The Greatest Game of CSGO Ever Played

[Music] what in God's name is [Music] oh my goodness how did he do this [Music] [Applause] over time [Music] [Applause] all the way Counter-Strike might be a world of its own but it's also an including world that brings people together across countries continence and origin here you are not judged by your nationality or your religion or appearance but on your abilities to play to cooperate and to be a part of something bigger and that is badly needed in the world today and in this way Yuan inspiration for the word of tomorrow hi my name is Dev the mage I'm mainly a dead by daylight streamer who enjoys a few casual games here and there but watch this fourth ball this is about how I thought it would go but what a lot of people don't know is when I started streaming I streamed Counter-Strike I wasn't particularly good but I did have my moments I love FPS games and the slow methodical gameplay really struck a chord with me but this video essay isn't an autobiography this is to finally put the paper one of my favorite stories to tell on stream so I can share with the world this essay is about one of my favorite team lineups of all time going against one of the strongest lineups of all time about how North America won their first major in Counter-Strike history they just made history about the climb to the top of the roller coaster only to feel the great fall greatest game of Counter-Strike ever played first in order to achieve the emotions I want you to feel we need context how far back to go well let's start most simply Counter-Strike is a game about two teams to counter terrorists and the terrorists confessing points on a map they can test these points with smoke grenades to conceal vision and block paths flash grenades of blind enemies explosive grenades to damage and finally each team has their own version of area of denial molotovs for the terrorists or teas and incendiary grenades for the counter-terrorist or CTS there's also a decoy grenade but we'll save that for later and that's it there's only one other way for these two teams to contest points on the map and that's guns and boy is there a lot of guns assault rifles SMGs pistols snipers shotguns there's even this thing this thing is my baby but other than that that's it the terrorists win if they use these items more effectively and kill the entire enemy team or explode a bomb that spawns in on only one of the terrorists counter terrorists win if they kill the entire enemy team or they Defuse The Bomb after it's planted the counter terrorists also win with round timer reaches zero and one of them Still Remains and that's it that's the entirety of Cs go broken down to its Bare Bones we won't get into clever uses of game mechanics knowledge oh yeah there's also armor in the game that affects headshot values did I mention it makes a sound when you hit them in the head then I mention some guns one shot headshot through this armor at ridiculous lengths and you'd be surprised which guns can do it then their setups for these nades to guarantee the flashbang Pops in a commonly held angle or pop flashes or a smoke lens perfectly cutting line of sight or flashing through smokes gun recoils in a forever gun free firing common at Angles certain guns do certain damage through certain textures team coordination using sound as a way to know where people are map knowledge certain textures create certain footsteps movement values different body parts cause different damage to the player starting because we can even record this footage identifying games by their styles Air strafing counter Shaker spray transfer surfing bee hopping fake flashing look at that Decor grenade as I told you about I love this game let's give it on this game but I digress Counter-Strike is a fantastic game despite its reputation and it does have these moments of Glory in its own little vacuum [Music] over things really shined Pro scene these players took the entirety of the game's knowledge and boiled it down to a science the point that the things they could achieved were near superhuman they were the ones that came up with those lineups we talked about or pop flashes they're the ones that came up with some of those impossible angles it's watching two people go at it who both had the aim and knowledge we talked about it was a spectacle to watch sometimes there be mine games comes through he's got the bomb back fake sometimes they remind games to fake a mind game waiting I think he's faking the flank here so for us to has the respect that he could be behind now imagine there's five of these guys going against five other guys that have the same caliber of talent that's where teams come in some of them are probably names you already know object Gaming Team Liquid knob V and our main focuses of the story Cloud9 and phase you see not all teams were built equally as to say players are not built equally some players were pretty good as with no armor running three rounds to the side and he get to safety manages to get out these first position picks up the fry on to Aloo six second shot is closing oh my goodness so much that is done here by Kenny yes another friend and again Kenny S four kills in a row some players were better still I can't somebody peek on envious side and well that's what happens when you go around the corner at me with bonding what is this some players were absolute powerhouses mouses buy is gonna be torn away from them very very quickly oh my God if I don't believe it jokes then that's just to find one more the Molly Isn't gonna touch him and what on Earth has just happened is deagle is on fire and shot just gonna walk into it as well Nico is on fire sure every Community has their Tom Brady get through this he's gonna throw the awp oh my God [Applause] or Tom's Brady flanker I have no idea how still gets the kill it almost looked like skadoodle had actually come out on top there what a plate coming in show get him one of the headshots he's tapping away shroud could he do it again he's up to 11 kills and look at my number 12 are you kidding me shroud four kills can anyone take this man down he's got 12 and all but now these teams played together undeniable king of having the most watched Clips was shroud now I'm the king of the swingers and be just like the other men [Music] [Music] what did you choose [Music] [ __ ] jumping burst [Music] s [Music] thank you [Applause] okay then Stroud was a our house he was a single man hurricane that could teleport anything in its path but he also knew how to play to the crowd you're right one bullet dream so when I found out he played for Cloud9 I