*Bolded text indicates commentary on the primary era. All unbolded text is commentary on sub-eras. This article was written in the wake of ESL Pro League Season 7 - Finals
NiP Era: August 2012 - December 2013
The Struggles of VeryGames: August 2012 - December 2013
The Post-NiP era: January 2014 - January 2015
Fnatic Era: December 2014 - March 2016
EnVyUs’ Failed Era: December 2014 - June 2015
The Rise of TSM and NiP’s Magic: January 2015 - May 2015
Na’Vi Creeps to the Top: June 2015 - March 2016
Cloud9’s Summer Run: July 2015
The EnVyUs Resurgence: August 2015 - November 2015
The Rise of Luminosity: November 2015 - March 2016
Fnatic’s Six Title Streak: November 2015 - March 2016
Absence of Fnatic: April 2016 - July 2016
The Blossoming of Luminosity into SK: April 2016 - July 2016
Parity: September 2016 - November 2016
Uncertainty: December 2016 - February 2017
Parity: March 2017 - June 2017
Diarchy: June 2017 - December 2017
Uncertainty: January 2018 - Present
NiP Era: August 2012 - September 2013
The CS:GO timeline begins with the NiP era. From as close to Day 1 as you could possibly be, the Ninjas in Pyjamas were the most dominant team. The first LAN in CS:GO was held four days after release, and the Ninjas handedly won it without losing a map. For their first 87 maps on LAN, the Ninjas in Pyjamas had no concept of defeat. Having formed while the game was still in beta, this team of Counter-Strike legends, GeT_RiGhT and f0rest, had a headstart on the talent who decided to stick it out in 1.6. However, they were not the only titans to hit the ground running. VeryGames were a nearly unstoppable force in this era, and I must stress “nearly” as their era of peak performance was characteristically overshadowed by NiP.Just like the historical ninja, GeT_RiGhT was practically invisible. He would always be in the place you thought he wouldn’t or couldn’t be in, and when you finally got wise to the fact that this was possible and was actually happening, he would appear in some other place only to shoot you in the back. There were no rules for the Ninjas; it was as if they had broken the game. If I recall correctly, Richard Lewis had once stated that NiP nearly ruined CS:GO because any game involving NiP was sure to end one way. This initial phase of the NiP era was brought to an end by Virtus.pro — not the Polish giants, but a hodgepodge of CIS players.The second phase of the NiP era was still incredibly strong but more real and believable. They were not quite gods but something more on the level of demigods — they can be killed, but it most certainly will take a great effort to do so. Of the 17 offline events NiP participated in through 2013, they had won 11, and of the Premier events they participated in, NiP had a 6 - 2 record. These two premier losses were to VeryGames at EMS One - Fall 2013 and Fnatic at Dreamhack Winter 2013, CS:GO’s first Major. The loss to VeryGames at EMS One would be NiP’s only loss to VeryGames, and their loss to Fnatic at the Major marked their first of four losses in Major finals. By this point in NiP’s era, they had become mortal and their loss to Fnatic was a great upset. If NiP were to lose, it surely would have been to VeryGames, and since they were out of the tournament, it was NiP’s to win. Fate would nevertheless forbid NiP from taking their Major, so beginning NiP’s repeated misfortunes at the events teams most want to win, Majors.As this is a historical article, NiP’s success — rather, their failure at Majors while they were competitive — is important to make clear and provide context for. There were no chances for NiP to win Majors when they were dominant, and by the time Majors had arrived, the Ninjas and Pyjamas encountered a great many flukes. If things had been different, if the scene had been built up a bit more when NiP was at their most successful, they might have been able to make their trophy cabinet a bit more impressive. However, it is vital to consider how and when NiP got their success. They were playing at their best when their opponents were not as accustomed and keyed into the game as they were, and a large part of this advantage is due to NiP’s early transition and the state of the game. Yes, they are indisputably great team, but to say that NiP would have won more Majors if they came to CS:GO right away is a bit short-sighted.
The Post-NiP era: January 2014 - January 2015
The Post-NiP era was much like our current eras of uncertainty and parity. Would NiP be able to get it together after a roster change? If they are not the ones to dominate the game, then who is? Fnatic, LDLC, or someone else perhaps?This era was characterized by a high level of play from each of the top teams. Virtus.pro and Na’Vi finally managed to hit their stride after a rough ride during their late transition. In the latter half of 2014, LDLC and Fnatic were locked in combat to claim the coming era and the Counter-Strike throne as their own. One could have been led to believe that LDLC was going to make 2015 theirs after their win over a rebuffed NiP at the last Major of the year, but Fnatic would go on to prove such a spectator dead wrong.
