While I’ve never really followed competitive Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) as much as I have other games, I’ve watched the odd tournament or match. But that might change now. Just recently, one of the largest tournaments in CS:GO history took place at the ELEAGUE Boston Major. Cloud9, one of the esports industry’s top brands, had been struggling a lot leading up to the tournament. After replacing their starting lineup constantly, the team finally settled on the lineup you can see today.
After going down 0-2 in the group stage, fans of the blue and white team were losing hope fast. But Cloud9 turned it around in front of their home crowd and took it all the way to the finals in a gruelling run, taking down the top four teams in the world.
The final match, against FaZe Clan, pulled in a peak viewership of 1.1 million viewers on streaming platform Twitch alone. I’ve always understood CS:GO and I’ve even tried to play competitively a few times, but seeing some of the reaction times and plays that the players were making was one of the most thrilling experiences I’ve had watching esports.
In a back-and-forth match, Cloud9 came out on top by a thread by winning in the second overtime round, after being on match point for nearly five rounds. This win is more than just another win, though: North America had never won a CS:GO major before. Cloud9’s performance throughout their playoff run was that of top-tier European teams, which have historically dominated the scene. They showed adaptation and growth beyond what their region normally produces; it paid off, and they walked home with the trophy.
But the most surprising feat of all was the fact that all of the previous attempts to compete in a major resulted in Cloud9 leaving in the group stages. The team have shown to the world that they are to be feared; if this is how the future of CS:GO is looking, I’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on the game.