The line between disappointment and pride, between pure joy and sadness, was never that thin: Our boys delivered a Cinderella story, something everyone can relate to. Our Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team fought themselves into the final of the last CS:GO Major in Paris, where we lost to Team Vitality.
On the brink of elimination
The start of the tournament could have looked better. At the Challenger Stage, a first round loss to Apeks followed by a devastating defeat against The Mongolz. Being 0-2, we needed to win the next 3 matches. After deleting MOUZ 2-0, we beat OG 2-1 and had a final shot against FORZE. Against the russians, our team demonstrated that they can deliver under high pressure moments easily. Two strong performances on Overpass and Inferno resulted in a 2-0 – and a spot at the legends stage.
Facing the GOAT of CS:GO
Reaching the legend stage alone was a great success for our team. Everything else was more or less cherry on the cake. In the next stage, the opponents got way harder. The first match was immediately against NAVI and s1mple. Even though the Ukrainian AWP’er was under control most of the time, we struggled and lost on Mirage 10-16. After beating the best Polish team, 9ine and fnatic, we had two chances of qualifying for the Champions Stage in the Accor arena in Paris. After losing the first match of the Major against Apeks, we got the opportunity for revenge – and our boys were hungry. 16-6 on Ancient, 16-9 on Overpass, a 2-0 demonstration of power and we locked in our ticket to playing on stage in the Accor Arena.
Playing in front of 20,000 people
For us as an org, players, fans, and everyone involved, a dream came true – and our boys wanted to live in that moment as long as they could. In the Quarter Finals, we played against Monte, a Ukrainian team, which also was a big surprise in the tournament. While Monte showed nerves, our players flourished. There was an obvious class difference on this day (Mirage 16-10, Overpass 16-3), resulting in the most dominant win of our tournament run. In the Semi Finals, however, the Danish powerhouse Heroic was waiting for us. After coming second in the Rio Major 22, the Danes were one of the biggest favorites to win it all. On our map pick Ancient, we were on the same level. Small mistakes lead to a 13-16 loss. On inferno, it looked like Heroic would win it quickly. But after being down 1-5, it clicked. iM delivered 28 (!) frags. isak clutched against jabbi and sjuush in 1 vs. 2 to secure the map and bring it to the decider Mirage. The momentum was on our side and when it mattered the most, our boys delivered again. 16-6 on Mirage, one of Heroic's best maps, pure domination and pure joy in the end.
Grand Final against the whole crowd
There was only one team, where all the experts thought they could beat Heroic. The local heroes of Paris, Team Vitality, were waiting for us. As the underdogs, our boys were fighting like crazy to finalize the biggest upset in esports history, but in the end, the French team was just better. After a defeat on Overpass (6-16), Nuke (13-16) was quite competitive, as we were in the lead most of the time. What was lasting was the greatest Major run in CS:GO history – and a huge GL stamp. We will be back!