became interested in that team naturally and watching them I found other players I found really impressive and started to form an idea of how good these teams ranked against each other they not only had shroud or M E clips as he's known by his super fans but a player named nothing as well while he might seem like your average nerdy white guy well okay so this is for you have sore forearms I'm assuming from gaming too much uh it let's make this G-rated a lot of gaming he's been playing the game for a long time in fact he won his own land tournament or tournament where you have to attend physically at only 10 years old he was his own monster all the same and that's the key right there I just said it did you miss it land tournament things work differently when these players play against each other physically than when they face each other online how's that you might ask well that's because the thing in the internet world called ping and boy for FPS Gamers hang sucks what the [ __ ] I'm in this harsh environment some players found a niche they found a way to thrive they found a way to use underhanded tactics to gain a number of hands and no one was known for doing this better than Stewie 2K [Music] [Music] positive [Music] what's going on what's going on what what I don't understand what's going on here [Music] [Music] don't understand what's going on here Stewie 2K was a guy who in our community is so online could get away with anything you name something that shouldn't work he finds a way to do it 1v5s yeah we got that covered disgusting headshots yep jumping headshots clear but he was still on the onliner it's because he was up and Counting talent that hadn't really seen a whole lot of land play why am I telling you this because in 2016 Cloud9 imparted waves with Sean Garris a longtime player and someone who had led them as aim game leader of some time only for Cloud9 to turn around and sign who else but Stewie 2K you see inning game leader is a rule that someone takes upon themselves to call the shots if you will essentially figure out how the team will achieve victory in the next round While most of the time this either comes down to an ego Maniac being the only person talking to two egomaniacs arguing or you worse five egomaniacs could you imagine or even just a simple Rush B no stop someone will ultimately call the shots in every game of Counter-Strike for professional teams however this is a bit different much like football has playbooks so too does Counter-Strike all sellers coaches but we won't touch on that quarterback calling the shots after the plays decided was Sean Garris he had knowledge and knew what he was talking about so losing him was a big deal nothing took on the in-game leader position or igl but Sean was still a big loss and when Cloud9 signs stewies the replacement it was looking like a GG I mean he was online and had Little Land Experience how could he possibly help a team that was so inconsistent on land what then he showed us Stewie 2K turned out to be actually quite consistent even on land he showed a secret perform of the big names that were heavy hitting at that time and holy were there some real Doom Slayer types more on that later he even had great chemistry with the people on his team as they all played against and with each other online while this Edition was great and helped improve morale a bit they started to win online tournaments but they still couldn't perform at the absolute highest scale what was this scale well for that we have to expand out a bin let's think more Global you see up until this point we've only talked about a few players some of them are well known outside the community what do some of the best players in the world look like well that's something double for code I started to crumble what's going on foreign [Music] those were some good players there were players so good at the game it was scary here's the Doom Slayer himself and gets three on the fourth perfectly placed from Nico some people so cold and calculating they can win a 1v5 at a land in front of thousands of live viewers and millions of online viewers and just high-five it off like it's nothing what a Frack there coming in from rain he's gonna be pushing into the bombs like the bomb is on his back he's got the smoke for cover but he can make the approach to the bomb slack he does have some time as well he's gonna try to get the frag onto the flanking player the game stands from this man is unreal there's still two more players to find though rain he's gonna get another one fbk goes down he's created a one-on-one he's got so much time to use as well he's gonna make his way back back towards the uh the middle position and it's gonna try to trick his opponent right now Apex though oh my my greatest me rain some players were so good with an OP they could flick it so fast to you you blink and miss it you see if he's waiting for them yeah especially Guardians yeah they come nades reign in here come the parties as well Guardian just put one down can you find a second you better believe he can not another surely Guardian stop it Guardian shut dream is real as he must saw five Mouse sports are no more some players so smart at the game they can think rounds ahead of you while staying on their toes and still aiming better this is gutsy here he's going for it all he doesn't want just the plant dancing he wants to meet and the potatoes gonna catch this player in the back with the deagle we saw a nightmare yesterday he got CS gold fully there's nothing wrong about that strapped between the shoulder blades money in the back bomb planted and an orc for good measure he's got the smoke he can hold one of these angles away as he Retreats now the bomb's not planted for him if he holds down on this he's gonna have to wait for 10 seconds paragon's not buying it he is holding position he is good taking off the risk players who are so good they've won the most prestigious award in this game more times than any other person there's any chance flusher looking to end this it's gonna be a third title for fnatic they win a third major championship in Global Offensive wow and what a waiter position [Music] so what is that prestigious award what is the Super Bowl to this endeavor of ours well the major of course the major is where our NFL valve hosts massive venues and fills it with only the best of the best teams these teams battle it out for days on end all the while it's professionally casted analyzed and celebrated by millions of both live and online viewers and increasingly so actually by 2018 it had over 1.3 million online viewers on Twitch alone everyone wanted