I have found again and again that ancient stories of peoples long before me to be applicable to situations that may, at first glance, appear unique to today’s culture. People on both sides of the Cold War thought that this was the first time that humanity lived under the threat of impending absolute doom. However, a thousand years before, the Norse lived in fear of the coming apocalypse, Ragnarok. Perhaps, there wasn’t a Swedish slump as bad as the current one to console us that it will all be over soon, but we can look to the mythology of Sweden to describe their current situation and what is to come.

One of the first signs of Ragnarok was the death of the most beloved god, Baldur. The sign of Sweden’s slump going underway was not the retirement of Fifflaren and NiP’s difficulties in finding a fifth, but rather, it was the injury of olofmeister. Sweden thrived after the departure of Fifflaren, but when Olof stepped away to recuperate, Swedish CS began what has so far been a permanent descent into the can with only a glimmer of hope at ELEAGUE Season 1, which would be the last time that team would play together until they briefly united half a year later. Since olofmeister’s wrist injury almost two years ago, Swedish teams have only earned four Premiere-level titles. For comparison, Fnatic won six tournaments in a row over the course of four months.

Sweden has been a premiere Counter-Strike nation since the beginning of Counter-Strike 1.6. Eyeballers won the second event in Counter-Strike, Babbage’s CPL in 2000. After that, things soon spiraled out of control. Ninjas in Pyjamas won three events in 2001, including the biggest event of the year in CPL Winter. 2003 became known as the year of SK, much as 2015 will forever be known as the year of Fnatic. From 2000 to 2012, Swedish teams won nine $100,000 or more tournaments. While that may seem like a small figure compared to today’s one million dollar prize pools, there were only 18 tournaments in CS 1.6 that had such a prize pool, and Swedish teams won half of them.

If your familiarity of Swedish CS only extends to CS:GO, then you won’t understand the depth that the Swedish scene often possessed through most of Counter-Strike. In CS:GO, there were only two top Swedish teams, and while Sweden dominated the first four years of the game, only one Swedish team at a time was dominant. This was not the case in 1.6. In the latter years of CS 1.6, Fnatic and SK were the two Swedish contenders for Majors. Below them, there was a plethora of Swedish teams, such as H2k, Begrip, Lions, Lemondogs, and MYM.

Structural differences in the Swedish scene may play a role in why Sweden is no longer a top country. The depth of teams and players in Counter-Strike 1.6 meant that Sweden as a whole could adapt to changing metas like a diversified population is protected against plague. Furthermore, the depth provided practice partners and a wealth of players to choose from if there were problems with a player or should he retire.

Sweden’s success in CS:GO was based initially off of NiP’s early transition to the game and all-star talent. After NiP was met with problems and Fifflaren retired, they were unable or unwilling to adapt to the situation that occupied them. NiP magic was a term coined towards the end of their relevance as a top ten team, but their whole tenure in CS:GO was magical. It was magical that the right combination of players got together and that GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, and friberg were the best players at their positions. With this in mind, it is understandable why the success of NiP has not permeated through all of Swedish CS:GO.

In the case of Fnatic, their dynasty was largely built around the success of one player, similar to NiP’s inability to adapt after Fifflaren's retirement. Swedish teams in CS:GO were built on once in a lifetime intangibles. Even though Sweden’s success is just as breathtaking in CS:GO as it was in CS 1.6, the Swedish scene in CS 1.6 was built on a firm foundation of feeder teams led by the success of one or two top teams. The formula for success in Counter-Strike 1.6 was replicable while the formulas for success in CS:GO were not.

To find a region with replicable success throughout the scene, we look to Denmark. Denmark has a functionally deeper talent pool than does Sweden at this time. Astralis is recognized as the best Danish team, as well as one of the best teams in the world, but North has closely contested Astralis for that title. Behind North are Heroic, and further down, there are experienced leaders like Hunden who pass on their knowledge to the next generation of players. The Danish focus on the success of a team as a whole and not individuals. The difference between the current Danish and Swedish scenes is apparent with how olofmeister was used at the end of Fnatic, a star allowed to do whatever he wanted, versus dev1ce, a star but one who functions very much within the confines of team-based play.

Sweden used to be a country very much like Denmark when it came to Counter-Strike, but now that Sweden lacks the infrastructure to facilitate good players to become great players before they get into Sweden’s greatest teams, teams from Sweden hone in on unreliable strategies. Swedish players are very much the same, but the infrastructure surrounding them is not. As a result, the sum of refined and known talent in Sweden is less than before. Swedish Counter-Strike has been devastated like a forest after a wildfire, and although it may seem as though this forest will be gone for good, from the ashes a thriving forest will spawn.

Click to read Part 2.

Image credit: Valentina-Mustajarvi, MLG

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