TOP 5 Best Moments from CS:GO Majors

The CS:GO Major is one of the biggest eSports competitions in the history of the genre. Every year, millions of people tune in to see who will claim the title of the new champion, along with a prize pool worth a pretty hefty fortune. Whether in person in one of the world’s largest arenas or via their computer screens, Counter Strike: Global Offensive fans from all over the globe are always on the edge of their seats, putting in the effort not to miss a single epic play from a match. However, sometimes you just can’t help it, after all, we are human. That’s why today we will present the top 5 CSGO major moments.

What Is the CS:GO Major?

CSGO Major (aka The Major Championships) is the most important eSports event in the Counter-Strike community that takes place every year. In fact, it’s the largest competition of all Valve-sponsored events and has been so since 2013, when the first official edition was held in Jönköping, Sweden. At that time the winnings amounted to a hefty $250000, while in 2022 it was already close to $2 million. As for who the first major title went to, it was Swedish team Fnatic.

If you want to know exactly what a CSGO Major looks like and how the winner is chosen, then read our article dedicated to this topic.

When Was the Last Major?

The most recent tournament was the Blast Paris Major 2023, which took place in May this year. The event was held at the Accor Arena, where 24 teams from all over the world competed for the title. In the end, the French eSports organization, Team Vitality, managed to defeat all opponents and take home the trophy, as well as an impressive prize pool of $1,250,000. The runner-up went to GamerLegion.

Top 5 CSGO Major Moments in the History of the Tournament

Now let’s get to the bottom of this article, which is the top 5 iconic moments in the history of the Major Championship.

The Underdog Comes in 2nd Place

We all know that people love underdog success stories, so to start our list we present one of the best “against all odds” moments in the history of major championships. In 2019, at the Intel Extreme Masters XIII in Katowice, Poland, fans around the world were convinced that they would see Team Liquid and Team Astralis in the grand finals. At the time, they were already considered one of the most important eSports organizations on the scene, and their rosters were filled with only the top players. To everyone’s surprise, the underdog of the competition, the Finnish team Ence, defeated Team Liquid in the quarterfinals 0:2. This was one of the biggest turning points in the whole event and suddenly everyone started rooting for this shocking winner, especially when they went on to claim a semi-final against Natus Vincere. Unfortunately, the crew eventually lost to Astralis, but still, people remembered them for their amazing plays and great come-up story.

Ninjas in Pyjamas Come Back in Style

So if you’ve been a fan of Counter Strike for a while, you’re probably well aware that the game was popular on the eSports scene long before the first major tournament was organized. In fact, prior to 2013, when Dreamhack Winter 2013 was held in Sweden, there were many smaller and less official tournaments around the world. This meant that people already had their favorites who they hoped would win the first official world title, with one of the top candidates being the legendary team Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Ninjas in Pyjamas was a Swedish team that dominated in the 2000s and then in 2012 and 2013, but when it came to the first Major, they failed to perform and lost the title to Fnatic. Their fans were disappointed, and given that the team had already gone through a dissolution sometime before, they feared that this would now mean the end of their favorite squad. But to everyone’s surprise, the Ninjas came back in a big way a year later, at ESL One: Cologne 2014, where they managed to win against Fnatic and claim one of the most important victories in the tournament’s history.

Astralis Reign

Astralis is a Danish team founded in 2016. Their first years at CSGO majors were quite successful, as they managed to top their groups several times, but were still far from winning the entire event. Things changed in 2018, however, when FACEIT Major: London took place. Of course, not from the very beginning did everything go as planned. The team started the competition by winning one match, only to lose several more. They were even eliminated from their regional competition, and just when they thought things couldn’t get any worse, one of their best players, Kjaerbye, left to join North. Both team members and their fans were devastated as they struggled to find a missing player to even be able to continue competing. Eventually, they managed to sign Emil “Magisk” Reif and then everything turned around for them. They launched a spectacular winning streak that began at DreamHack Marseille 2013 and ultimately led them to their first major title. What’s more, after that championship, the team managed to claim victories in 2 more majors, making them the first (and only) squad in history to win 3 championship titles in a row.

Olafboost

All Counter Strike players have heard of the infamous Olafboost, and if not… Have you been living under a rock? Well, nevertheless, let us take you down memory lane. It all happened in 2014, during the DreamHack Winter Major. Team Fnatic was playing against Team LDLC.com on Overpass during the quarterfinals round. They were losing incredibly, with a score of 3-13, and everyone thought it was over for them. But when all hope was gone, one of the players, Fnatic Olafmeister, along with his fellow crew members, made a game-changing move and literally “boosted” himself to the top of one of the buildings. There, he could easily see everything that was happening on the map, and had the perfect spot to kill each opponent one by one. In this way, the fate of the entire match changed tremendously, and Fnatic won the quarterfinals. At least for a short while.

In the end, the judges decided to replay the match, as they were suspicious of the two teams. It quickly became clear that Fnatic and Team LDLC.com had both violated the rules of the tournament, but due to the severity of their wrongdoings, the victory was taken away from Fnatic and awarded to the French team. This was undoubtedly one of the most important moments, and one of the most controversial plays in CSGO history.

Coldzera’s Jump to CS:GO History

This final moment on our list is considered the most legendary play in the history of CS GO championships, and it all happened during the MLG Columbus 2016 Major. Newly established Luminosity was playing against Team Liquid on the Mirage map. Everyone thought that the rookie would have to say goodbye to the tournament, when suddenly one of the teammates made a move that went down in Counter Strike history as one of the best plays ever made in a competition. 

The Brazilian player “coldzera” was under a lot of pressure as the commentator announced that he was in big trouble, since the fate of his team was pretty much in his hands. At that point, he managed to do the unthinkable and, jumping out from behind the wall with an AWP, succeeded in killing 4 of his opponents thereby marking a turning point in the match. Both his own crew members as well as the fans could not believe what he had just accomplished. This amazing performance is now known as “coldzera’s jumping awp” and earned him an official Counter Strike grafitti.

Conclusions

The CS:GO Major Championships are among the most important and biggest tournaments in the entire professional eSports scene. So far, 19 editions have been held, each one bringing incredible emotions and legendary moments. If you are curious about what kind of matches are being played at such an event, then read more of what we have prepared for you. Also, don’t forget to tune in for the next PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024, where top players will become the next Counter Strike legends and bring us new iconic moments.