a piece of the pie but valve always made sure to invite only the best personalities hell some of the greatest plays of all time aren't because of what players did mainly because the Caster of the game had such an incredible reaction I know you want examples so here you go I can't think of a pithy segue into it so enjoy my favorite Caster moments it's all on Guardian will you try and hold he gonna try and go huge here Kenny ants on site straight in his face doesn't hit the no scope doesn't hit the would you believe and make it five three Navi to just snacks does find one let's not leave him out of this the Big Apple and snacks is hungry he's got one kill already on the USP low HP as well on guardian and flaming he's trying to beat them out trying to get them into one-on-ones as he dances back and forth between the balls Amy he's down what in God's name is that from sticks unbelievable actually what you want to that bombs so far take they gotta move quick right now they're going for it the diffuse is already happening hey girl are you kidding me he's gonna go for it they win the round he go picks up a triple A Cloud Nine win it what that could be the Difference Maker here in this round Dennis is spamming up through the bench leaving colds there in a one and four there's the first looking for a snack and he connects it oh and he gets a third as well surely he's not gonna pull this one oh calm down the mind [Music] shuffle a nice break from him but it's going to be all down the street oh my God what the [ __ ] pardon my French I apologize but that spray transfer was probably the most insane spray transfer I've ever seen now it's heco one on five Freiburg has already made his Mark made sure that they won that round heco is gonna go for it Freiburg will eventually fall but it is too late okay right is going to be waiting Eco charges in doesn't check [Music] God inhuman reactions the Gambit is sent even more Firepower that bring more this is huge don't just throwing a maid into the corner just as the ball's gonna go off they're both gonna go down get brained on Dozier with the dunk that's so smart there aren't any for responsibilists they didn't have enough money or they've already used them there's one Molotov going in now the kills start to trickle in four responsible side it will once again just be hiko is he about to pull off the Alamo he's got three from behind quad can he find a fourth he gets the fourth he's on for the A3 kitchen oh my God that just happen I feel like I'm trapped I'm trapped inside of a meme right now in human reactions I need a tactical it's caught trying to trade out a gun fugly fighting another one Jason R trades it back and now it's Summit in the 1v1 to try and close this out against bugley bugby playing it aggressively now that's from it's gonna clutch in and slice will close out map number one 16-11 oh wait what okay then no what happened oh no stop it no oh that is uh heartbreaking and now again as we've seen so many times before it's down to hika but against four is it really possible we do have a few players quite tagged up here from Luminosity so he could definitely not going down without a fight oh wow there's a first boss right he could gets a double there's still two players left they've got no Health on them 13 and three hiku creeping around the site now there's still time to oh my goodness how does it [Applause] do it [Music] But ultimately you'll solely find your favorites and while a lot of people will pick semler Anders is the best duo of all time mainly because Anders has so much time invested in the community and as some of the most beloved memes of all of Cs go history C inhuman erections some of the most iconic plays of all of Cs go history are because these two right here are the ones that casted it but I found my favorites in two casters known as James and Dan or James bardolph and ddk while they mostly spent their times being silly together they really knew how to play off each other so essentially during the most intense Parts okay okay let's bring it back what does all this have to do with the greatest game of Counter-Strike ever played well that's because the greatest game of Counter-Strike takes place during the major finals against a team of the five Extraordinary Gentlemen I showed you previously remember them and that team was called phase and they were dominating they were the best players in the world assembled under one team and they knew it they were Untouchable and a guaranteed shoe-in for a major final winner that year if it hadn't been for one little Dark Horse and who is that Dark Horse well one could assume it's Cloud9 since that's who you were introduced to in the beginning but you'd only be partially right see I've only shown you three of the members of the team and that's for good reason you see to bring up the speed Cloud9 in 2016 was shroud nothing Stewie 2K a player called freakerzoid who while a good player all to his own isn't a focus for us and a fifth member who's possibly the most important character of the story [Music] Google was the team's offer and being a pretty good opera myself I decided that skidoodle was my first favorite player Kurt shroud was the king of Reddit but scadoodle always was consistently even on land and he was fast like really fast like wrist breaking fast [Music] [Music] [Music] hey [Applause] [Music] in the world [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for me [Music] thank you [Music] so okay we know four of the five players you need who's the last person well that's why I said partially right see we've only met two of the final members of the team in 2018. Stewie 2K and skadoodle shroud left because he was rich from streaming and nothing retired as a lot of people expected to happen that year so the two best players one might think but here's the thing shroud was the king of Reddit when he played CS go sure but he moved on to other games like Pub G and apparently that's it because his Discord said no one watches him anymore no no for real here's the message anyways dead streamers aside we need Heavy Hitters to replace shroud and nothing as they were so strong so who do we pick enter the prince of Reddit Tarik who goes by the in-game name Tarik Derek was another one-liner who had started to see some popularity around this time and was seen as a great player and he even had a little bit of Lan experience he had great plays himself but because he was going against shroud he never saw much popularity but with shroud moving on to the other games it was left to fill the void well Derek of course couldn't let you go [Applause] [Music] I do