Fnatic Era: December 2014 - March 2016
The Fnatic era was the most convincingly dominant era that CS:GO has borne witness to. I say that in spite of NiP’s 87-0, and while the 87-0 is an awe-inspiring feat, Fnatic has broken records that top that. Fnatic had won six tournaments in a row, and in their era, Fnatic had won 14 out of the 26 tournaments they played in. If a 54% title win ratio doesn’t sound all that great to you, then let me put it to you this way: If the 1% owning more wealth than the bottom 90% bothers you, then ONE team holding more than the majority of titles in 2015 should cause a stir too.Every player on Fnatic was great in their own way, but olofmeister was above and beyond anyone else at the time. The excellence he has achieved may only be topped by players like s1mple, NiKo and coldzera. Although 2015 was dominated by Fnatic, the teams below Fnatic were just as competitive as the teams in 2017. Sure, teams in 2015 didn’t think to abuse SMG’s and shotguns—other than JW, of course—nor did they understand the intricacies of the current metagame, but that’s not how figures of the past are to be judged. Isaac Newton isn’t stupid for shitting in a pot and doing his calculations without a calculator. Toilets and calculators hadn’t been invented yet. The combination of not being able to appreciate greatness in the past and the tendency of new fans to devalue great history by believing the current era is the best ever has led to a greatly diminished perception of the Fnatic era.Besides being host to the most dominant team of CS:GO, 2015 contained many interesting sub-eras. The first of them all was the failure of EnVyUs to have an era. As stated earlier, people had high expectations for LDLC, the predecessor to nV, as they very well should. EnVyUs was a lot like what Fnatic would become at the end of 2015. They were a group of star players led by a loose in-game leader that competed as a star also. Despite their frequent attempts, the French were never able to breakthrough and get on even footing with Fnatic, nor were they able to outlast the Swedes. So they crumbled and swapped out shox and SmithZz for apex and kennyS. EnVyUs would soon resurge after their roster change in July. They quickly found a rhythm and maintained their honeymoon phase for a few months until they won Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca, the last Major of 2015, after which they soon fell out of form.As it became harder and harder for NiP to consistently manifest their talent in-game, their potential talent came to the forefront in what has been termed NiP Magic. NiP Magic was a term coined by Thorin and was initially seen by NiP players and fans as pejorative but has now become accepted. To be clear, it does not seem as though the term’s coiner purposely created it to offend a certain crowd, but rather, they had difficulty in adjusting to the new way of things—NiP was no longer the best team in the world and that their only opportunity to win was only when they played above the level that they would normally play to. Virtus.pro fans are no stranger to this reality, but NiP fans kept believing that it was all just a dream and that they would soon wake up in 2013. Reality eventually sunk in, and NiP has become a team that provides occasional wonders, but those wonders grow fewer and fewer each year.What also coincided with the decline of NiP was the rise of TSM. Before 2015, this group of Danes—dev1ce, Xyp9x, dupreeh, and cajunb—completely lacked direction so much so that they didn’t possessa proper T side. What you could be sure of, besides their need to learn the Heimlich maneuver, was that they were a great constellation of star talents. These young players promised a bright future for Denmark, and if they could overcome their playoff jitters, they could be winning tournaments. karrigan stepped up to the plate and was then chosen as the qualified candidate he was to be a leader of stars. Under karrigan’s leadership, TSM did not become the best team, but dev1ce went from winning zero tournaments after two years of professional play to having won three tournaments in a row in the space of a little more than a month. They hadn’t yet become the Major-winning team that they are today and still had issues with choking, but karrigan’s joining the Dignitas core marked the beginning of the upwards swing in the careers of some of the best players today.Though not quite as conspicuous as the ascent of TSM, Na’Vi had become a contending team in the middle of 2015. This was particularly predicated on GuardiaN’s ability to stay relevant after the AWP nerf and the acclimation of flamie within Na’Vi. GuardiaN’s high-level of performance after the AWP nerf is not just a minor factoid but a major reason why GuardiaN is considered one of the best CS:GO players of all time. The AWP nerf had taken the wind out of kennyS’ sails and put an end to his peak. But for GuardiaN, the AWP nerf meant that he would be a giant compared to his peers. GuardiaN was only able to carry his team so far though. GuardiaN had carried his team all the way to the finals of Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca, and unlike the story of the Columbus Major finals, GuardiaN had played his heart out yet failed. The story of Na’Vi’s success in the Fnatic era ends at the same time and in