Team Vitality ends CSGO era with a Paris Major win

The Paris Major is over, and Team Vitality stands victorious at Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s last dance on the international stage.

After dominating the legends stage and cruising through the playoffs without dropping a single map, Team Vitality has brought a close to the legacy of CSGO majors. It’s also one of the most dominant major victories of all time, matched only by Nastus Vincere’s undefeated run at the 2022 Stockholm Major.

Team Vitality entered the event in the legends stage, earning third place in the European RMR B qualification event. The squad started with dominant maps over G2 Esports and ENCE, both serious contenders for the playoffs. In the playoffs, Vitality drew an extremely lucky series of matchups, not facing a single team in the top 18 of HLTV’s rankings. Aside from a dangerous 16-14 scoreline against Apeks, Vitality absolutely crushed the bracket to reach the grand final.

GamerLegion was an unexpected opponent, but the best-of-three format still favored the French-Danish stack. Vitality dominated on GL’s map pick Overpass, ending the first bout 16-6 with 11 rounds on the CT side. Map two on Vertigo was actually much closer, ending with a 16-13 scoreline. The nail in GamerLegion’s coffin was a pincer maneuver from Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Dan “apEX” Madesclaire that brought the Accor Arena to its feet.

With this win, Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen is now the most decorated CSGO player of all time, with five major championships under his belt. This is also apEX’ second major after winning DreamHack Cluj-Napoca with EnvyUs back in 2015, which is the longest gap between major championships for any player. Emil “Magisk” Reif joins the exclusive four-majors club as well, winning three during Astralis’ heyday.

Team Vitality becomes final CSGO Major winner

Team Vitality winning the Paris Major marks the end of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s time in the spotlight, but it also ushers in a new era for Counter-Strike 2.

CSGO majors looked very different when they started in 2013. Exclusively hosted in Europe, the events used a standard group stage and double-elimination bracket to determine the champions. Teams qualified by attending previous majors and through direct invites, and the prize pools were much lower at a relatively measly $250,000. 2016 featured the first major outside of Europe and bumped the prize pool to a cool $1 million, which has since risen even further.

The events have always been celebrations of Counter-Strike, but the $1.5 million purse and bursting Accor Arena of the Paris Major make the early days look like basement LANs. The sheer growth of the esport is reflected by the majors, and Paris draws a close to a decade of international competition.

However, the death of CSGO also marks the birth of an exciting new era. Valve has already confirmed the first major for Counter-Strike 2, and PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 will be its debut on the international stage. Tournament organizers are also chomping at the bit to host third-party events, and there will be plenty to watch when CS2 officially releases in the summer of 2023.