feelings [Music] pushing [Laughter] [Music] foreign [Music] must have saw something in him too so the game a contract and he accepted so Derek is three we were the last two well you've already met them here they are but they are pushovers you see these guys knew what they were doing and let's be clear here this is skadoodles team skadoodle had up to that point been the longest standing member of Cloud9 since 2015 no one else on the team had that much commitment to it besides him which is part of what made him the main character of the story you see the major is no joke it's a really long process but I'll explain it as plainly as I can you see the major has three stages and it's honestly a lot more than I'm willing to get into but Esports talk has a great video on it you can check it out in the description below but imagine you have to go through three stages and the second stage is the people who won the year before at the stage above them so you may go up against a team who is the literal best team in the world in order to progress Cloud9 haven't been able to get past stage two in years and skedudo have been through it all so he gets the special mention but all these players are incredibly talented as they are and together they made the Cloud9 as they are meant to be and they were genuinely a really strong team that year in fact they were so strong that year that they earned an invitation to the second stage of the major [Music] so I mean on the stage set we're at Boston North America and there isn't a crowd yet but there will be after all the city in the United States have been chosen to be the hosted City and there was something special not only had Cloud9 finally made it to the second stage which hadn't happened in some time the Team Liquid another American team and also made it that far and two na teams at the same time was pretty unheard of for a major now you might be wondering why I'm focusing so hard on the fact that it's North American but it's actually pretty important see North America that is Canada and United States had really Heavy Hitters but not a lot of players are willing to move to a different continent to be able to play with the same team especially with how early in each gaming we were at at the time so a lot of really talented players had to compete with each other to end up at the global scale while EU players still had to compete at a regional level to earn their place they were still the entirety of the EU globally so logically speaking had the majority of the talent in the professional world of Counter-Strike since North America is only three countries in the eu's 27 statistically they would have more Majors but America had still not won a single major but this was our time to show up we finally had two really good teams here and they look like they could hold their own FaZe was looking tough and the straws would go on to win the next three Majors after this but North America and especially us just Cloud9 fans and lovers of the game in general we arrive at the second stage or otherwise known as the Legends stage [Music] Cloud9 had to win five games in a best of one format against five different teams we didn't know the teams yet but I was hopeful Cloud9 was up against astralis in set four but had the luck of drawing space soldiers to set two and Vega Squadron to set five those were two very weak teams that Cloud9 had a real chance of winning against almost 70 percent as long as they get those two near guaranteed wins all we need to do is not lose set one against G2 or set three against vertis Pro we could let astralis win set four after all they were looking nearly Unstoppable right now eventually game one happened and we're up against G2 and boy do they look good this year Kenny S one of the fastest offers in the world shocks the tank nbk AKA Natural Born Killer genuinely a tough ass to survive against but Cloud9 could do it it wouldn't be easy but maybe they could they chose cash as the map which could have possibly ended in our favor but no Cloud9 ultimately could Mount no offense so it ended 16-8 oh yeah by the way games are best of 30 and there's as many overtimes as it takes until one team can win four of six that's fine that's within the calculations next game is against space soldiers who sure have zantares who is known for doing this those who will continue early be on his own with four players for Gambit but not really an issue right but maybe the water is as well from zantaros getting warm getting the blood in those hands and he's just gonna just wreck absolutely everybody four quick kills from santaros right there we go you could kill someone that's the first one the trade frag just absolutely destroyed that second one was tight yeah that's that is impressive isn't it oh Matey's got the walls on ten to three ultimately Stewie had little to no impact in that game and being a constant 4v5 was hard to do against any team in fact he didn't do as bad in the last game but stat wise wasn't much better it was understandable as Stewie had never been on a stage this close to the Ultimate Prize before the nerves were me beginning to him so he couldn't perform like he could online in the comfort of his own home in fact that was true for most of the cast that wasn't skadoodle Russian terracore old optic gaming buddies sure but they never made it this far automatic was from team solo mid a well-known company but had also never been this far in fact the only person that had was skadoodle and watching them be zero two one loss away from being out of the major was heartbreaking for me so I stopped watching them entirely after all Team Liquid was 1-1 with a favorable matchup coming soon so all they had to do was sneak in one more win and would be off to the major finals with the North American team not my original choice but hey it was better than watching Cloud9 inevitably lose to distroll us and be kicked out Team Liquid didn't even have to face straws at the stars aligned so all on board the Team Liquid train it's like a train and liquid let's go and they're out all right lots of Vegas Squadron to go one and three nice well here we are at the end of the tale but something happened that day little did I know in the background someone was working someone was toiling away someone was working and burning the wake at both ends skadoodle was cooking something up somehow Cloud9 had managed to be both virtus Pro and astralis as absurd as it was Cloud9 had managed to double upset and remain in the standings for a major attempt in the final game was against Vegas team who had just beaten Team Liquid North America's only other team anyone