In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the Major is everything.
There are other big tournaments, with their own prestige and their own history.
But Majors are in a class of their own.
The prize pool and the bragging rights stand apart.
And, until January, North America had yet to win a single one.
"Like this is the joke we had all weekend long where it's like
a Kazakhstani team won the Major. Where you at now NA."
"What up now NA WOO!"
"Kazakhstan you know, ehh ehh. North America. What is going on here."
At the 11 prior official Valve Majors, only six NA teams had made it out of the main group stage.
Only one had reached the grand final — Team Liquid, whose roster was majority American
but anchored by Ukrainian superstar Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev.
That team made an incredible run at Cologne in 2016, but it ended when they fell to Brazilian
powerhouse SK Gaming.
The constant NA heartbreak had to have a source, but it was difficult to pinpoint what exactly what that might be
"And so, the talent is there in the United States.
what's always been the hold up it seems is the buyouts, how expensive it is, how expensive it would be.
and so or you just kind of have to cheat a little bit and go full liquid and get one of the best European players
out there and maybe use him as a standin."
Given North America’s history at the Majors, fans were less than hopeful that the streak
would be broken in Boston.
But the region’s the best bet was Cloud9.
The team had gone through changes in August 2017, with n0thing and Shroud leaving the
roster, which seemed to highlight internal strife.
"Kind of couple weeks before it ended, I kind of felt there was definitely internal conflict in the team.
Things like that are bound to happen you have different age levels, different maturity levels.
Stuff like that is just bound to come up. No point into getting team stuff I believe that stays in the team."
"There is always kind of a barrier right, and this is the unwritten rule
when it comes to players is whatever is happening in the team, you don't talk about it with anyone. It's like mob
families. Whatever's happening in the family, that's family business and you are not hearing about it.
right you're not talking about that to anybody else."
"It's not much to talk about really, two weeks ago or something I messaged Jack and I was like "Hey."
Jack's the owner of C9 by the way I was like "Hey. I kind of want to step down. I would love to be your guys'
backup, I wanna see where full time stream takes me."
And he was super supportive he was like "Let's do it. Let's make it happen." Let the record state.
That I asked to see myself out."
Replacing them were Tarik and RUSH, who had recently completed a stint with OpTic Gaming
that included several high-profile victories.
"NA it's kinda of dire I don't really have all that much faith in this new Cloud9
because it seems like they're still playing hot potato with the ingame leader role."
The move may not have inspired confidence initially, but public opinion eventually began
to turn.
And the team started putting up promising results at the perfect time: the months preceding
the Boston Major, set for January 2018.
The strength of those results even led several analysts to rank them among the Major’s
Top 5 teams.
Because the roster still included three players who had helped the team achieve a 9th-11th
finish at the previous major in Krakow, they were automatically qualified for the Boston
Major’s “New Challengers” stage.
It used a Swiss format, and C9 quickly put up wins against Envy, Sprout and Mouseports
to earn their spot in the New Legends stage.
Fans held their breath.
Though the team had another swiss group stage to make it through, it was an encouraging
performance so far.
But things immediately got worse.
(Casting)
Down 0-2, Cloud9 looked like they would continue NA’s Major legacy by bombing out.
"Yeah that first half it seems some of the problems I left them with when I was off the team, is still there.
I don't know, even watching the last round there. I stood behind the players as I got ready to come on the desk
and it just seemed like they were kind of upset, they're probably gonna do an interview and say they felt
like they should have won because some of the rounds. Like the very last round they lost Tarik
there's a miscom, Rush was supposed to peek A hall or something and Tarik said wait I thought
thought you were holding the push. So I don't know if they started getting in their own heads a little bit."
But for some members of C9, like Stewie2k, being 0-2 changed something.
"Uhm I think after the Space Soldiers game it was a big wake up call for me. Like I said
I think it kind of lit the fuel for me. That's where the fire started happening. I DMd all night,
I would play until - I think I only got a few hours of sleep the next day. But that's something I'm willing to sacrifice
if it makes me play better. And from there I just kind of didn't look back and played on my own game."
