Nearly 10 years of CS:GO Major history come to a close at the Paris Major. We take a look back at the best moments of the CS World Championships
It’s time for the final Major in CS:GO. More than win welcome occasion to review 10 years of Major history.
From dizzying highs to absurd lows, teams have been through it all at the World Championships in Counter-Strike.
Table of Contents
Curtain up for the final act
Now it comes in Paris to the crowning conclusion of 10 years of CS:GO history. In keeping with the occasion, we’ve picked out the 10 best moments from the previous Major to get us in the mood for the festivities.
We start off the best moments of the CS:GO Major with some of the most spectacular kills:
“This is not FPL, This is a Major!”
The first moment probably knows everyone who is a fan of s1mple. Back at ESL One Cologne 2016, the Ukrainian was still at the beginning of his steep career to become a CS:GO GOAT. But his half year with the North Americans on Team Liquid showed early on why he is now widely recognized as the best player.
Especially with kills like this legendary 1vs2 clutch.
Meanwhile, of course, s1mple has collected many more highlights in his career, but this clip remains immortal. After all, you can still find the graffiti on Cache to commemorate s1mple’s no-scopes.
The jumping AWP
With spectacular kills, of course, coldzera’s insane shot on Mirage should not be missing.
In the semifinals against Liquid, the Brazilians had their backs to the wall at 9-15 in Columbus, USA, in 2016, when coldzera showed all his class.
The leaping doublekill completely turned the momentum of the match and set up a 19-15 comeback by Luminosity en route to the title. Mirage also features graffiti of a winged AWP, commemorating coldzera’s heroic feat.
The “Olofboost “
Kills are of course always a feast for the eyes, but CS:GO majors were also always about more than “just” Aim. Teams always had surprising strategies and plays up their sleeves for the World Championships. This was also the case for Fnatic on the then relatively new map Overpass at Dreamhack Winter 2014.
After LDLC’s French dominated Fnatic for most of the map in the quarterfinals, the Swedes unpacked the infamous Olofboost. A position that surprised everyone at the time and turned the game around:
Directly after the map ended, however, a huge shitstorm broke out against Fnatic, as the boost was simply too strong for many fans. Fnatic then decided to smooth things over and ceded their place in the semifinals to LDLC.
In hindsight, the developers eventually made the boost impossible, and even today a “no climbing over railings” sign reminds us of the boost.
North America’s dream come true
The CS:GO Majors have more than enough highlights in their rich history, but few arguably led to winning the title as directly as stewie2k’s moment at the 2018 Boston Major.
On the final map Inferno, the score was 14-15 for FaZe Clan and the American star had to survive a 1vs3 to save Cloud 9 into overtime. A task stewie2k was more than up to:
In overtime, Cloud 9 eventually downed the visibly shaken FaZe Clan players 22-19, securing the beleaguered North American region in Counter-Strike its only Major title in CS:GO to date.
In the end, FaZe Clan, karrigan and rain had a happy ending last year. At the Antwerp Major, the star players finally managed to fulfill their long-awaited dream of winning the title – four years after the final trauma in Boston.
G2 forgets the bomb
With all the highlights of the major, however, you can’t forget the absolute basics of Counter-Strike: In the end, the bomb has to be defused by the CTs.
G2 had to painfully experience how important this is at the Berlin Major 2019 when they gave away a round they had actually already won for no reason and thus lost the map:
“Doing the G2” turned into a legendary meme that the community reacted to in bewilderment and hilarity. The G2 team themselves took it all in humor and even released a Defuse 101 guide for their players on YouTube.
Paris as the final point
The Paris Major is now the last CS:GO Major before the big jump to Counter-Strike 2, and we’re looking forward to another round of highlights from the best CS players in the world as they battle it out for the final CS:GO title.