else had left to consider had stolen Our Hope and now would they steal our pride no actually it was the opposite a complete Slaughter and who else had finally woken up at Stewie 2K himself in fact the whole team had woken up and there seemed to be no weak links just teammates working off of each other and with that win we were off off to the live show this is where the major truly began the Champions stage to be here was to guarantee your chance at a shot at the title next year and North America was invited and who else gave us the key to the mailbox itself but Cloud9 I couldn't have been happier while we did have a lot of Heavy Hitters to go through namely SK gaming who had Colt Sarah a man with a place so iconic they made a permanent addition to the game because of it how does Cloud9 win against all of this well by buying really good Counterstrike of course brackets were in and we could not have been happier we go up against G2 again in the first round but now things are different now we play three maps and the first to win two maps is the winner so we play the coin flip game to decide our first map and its Mirage perfect that's one of our best maps and if we play well maybe we can squeak out a Gwen oh yep that'll work oh and you close out the second map too wow that was their map choice and we don't do well on Cobblestone at all maybe Cloud9 can take it all the way this year in fact it's time to really prove it our next opponent is SK gaming and we know who cool Zara is but then there's also Fallen this guy Sarah didn't know what the hell was going on but it's the teams are reacting fast as teamco's coming in Fallen actually gets season so this kill is there it's gonna be guarding now it's time to fall back and this Fallen gonna be capitalizing there as well as I said you've won the round at that point why are you giving your rope away but still falling battling on here it's gonna be a three-on-one situation make this really interesting you know five seconds he knows it yeah he's gonna get that bomb down right in the nick of time and Navi are going to be saying that quite literally on the opposite side of the map and he is just waving a flag saying come and get me 17 points of health and a dream this would be an ace clutch from Fallen I'm believing you're a bit of a Believer would you suggest that you don't want to stop believing why don't you cast around okay tax up one oh I'm starting to believe as well Henry because he's got it [ __ ] my mom this is gonna be absolute Madness around that we will forget because there goes Zeus saving the day for Navi but could you stop he's actually got away with it Zeus is out of the realm no way he's done this told you you've just got to believe sometimes Alex who is a menace all to himself but it really all depends on what Maps we get the maps were key in these things being able to deny your opponent's best map and achieve a map favorable for you was key to winning it made sense some themes got really good at high playtime maps to ensure that they always stay competitive while other teams choose to highly specialize and choose maps that aren't played as often to always guarantee a win but the best teams in the world practice each map as many times as possible and our domination of Mirage isn't stopping of course as mentioned before we lose Kabul but SK gaming take us to Inferno and we have a 50 win rate on that map so we flip the coin what I haven't told you is statistics so far Cloud9 wins Mirage every time they play it they are in this year insanely good at this map but on Cobblestone SK gaming is King plus Cloud9 don't like Cobblestone anyhow this one to one was expected however I at one point saw SK gaming take away a certainty from me remember the spray bottle called Zera this spray was put here because this was the most notable play in a major valve does this sometimes they'll add in some graffiti or objects to solidify them forever as memories in the game itself awesome right but this spray this spray is when North America's dreams were dashed the year prior when Team Liquid was reverse swept into choking a lead and losing the farthest a North American team had ever made it before but now this was it this was the final stage but this year was different Cloud9 didn't fumble the bag and closed out quite handedly on map three but now this was it this was the final stage this was now officially the furthest the North American team that ever come to a major win just 32 rounds of Victory away from making Counter-Strike history skadoodle and the weight of every twitch Chatter's dreams are on the line the casters are announced who else but my favorite casters James bardolph and ddk this is starting to turn exciting the absolute best the EU can offer us Nico arguably best player in the world at this point olofmeister former best player in the world and CS go legend maker Guardian one of the world's best offers Reign a CS go legend himself and ranked one of the best players in the world Kerrigan one of the most Brilliant Minds to ever touch the game all of which have been at a finals before or going up against a no shirt streamer an egoist onlineer a challenge dates Andy a second Asian and skadoodle who none had ever been this far before we all knew phase would win but God damn it this was our home we weren't going to lose in our home were we we certainly weren't going to go down without swinging and the crowd made sure of that at least all that was left was the maps we picked Mirage perfect we could easily win that unfortunately FaZe was smart and picked overpass a bad map for us and one that they've been having good practice with lately after the final bands went through we were left with Inferno which ultimately would come down to a coin flip again Cloud9 have been having really good showings on Inferno but so were face there was not a for sure answer and that made the tension of the first map so much more because while we were good on Mirage Faye still had the best players in the world on their side [Music] the game opens in James bardov who with his partner ddk never casted a major finals before opens the crowd Up Make some noise [Applause] and like that my adrenaline is through the roof I'm ready to watch see how my beloved Knuckleheads stack up against the best players ever put Under One Roof Cloud9 went pistol round and we're feeling good that's an almost guaranteed three-round lead as at this point in the game's history it was common for the opposing team to force by meaning to spend all their money instead of saving there's a whole economy game to the system too but it's not important basically a