I decided to make it in a form of top-10. When I say «surprising» I mean the cases when a team jumped above its head, climbing way too high at the major. The idea of an article was inspired by recent ENCE run of course. I tried to consider all the important factors when making this rating, such as team rankings, the strength of opponents and other circumstances. I even made a rankings for 2013-2014 which turned out to become quite an adventure on its own.
All the cases are quite unique and I kept shuffling teams until the very end of this work. So the placements are very subjective, as it’s hard to estimate which factors are more important. Decide for yourself who do you think was the better underdog. Ok, lets go.
10. Fnatic. ESL One Cologne 2014.
Lineup: JW, flusha, olofmeister, KRIMZ, pronax.
Ranking: 10
Achievement: Final
Starting point: Group Stage
Important victories: Na’Vi (4), Dignitas (5), Virtus.Pro (1)
After their phenomenal victory at the very first major fnatic guys weren’t feeling too well. During the year they achieved zero victories, only managing to beat NIP in a national Swedish tournament… Shortly after that the roster was changed. Schneider left, Devilwalk became a coach, KRIMZ and olofmeister stepped in. This had happened a month and a half before the Cologne Major which team entered barely hanging in a world top-10.
And right off the bat the swedes are dumpstering Virtus.Pro in a group stage, a team that could be called #1 at that moment. Next on the list are Na’Vi and Dignitas and in the end — NIP as the final boss, but fnatic fail to overcome this time. But still they are going head-to-head, and the 3rd map score is 16-13 with some appearance of NiP magic.
This run could be placed higher as there is a huge ‘expectations vs result’ difference, but still we are dealing with a Major winners here and a high rated team throughout the upcoming year. Thus, calling this achievement as completely unexpected is honestly hard. Nonetheless this is a perfect shiny example of a honeymoon period, that happened to occur at the Major.
9. Team Liquid. ESL One Cologne 2016.
Lineup: nitr0, EliGE, S1mple, Hiko, jdm64.
Ranking: 11
Achievement: Final
Starting point: Group Stage
Important victories: fnatic (3), NA’Vi (5), EnVyUs (6)
Despite the recent (~4 months) achievement at the MLG Columbus Major, Team Liquid wasn’t in a good form at all. Dropped down to position 10-11 in hltv rankings, they had no expectations coming to the major once again. There were news that S1mple will not stay in a roster no matter the result and will ‘finally’ leave, which weren’t promising either. This ship was definitely falling to pieces. Yet somehow they steamrolled the competition here.
Getting heated in a duel with EnVyUs they give away a game to VP and managed to enter the playoffs. Here’s where they met a real opposition in a face of Na’Vi. S1mple destroyed his homies, dragging the team to the semis where fnatic were waiting. Not that fnatic but still pretty scary. We all remember what happened next. Double 16:13 and a memorable graffiti on cache. Liquid have made it to the Grand Final.
And once again I gave them 9th place not because the run was bad, but only due to repetitive nature of this achievement with almost the same lineup not so long before that.
A short run but a glorious one. A farewell gift from Aleksanr to Hiko, a man who believed in him despite all the bad fame. Good bye, America.
8. CompLexity Gaming. Dreamhack Winter 2013.
Lineup: Hiko, seang@res, swag, n0thing, Semphis.
Ranking: 12
Achievement: Semi-final.
Starting point: Invite (Group Stage)
Important victories: VeryGames (1), Astana Dragons (3).
Throughout 2013 no NA team has been in the top-10 with a little exception to quantic (older version of coL) early in the year. This is partially explained by small amount of international tournaments. Coming to the major Complexity was around 12th place (I remind that I use my own «restored» rankings for 2013-2014 year). And they already made a miracle defeating VeryGames in the group stage of a major. At the time French players were so good that were seemingly taking away a palm of supremacy from NiP. Then the playoffs kicked in where american team had to prove themselves once more and beat Nursultan Astana Dragons. It should be an easy task for Astana, but turned out to be a hard battle and Americans were better. Then coL were destroyed in the semis by fnatic.
Overall coL presented itself as quite a smart team, with some advanced tactics and innovations, such as a molly usage and unexpected gimmicks. The achievement was crucial as it kept NA on a world map of counter-strike even at the times of NIP+VG total domination.
A good run considering the opponents and a poor starting rating of compLexity.
7. Luminosity. MLG Columbus 2016.
Lineup: FalleN, fnx, fer, coldzera, TACO.
Ranking: 4-5
Achievement: Victory
Starting point: Group Stage
Important victories: Virtus.Pro (6), Na’Vi (2).
This Brazil roster was not considered as a non-factor in Columbus. This was a good and promising team already. Coming as a legends, a consistent position 5 in Hltv rankings, known play style and quite a character , good looking Mirage and a some premier-level final finishes. They only needed at least some victory. Who could have thought that its first trophy Brazilian lineup would conquer at the Major rather than tier-2 tournament.