the same way in which Fnatic’s era ended. At MLG Columbus, both GuardiaN and olofmeister developed crippling wrist injuries that prevented them from playing at the level we had come to expect from them, an unfortunate and tragic end for the two best players of the year before.Just as Na’Vi was finding their groove, Cloud9 rose to an unprecedented level for an NA team. Their famed “Summer Run” did not end in victory, thanks in part to Na’Vi, but it is nonetheless one of the most remarkable events in NA CS history. For three tournaments in a row, Cloud9 made the finals of each, and in all of the tournaments did they show a highly remarkable level of cohesion and skill, which was unfathomable for the time. Despite not having amounted to much at the time, Cloud9’s Summer Run had inspired hope and wonder in the minds of all Counter-Strike fans, regardless of nationality.The Brazilian entry to international Counter-Strike began when KaBum attended MLG X Games Aspen, which flusha notably and generously helped them to travel to. Where the Brazilians really rose to international success was on Luminosity Gaming and specifically after the recruitment of TACO and fnx. Their first result was an appearance in a final at the FACEIT 2015 Stage 3 Finals. Before this result, Luminosity had managed only to make it to the Ro8. After this jump up in form, results-wise, Luminosity had maintained the same level, finals and semifinals. In-game, though, Luminosity was improving tournament to tournament and was becoming a greater and greater threat to the two best teams at the time, Na’Vi and Fnatic. By most accounts, Luminosity were not ready to win the Major but were a strong dark horse. It was the injuries to the superstars of their biggest rivals allowed them to bloom early.
Absence of Fnatic: April 2016 - July 2016
After olofmeister’s wrist injury, Fnatic tried to make due with stand-ins, which had proven to be a miserable failure. Soon enough, olofmeister arrived back to the team to hopefully put his fellow Swedes out of their misery, but their misery had only just begun. Despite having a perfectly healed wrist, olofmeister had some psychological troubles relating to his wrist and ability to play. As time grew on, the possibility of olofmeister returning to his old form became more and more bleak. Additionally, tensions built within the team, and after losing to Virtus.pro in the finals of ELEAGUE Season 1, half of the players left to join pronax on GODSENT. Any and all hopes of Fnatic returning to former glory were now all but gone.As it became abundantly clear that the overlords were unable to gather enough strength to be anywhere close to the dominant forces that they were, Luminosity was allowed to ascend to the throne of CS:GO in the hearts and minds of Counter-Strike fans. Since Luminosity had a riveting rise to excellence and fit within the general Counter-Strike narrative, fans had gotten sucked up into the narrative and improperly assigned this year as having belonged to Luminosity/SK. The lack of tournament wins outside of the Majors makes it impossible for 2016 to be called the Brazilian era. LG/SK had no era, and although winning Majors is of high remark, more than four titles are certainly needed for any team to claim a year as their own.
Parity: September 2016 - November 2016
Before outlining the events of this period of time, it is essential that some things are straightened out first — parity or uncertainty, what’s the difference, and so on. Parity means, “the state or condition of being equal, especially as regards status or pay,” and uncertainty is a state in which one cannot definitively state or assert something. In Counter-Strike terms, the difference between these two concepts is that parity is when multiple good teams are known and established, and uncertainty is when you lack confidence in those who are winning tournaments as being the best.We all know Luminosity/SK to have been an excellent team during this era. Some people call the post-Fnatic era the SK era because they were such a good team, but as I had stated above, they didn’t win the requisite number of tournaments to earn that title. That should lead us to ask ‘why hadn’t they won more and why had a middle of the pack team in NiP won just as many tournaments as the two time Major champions of the year’? While I won’t be going about answering that question in this article, the question nonetheless shows that there was great parity among the tier 1 teams in 2016. We can comfortably call this parity because we have certainty around who the best teams were. At certain points in 2016, we do not refer to this parity as such but instead call it uncertainty, illustrating that while teams are performing on a roughly even level, that we are uncertain about the quality of those results.This particular period of parity was very wide-spread. It was as if competitive Counter-Strike became a system for distributing welfare. Vitrus.pro is a good team, they should get some titles. Dignitas is a good team, but they’re overshadowed by Astralis. Give them a tournament. North America hasn’t ever won anything, so give Cloud9 a win. What the hell, give OpTic a title too. Obviously, it didn’t play out like this, but through an allusion to welfare, I hope you may better understand that CS:GO had never been more even.