force buy is a gamble that you will aim better than the enemy team and because winning around gives more money than losing around or the other team to make the exact same decision most high name teams forced by after a lost pistol round bull save the round after that and then they have enough money to buy whatever they want basically but that's on the fourth round of the game for teas that's a lot different because the game is inherently CT sided on a professional level the most common score line after a half when the team switched side is 9-6 not 8-7 or 7-8 and usually in favor of the CT side so CT side was more favor so if you can win six rounds as a terrorist you're essentially in line with the win percentage of the other team you could judge a game by half time who's going to win most of the time to go even further some maps were heavily ct-sided nuke for example was an insanely ct-sided map utn 114 lead get reverse swept Mirage was slightly ct-sided but in general one of the more balanced maps in the game winning episode round is good but now they need to transfer and of course face force by the next round as we knew they'd do but Cloud9 do it with no one dying at all which is huge for the economy going forward for C9 now they know they can't lose round three is around the other team saves it's common for a Hail Mary plan to have in fear but FaZe play normally and we're up 3-0 FaZe gets around on us but we win the next five rounds in a row sure FaZe cleans up the rest of the rounds but we've managed to sneak in one more before the end and one round was only because Guardian basically 1V Ford goes down straight away that was maybe the only chance but Guardian comes back in oh God in he gets two there's still more to go though Cowboy must have on the Peaks come in for Guardian will not stop one more to go and guardian making the first half score six nine with us going to the CT side the favored side of our favored map Things Are looking good less good after phase when the pistol round but thanks to some well-placed shots Tara and skadoodle are able to Pepper down phase into a force by win not only that but no one even died so off the back of that Cloud9 secure the next two rounds and the scores 12-7 things are looking good but you know what they say about living in the Sun eventually the sun has to set what happens next can only be described through the game so I'll let the game tell the story for you for automatic but let's see if scadito can hold on to the sidewp all of them is charging through be apps at the moment and the schedule will be exposed from the back slowly creep in they want to guarantee the trade brain finds an unknown angle of blind spot and you'll take full advantage oh there you go that's a nice crack looks for the follow-up but you can't find it distraction at play he can get a free push through the smoke it's good poodle's done Russ is done only automatic Left Alive for Cloud9 to try and survive with this M4 and he knows that if he holds enough he can potentially gonna kill them fall back and be safer but the game is now tied in Phase caller timeout this is it Cloud9 are on a buy round but do not have enough money to buy again after this they will be giving up two rounds effectively barring Miracles if they lose this round three versus two in favor of cloud nine bomb site B post plan all of Meister sits posted on catwalk watching the mid rotations while Guardian sits with an up beneath beep Apartments watching CT kitchen to watch CT rotations and listen for flanks a tough line to crack especially with how little these players Miss Stewie gives ways to position by throwing flash grenades for his teammate's own rotation but doing this gives Guardian knowledge and he hits a shot on Stewie as he's entering sight because rain lurks so long in mid they know that both Russian automatic will be coming from kitchens so they both post up with Guardian half measuring make sure you can still see flank Olaf kills automatic Guardian lays out Rush right there that kill on Rush that's when you can actually see my heart break if I had a live recording of me watching this I knew what was coming DNA choke it happened once before and the curse seemed to be true Team Liquid had it last year now it's cloud9's turn I'd watched the rest of the game but it ended how you'd expect with Cloudland losing in an absolute nail biter of a final round that was it game over there was nothing left the next map was overpassed and they were known to dominate that map Cloud9 had a positive wind rain on its Shore but FaZe had this in the bag I left the stream open as I would enjoy the post-celebration and all the special things they had planned for the live stream at the end but I wasn't gonna actively watch my hopes be demolished what I didn't know it was a cloud nine was the put on a master class of a CT side that n a had ever seen after a 12-3 half things were looking pretty good a pistol round loss is expected it is a ct-sided map after all but what wasn't expected was two of the t's buying AK-47s a gun that can one shot headshot at near any range this is because when the terrorist plans to bomb the entire team gets more money regardless if you win or lose and that combined with the extra kills they got skidoodle and Stewie with their AKs and Russia's glorious follow-up on an aggressive Peak causes Cloud9 to not only upset the round the transition that into a 14-4 lead this was about the time my buddy messaged me on Discord and said to tune back in and it was at this point I was sure I had a curse I watched C9 start to choke a 15 to 4 lead before I knew it my eyes had just watched physically a four climb to a 10. I don't need them to style on FaZe I take them around kicking and screaming just please one more and that's basically what happened Tara can automatic 2v4 a post plan situation and a 16th round and we've made it ladies and gentlemen we finally arrived at our destination the final map of a grand final of a major where North American city is chosen out of the thousands of locations where a North American team has a real shot at winning something that has never been done by anyone before them with my favorite casters casting the game Inferno of the Boston 2018 major Grand finals between Cloud9 and phase the greatest game of Counter-Strike ever played game opens up with Cloud9 on t-side not great Inferno is a massively ct-sided map and things go even worse when Cloud9 loses the pistol round creating a sure-fire three-round deficit but on round two Herrick manages to both open and close the round out for Cloud9 on a force by causing Cloud9 to take an early 