But for that to happen they needed a higher power, an RNGeesus blessing, a jumpshot that tilted the world to occur. Luminosity making their way to the final was one of the most memorable stories in CS:GO as they pulled off a comeback from 15-9 and 15-6 (15 match points!) score against team Liquid in semis. That is how Brazilian lineup got into this list. Later, in a not-so-spectacular final they’ve beaten Na’Vi and became first non-EU team to win a Major.
Overall an easy path to the victory (CLG, Liquid and even Na’Vi had an injured player) and a high starting ranking are the things that put this performance lower than you would imagine.
6. Fnatic. DreamHack Winter 2013.
Lineup: JW, flusha, pronax, schneider, Devilwalk
Ranking: 4
Achievement: Victory
Starting point: Invite (Group Stage)
Important victories: NiP (2)
The very first Valve major. Fnatic are coming here as an unknown quantity. By my own estimation they should be placed around position 3-4 in a world rankings at the time. Somewhat similar to Astana Dragons. It is by no means a weak team, as they have been on a huge rise since the beginning of 2013, but they haven’t seen any victories yet. Add here that pronax just joined the team, right before the Major.
Nobody expects miracles from fnatic, but their way to the top looking like an easy one. If the group stage were filled with some mediocre competition, in the playoffs all the big names were in the other bracket. Fnatic have dealt with recursive esports (future LDLC) and destroyed compLexity in the semis. But in the finals… NiP were awaiting. There’s no need to explain who were Ninjas in Pyjamas at the time. It was a Big Boss itself. Maybe not even N1 as VeryGames were fighting for that place, but still a stomping titans of CSGO. And Swedish derby ends with fnatic being the triumphant here, absolutely destroying NiP on a 3rd map, train (16:2).
Given they had a change in a lineup, an empty trophy room and such a hard opponent to beat in the Grand Final I think this place is well deserved.
5. Immortals. PGL Krakow 2017.
Lineup: HEN1, LUCAS, kNgV-, boltz, steel.
Ranking: 10-11
Achievement: Final
Starting point: Minor
Important Victories: Na’Vi (6) Virtus.Pro (15-16)
Immortals ride into like a second wave from Brazil after SK/Luminosity. That wave wasn’t the biggest but rather a turbulent and fast one. If FalleN and his company was an example of a clever and provident team, this band was playing the real Brazilian football, kicking heads like a balls in the server. The reason I placed them at the 5th place is that Immortals had around 10-11 placing, never won a premier-level tournament and came here as a major rookies. These factors are important but spoiled by the level of opposition. It was Na’Vi at the group stage, and VP at the semis. The polish lineup was at ‘beginning of an end’ and only the fact of them being on home soil makes it somewhat worthy mentioning here. Immortals had a greenest of lanes coming to the top of the Major. But still — a Final is a Final.
The most interesting things were happening even before the main event have had started. After the NA minor Immortals went into the qualifier (challenger stage) which appeared to be a hardest test for Brazilian lineup. They scrapped a 3-2 pass through Swiss system, fighting tooth and nail with every opponent. A quick glance at the scores pretty much tells us the story: 16:13, 16:13, 16:14… Oh wait, it doesn’t. Every game had to reach the state of an absolute crisis, only to be saved later. Every. Single. One. Against Godsent Immortals starts to come back at the score of 11:2, Against G2 — at the 11:4. Playing with HR they barely save themselves after losing a lead of 11:5, and the same story is echoing in the match with Norwegian Dignitas: 13-1.
There’s a saying ‘to jump in last wagon of a leaving train’. Nah. Our hero is the guy who holds on the last door of that train, and keeps running alongside it swearing, stumbling and sweating. It is amazing how such a nervous and inconsistent team that was Immortals reached the Major finals.
4. Team Liquid. MLG Columbus 2016.
Lineup: nitr0, EliGE, S1mple, Hiko, adreN.
Ranking: 18 (~14-15)
Achievement: Semi-final
Starting point: Challenger stage (Back then — ‘The Qualifier’)
Important Victories: fnatic (1) group stage)
And again it’s Team Liquid, and again it’s MLG Columbus. Back then, before the major that brand was nowhere near that scary as it is now. They were hanging around 15th place in world rankings with no real hope to rise up. Their journey was expected to be like that: group stage, luggage, airport, home sweet home. If only Hiko haven’t pulled a foreign joker out of his sleeve in the face of S1mple (Alexandr spent two months in a team prior to the major start). That was an unpleasant surprise for the likes of FaZe and fnatic at the group stage which was finished by Liquid without a single loss. And we already discussed what happened in the semis when they met Luminosity.
