The year in photos: 2016

Without a doubt 2016 has been the busiest in CS:GO history, and with plenty of events to show for it, we have put together a compendium of some of the stories that transpired throughout the year with some slices of life added in for airiness.

We have seen teams go up and down the ladder. Starting with fnatic's dominance at the beginning of the year all the way to the parity era at the end, and with SK's reign sandwiched in between just to name a few, many plots and subplots have been sown and have flourished within and throughout events on a weekly basis. With no sign of it slowing down in 2017, here's something to get us all ready for the new year.

(January 13th, SL i-League StarSeries XIV Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

FalleN and fox hug after their teams, Luminosity and G2, played their opening match at the first international event of the year, the SL i-League StarSeries XIV finals, which the Brazilian side took 2-0.

(January 16th, SL i-League StarSeries XIV Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

olofmeister looks at the Minsk Arena crowd through the booth before fnatic's semifinal match against Luminosity, which the Swedish team won in three maps.

(January 16th, SL i-League StarSeries XIV Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

TACO walks into Minsk Arena, where his team made a run to the semifinals before falling to the dominant force of the time, fnatic. After their miracle run at DreamHack Winter in late 2015 where they reached the final, this second top 4 finish started to establish Luminosity as a team to be reckoned with.

(January 17th, SL i-League StarSeries XIV Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

dennis raises the SL i-League StarSeries XIV trophy in Minsk, one of six consecutive trophies this lineup won between late 2015 and early 2016.

(January 23rd, DreamHack ZOWIE Open Leipzig 2016, Radosław Makuch)

DreamHack Leipzig was the first event for the Astralis organization. The Danish team had recently parted ways with TSM and decided to create a player owned organization backed by venture capital, the first of its kind in CS.

(January 29th, PGL Regional Minor Championship Europe, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Sadokist and HenryG casted the first EU Minor at the PGL studios in Bucharest. The Romanian capital has been a second home to the duo, where the casters gained notoriety working together through late 2015 and early 2016.

(January 30th, PGL Regional Minor Championship Europe, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Berg's keyboard smashed after his team, DenDD, lost 38-41 to PixelFire in the longest LAN match in CS:GO history. DenDD gave up 18 match points before being defeated in a map that was played out over three hours.

(January 29th, PGL Regional Minor Championship Europe, Lucas Aznar Miles)

REZ, playing for Cringe Gods during the first EU Minor, shakes hands with bodyy, who played in LDLC at the time before being transferred to G2. CG earned the tag of poster children for Valve's new Minor system as the Nordic team came out of nowhere to qualify for the tournament and have, after several changes and under the banner of Epsilon, become a solid contestant at the Minor level.

(January 31st, PGL Regional Minor Championship Europe, Lucas Aznar Miles)

HellRaisers won the first European Minor, earning them a spot to their first Main Qualifier—of the three they played in 2016—at the MLG Arena ahead of the MLG Columbus Major.

(February 6th, Game Show Global eSports Cup 2016 Finals, Josip Brtan)

dignitas started to show they had potential to play against top opposition at the beginning of the year after making it to their first final at the Global eSports Cup in Vilnius, despite eventually losing to EnVyUs.

(February 19th, ESL Barcelona CS:GO Invitational, Lucas Aznar Miles)

The ESL Barcelona Expo gave two Spanish teams an opportunity to play against the best in the world. This opportunity changed two local players' lives as Mixwell and loWel, both playing for gBots at the time, stood out enough to be noticed and get signed by top-flight teams. Read more about that team and its players at the time, here.

(February 27th, MLG Columbus 2016 Main Qualifier, Lucas Aznar Miles)

hooch celebrates as he qualifies for his first Major, MLG Columbus, which was also the first Major Gambit qualified for. The CIS team then went on to become Legends in their second Major, ESL One Cologne.

(February 27th, MLG Columbus 2016 Main Qualifier, Lucas Aznar Miles)

STYKO laments his team's disqualification from the MLG Columbus Main Qualifier after HellRaisers gave up a 12-6 lead in the decider map of a best-of-three against Liquid.

