CSGO10: A return to normality (2021)
Tournaments returned to LAN, CIS teams began their near year-long domination, and viewership records continued to be broken.
Counter-Strike was still firmly under the grasp of COVID-19 once 2021 came around; events continued to merge together as the same few teams faced off time and time again from the comfort of their homes and offices. But still, there was a new-found sense of optimism in the air as vaccines began to roll out and societies geared up for a slow but steady return to normalcy in the coming months.
Astralis had returned to the top of the rankings by the time the new year came around after a first-place finish at the final tournament of the previous year, IEM Global Challenge 2020. The Danish side sat pretty at the top of the ranking with a clean 1,000 points, but their position as best team in the world was fragile — both Vitality and Natus Vincere were nipping at their heels and it wouldn't take much for the Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander-led lineup to be ousted from their throne.
This was also the time when Valve announced their intentions to host the first Major since the start of the pandemic. They awarded the honors to Romanian tournament organizer PGL, who chose to run it in the city of Stockholm, Sweden. After the previous plans for a Brazilian Major were scrapped in 2020, there was a sense of optimism for this event to actually go ahead. Teams began eagerly gearing up to what was going to be one of the biggest tournaments in Counter-Strike history with a whopping $2,000,000 up for grabs.
The tail end of the online era (January-March)
BLAST Premier Global Final welcomed eight teams back from the winter player break — six of them among ten best teams in the world —, all fighting for the lion's share of the $1,000,000 prize pool. Astralis defended their title valiantly for much of the event, besting the likes of Evil Geniuses, G2, and Vitality to match up against Natus Vincere in the grand final. The CIS lineup were gunning to snatch the crown for themselves, however, and their tenacity showed as they thrashed the Danish titans in two straight maps to secure the first Big Event trophy of the new year — a sign of things to come for Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov and company.
IEM Katowice was the next meeting ground for the world's best just a few short weeks later, but the event was once again forced online, sentencing the Counter-Strike community to yet another year without a sold-out Spodek Arena.
There was some debate leading up to the event as to who were favourites. Natus Vincere, who had by now become top of the pecking order, were eager to secure back-to-back IEM Katowice titles whilst also enjoying the momentum of a Big Event win just a fortnight prior. The other front runners, Astralis, were determined to dethrone their CIS counterparts and the Danes could hardly be discounted — their 2018 era was so dominant that resurgence in form was never off the table.
To the surprise of many, it was the lowest-ranked team in attendance, Gambit, who stormed through the lower-bracket on their way to the playoffs. Vladislav "nafany" Gorshkov's men put on a masterclass once in the home straight, deconstructing their foes at every stage with their grand final matchup against Virtus.pro which ended after a 3-1 walkover. This was the Russian organization's first trophy since their Major-winning run at PGL Major Krakow in 2017, and one few saw coming.
IEM Katowice highlighted both the fragility and repetitiveness of the online era. Chances of a dark horse victory are far more likely when playing from the comfort of a remote location; away from the blinding lights and deafening cheers of the stage. Similarly, there's little difference for fans seeing Gambit lift the virtual IEM Katowice trophy compared to Natus Vincere claiming their own at BLAST Premier Global Final a few weeks earlier. It was a recurring issue that had been present since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, and one that expedited the need for a return to LAN settings at the earliest, yet safest, opportunity.
Regardless, online tournaments continued, with ESL Pro League Season 13 hitting viewers' screens in early March. For Gambit, this was a chance to silence the critics and cement themselves as one of the top dogs in Counter-Strike. For others, it was a chance to throw their own hat into the ring, which is exactly what HEROIC did. They topped Group A with a flawless campaign before taking down FURIA to set up a grand final match-up against the IEM Katowice champions.
A bloodbath ensued, the first map instantly treating fans to a trip to overtime before the Danes managed to snatch the win. The third map went one further with a quadruple overtime, again ending in the Danish side pulling away with a victory. Whilst the remaining two maps weren't as intense score-wise, the final map of Mirage treated viewers to one of the most magnificent clutches in Counter-Strike history, a 1v4 by Casper "cadiaN" Møller which began with just a knife — and to win the map and best-of-five series no less.
The signing that rocked the Counter-Strike world (April)
The majority of April wasn't jam-packed with Big Events, but that's not to say it was boring — far from it. Nicolai "device" Reedtz shocked the Counter-Strike world when it was announced that he was parting ways with his long-time team, Astralis, in favour of linking up with Ninjas in Pyjamas. The blockbuster move officially brought an end to an era built on four Major trophies — three of them back-to-back — alongside an Intel Grand Slam and a plethora of other first-place finishes at some of the biggest events in the world.
The move, whilst out of left field, didn't come out of nowhere. There were talks of changes in the Astralis camp from device himself a few weeks prior to the announcement, and Astralis, while still one of the best teams in the world by April sitting third in the rankings, had seemingly lost their oomph since Counter-Strike moved online. It wasn't just the Danes who had suffered during the online era, though, as teams that usually found their form in LAN environments also felt the impact and began to deteriorate.
Natus Vincere carve route towards an Intel Grand Slam (April)
DreamHack Masters Spring played host to nine of the ten best teams in the world towards the end of April and a team from the CIS region claimed yet another Big Event trophy, although the tournament didn't go totally to plan for Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev and his team at first, as the they stumbled to Gambit in the Group A upper bracket final.
Natus Vincere stabilised and showed true fortitude in the playoffs, completing back-to-back reverse sweeps against FURIA and HEROIC before taking revenge on Gambit in the grand final — winning the best-of-five in three straight maps.
Whilst the prize pool for this event wasn't the highest, $250,000, it was very valuable for Natus Vincere in that it helped the side reach the half-way point of the famous Intel Grand Slam; their first of four event wins had come a year prior at the last pre-pandemic LAN, IEM Katowice 2020.
