Natus Vincere

Russian-speaking Natus Vincere won the biggest tournament in the history of Counter-Strike: Stockholm Major on November 8th. NaVi and Alexander Kostylev finally won. The top players in CS:GO fought on Sunday night. In the Major of Stockholm finals, the most prestigious category of Counter-Strike tournaments, Natus Vincere won 2-0 against the French team and became the first in the CS:GO team ranking.

A Spectacular Finale

For more than two years after the last major, the Ukrainian club and its star player had all the cards in hand to break this bad streak. Almost untouchable favorites in recent months, mentally prepared for this meeting and undefeated so far in Sweden (without losing the slightest card), enjoying the support of the public, they finally came back.

In front of several thousand supporters, Natus Vincere won the first round. With impressive composure, NaVi took advantage of their opponents’ small mistakes and took the game into extra time. They dominated their opponents in two stages to win this well-deserved trophy without losing a single round.

The Russian-speaking winners of most of the major tournaments this season have marked their series with the highest title, but they don’t intend to stop there. Their style of play focuses on the best qualities of the five players. Newcomer Valery Vakhovsky fit in well with the team. To beat such a team in CS esports tournaments, you need to achieve perfection.
With crazy statistics in the finals, Kostylev was obviously named MVP of the Major. A true star in his country, he achieved very high results in this tournament. Fast, accurate, and aggressive, he is one of those impressive players who strive to develop and improve their skills and abilities in the discipline. Now the winner of the most prestigious tournament in Counter-Strike, he is undoubtedly a great champion. The Ukrainian, who was beaten twice by Frenchman Mathieu Herbaugh at the top of the season rankings (2019, 2020), has continued his success this year.

Tournament Atmosphere

The Major finals ended a crazy weekend for esports perfectly. The day before the finals, Team G2 took the lead, and the Chinese from EDG beat South Koreans from DAMWON in the League of Legends Worlds finals after an intense match.
Emotion, high level of collective or individual play, group action, talent, competition, stakes, and atmosphere are usually associated with great moments of “traditional” sports. Esports can perfectly use the same words to describe what it has just felt. It is enough to watch the games to be convinced of this. I want to believe that the upcoming CS:GO tournaments will be just as exciting and intense, and once again, the top CS:GO teams will demonstrate the highest class.

Competition Format

The matches are played by teams of five in two rounds (“cards” are chosen before the game starts), each team winning 30 rounds. The first team to score 16 points wins. In case of a tie, ten players play in overtime. Counter-Strike requires great individual and collective ability. Major is the most prestigious Counter-Strike tournament category. The prize pool of the competition is two million dollars. The finale lasts until one of the teams wins two rounds.

Million dollars is the amount NaVi received for winning the Stockholm Major. The total prize fund of the tournament was two million. With that kind of prize pool, and in that particular context, it was undoubtedly the largest tournament in Counter-Strike history.