(March 4th, IEM Katowice 2016, Michał Paradowski)

The ex-Golden Five player and current Kinguin coach, Loord, was given the honor of walking out the trophy at IEM Katowice during the first day of play at the Spodek Arena.

(March 5th, IEM Katowice 2016, Radosław Makuch)

olofmeister, considered the best player in the world at the time, high fives the crowd after winning IEM Katowice for the second year in a row. This was the last event this fnatic lineup won together.

(March 17th, Counter Pit League Season 2 Finals, Josip Brtan)

Counter Pit League Season 2 was DEVIL's first event with EnVyUs. The French side went out in quarterfinals having played a single best-of-three, which they lost to NRG.

(March 29th, MLG Columbus 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

THREAT had to stand-in for Pyth at MLG Columbus due to the Swedish player having been denied entry to the United States of America. NiP were able to hold on to their Legend status despite playing with their coach as a fifth.

(March 30th, MLG Columbus 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

NiKo's stellar performances got him much praise at the beginning of the year, but despite the Bosnian player's best efforts mousesports repeatedly failed to make their mark amongst the top of the top.

(March 30th, MLG Columbus 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Hiko got s1mple on board to go live in the USA and play for Liquid after the two players hit it off when Hiko stood-in for FlipSid3 at ESWC 2015. Together, they made it to the semifinals of the first Major they played side-by-side, MLG Columbus.

(March 30th, MLG Columbus 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

MLG Columbus was Ex6TenZ's last event at the helm of G2. The Belgian leader, who went on to play in LDLC, was replaced by the 19-year-old prospect bodyy.

(April 2nd, MLG Columbus 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

coldzera's father cheers at the Nationwide Arena after LG beat Virtus.pro in the quarterfinals.

(April 3rd, MLG Columbus 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

fer kisses the MLG Columbus Major trophy at the Nationwide Arena where the Brazilian squad, then playing under the Luminosity banner, won an international event for the first time.

(April 12th, DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

bodyy's mouse grip as seen at his first event with G2, DreamHack Masters Malmö.

(April 14th, DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

TyLoo celebrate after eliminating Luminosity, the recently crowned Major champions, to move on to the playoffs at the first DreamHack Masters in Malmö.

(April 14th, DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016, Josip Brtan)

pronax and znajder from GODSENT moments before their team made it to the playoffs in Malmö by beating CLG in their group's decider match.

(April 17th, DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

GeT_RiGhT weeps after winning a premier tournament for the first time in over a year. NiP won two maps against Na`Vi in the final to take the first edition of DreamHack Masters.

(May 13th, ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

ScreaM and shox hug during the ESL Pro League Season 3 finals. With bodyy in the team G2 started to show a clear improvement in their results, which resulted in the team climbing into the top 5 in our ranking.

(May 22nd, SL i-League Invitational #1, João Ferreira)

byali takes a selfie with fans at the Olimpiyskiy Football Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine, where the SL i-League. Invitational #1 took place. Virtus.pro went on to win the event despite having had inconsistent results beforehand.

(May 27th, ELEAGUE Season 1 - Group A, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Jason Baker, a veteran of the Counter-Strike scene, ran the show at ELEAGUE for its first two seasons and will be in the control room at the first Major of 2017. Read more about him, here.

(June 18th, DreamHack ZOWIE Open Summer 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

gla1ve and valde stood-in for SK at DreamHack Summer, which was also the latter player's breakout tournament. The two players would then join that SK lineup's core to form Heroic.

(June 26th, ECS Season 1 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

G2 won their first and only event of the year at the ECS Season 1 Finals taking revenge on Luminosity, who had beat them in the finals a few weeks earlier at the ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals.

(July 5th, ESL One Cologne 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

After OpTic qualified through the North American Minor and then made it through the Main Qualifier, Mixwell became the first Spanish player to play at a Major.

