Greatest Matches in CS Major History: 5 Finals That Became Legends
NaVi undefeated in Stockholm, coldzera's jumping AWP on banana, fnatic's forfeit, and North America's first Major — five matches that changed CS:GO history forever.
The greatest matches in CS Major history aren't just sports results. These are rounds debated for years, moments that became memes, and finals that permanently changed the competitive CS:GO landscape. Here are five matches without which the history of Majors is simply unthinkable.
NaVi vs G2 — PGL Stockholm 2021 Final: A Perfect Tournament and a Record 2.57 Million Viewers
November 6, 2021. NaVi enter the final with a 9-0 map record. G2 — the world's second-ranked team with NiKo in top form. A 2:0 seems straightforward, but the second map — Nuke — nearly becomes a disaster.
G2 lead 15–10. Match point. NiKo steps up for the decisive duel with a Desert Eagle — and misses. NaVi take the round, then another. Two overtimes. 22–19. NaVi win the Major without losing a single map — the first team in CS:GO history to do so.
Peak viewership for the final — 2.57 million. The previous record shattered by almost double. s1mple finished the tournament with a 1.47 rating and +106 kill differential. After winning, he said: "Many people didn't believe in me and laughed. But I did it."
Cloud9 vs FaZe — ELEAGUE Boston 2018 Final: North America's First Major
North American teams had spent seven years failing to win a Major. FaZe assembled a superteam with NiKo, GuardiaN, rain, olofmeister, and karrigan. Cloud9 clawed through the group's lower bracket and reached the final through a series of comebacks.
Third map — Inferno. FaZe reach match point. Force-buy — they lose. Another force-buy — they lose again. Stewie2K grabs 4 frags in a round, sending the map to overtime. 22–19. Cloud9 are champions.
MVP — Skadoodle, the first American player in history to earn an MVP at a Major. Peak viewership — 1.33 million. Three years later, that record falls to the Stockholm final.
coldzera's Jumping AWP — MLG Columbus 2016: The Greatest Frag in CS History
Semifinal against Team Liquid. Luminosity are losing a critical round on Mirage with banana under enemy control. coldzera pulls out his AWP, jumps — and in a single shot threads two Liquid players. Four frags, two of them a jumping no-scope collateral in one round.
Eight years later, this play is still called the greatest frag in Counter-Strike history. Luminosity win 2:0 and take the Major. coldzera finishes the semifinal with 64 kills.
Virtus.pro vs Astralis — ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017 Final: A 6–12 Comeback and a 0.1-Second Defuse
VP lead the series 1:0 and dominate Train 12–6. Astralis look broken. Then 19-year-old Kjaerbye defuses the bomb 0.1 seconds before detonation — literally the final fraction. The psychological momentum flips.
Astralis take 4 rounds in a row. 13–12. 14–13. 16–14. Kjaerbye finishes the map with 29 kills and earns the Major MVP at 19 — the youngest MVP recipient in Major history at that point. This tournament marks the beginning of the "Golden Era of Astralis" — four Major trophies.
Fnatic vs LDLC — DreamHack Winter 2014: olofboost and the Forfeit That Changed CS:GO
LDLC dominate the first half of Overpass 12–3 — near-absolute control. Then olofmeister uses a series of jumps to reach an invisible ledge outside the map's intended geometry. From there, he can see half the site while remaining invisible. Fnatic win 13 consecutive rounds. 16–13.
LDLC filed a protest. Organizers ruled the boost illegal. Under community pressure, fnatic announced a forfeit and withdrew from the tournament. LDLC took the Major.
The consequences extended far beyond a single match: Valve began systematically patching geometric exploits across maps. "Olofboost" entered the CS vocabulary as a synonym for unfair advantage — and as a reminder that Majors change not just results, but the rules of the game itself.
What All Five Share
Each of them unfolded through defeat — comebacks from match point, clawbacks from double deficits, scandals that rewrote regulations. The greatest matches in CS Major history are compelling not for the final scoreline, but for the moments within them: rounds where the outcome hung on a single frag or 0.1 seconds on the bomb timer.
Want to understand the mechanics of the game millions tune in to watch? Check out the aiming guide: the same principles used by players in these finals.
