Through the ages, the most prestigious Counter-Strike tournaments of all time have been the CS:GO Majors. COVID temporarily put a halt on the Majors, with ESL One: Rio 2020 the unfortunate victim of a cancellation in November 2020. However, the pro scene is back on track, with the final Major played on CS:GO taking place in Paris in May 2023. There, BLAST crowned the 19th and final ever CS:GO Major winners!
The last few CS:GO Majors are the best they have ever been. The production has levelled up all around, and the level of play is improving at a rate that has never been seen before. With a slew of new teams sitting atop the rankings, they’ll now need to turn their attention to Counter-strike 2 for the next Major. With CS:GO smashing record player counts on a weekly basis, it remains to be seen how popular CS will continue to be.
Astralis winning StarLadder Berlin Major 2019
With the last CS:GO Major winner crowned in Paris, we reminisce with some of the kings of days gone by.
| Tournament | Location | Prize Pool | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 | Paris | $1,250,000 | Vitality | Gamer Legion |
| IEM Rio Major 2022 | Rio de Janeiro | $1,250,000 | Outsiders | Heroic |
| PGL Major Antwerp 2022 | Antwerp | $1,000,000 | FaZe Clan | NaVi |
| PGL Major 2021 | Stockholm | $2,000,000 | Natus Vincere | G2 Esports |
| ESL One: Rio 2020 | Rio de Janeiro | $2,000,000 | Cancelled | Cancelled |
| StarLadder Major 2019 | Berlin | $1,000,000 | Astralis | AVANGAR |
| Intel Extreme Masters XIII Major 2019 | Katowice | $1,000,000 | Astralis | ENCE |
| FACEIT Major 2018 | London | $1,000,000 | Astralis | Natus Vincere |
| ELEAGUE Major 2018 | Boston | $1,000,000 | Cloud9 | FaZe Clan |
| PGL Major 2017 | Kraków | $1,000,000 | Gambit | IMT |
| ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017 | Atlanta | $1,000,000 | Astralis | Virtus.Pro |
| ESL One: Cologne 2016 | Cologne | $1,000,000 | SK Gaming | Team Liquid |
| MLG Major Championship: Columbus 2016 | Columbus | $1,000,000 | Luminosity | Natus Vincere |
| DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 | Cluj | $250,000 | Envy | Natus Vincere |
| ESL One: Cologne 2015 | Cologne | $250,000 | Fnatic | Envy |
| ESL One: Katowice 2015 | Katowice | $250,000 | Fnatic | Ninjas in Pyjamas |
| DreamHack Winter 2014 | Jönköping | $250,000 | LDLC | Ninjas in Pyjamas |
| ESL One: Cologne 2014 | Cologne | $250,000 | Ninjas in Pyjamas | Fnatic |
| ESL Major Series One 2014 | Katowice | $250,000 | Virtus.Pro | Ninjas in Pyjamas |
| DreamHack Winter 2013 | Jönköping | $250,000 | Fnatic | Ninjas in Pyjamas |
We started way back to the first CS:GO Major held in 2013 in Jönköping, Sweden, the hometown of DreamHack. Fnatic became the first CS:GO Major winners, and went down in history. That core is known as one of the most dominant teams ever, dubbed the “Fnatic Era”. They would go on to win two more majors in 2015 with olofmeister, JW, KRIMZ, flusha and pronax. The players went on to be crowned among the best CS:GO players lists as the years went by.
The torch was then passed to the Brazilians, Luminosity. Led by IGL and AWPer FalleN and gun virtuoso coldzera, they would see an incredibly exciting rise to the top which culminated in one the best semi-finals of all time between Luminosity and Liquid, creating this iconic clip.
After winning MLG Major Championship: Columbus 2016, they went back-to-back, winning ESL One: Cologne 2016 against Liquid. These two Majors in a row would dub that time as the LG/SK era.
The following years were packed with storylines surrounding the victories of Astralis, Gambit and Cloud9 in 2017 and 2018. Then began the seemingly-endless Astralis era, where they won an unprecedented 3 Majors in a row. With the players overcoming everything they did, it was almost impossible to have perfected the game the way they did. They dominated so hard that other teams simply didn’t stand a chance, leading some to think their playstyle was boring.
As the pandemic dawned, we moved into the online era. CS:GO Majors took a back seat to online events, and third party tournaments filled the gap in competitive play. CIS teams like NAVI and Gambit took turns dominating the scene.
2022 began with a FaZe mini-era, culminating in them winning PGL Major Antwerp 2022. It gave legendary IGL karrigan the one prize that had eluded him after so long in the competitive scene. It saw the end of the NAVI era, as the Ukrainian outfit struggled for form throughout the year. Even s1mple struggled to make an impact on the server.
FaZe expected to take IEM Rio Major 2022 by storm later in the year. However, they stumbled, making way for new CS:GO Major Winners. Step up, Outsiders, playing under a neutral name for Virtus.pro in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the final, they defeated cadiaN’s Heroic in a straightforward 2-0. It was their first Major title since 2014, and they now go to Paris looking to join Astralis and Fnatic as back-to-back CS:GO Major winners.
Now, with the final ever CS:GO Major done and dusted, Vitality have cemented their CS legacy. With a brand new game style of game play due to drop in summer 2023, it remains to be seen how pro teams will respond. The next Counter-strike Major isn’t due until 2024, giving the teams plenty of time to work on their strategies and see how they can begin this new era.
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