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Through the ages, the most prestigious Counter-Strike Tournament of all time has been the CS:GO Major. COVID temporarily put a halt on the Majors, with ESL One: Rio 2020 the unfortunate victim of a cancellation in November 2020. However, the pro scene is back on track, with another Major fast approaching with BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 taking place May 8th-21st. There, we’ll crown the 19th ever CS:GO Major winners!

The last few CS:GO Majors are the best they have ever been. The production has leveled up all around, and the level of play is improving at a rate that has never been seen before. The most recent Major was IEM Rio 2022, with surprise winners in Outsiders, and IGL Jame’s unlikely tactics leading the way. With a slew of new teams sitting atop the rankings, this upcoming Major promises to be one for the ages. With CS:GO smashing record player counts on a weekly basis, there will be increased attention on Paris that could redefine the CS:GO pro scene.

Astralis winning StarLadder Berlin Major 2019

With a new winner to be crowned in Paris, we reminisce with some of the Kings of days gone by.

We start way back to the first CS:GO Major held in 2013 in Jönköping, Sweden, the hometown of DreamHack. Fnatic became the first CS:GO Major winners, and go down in history. That core is known as one of the most dominant teams ever, dubbed the “Fnatic Era”. 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 CS:GO 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 MLG Major Championship: Columbus 2016, they went back-to-back, winning ESL One: Cologne 2016 against Liquid. 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 began 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 didn’t stand a chance, leading some to think their playstyle was boring.

As the pandemic dawned, we moved into the online era. CS:GO Majors took a back seat to online events, and third party tournaments filled the gap in competitive play. CIS teams like NAVI and Gambit took turns dominating the scene, and were the main favorites in CS:GO gambling for winning the next major.

2022 began with a FaZe mini-era, culminating in them winning PGL Major Antwerp 2022. It gave legendary IGL karrigan the one prize that had eluded him after so long in the competitive scene. It saw the end of the NAVI era, as the Ukrainian outfit struggled for form throughout the year. Even s1mple struggled to make an impact on the server.

FaZe expected to take IEM Rio Major 2022 by storm later in the year. However, they stumbled, making way for new CS:GO Major Winners. Step up, Outsiders, playing under a neutral name for Virtus.pro in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the final, they defeated cadiaN’s Heroic in a straightforward 2-0. It was their first Major title since 2014, and they now go to Paris looking to join Astralis and Fnatic as back-to-back CS:GO Major winners.

Right now, it’s G2’s moment, with IGL HooXi managing to make the most of his star roster. Ahead of Paris, most would put their money on G2 becoming first-time CS:GO Major winners, with stars NiKo and m0NESY in irresistable form.