Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of the greatest spectator esports in the entire scene, with its high skill ceiling, tight competition, and straightforward and easy-to-understand gameplay. The simple gameplay concept allows spectators who don’t even play CS GO show up to events and still get hyped from matches. With all these factors in mind, fantastic tournament runs and matches have occurred on the big stages, streamed to millions of viewers. Some tournaments have changed players’ lives forever, making them undisputed legends in the Counter-Strike scene and rewriting history. Let’s take a step back to recap the greatest CSGO tournaments that have ever happened in the game’s long lifespan.
ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 – Huge Upset to Earn North America’s First-Ever Major Win
Cloud9 was able to pull off the craziest tournament run in Counter-Strike history, defying all CSGO odds. Let’s recap their story on how they had the most demanding route to winning the Major.
Fans had low expectations for the North American roster, as Cloud9 started off the tournament with a poor 0-2 score, losing against G2 Esports and Space Soldiers. These losses meant that they were one match away from being eliminated. If the boys wanted to play on Boston’s stage in front of their home crowd, they could not afford to lose another series.
Cloud9 was able to quickly fix their issues overnight, winning against Virtus.Pro, 16-7, on the next day. The odds on the North Americans were low coming into their next match against Astralis, and people who knew the main rules before betting on esports would not have chosen Cloud9 to win. Despite all of that, things went smoothly for Cloud9, as they could take the win against Astralis with ease, 16-6. With the win against Astralis in the bag, Cloud9 converted their momentum and qualified for the playoffs after winning against Vega Squadron. It was time for Cloud9 to play on the biggest stage in Boston, with the American crowd fully supporting them.
Though the odds on CSGO didn’t favor the North American squad, they were able to pull through a win in their rematch against G2 Esports in the Quarter Finals. The road didn’t get easier, as Cloud9 was up against the legendary SK Gaming. Still, it was surprisingly able to take the series with a bang. It was finally time for the Grand Finals against the Final Boss, FaZe Clan.
The esports betting CSGO odds certainly did not favor Cloud9 in the slightest. Still, in one of the most intense CSGO matches, Cloud9 miraculously came back from an 11-15 deficit on Map 3 to win the entire map in Overtime. This massive win gave North America their first-ever Major win, with the most insane tournament run in CS history.
Courtesty HLTV
MLG Major Championship: Columbus 2016 – Overtimes Galore on the Main Stage
The Brazilian Bosses, Luminosity Gaming, ended up winning the MLG Columbus Major in 2016, with multiple Overtime victories throughout the playoffs. The event overall had some exciting, nail-biting matches on the main stage.
The MLG Columbus Major’s group stage ended with surprises, as gigantic teams such as EnVyUs and Fnatic did not make it through to the playoffs stage. Despite the lack of these two huge names, the teams in the playoffs could still deliver great matches for the audience in the American stadium to witness live.
Natus Vincere looked incredibly strong, destroying their way to the Grand Final without dropping a single map throughout the group and the playoffs. Luminosity had to claw their way step by step into the finals on the other side of the bracket.
The Brazilians managed to snag the win over Virtus.Pro in the Quarter Finals after Overtimes and ultimately taking the series with a close 2-1 score. LG managed to perform a massive 9-15 comeback on Mirage in their next match against Team Liquid. The comeback started from the legendary coldzera 4K AWP highlight on B Apartments, taking LG to Overtime and winning the game at the end. The match was so close and exciting that the CSGO odds kept changing, and people had to visit Tips.GG to know which team would win. In the following map in the series, LG was down 6-15 and again managed to come back and win out the entire series through an intense Overtime, where FalleN and Co. ended up taking the series 2 to 0.
The Grand Final featured Na’Vi, who had a dominant showing at the Major so far, and a Luminosity Gaming team with insanely close matches before the finals. With such entertaining games occurring before the Grand Final, everyone hoped that we would get a tight series between the two teams, and did we get one hell of a Map 1. Mirage, the first map in the series, ended as close as possible, with LG winning it out 19-17. Unfortunately, Na’Vi was blown out on the following map, Overpass, crowning Luminosity Gaming as the Major winners.
Courtesy HLTV
PGL Major Stockholm 2021 – Broken Records All Around the Table
The 2021 PGL Major in Stockholm broke the viewership record for the most-watched CSGO event ever. PGL Stockholm was the first Major held after the two-year pause due to the COVID 19 pandemic, so fans were dying to see the best teams perform on the big stage again.
Coming into the Major, Natus Vincere were the favorites of the entire tournament, with the new addition of their young Russian prodigy, Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi. Na’Vi was able to make it through the Swiss Group Stage with a 3-0 record, as everyone involved in esports betting predicted. The Ukrainian organization used its momentum and made quick work of the Quarter and Semi-Finals. In these two matches, Na’Vi disposed of both series 2 to 0 against s1mple’s arch-nemesis Team Vitality’s ZywOo and their CIS rivals Gambit.
On the other side of the bracket, G2 Esports won against NiP in their Quarter Finals matchup. NiKo’s next opponent would be the Heroic lineup that seemed to be on fire in the tournament. After a grueling Map 3 on Inferno, G2 was able to close out the series in Overtime, to move on to the finals against the CIS giants.
Na’Vi was able to win out G2 Esports’ map pick, Ancient, with a score of 16-11. Bad news arose for G2, as Nuke was next up on the list, which was arguably the Ukrainian team’s best map. The international roster wanted Game 3 but choked a 15-10 lead after NiKo whiffed on s1mple, who was not even looking at him. The newly-gained momentum resulted in Na’Vi grinding out rounds to go into Overtime.
Nuke ended with Na’Vi winning the series through Double Overtime, with a scoreline of 22-19. We were treated with a Double Overtime on a Major final, which was an absolute treat to watch. This 2 – 0 victory meant that Natus Vincere had broken a Major record where they did not drop a single game. The greatest CSGO player of all time, s1mple, had finally won his long-awaited, well-deserved Major title.
Closing Thoughts
Counter Strike isn’t as much a calculated game compared to other titles such as Dota 2 and League of Legends. The room for error and unlucky timing allows for CSGO fans can be treated with crazy comebacks and huge individual plays that can turn a series 180 degrees. Though the tournament’s favorites can lose to upsets on the biggest stage, we believe that the CSGO community and audience are the real winners as we witnessed some incredible storylines and matches.