Uncertainty: December 2016 - February 2017
Parity transitioned into uncertainty once it appeared as though one of a handful of teams were going to begin 2017 with their mark. A French shuffle was to soon happen, Astralis looked very promising with gla1ve as their leader, and SK were thought to soon be upgraded by the entry of felps. What makes this era of uncertainty a particularly unique one is that the uncertainty was predicated on who was going to be the best team, which is distinct from their being uncertainty of whether or not NiP would return or uncertainty around who are the good teams.It appeared as though Astralis had gotten over their choking issues for the most part, and that gla1ve had ushered in a new golden age of Danish Counter-Strike. All that remained was the need for a few more tournaments to prove that they were the best. Astralis was unable to fulfill all that they had promised to be at the Major and the events leading up to it. Thus, a new age of parity had arisen and the Golden Age of Danish Counter-Strike never materialized.
Parity: March 2017 - June 2017
Unlike the previous era of parity where the field was wide open, this era of parity was more concentrated, and it would become even more concentrated, concentrated beyond the point of parity, in the era to come. The four leaders of this era were G2 after having recently been rebuffed by the recruitment of kennyS and apex, the new-look SK squad, the fundamental-focused Astralis, and the star-studded FaZe. They were all very impressive teams until G2 and Astralis began to have problems. Astralis had opted out of events so that they would perform better at the more important events, but that strategy had completely backfired, resulting in fewer appearances and no championships. G2, of course, just lost their magic touch for whatever reason it was; one cannot ascertain in the inner-workings of the French mind, not even the players themselves it seems. But before it came to an end, this era was most exciting of all eras of CS:GO. You wouldn’t know who would win, and once a victor was determined, it was a pleasant surprise. And no matter who had won, a great series between two Counter-Strike giants was enjoyed.
Diarchy: June 2017 - December 2017
At the PGL Krakow Major, a result that no one had expected occured - Gambit had won the Major final against Immortals. A CIS team had won the Major against the second best Brazilian team. It made no sense at all how this could possibly happen, but it happened nonetheless. FaZe and G2 didn’t make it out of groups, and due to a loss to BIG, SK faced up against Astralis. SK was knocked out by Astralis, but then, Astralis was unable to close out their series versus Gambit, which meant that none of the best teams of the parity era would be able to claim dominance in the first half of 2017.Before the Major had arrived, two of the ruling teams of the parity era gotten ahead of the other two. These teams were SK and FaZe. Despite the fluke of the Major, both SK and FaZe quickly showed that it was but a bump in the road. SK also managed to remain part of the top two because of their seamless incorporation of boltz from Immortals into the line-up. Valve’s roster-locking rules prevented boltz from playing in the upcoming ELEAGUE Major as he played in the Minor for Immortals. FaZe had also made changes to the roster after PGL Krakow, which no doubt had a positive effect on firepower and versatility.In the space between the Majors, SK and FaZe were in the finals or won all $250k or more tournaments except DreamHack Masters Malmo, which was the first tournament after PGL Krakow and was right after the player break. Even though SK wasn’t going to be playing with boltz at the ELEAGUE Boston Major, you could be sure that SK or FaZe were going to win it. SK and FaZe were in a tier of their own compared to the rest of the tier 1 teams. This was highlighted by FaZe’s 17 map win streak on LAN where they appeared to be able to play every single map thanks to karrigan’s mastery of the veto. With all this genuine hype surrounding SK and FaZe as favorites to win the Major, you can sure as hell bet that losing for a second time at the Major was a major letdown for both teams, which may be why we have only seen one of the diarchs win a tournament in the four months following the Major.
Uncertainty: January 2018 - Present
That leads us to why this era is an uncertain one. With teams like mousesports and Fnatic being considered top teams, there is good reason to question the level of play from those who are winning tournaments. When the question is asked “is this top-level Counter-Strike?” I must say no. While these teams are certainly not bad, we cannot call this era as competitive as the one that befell us one year ago. The teams making finals at this moment do not have the history and narrative that gives us confidence that they are the best. We have little reason to call Space Soldiers the next FaZe, and that’s because they hadn’t proven themselves to be a top team when we had confidence in who the top teams were. The success Space Soldiers is the extreme example of these uncertain times, but we also are wary of the real level of teams such as mousesports and Fnatic, two teams currently in HLTV’s top five list. Would these teams be successful if it were not for the disappearance of SK and FaZe?Now that Astralis has performed to a high level reminiscent of that from 2016 and 2017 as well as appear in the last two finals, there may be hope for the coming of a new age. Astralis may soon become the clear best team of the era. Will such an era be as competitive as last year? No one can say, but Astralis has yet to reach a steady period of excellence, which is why this era is still uncertain.Image credit: u/joelnir, Game Haus, Dreamhack, Dot Esports, Redbull, Mashable, Sportschau, ESL, WESGFollow the author for more on Twitter at @Bleda412.
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Bleda
2018-06-17 06:34:09
