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The Most Unexpected Finalists in the History of Counter-Strike Majors
The MongolZ will play for the first ever Major title for their region tonight in Austin. It won't be easy, however, as they are facing the rampant Team Vitality. In anticipation of this big match, we take a look at other sensational underdogs who made it all the way to the finals, and sometimes even the trophy, at the Majors.
Virtus.pro - EMS One Katowice 2014
After the victory in Katowice, Virtus.pro made their presence felt across the Counter-Strike scene. Hence, their place in this list may come as a surprise, for many people still remember players such as Snax, TaZ, NEO, Pasha and Byali as those who at one time were among the best in the world. Few remember, however, that during EMS One Katowice 2014 the Poles were a clear outsider and hardly anyone put them among the close favorites to win, especially with such strong competition.
At the start of EMS One Katowice 2014 VP defeated HellRaisers 16 to 19. In turn, in the second match they defeated 16 to 7 Titan, which was a huge sensation, for previously the French-Belgian, still playing in the colors of VeryGames over the course of 2013 and 2012 defeated the Poles 12 times! Losing only once in unusual circumstances outside of the server, giving the match away by walkover.
In the quarterfinals, the most unexpected finalists of the Majors in CS maintained their good form from the group stage and smoothly defeated LDLC. However, they encountered more problems in the semifinals, where they needed 3 maps to defeat LGB, but in the end this match also fell to the Bears, who sensationally advanced to the final of the Major.
In the final of the Katowice Major, however, VP faced a seemingly unbeatable rival. We are, of course, talking about Ninjas In Pyjamas, which before this tournament was the absolute favorite to win it, and Virtus.pro itself had rather no arguments to think about victory against them, as in 2013 the Poles won only one map against NIP, losing fifteen by comparison. However, Snax and co. cheated destiny and in the end, smoothly defeating GeT_RiGhT's team 2 to 0, making history forever.
Gambit - PGL Major Krakow 2017
At PGL Major Krakow 2017 we even had not one, but two sensational finalists. We are, of course, talking not only about Gambit, but also Immortals. Both of these two teams were outside the top ten of the world ranking before the tournament and, of course, were not mentioned among the favorites. It's not surprising, as the Brazilians qualified for the tournament from the qualifiers, while Dosia and company had strung together several defeats in a row.
The performance at the Major, however, was a completely different matter. In Poland, Gambit surprised everyone by advancing to the playoffs with a 3-0 balance after wins against Mousesports (now MOUZ), G2 and Virtus.pro. Immortals, on the other hand, fought for a place in the quarterfinals until the last round, where they defeated FlipSid3 in a match of teams with a balance of 2-2.
In the playoffs Gambit encountered Fnatic at the start, which they beat with a score of 2 to 0. Immortals, on the other hand, met BIG, which also advanced to the round with a balance of 3-0. The German team, however, at this stage ended their adventure with the tournament because the Brazilians were at their disposal perfectly and after a three-lap battle defeated them 2 to 1.
On the way to the finals, Gambit beat Astralis 2 to 1 and Immortals beat Virtus.pro. So it was clear that the title of the best team of PGL Major Krakow 2017 would fall to either of these two teams, and talk of a surprise had already begun. The final itself started better for Immortals, which dominated Gambit on Cobblestone, but the next two maps - Train and Inferno fell prey to Zeus' team and it was they who ultimately took the title in Krakow.
ENCE - IEM Katowice Major 2019
To introduce another sensational finalists of the Major, which is forever in the memory of fans if only thanks to the iconic song, we go back to Katowice, but this time five years later, when ENCE and the song "EZ4ENCE" won the hearts of everyone, writing a beautiful story, which, however, did not have its happy ending this time.
ENCE started its adventure with the IEM Katowice Major 2019 tournament from the Challengers stage. This was already that period, of course, when Valve revamped the tournament model itself compared to, for example, the 2014 tournament, adding significantly more matches. Advancement to the Legends phase itself was not problematic for the Finnish team, as they advanced to it with a balance of 3-1, beating Spirit, G2, Winstrike, while succumbing only to Renegades. The Australian team also caused huge problems for the Finns in the second phase of the tournament, where they defeated them at the start 16 to 13. Another defeat to HellRaisers with a result of 12 to 16 made Allu and his team one step closer to dropping out of the tournament, but then one of the most impressive comebacks in the history of Majors took place.
ENCE, with a 0-2 balance, took on BIG. The first map went wrong for the Finns, and on the second map they were already losing 10 to 14, so everything seemed to indicate that they would say goodbye to the tournament with a bang, but thanks to an impressive comeback they managed to lead to the third map, where they triumphed. This victory certainly gave a lot to the ENCE team mentally, as they then won confidently 2 to 0 against G2 and AVANGAR, advancing to the play-offs.
In the playoffs themselves, no one gave ENCE an easy time. In the quarterfinals they took on the favorites to play in the finals, and perhaps even win - the second in the HLTV ranking Liquid. And here, however, the beautiful dream of the team from Finland did not end, as they managed to close this meeting and throw ELiGE and company out of the Major in just two maps. In the semifinals it was not at all easier. There, NAVI (No. 3 in the HLTV ranking) was waiting for the Finnish team. Although this time already in much more difficult circumstances, this time too ENCE managed to cause another shock and beat the Natus Vincere team by a score of 2 to 1, advancing to the grand finals.
In the grand final, ENCE had to face the defending champions. Unquestionably the best team in the world at the time, and perhaps even in history - Astralis. However, the Danes, compared to Ninjas In Pyjamas in 2014, made no mistakes, playing flawless CS and smoothly defeating the Finns 2 to 0 with a result of 16 to 11 on Train and 16 to 4 on Inferno. Thus, the beautiful story of "Cinderella" did not have its happy ending.
