The Biggest Upsets in Counter-Strike Major History

Biggest Upsets in Pro Counter-Strike History - Header Image — The Biggest Upsets in Counter-Strike Major History

Counter-Strike Majors have delivered countless unforgettable moments, but nothing stirs up the community quite like an underdog story. From the unlikely rise of ENCE at Katowice to Cloud9’s improbable victory in Boston, these are the biggest upsets that shocked fans and made esports history. Let’s dive into the Major upsets that left jaws dropped and created legends overnight.

ENCE Reaching the Finals in Katowice

The Finnish ENCE squad wasn’t really favored coming into IEM Katowice 2019… and that’s an understatement. They were coming in from the Minor circuit with their only bigger achievement being a win at the DreamHack Open Winter 2018, where they didn’t really face off against higher-tier competition, with the pre-NiKo French G2 squad and the Danish Heroic and OpTiC rosters being the only real competition.

ENCE got off to a decent start in Katowice, reaching the New Legends stage with a 3-1 record. However, they faced trouble there, losing their first two games against Renegades and HellRaisers, and were looking like they were on the outs before winning three games in a row against BIG, G2, and AVANGAR to head into the next stage.

In the Champions Stage, ENCE faced off against the heavily favored powerhouse of Team Liquid… and they beat them 2-0. Next came Na’Vi, and you’d think Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev would handle these guys with ease…

It didn’t happen. ENCE eked out a 2-1 win. They were eventually defeated by the dominant Astralis in the last game, but that doesn’t take away from the surprise that brought us one of the greatest meme-songs in Counter-Strike history: EZ4ENCE, ENCE, ENCE! You can listen to it here… at your own risk—it’ll be stuck in your head for days.

Gambit-Immortals Final at PGL Kraków

If you were to bet on the PGL Kraków 2017 Major final, you’d probably end up betting on a rematch between Astralis and the hometown Virtus.Pro, or the likes of the newly-NiKo’d up FaZe and ever-dangerous Brazilian SK Gaming roster.

It didn’t quite turn out like that. The group stage saw the first upsets, with FaZe crashing out with an 0-3 record, losing against BIG, mousesports (who took revenge on Nikola “NiKo” Kovac for leaving them), and the ever-pesky Flipsid3 Tactics. Also leaving the contest were Na’Vi, who lost to G2, Immortals, and Fnatic. Cloud9 also got eliminated.

The 3-0 teams were the biggest shocks of all, as that title went to BIG and Gambit, two teams that were expected to sneak into the Champions, if that. SK Gaming, Astralis, North, Fnatic, and Virtus.Pro joined them, while the final spot went to the virtually unknown Immortals. Notably, BIG discovered a little crouch-jumping trick that allowed them to breeze through the Group Stage, raising some controversy.

BIG’s Cinderella run was quickly ended by a bigger Cinderella in Immortals, who managed to beat them 2-1 in a narrow game. Some may call it karma. In the other games, Gambit took out Na’Vi 2-0 with Fnatic, Astralis beat SK, and VP eliminated North for the second Major in a row. Everyone was expecting a rematch of the Atlanta Major; however, Gambit and Immortals had different plans, beating the favorites.

In the final showdown, Gambit narrowly beat out the young Brazilians with a 2-1 win from one map behind, ending one of the most unexpected and upset-heavy Majors.

Vega Squadron, QBF, and Cloud9 at ELEAGUE Major Boston 2018

The next Major wasn’t as chaotic, but it nevertheless featured some massive upsets along the way. With the Major being extended with an additional Swiss round, some additional upsets appeared. The first was Vega Squadron, the worst team in Kraków, kicking out Team Liquid with their win in the Challengers Stage.

Another CIS team sneaking through the Challengers Stage was Quantum Bellator Fire, a totally unknown commodity that… just kept going. QBF managed to beat Virtus.Pro, reigning champions Gambit, and mousesports on their way to the quarter-finals. Another big shocker from this stage was the elimination of Astralis, who went out losing to Cloud9 with a 1-3 record.

And Cloud9 was the team that delivered the big upset this time. After losing their first two games, they stormed back, winning three in a row to advance to the quarterfinals, where they faced off against the 3-0 G2 Esports. The record didn’t scare them, though, as the hometown team took the game 2-0, also winning a 2-1 series against the heavily favored SK Gaming. The final was supposed to be redemption for FaZe, however, as they recovered from their horrible performance in Kraków to reach the Major final, where they were considered the out-and-out favorites.

FaZe started off winning Cloud9’s map pick of Mirage in a narrow game. It seemed that Overpass would be a quick win for FaZe, and they’d be able to celebrate their first Major win. Instead, Cloud9 came storming back, winning the map. Inferno looked like another map controlled by FaZe, as they took a 15-11 lead. Just one round. How hard could it be?

Very hard, apparently, as Cloud9 once again came storming back, and after two periods of intense overtime, managed to take the first-ever major for a North American roster—fittingly enough, in Boston, completing one of the most unlikely runs in CS history.

Outsiders Winning IEM Rio 2022

Outsiders may not sound familiar, but they’re actually an off-brand of Virtus.Pro created as a result of the sanctions placed on Russian rosters by various tournament organizers after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Coming into Rio, the Outsiders didn’t really have any successes to speak of. They got kicked out from Antwerp with a 1-3 record and hadn’t really looked the part. As they progressed from the Challengers stage, they looked decent, and they managed to get to the Quarters with a 3-1 record in both preceding stages.

The tournament really opened up with the Legends stage seeing favorites like FaZe, Vitality, and Liquid being eliminated, and Astralis and G2 completely missing the tournament, the bracket suddenly opened up for competition. The Outsiders still seemed like an outside shot with the likes of Heroic, Mouz, Na’Vi, and hometown FURIA in the bracket, but in the end, Outsiders made it to the final, beating Fnatic, MOUZ, and Heroic on their way to their first Major title.

BLAST Paris Major 2023

We put the whole Major up, since the whole thing was a massive upset—maybe except for the end result. The Challengers stage saw the elimination of MOUZ, while Na’Vi and G2 fell in the Legends stage. This meant that the likes of GamerLegion, Monte, Apeks, and Into the Breach joined Heroic, FaZe, Liquid, and Vitality in the quarterfinals, with a bracket that saw some big underdog wins, including Apeks beating out Liquid and GamerLegion beating Heroic in the semis to get into the final.

There was no stopping the hometown heroes from Vitality, however, as they took the series in two. The underdog teams were soon ripped apart for players by the big orgs, but the last Counter-Strike Major will be one we’ll remember as one of the most surprising ones… even if the odds-on favorites did win in the end.

EnvyUs Beating Fnatic in Cluj-Napoca

From French favorites, we go to French underdogs. EnvyUs weren’t the best CS2 team in the world and they were facing off against a dominant Fnatic side. They also weren’t able to make any forays against them in the lat Major. Yet, as Fnatic screwed up in groups, they met with them in the quarters, where Fnatic immediately took Mirage, setting up another potential Envy fail. However, the French team bounced back, with two massive map wins. Their momentum took them all the way to the prize.

Conclusion

And that’s it for this one… What do you think was the biggest upset in Counter-Strike History? Let us know on our socials!

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