3-1 lead and thanks to an aggressive call from Tarik the end game leader at this time by the way create a situation where the other two players on phase have to save players will save when they don't for sure want to give up another round it helps economy so on a struggled round fives from phase we all wait to see if C9 can transfer and who else opens around but Eric again this creates a 5-1 lead and things are looking extremely favorable sure phase go on to win the next eight rounds in a row but we take the last two creating an eight to seven half going into CT side we're looking good but then Devastation the b-bomb site falls apart Tarik takes two his payment but no one else on phase dies this round causing them to steamroll three rounds in a row that's when it started to happen sure we went around here and there but base was winning more than they were losing 11-7 13-8 14th and nine soon it was 15 to 11 and everyone was waiting for the inevitability to happen again but then who else but the content machine Tarik puts the game on his back and does this well if Meister may be offering a fake towards to be bombs like me [ __ ] comes into what they scored in the Smoke taken down tarik's gonna go future he's got a crossfire with Rush we've got Guardian in a short position and he's exposed but he goes down rush to the life four person three to sporting one player maybe two towards the odd position now what offices on short but it's a Flash and he's taken down Tariq is not done with this major yet here it is what happens after this is something short the work of an Angel perhaps some FPS deity nonetheless it was truly miraculous the game had been back and forth enough in the second ass that faves was forced to Eco but we still have a huge problem you see the next round two people die on the entry on C9 so Kerry and guardian have side control and worse still Guardian is in the back of the site with an OP down one of the longest sight lines in the game or still two of C9 are rotating through here thankfully for the moment a smoke blocks the vision of Guardian but he's been known to pull out wins with a signature weapon but due to clever movement from the entirety of Cloud9 and and honestly Kerrigan making the misplay of flanking instead of holding psychross for his offer they managed to scrape together another win 15 to 13. there are two rounds left FaZe decide to save again smart they don't have a perfect buy this round and since there's only two rounds left why not have one good round instead of two bad rounds they Rush B sight but who do they come across but the two best Asians North America has to offer Stewie an automatic automatic unfortunately gets pushed into smoke and flanked but Stewie gets a 3K in the round and is such a nuisance that C9 went off the round timer ending alone but they kill everyone anyhow and here we are 15 to 14. this is it either we win this round and keep fighting this uphill battle where we lose never see the major Trophy and North America Remains the laughingstock of the Counter-Strike community skadoodle never sees his trophy but it was a good run right I mean this is the farthest anyone's ever made it and it's literally the last round and the final map of the grand finals both teams even upset the opposite team's map Choice showing they truly are both incredible teams we may not win it but we showed We Stand Toe to Toe with the best players out there and that should be good enough but you see I mentioned something before a dark horse and who is this dark horse that could cause any amount of chaos to happen someone there was bread in it someone who got their start in the chaos someone who could do the impossible Stewie to K V phase was about to learn this the hard way they faked presence on the A-bomb site causing rotation to happen from automatic leaving Stewie alone in the back of the bomb site this so far is going according to Kerrigan's plan however olafmeister over Peaks and gets caught by Stewie this leads to the greatest solo bomb site defense ever performed on CS go and one of the greatest CS go moments ever recorded needless to say the crowd loved it but I was automatic's going towards saying nothing else is going on he's got to go back Stewie's on his own but that's trying to build pyramids but it's no more play Stewie's walking around we're going down the time how have they done that they came back all the way all the way how fitting it is Stewie to save them the only man that could the only man in position never wavering never faulting they give themselves another chance and you have to wonder that one so now we're here overtime first to win four of six overtime also has Max money but it's not important basically both teams can buy whatever they want and it's just a showing of pure skill versus skill Cloud9 take the first round but it's close next round comes in and it's less close but C9 have seemed to hit a stride and their defense is looking solid like really solid base have to save this round as they didn't get enough kills and bought a lot of expensive guns rounds prior so this is looking like a 3-0 lead in overtime but due to a clever flank from rain Cloud9 barely managed to scrape a win in a 2v2 situation with tarek taking out Olaf in a post-plant situation with barely any health alive too close for comfort but hey we're switching sides and we just need one win one round we should be able to all reverse Swift cool okay so now we're here and overtime too which honestly for a major Grand Final overtime is rare enough on its own we're in overtime too phase opens with the ct-sided win that's expected but it still feels bad 19 to 18. but then the next round this happens situations even better at the minute marks now and Stewie's moving away from B you could do this before but this time he's been discovered tackle taken down as a 5v4 for Cloud9 with 40 seconds to go and Carrigan he can't reposition he has the frag he has to frag and he gets only one and now that's Cloud Guy moving quickly towards B they have the utility but all of mice are on the flying can he catch Russia rush pops up and rushes knocked down whack them all there for Oliver Guardian still in position they managed to get there fast enough the bomb has to be parted and Cloud9 at a disadvantage Tariq brave enough to just hold the bomb plant he knows Guardians in construction trying to back off trying to reposition season ties in but doesn't frag him holding the angle once again but does he go high does he go low it is a dance and now they concede multiple angles turret going takes a little bites the down Guardian on 11 HP Reigns Peaks and he gets