The Fate of the Next CS:GO Major

The CS world was caught off guard after a series of huge upsets, with heavily favored teams going home as early as the group stages at the recent major, ESL One Cologne 2016. Teams like EnVyUs, G2, mousesports and even the Swedish powerhouse, Ninjas In Pyjamas, who have never lost their ‘Legend’ status in major tournament history wherein gaining a top 8 spot in a recent major will assure you of an invitation for the next one and hence, bypassing the grueling qualifier rounds. Surely, the qualifiers for the next upcoming major has never seen competition of this caliber. 

Are we beginning to witness the end of an era? As we all know, the pro scene is still being ruled by a majority of CS 1.6 veterans. Take NiP for example, who has four of their five players coming from 1.6 or Source. They were one of the favorites to go through at least to the semis due to their pristine record of staying as ‘Legends’ in all of the majors and a strong showing from recent tournaments. But times may have changed, as NiP convincingly lost to an inferior team, Flipsid3 Tactics with a scoreline of 2-1, where we saw an astonishing 2-16 slip-up in their supposed best map, Cache. It was truly a shocker, seeing pick ’em predictions were 98% – 2% favoring NiP. After the dust settled, we see SK Gaming and Team Liquid come on top, vying for the crown as the best CS:GO team in the world. You might wonder, what seems to be missing in this grand final? An EU team! Yes, two teams from North and South America are at the top right now and many may have come to notice that maybe, just maybe, the EU spell of dominance has begun to falter a bit.

As for SK Gaming, formerly known as Luminosity spearheaded by the mastermind and current IGL Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, it was all about cementing their place as the best CS:GO team in the world with no excuses from the critics of the past major, MLG Columbus 2016, where we saw Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács and Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer in their respective teams Na’VI and Fnatic, unable to perform on their top level due to injuries.

At ESL Cologne 2016, the Brazilians looked to reshape the world of CS deemed as the EU scene’s playground, and it seems their American counterparts from the north have followed suit, namely Team Liquid, labeled by analysts as the dark horse of the tournament with the 19-year old Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev joining the veteran, Spencer “Hiko” Martin, in his return to the team and acquisition of former CLG AWP star Josh “jdm64” Marzano just a month before the major. Due to the shroud of mystery on how they would perform, they were always the underdogs coming up against Na’Vi in the Quarterfinals and then Fnatic in the Semis, both EU teams currently in the top 5, and with a complete and healthy line-up that have ruled the scene for as long as anyone could remember. 

Now these were the same teams who were handicapped last MLG Major Championship Columbus 2016 and expected to stop SK from grabbing another trophy, but thus denied by the NA-driven team. For me personally, I’d like to see Cloud 9, another notable NA team, rise from the ashes and join in on the hot competition that is unfolding right now. Granted SK’s back-to-back wins in the majors beating Team Liquid 2-0, they are with no doubt indeed the best CS:GO team in the world for 2016. Having won 2/3 possible majors this year with the third probably coming in at least 3-4 months time, still yet to be announced. Take a look at these facts: never have we seen a non-EU team compete for the grand final ’til MLG Columbus 2016 which a record Luminosity Gaming (now SK) has broken, and now for the first time in CS:GO Major tournament history, no EU team was able to set foot on the Grand Final stage at the LANXESS Arena for the recent major ESL One Cologne 2016.

The Valve-sponsored major events are every team’s dream to win with now a mounting prize pool of $1,000,000; disregarding all other tournaments for this is where they say the legends are made. The Brazilians’ breakthrough this year is certainly one for the books. Long gone are the days of Fnatic’s supremacy, feared as the Swedish monsters who would stomp anyone in their way to a major trophy. Following NiP’s phenomenal 87-0 LAN record with 5 grand final appearances to add to that, and their must-watch rivalries with other EU teams, VP and LDLC, whom have both beaten the Ninjas in their grand final to win their first major trophy apiece. These were the times where most teams from outside the region wouldn’t even be worth mentioning.

The aftermath of ESL One Cologne 2016 gives the third and last major this year unreal hype and something CS:GO fans wouldn’t want to miss, as it will determine and cap off what 2016 has been and perhaps will ever be – the SK era.

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