Once again, quite a weak opposition (CLG in 1/4), and easy route to the semi-final. But the difference in starting rating and a destination point is colossal. It is the best result in terms of expectations vs achievements in this list of major runs.
3. Gambit. PGL Krakow 2017.
Lineup: AdreN, Dosia, mou, Zeus, HObbit.
Ranking: 14 (~8)
Achievement: Victory
Starting point: Group Stage
Important Victories: (G2 (4), VP in the group stage), fnatic (10), Astralis (3)
First of all lets be clear about the ranking. Coming to the Krakow Major Gambit was listed as 14th according to hltv but it’s looking like a case of system failure. It feels like they were stronger and the team was consistent 8th for a long period before that, so probably were robbed by other teams without facing any of them. Anyway, even if we take number 8 as a starting point, they are the only team who managed to win a Valve Major being that low in rankings. Maybe I should place them higher on the list but its really hard to pick here.
Finally we have a team which a had a path to the top that wasn’t sweet and cozy. Starting as a legends of previous major gambit had to beat mouz, G2 and Virtus.Pro in a Swiss system and they did it pretty convincing. 3-0 and the multinational CIS squad is in the quarters. Then they beat fnatic without a big troubles and finally met a real big opponent. Astralis. The Danes were in excellent form after a spectacular win over SK-Gaming which was considered to be number One. With a huge help from Mou, who maybe had a series of his lifetime, Gambit gathered a win and made it to the Grand Final. And facing Immortals at the end was looking like a well deserved reward for all the hard work and quite an easy task considering they have done it earlier in the year at Dreamhack Austin.
That is how Zeus, 3 Kazakhs and Dosia became the champions of CS:GO. Once again I would place them higher if only their path was longer, or if they’ve faced 1st or 2nd team, but someone else ‘did all the dirty work for them’.
2. Cloud9. Eleague Boston 2018.
Lineup: autimatic, RUSH, stewie2K, Skadoodle, tarik.
Ranking: 5
Achievement: Victory
Starting point: Challenger Stage
Important Victories: SK (1), FaZe (2), Astralis (3) in the group stage).
Cloud9 or as some people were jokingly name it clown9, was a true NA team — very popular, the most ‘american’ and yet a complete failure. Coming at the Boston major though Cloud9 has its best form for a long time, but that peak was only high enough for the 5th place in a world ranking.
Group stage started for C9 as expected. Horrible. A defeat against G2, a loss against Space Soldiers (~20th place) and only one game away from leaving the tournament.
But miracle can visit any home and it doesn’t ask youк permission. That relatively fresh lineup with a rookie IGL started to feel its game on the fly. Lightning fast setup executions, snowballing style, well-fragging leader and awaken Skadoodle, all that turned this team into a monster. Unlike other heroes of this list, cloud9 have actually beaten 1st and 2nd best team in the world by themselves and even overcame 3rd in the group stage. They met SK in the Semis and FaZe in the Grand Final and the last one wasn’t sweet and sugar. Coming back from a map and a score disadvantage, cloud9 went through that memorable and spectacular double OT to step into the hall of fame of CS:GO and became the first NA lineup to win the major.
1. ENCE. IEM Katowice 2019.
Lineup: Aleksib, allu, sergej, Aerial, xseveN.
Ranking: 11-12
Achievement: Final
Starting point: Closed Qualifiers
Important Victories: Liquid (2), Na’Vi (3)
This is quite a fresh story and all the details were discussed many times recently, but once again: the Finnish roster at the moment of its creation had zero players with a premier-level experience, with an exception of allu of course. Coming to the major this team was only existing for less than a year. But that baby was born and raised as a though guy and although only barely learned how to walk could reach a vulnerable zones of his opponents. Somewhere they found a immature but proficient IGL, and the youngest godlike skill fragger in the scene. Even their support player appeared to have sharp aim and the nerves to face S1mple and come on top.
From a CS point of view ENCE were of course not a complete newbies as they had some victories and a lot of practice. But in terms of major showings… they had nothing.
Their journey at the major is as long as life. Look here: closed qualifiers — minor — challenger stage — group stage — playoff — final. Nobody played so many games as fins at that major. And yes it is the story of comebacks. Just like Cloud9 they had to find strength and recover from 2-0 deficit in a Swiss group stage. Making into playoff they faced Liquid, a team that became really scary by practicing in the endless Astralis battle. 15-8 was the score ENCE needed to break this time and they did it, just to face Na’Vi in the Semi-final. And then poor scores like 10:14 and 6:12, were magically turned into double ‘Quantum Satis’ of 16:14.
In the Grand Finals Astralis had stopped that magical run of course, but the story was already written. EZ4ENCE.
PreFired 