shox will not attend Rio Major, breaking 9-year streak

William Davis Published 28/08/2022

One of the most prestigious streaks in the history of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has ended with Richard “shox” Papillon missing out on the Rio Major.

Rising Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad Apeks failed to qualify for the European Regional Major Rankings events. As a result, shox will miss out on a CSGO major for the very first time. The disappointing result marks a turbulent moment in the legendary French rifler’s career. Now only two players remain with the same claim to fame.

For many fans, the odds of shox at the Rio Major were already slim after being kicked from Team Liquid just two weeks before this season’s RMR events. However, he was able to slot into Apeks, a mixed European team. The squad competed in three rounds of open qualifiers at IEM Road to Rio but was unable to place higher than 17th in qualifier #4. Popular CSGO analyst Jacob “Pimp” Winneche was among the first big personalities to notice the news.

Before this event, shox was one of only three players to sport perfect attendance at all the majors in CSGO history. He attended DreamHack Winter 2013 with the historic VeryGames roster, earning bronze. shox attended later majors wearing Titan, Epsilon, Team LDLC, EnVyUs, G2 Esports, Vitality, and Team Liquid jerseys. After almost a decade of consistent major attendance, shox still has plenty to be proud of.

Xyp9x and dupreeh may or may not attend CSGO Rio Major

WIth shox out of the running, Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth and Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen are the only remaining CSGO players to attend every major.

Both of these players owe the majority of their appearances to their time on Astralis. The pair formed the fragging backbone of the four-time major champion squad. Xyp9x is one of the all-time great clutch players while dupreeh remains one of the most versatile players in the pro scene. 

However, the storied pair have just recently gone their separate ways. Neither Xyp9x on Astralis or dupreeh on Vitality have secured a major berth yet, but both are expected to attend. Now the two former teammates are battling for the most consistent record in CSGO history.

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