite being one of the most elite paintball champions, Mishka Knyazev is one of the most humble players in the sport of paintball. While Mishka Knyazev has every right to get in front of the cameras and brag about all of his wins and personal accomplishments, he just doesn’t, it is just not in his nature. Mishka Knyazev is a coaches dream player, he is a workhorse who goes out point after point, does his assigned job, stacks his stats, scores points, collects wins and smiles. That’s it.

No flash, no gimmick, no cocky flare ups, no trash talk. Mishka Knyazev is a true professional athlete in the sport of paintball.

2004 PSP North East Open – Russian Legion
2006 PSP Las Vegas Open – Russian Legion
2006 PSP So-Cal Open – Russian Legion
2006 PSP WORLD CUP – Russian Legion
2006 PSP Series Champions – Russian Legion
2007 PSP MAO – Russian Legion
2007 PSP River City Open – Russian Legion
2009 PSP Chicago Open – Russian Legion
2009 PSP WORLD CUP – Russian Legion
2009 PSP Series Champions – Russian Legion
2010 PSP MAO – Russian Legion
2010 PSP WORLD CUP – Russian Legion
2011 PSP Chicago Open – Russian Legion
2012 PSP Phoenix Open – Houston Heat
2012 PSP MAO Open – Houston Heat
2012 PSP WORLD CUP – Houston Heat
2012 PSP Series Champions – Houston Heat
2013 PSP Chicago Open – Houston Heat
2014 PSP West Coast Open – Art Chaos
2014 PSP WORLD CUP – Art Chaos

2011 Millennium Series Bitburg – Art Chaos
2011 Millennium Series Campaign Cup – Art Chaos
2011 Millennium Series Paris WORLD CUP – Art Chaos
2011 Millennium Series : Series Champions – Art Chaos
2012 Millennium Series Cannes – Art Chaos
2012 Millennium Series Paris WORLD CUP – Art Chaos
2012 Millennium Series : Series Champions – Art Chaos
2013 Millennium Series Paris WORLD CUP – Art Chaos
2014 Millennium Series Paris WORLD CUP – Art Chaos

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INSTAGRAM –  http://instagram.com/kniazev77

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