(July 6th, ESL One Cologne 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

shox and ScreaM weren't able to make it out of the group of death in Cologne after losing to SK and fnatic in best-of-ones. G2 were the number two ranked team in the world at the time.

(July 7th, ESL One Cologne 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Players from Virtus.pro, Gambit, and Na`Vi, as well as Liquid's s1mple watch FlipSid3 on their way to becoming Major Legends after one of the biggest upsets of the year. FlipSid3 knocked NiP out of a Major group stage for the first time by winning the third map of the Group B decider match.

(July 8th, ESL One Cologne 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Astralis walk on stage in Cologne holding dupreeh's jersey as the Danish player was unable to play during his team's decider and quarterfinal matches due to illness. The team's coach, zonic, had to play in his stead, becoming the second coach to play in a Major and help his team hold on to Legend status.

(July 9th, ESL One Cologne 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Semmler watches the semifinal match between SK and Virtus.pro from the analyst desk. His and co-caster Anders Blume's Room on Fire expanded this year to include analysts moses, YNk, Natu, and vEndetta, as well as caster Metuz.

 

(July 9th, ESL One Cologne 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Liquid and fnatic fans, including the caster BLU, face-off in the Lanxess Arena during their teams' semifinal match, which went the way of the North American-Ukrainian side.

(July 9th, ESL One Cologne 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

jdm64 and s1mple react after earning a spot in ESL One Cologne's grand final, the furthest any North American team has gotten at a Major.

(July 10th, ESL One Cologne 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

SK won their second Major in a row, and with only two Majors announced for 2016, were the only Major winners of the year.

(July 10th, ESL One Cologne 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

SK's coach zews and his mother hug after the final match in Cologne.

(July 30th, ELEAGUE Season 1 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

dennis, who could have won the accolade of pistol king of the year if such a title existed, gets a back rub and arm massage from vuggo and flusha ahead of their ELEAGUE Season 1 final match against Virtus.pro.

(July 30th, ELEAGUE Season 1 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

ELEAGUE Season 1's finals were the last time this iteration of fnatic's roster played together. They were the number one ranked team since early December 2015 until mid April 2016, and while still a top contender they had been struggling to find their previous form leading up to the summer break.

(July 30th, ELEAGUE Season 1 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Virtus.pro took the first season of ELEAGUE over fnatic after clawing their way to the title from the Last Chance Qualifier, and spending a whole month in Atlanta in the process.

(September 7th, SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Na`Vi huddle around s1mple ahead of their first match together. The CIS team eventually went out in the group stage of the SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals after losses to TyLoo and Astralis.

(September 7th, SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Cloud9's play got elevated when Stewie2K stepped up and took the reins, leading the team in-game while still managing to put in solid individual performances. The North American side had a semifinal run at the SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals where Stewie2K was named an EVP (Extremely Valuable Player).

(September 8th, SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

k0nfig became one of the forces behind dignitas' success late in the year. The Danish squad got a top 4 finish at the SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 finals, where k0nfig was named one of the VPs (Valuable Players) of the tournament.

(September 8th, SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

friberg swipes his mouse over his custom mousepad at the SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals played at the Palace "Ukraina" in Kiev.

(September 8th, SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

apEX suffers during the second day of matches in Kiev. EnVyUs went out of the SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals in their quarterfinal match against local rivals G2. This event was also the first time SIXER played with EnVyUs, where he stood-in for NBK-.

(September 11th, SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals, Josip Brtan)

A G2 fan found a creative way to cheer for his team in Kiev, creating the french flag with some shirts and hangers.

(September 9th, SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

The Danish side dignitas had already become a top 10 team in early 2016, but the signing of Magiskb0Y propelled them to a new plateau after the summer break in which they were able to fight with elite level teams. 

(September 9th, SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

JW and flusha were unable to get out of the group stages in their first event with GODSENT, SL i-League StarSeries Season 2, and struggled to find good form throughout the majority of the second half of the year.