the angle now Superior angle is there a diffuse for the CT side just yet they're spamming the grenades they're touching the bomb and now goes rain another bomb that is in front of the Tuesday again but no that's right Tara killed every enemy player himself for what's known as acing rare enough on their own but in a major final a feat to achieve for sure not only that but it's a t-sided round we've seen c9's defense and it's incredibly well done this could be the round we needed to gain an edge in fact the morale from Terex Ace was so well received by his team that four of C9 survive in the final round of the first half easily giving us a second t-sided round and now we're on CT side both teams deal blows until Nico and guardian have skadoodle surrounded on site it's currently a 2v3 but certain to be a 2v2 in a matter of moments after all Nico the Demon Slayer himself is clearing skudoodle out but skadoodle then pulls out something a little interesting by dropping the smoke and becoming as annoying as possible to clear off sight he gained his team time to rotate causing both phase numbers to get swarmed by the remaining CTS and we're here again one round the way from making or breaking history around begins and my heart is absolutely pumping I can only imagine what it's like for those players on that stage that day but nonetheless the round starts all the same skadoodle opting a sight with Derek and Rush defending eight Halls while Stewie Ops Beast site with automatic to support him but this was also pretty far from normal I mean listen to this crowd scootoodle gets pressured out of mid and throws counter utility but Kerrigan isn't wavered even with his back against the wall he knows what you're thinking Kerrigan pushes the smoke and gets a devastating position on the B bomb site flank and rotate but here's the thing tarek was born online he knows about the funny flank so he punishes Kerrigan but because the flank was called Stewie's out of position for the push on B sight so Nico kills him automatic playing anti-flash peeks over the smoke on flower pot and gets the trade thought using automatic and gets rewarded with a frag on Earl of Meister because rain is in position for the Smoky blind fires through and trades on Derek 3v3 automatic pushes Smoke And Trades rainbow Guardian finally finishes planting the bomb only four seconds by the way and trades automatic now it's a 1v2 bombs down Guardian has an off in the back of a bomb site if this was any other player you'd have his bet stacked against him but he sits at the back of the site he peaked CT for a push for the smoke butt and never comes he knows one is rotating from mid as utility came from that direction but a skidoodle with him or did he go CT he has to bang on both coming from banana as he needs to create space for himself to work with the aims where Rush is about to Peak for one brief moment the entire world Stood Still no one made a sound everyone wanted the same thing but we wouldn't believe it until we saw it and then patiently as Kyle my sets the push up oh oh this happens [Applause] thank you that is the most insane way to win a major it could hardly have been more difficult they weren't the favorite they were The Underdogs they were a heavy Underdog but they did it for North America still Doodles won the major this has to be one of the most incredible storylines we've ever had a North American team in North America with a major win that is truly incredible the class resilience the strength time and again that they've shown is something very special indeed the best Cloud9 we've ever seen with the most difficult run cloud nine the e-league major champions [Applause] FaZe Clan came a long way then they came a very long way everybody thought like it was their major foreign Ed about all the way back in 2015 you couldn't even make it to Legend stage I was finally sitting on the throne he had done it we had done it North America had won its first and to be honest with you only major in Counter-Strike history against the best team ever constructed before five online Andes who mainly just joked around and farmed twitch Clips managed to beat people that if Counter-Strike is still around a decade from now we'll still be talked about as Legends everyone loves an Underdog Story and it's one I've been waiting to share with you for a long time but I suppose if you've been watching this far I owe you something you see I've been lying this entire time this video essay isn't about the greatest game of Counter-Strike ever played I mean it when I say it but this video essay isn't about that it's a video essay about how a video game can make a 20 year old go Beetle position screaming and joy at his computer room honor only to 20 seconds later start crying when his favorite Opera won his first trophy out five years later he can re-watch that game and still feel the emotions he felt on that day why did I the dead by daylight casual child's game enjoyer make a video about a dead FPS game that's been overtaken by a shinier newer model because this game refuses to die this game just recently had a 1.3 million concurrent player count making it the most played game on Steam breaking its previous count from 2018. this is in 2023 its majors are still electric and roaring with energy the people still love this game and the personalities that come with it I might not know a lot about the pro scene anymore but the new phase lineup is one of my favorites since the moment back in 2018 and I sure know how to pick them because they just snagged a shiny new major trophy and I caught a glimpse that day of how I felt back in my mother's attic yelling loud enough that she could hear me those moments those emotions are some of the most raw feelings someone could feel and I want to indoctrinate as many new people into it as I can I love this game I said it in the beginning and I'll say it again this game has brought me so many memories maybe all it takes is a shiny new form of Polish to bring back some of those great players some of that incredible Talent or even possibly some of our old friends but it goes beyond that Video Games Were Meant To Be works of art that someone could interact with but who knew what it would become what it could still become ultimately though this is about my love for you the viewer and my incessant want to share stories I hope you enjoyed this one stay safe stay happy and good night welcome [Music] back

Channel: Devin Noel

Views: 578,318

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Id: gjnhAnZIhG0

Length: 71min 22sec (4282 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 27 2023