AVANGAR - StarLadder Major Berlin 2019
From Katowice this time we move to Berlin. It was also there that another sensation occurred in 2019. Being on the fifteenth place in the HLTV ranking, AVANGAR, like ENCE, had to start their adventure with the tournament from the Challengers phase, where their fate was at stake until the very end. After four games, Jame's team had a balance of 2-2, and their further fate was to be decided by a match against Syman. This one, although not without problems, was won by the team from the CIS region with a result of 2 to 1, so they could celebrate their promotion to the legends phase.
The second phase of the tournament did not start too well for AVANGAR, but after a defeat against ENCE, AdreN's formation did not run into too many problems in the challengers phase. After their stumble against the Finns, the CIS team won its next three matches against Renegades, Liquid and G2 and checked into the semifinals of the Major.
In it, AVANGAR took on one of the main favorites for the final victory - Vitality with ZywOo already in the lineup. Although the Frenchman was already a nightmare for his rivals on the server at the time, in this clash he was overshadowed by Jame, who played a brilliant match and his individual performance was decisive in the fact that it was his formation that sensationally eliminated the tournament favorites, winning 2 to 1 and advancing to the semifinals.
At this stage of the tournament it is often said that there are no more weak teams, and this is of course true, but AVANGAR in the semifinals was also quite lucky, as fate would have it that they ended up against even lower ranked in the rankings: Renegades. The Australians were unable to put up a fight against a great-looking rival, and it was they who checked into the final of the tournament, becoming another unexpected Major finalist.
However, in the finals of StarLadder Major 2019, unluckily for AVANGAR, the specialists in winning these tournaments, namely Astralis, came around again. "Esports Real Madrid" just as in the clash with ENCE so this time left no illusions as to who deserved the title of the world's best team and defeated Jame's team easily, beating them to 6 on Inferno and to 5 on Dust2.
Outsiders - IEM Rio Major 2022
The 2022 Rio Major is described by many as the Major of disappointments. No wonder, because all the teams that were listed among the favorites to win either fell quickly in the playoffs, or even failed to advance to this phase. The most spectacular defeat in Rio was suffered by FaZe, which, being the number one team at the time, dropped out of the legends phase with a balance of 0-3. The fate of karrigan's team a few days later was also shared by Vitality and Liquid, two of the best teams in the world who also failed to win three out of five matches at the tournament.
Against the backdrop of these failures among the best, however, the space was shaping up so that in Rio we could once again talk about a sensational finalist and perhaps even a winner, which, as we already know, turned out to be Outsiders, a team that was never thought of as a favorite at the tournament or even a team that could fight for something more than possibly advancing to the playoffs.
At Rio, Outsiders had to start their adventure from the challengers phase, which was not particularly challenging for them as they got through with a balance of 3-1, losing only to MOUZ at the start. Jame's team also got off to an inauspicious start in the legends phase, when they lost in the first round to Heroic. Lessons were quickly learned again, however, because with another three wins against NIP, Spirit and MOUZ, the Russians checked into the playoff phase, where Fnatic was waiting for them.
In the quarterfinals, Fnatic was no threat to the Outsiders. The Russians, playing under a specific name due to the sanctions imposed on Russian organizations by Valve after Russia's aggression against Ukraine, dealt with the European squad with a score of 2 to 0. Jame, fame, FL1T and n0rb3r7 and Qikert encountered more resistance from their rivals in the semifinals, where a third map was needed to determine the finalist. On it, however, the Outsiders dominated MOUZ, and it was they who ended up in the grand finals.
In the final of the IEM Rio Major 2022 Outsiders encountered Heroic, and it was probably one of the most disappointing finals in the history of the Majors. With no Brazilian squad in the finals, the atmosphere in the stands was nothing to write home about. In the end, with a somewhat deserted stadium, Outsiders won the championship by winning 2 to 0 against the Danes.
GamerLegion - BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023
The latest and one of the most bizarre Majors in CS:GO. And among the main protagonists GamerLegion, at team that wasn't even among the top 30 teams in the world at the time. It sounds like a joke, but it really happened at the Paris Major.
GamerLegion, of course, began their adventure at the tournament from the challengers phase, where after two games they had a balance of 0-2. However, thanks to subsequent victories against MOUZ, OG and FORZE, they managed to reach the Legends phase, which they started again with a defeat against NAVI. However, we didn't have to wait for Siuhy's team to improve this time until round number three, as they already defeated 9INE in the second round, and then defeated Fnatic in the third round. This victory meant that GamerLegion faced a huge opportunity to advance to the playoffs, which they took advantage of by winning against Apeks.
In the quarterfinals of BLAST.tv Major 2023 GamerLegion encountered Monte, which was also the surprise of the tournament. In this clash, however, once again the upper hand turned out to be Siuhy and co., who thus continued their beautiful adventure with the tournament. It would seem, however, that their streak must end at the next stage, because in the semifinals they were to face Heroic - one of the two main favorites of the tournament. The first map seemed to confirm this thesis, as it fell into the account of the Danes. However, GL equalized on Inferno and everything was to be decided on Mirage, where GamerLegion simply destroyed cadiaN's team and became yet another sensational and unexpected finalist of Major tournaments.
However, in order to go down in history as the most incredible Major winner, GamerLegion had to defeat the other major favorite - Vitality. In the end, though, ZywOo and co. were lifted carried by the cheering of French fans, giving GL no chance, winning the last Major in CS:GO 2 to 0.
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Featured Image Credit: ESL