"Yeah yesterday, losing to G2 fine, we lost to G2 whatever. Losing to Space Soldiers was a big hit
cause once you got 0-2 you know like sh*t hit the fan and you know like now it's elimination matches only."
With their tournament life now on the line, they first played against Virtus.pro, another
0-2 team, thanks to the Swiss format.
C9 put up a convincing 16-7 effort on Mirage and lived to fight another day.
(Casting)
Next, Astralis.
A team that had won the previous ELEAGUE Major in Atlanta, but struggled to find their form
as an injury to Dev1ce affected their fortunes.
But even with Dev1ce back, C9 overcame the Danish roster.
(Casting)
Now 2-2, there was only a single obstacle between North America and the bracket stage:
Vega Squadron.
A surprise in their own right, Vega was a CIS team that had been together for a long
time but failed to show up against Tier 1 teams.
One of the cinderella runs had to end.
(Casting)
Now in the bracket and on the big stage, Cloud9 were playing on home soil.
They would need to win a best-of-three against G2 Esports to move on.
And despite their earlier loss to the French powerhouse, they didn’t just win
they won it convincingly.
(Casting)
But SK Gaming would be their opponents in the semifinals, and that team had been on
a tear of their own before the tournament albeit with boltz in place of felps.
(Casting)
After a dominant game one performance by Cloud9, SK struck back.
(Casting)
But a standout performance from Tarik helped boost his team, and Cloud9 made it through to the finals.
(Casting)
Their last opponent: the superteam roster of FaZe Clan.
The team that seemed all but destined to lift the trophy in Boston.
While North America was still looking for their first Major win, FaZe’s Olofmeister already boasted two.
"Of course it will be very fun to win three and to join the likes of Pronax, JW, and Flusha."
But that squad still had players hungry for their first, including veteran AWPer GuardiaN
and superstar young gun NiKo.
On home soil, with the bewildered but exhilarated crowd behind them, Cloud9 went to work.
(Casting)
In a close map, FaZe claimed victory on Mirage.
NA was one map away from elimination, from missing another Major title, after losing
their own map pick.
But Cloud9 didn’t back down, taking FaZe’s own map of Overpass away from them.
(Casting)
And map 3 — Inferno — had never seen a contest between these two teams.
The resulting game… well, it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see another one like it.
(Casting)
Down 14-9, Cloud9’s hopes looked dim, but they would not be stopped.
(Casting)
Overtime. In a Major. Clinched by an outnumbered Stewie2K.
Madness.
C9 had won 6 of 7 rounds to force their comeback.
And in the first overtime, it looked like that momentum was clearly with them.
But GuardiaN desperately forced a second OT.
(Casting)
And that OT began with a last second defuse.
(Casting)
But C9 pulled ahead. They were on match point.
(Casting)
"This has to be one of the most incredible story lines we've ever had. A North American team.
in North America with a Major win.
As the team lifted the trophy and the typically quiet Skadoodle offered up the post-game interview,
"I'm not crying, you're crying, stop."
it was nearly too surreal.
NA had a Major win.
But it wasn’t to last.
Whether it was the issues that n0thing spoke of or simply a wealth of new opportunities,
the Cloud9 roster that won in Boston didn’t make it to the London Major intact.
After losing in the Grand Finals of cs_summit_2, Stewie2K left to play with Brazilian squad
SK Gaming.
And after being such a huge part of the team’s run at Boston, Tarik left the team in July
to join Stewie on the roster now called MiBR.
Although they were unable able to defend their Major title.
C9 drew first blood for the region.
They showed us what is likely the greatest Major grand final series so far.
They did it against some of the strongest teams in CS.
And fans will never forget.
"They weren't the favourites, they were the underdogs."
"This has to be one of the most incredible story lines we've ever had."
Thanks for watching. If you want more great content just like this, be sure to hit the subscribe button.