(September 11th, SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals, Josip Brtan)

f0rest, the MVP of the tournament, lifts the SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 trophy. Standing to the left is maikelele who played for NiP in lieu of Pyth who was out with an arm injury for several months.

(September 18th, DreamHack ZOWIE Open Bucharest 2016, Radosław Makuch)

Romanian fans are denied high fives after dignitas lost an incredibly close third map against Virtus.pro in their semifinal match at DreamHack Bucharest.

(September 18th, DreamHack ZOWIE Open Bucharest 2016, Radosław Makuch)

pashaBiceps and snax hug and pose for the cameras after winning DreamHack Bucharest.

(September 30th, ESL One New York 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

SK huddle after beating Astralis 16-13 during the first day of matches at ESL One New York.

(October 1st, ESL One New York 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

ScreaM walks on stage behind the ESL One New York trophy. The French team went out after three best-of-one losses to Astralis, Liquid, and OpTic. G2 dropped from 3rd to 10th place in the rankings during the 4th quarter of 2016.

(October 1st, ESL One New York 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

coldzera is presented with the first MVP medal from HLTV.org for his performance at the ESL One Cologne Major.

(October 1st, ESL One New York 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

device and karrigan argue after being eliminated from ESL One New York by OpTic. This was karrigan's last international event with Astralis before being benched and eventually transferred to FaZe.

(October 2nd, ESL One New York 2016, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Na`Vi players experiencing the three stages of tilt during the ESL One New York final against Virtus.pro. The CIS side eventually bounced back and won the event.

(October 9th, The World Championship 2016, Josip Brtan)

JonY BoY's Argentina beat all expectations, taking a second place behind Turkey at this year's World Championship in Belgrade, Serbia.

(October 9th, The World Championship 2016, Josip Brtan) 

Turkey were proclaimed world champions after beating Argentina at TWC 2016 in three maps.

(October 19th, EPICENTER: Moscow, Lucas Aznar Miles)

coldzera sporting a custom silver ZOWIE ZA-12 at EPICENTER: Moscow.

(October 30th, ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals, João Ferreira)

Cloud9 became the first North American team to win a premier event by hoisting the ESL Pro League Season 4 trophy in Brazil over the local favorites, SK.

(December 3rd, ELEAGUE Season 2 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Soon after Cloud9's first big win for North America, OpTic came out of nowhere to win a trophy of their own by taking first place at the ELEAGUE Season 2 finals over Astralis.

(December 11th, ECS Season 2 Finals, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Astralis won a tournament for the first time this year at the ECS Season 2 Finals in December, after bringing on gla1ve to relieve karrigan as in-game leader. The signing of gla1ve, who had already played as a stand-in for Astralis in Cologne, also allowed the Danes to retain their Legend status ahead of the ELEAGUE Major.

(December 16th, ELEAGUE Major Main Qualifier, Lucas Aznar Miles)

mousesports players stand behind the casters' desk and watch CLG and Renegades play at the Main Qualifier for the ELEAGUE Major in Atlanta.

(December 17th, ELEAGUE Major Main Qualifier, Lucas Aznar Miles) 

FaZe were one of two teams—the other being GODSENT—to qualify for the ELEAGUE Major with a clean 3-0 score in the Main Qualifier. FaZe closed the year out with a strong 4th quarter after the inclusion of karrigan as in-game leader.

(December 18th, ELEAGUE Major Main Qualifier, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Zero and STYKO hug after HellRaisers managed to qualify to a Major for the first time with their European lineup. The core of this HellRaisers lineup had failed to win matches that would clinch a spot to a Major six times before they were finally able to qualify.

(December 18th, ELEAGUE Major Main Qualifier, Lucas Aznar Miles)

Players from EnVyUs and G2 congratulate each other after both teams qualified for the ELEAGUE Major.

(December 18th, ELEAGUE Major Main Qualifier, Lucas Aznar Miles)

f0rest and Xizt try to figure out what happened after a 16-2 loss to Vega Squadron which eliminated them from the Major Qualifier, making the ELEAGUE Major the first one in which NiP will not be present.