Cloud9 Becomes First North American Team to Win a CS:GO Major

The Boston Major ended in a spectacular double-overtime match.

By Taylor Cocke

Following a series of massive upsets, North American Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Cloud9 won the ELeague Boston Major 2018. This is the first time that a North American team has won a CS:GO Major.

This is also only the second time an NA team has made it to the grand finals of any Major, after Team Liquid lost in the finals of ESL One Cologne 2016. What’s more, this Cloud9 roster had previously never even made it to a top eight of a Major tournament.

To achieve the feat, Cloud9 defeated arguably three of best teams in the world during their playoff run, bringing down G2 Esports in the quarterfinals and SK Gaming in the semis. All three playoff wins were considered upsets.

The win was even more unexpected as Cloud9 struggled during the New Legends group stage, losing matches to G2 Esports and Space Soldiers, the latter of which didn’t even make it to the playoffs.

But once they entered the playoffs, Cloud9 team came alive. They struck down G2 in 2-0 fashion, earning revenge for their group stage defeat, then rolled over SK Gaming -- a team playing with a substitute -- for a 2-1 victory that was never really in question. No one expected C9 to be able to beat FaZe Clan in the finals, however.

FaZe features five of the best players in CS:GO, including young rising superstar Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, legendary in-game leader Finn “karrigan” Anderson, veteran AWPer Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács, deadly entry fragger Håvard "rain" Nygaard, and two-time Major champion Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer Gustafsson.

Cloud9, however, is full of young players that had never played on the biggest stage that CS:GO has to offer.

The finals would become an immediate classic, though you wouldn’t be able to tell from the first map. After an even start on Mirage, FaZe found a way to shut down Cloud9 on their own map pick, making it seem like the veteran roster would be able to close out the tournament in a decisive 2-0.

Cloud9 stormed back during the second map of Overpass, capitalizing on FaZe mistakes and winning the map 16-10. Even more impressive, C9 had lost four Overpass games in a row in tournament play against FaZe before the Boston Major.

As a result, the fate of the tournament came down to the final map: Inferno. In one of the most thrilling games in CS:GO Major history -- and maybe in all of esports history -- the two teams traded miraculous round after miraculous round, eventually resulting in a 15-11 lead for FaZe.

Cloud9, on the back of heroic rounds by each and every player on the team, fought their way back, tied up the series 15-15, and forced overtime. And then another overtime. 41 total rounds and two overtimes later, Cloud9 emerged victorious, earning North America’s first ever CS:GO Major title. AWPer Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham earned the tournament MVP, while the rest of Cloud9's roster -- Tarik “tarik’ Celik, Timothy “autimatic” Ta, Jacky “Stewie2K” Yip, and Will “RUSH” Wierzba -- all received deserved accolades for their play throughout the tournament.

Let's block ads! (Why?)