CSGO Major Winners: All Major winners and their path to glory
Through the ages, the most prestigious Counter-Strike Tournament of all time has been the CSGO Major. Over the past year the pro scene has been deprived of that. But no longer. Fast approaching is the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 taking place October 23rd to November 7th.
Astralis winning StarLadder Berlin Major 2019
The last couple of Majors have been disappointing from either a production perspective or just a lack of exciting games. However, with the Krieg having been nerfed, a whole new meta and a slew of new teams sitting atop the rankings, this upcoming Major needs to be one for the ages. With Valorant breathing down the necks of Counter Strike Esports team owners, the future of this scene rests on this tournament’s shoulders.
CSGO Major Winners
With a new winner to be crowned in Stockholm, we reminisce with some of the Kings of days gone by.
| Tournament | Location | Prize Pool | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PGL Major 2021 | Stockholm | $2,000,000 | TBD | TBD |
| ESL One: Rio 2020 | Rio de Janeiro | $2,000,000 | Cancelled | Cancelled |
| StarLadder Major 2019 | Berlin | $1,000,000 | Astralis | AVANGAR |
| Intel Extreme Masters XIII Major 2019 | Katowice | $1,000,000 | Astralis | ENCE |
| FACEIT Major 2018 | London | $1,000,000 | Astralis | Natus Vincere |
| ELEAGUE Major 2018 | Boston | $1,000,000 | Cloud9 | FaZe Clan |
| PGL Major 2017 | Kraków | $1,000,000 | Gambit | IMT |
| ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017 | Atlanta | $1,000,000 | Astralis | Virtus.Pro |
| ESL One: Cologne 2016 | Cologne | $1,000,000 | SK Gaming | Team Liquid |
| MLG Major Championship: Columbus 2016 | Columbus | $1,000,000 | Luminosity | Natus Vincere |
| DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 | Cluj | $250,000 | Envy | Natus Vincere |
| ESL One: Cologne 2015 | Cologne | $250,000 | Fnatic | Envy |
| ESL One: Katowice 2015 | Katowice | $250,000 | Fnatic | Ninjas in Pyjamas |
| DreamHack Winter 2014 | Jönköping | $250,000 | LDLC | Ninjas in Pyjamas |
| ESL One: Cologne 2014 | Cologne | $250,000 | Ninjas in Pyjamas | Fnatic |
| ESL Major Series One 2014 | Katowice | $250,000 | Virtus.Pro | Ninjas in Pyjamas |
| DreamHack Winter 2013 | Jönköping | $250,000 | Fnatic | Ninjas in Pyjamas |
Chronology of CSGO Greatness
We start all the way back to the first CSGO Major held in 2013 in Jönköping, Sweden, the hometown of DreamHack. Fnatic wins the first official CSGO major and goes down in history. The core of that team would go on to be known as being one of the most dominant teams ever, in what would be dubbed the “Fnatic Era” years after. They would go on to win two more majors in 2015 with olofmeister, JW, KRIMZ, flusha and pronax. The players will go on to crown several best CSGO players lists as the years went by.
The torch was then passed to the Brazilians, Luminosity. Led by IGL and AWPer FalleN and gun virtuoso coldzera, they would see an incredibly exciting rise to the top which culminated in one the best semi-finals of all time between Luminosity and Liquid, creating this iconic clip.
After winning the MLG Major Championship: Columbus 2016, they went back to back and won ESL One: Cologne 2016 facing off against Liquid in the Grand Finals. These two Majors in a row would dub that time as the LG/SK era.
The following years were packed with storylines surrounding the victories of Astralis, Gambit and Cloud9 in 2017 and 2018. Then we were then thrown into the seemingly endless Astralis era, where they won an unprecedented 3 Majors in a row. With the players overcoming everything they did, it was almost impossible to have perfected the game the way they did. They dominated so hard that other teams simply did not stand a chance, leading some to think their playstyle was boring.
As the pandemic dawned, we moved into the Online era, with CSGO Majors taking a back seat to online events and third party tournaments filling the gap in competitive play. CIS teams NaVi and Gambit are taking turns dominating the scene, and are the main favorites in CSGO gambling for winning the next major.
As we head back to LAN and the rankings have changed dramatically since the last Major, teams will look to make their mark on the history of the game. Since it has been so long coming, whoever wins in Stockholm this fall will not be forgotten.