The year was truly shaping up to be dominated by the CIS region with both Natus Vincere and Gambit sitting firmly atop the ranking, exchanging tournament wins as they went, while ensuring that they would both make deep runs at events even after suffering an early loss.
The long-awaited return to LAN (July)
The Counter-Strike community felt a jolt of joy when ESL announced that IEM Cologne would return to LAN. It would be without a crowd, but after nearly a year and a half of online events there was something to get excited about. What's more, the first international event to be held offline was one of the most prestigious tournaments in the Counter-Strike circuit and it would have every single top ten team in attendance. It was the most exciting time in Counter-Strike since March 2020.
The tournament delivered from the start — the top four all made their way through their respective groups, with G2 and Natus Vincere securing semi-final berths. FaZe and Gambit battled in the quarter-finals, with the European combine being in a slump at the time; a far cry from their time as best in the world a couple of years prior. This didn't seem to impact Finn "karrigan" Andersen, though, who called his side to an upset victory against the CIS squad, overcoming a double-overtime defeat in the second map to clinch victory and move forward to the semi-finals.
Astralis squared up against Virtus.pro on the other side of the bracket — the Danish squad desperately trying to use the return to LAN as a way to return to the top after slipping down to eighth in the team ranking. Much like the other quarter-final game, the Danes recovered after suffering a double-overtime loss in the second map, taking the Inferno decider with conviction to set up a semi-final affair against G2.
Natus Vincere didn't skip and crushed FaZe in two maps, both with 16-7 scorelines. While Gambit were the top dogs in the online environment, their CIS compatriots relished in this return to LAN with an even greater show of form. G2, meanwhile, barely managed to survive a scare from Astralis, needing all thirty rounds in the deciding map to secure a 2-1 victory. It was night and day compared to Natus Vincere's dominance.
The grand final soon came around and it appeared as if the result could only go one way. The European mix had struggled against the fledgling team that was Astralis whilst Natus Vincere were now undoubtedly at the top of their game. It was the CIS side's time to shine.
NAVI dispatched their opponents with relative ease on the opening map of Dust2 before being pushed to the limit on Mirage, with all rounds being played before s1mple and company put it to bed. The number-two ranked team marched forward, eager to get their hands on the first LAN trophy since March 2020, stealing Nuke 16-13 to win the series with a clean 3-0. The spotlight was all on Natus Vincere who, by now, were just one trophy away from claiming the Intel Grand Slam.
Natus Vincere's Intel Grand Slam win (September)
The return to LAN was an overwhelming success, peaking at some 850,000 viewers in the grand final, but the coronavirus was still coming and going in waves and online play still made brief returns, starting with ESL Pro League Season 14. For Natus Vincere, the goal was simple — win the event outright as favourites to etch their names into history with the third Intel Grand Slam victory ever.
Natus Vincere once again impressed, topping Group A with a 4-1 record before blowing past ENCE in the quarter-finals. A rowdy semi-final against HEROIC caused some scares as another 30-round final map was needed before the Russian-majority side could move forward. Regardless, the final truly delivered as a clash between the top two players in the world, s1mple and Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, came to fruition. A five-map thriller ensued, the two sides trading maps back-and-forth before settling things on Mirage. Natus Vincere clinched victory with a 16-14 scoreline thanks to the heroic pairing of Denis "electroNic" Sharipov and s1mple.
Vitality almost prevented Natus Vincere's Intel Grand Slam win and pushed the 2021 team of the year to the limit in an applause-worthy performance, but when all was said and done it was the CIS side who got their hands on the tidy $1,000,000 cash prize after winning IEM Katowice 2021, DreamHack Spring Masters 2021, IEM Cologne 2021, and ESL Pro League Season 14.
Natus Vincere's PGL Stockholm Major championship (October-November)
Natus Vincere looked ahead to the PGL Stockholm Major with confidence after securing an Intel Grand Slam victory and their place atop the world ranking. The $2,000,000 event in Sweden had the distinction of being the first Valve-sponsored tournament to be held since the StarLadder Berlin Major two years prior.
All eyes were on the CIS quintet, who had their sights firmly set on the Major trophy, but especially on s1mple, who was often touted as the greatest of all time but the Major title always eluded him. Their run began in the Legends Stage where they went 3-0 with one-sided wins over HEROIC, Virtus.pro, and Ninjas in Pyjamas.
Matching up against their ESL Pro League Season 14 final opponents Vitality in the quarter-finals, Natus Vincere were nearly pushed to the limit; they conceded eleven and thirteen rounds on Dust2 and Nuke, but in the end, the CIS lineup got over the line. Gambit stepped up to bat in the semi-finals, desperate to stay within the top-three after slipping out of the podium-placings in recent weeks. Nonetheless, Natus Vincere didn't relent, thrashing their regional rivals in the most one-sided playoff game of the entire Major, winning it 16-8 and 16-3.
The grand-final was the one people had wanted all tournament long, pitting s1mple and Nikola "NiKo" Kovač against one another; both two of the greatest players to touch the game, but both notably missing that Major trophy to add to their collection. Natus Vincere struck the first blow, securing their foes' pick of Ancient 16-11 with the Ukrainian sniper averaging a truly spectacular 1.68 rating.
Looking to get back into the game, G2 managed to run away with Nuke, reaching match point just as the CIS side made it to double digits. For a moment, chances of the European roster forcing map three seemed high, but Nemanja "nexa" Isaković's men could not take it all the way and a missed deagle shot by NiKo that could have changed the tide of the series was forever engraved in viewers' minds.
Natus Vincere rallied to clinch the map in double-overtime and s1mple achieved yet another career milestone, becoming both Major champion and MVP while posting a whopping 1.47 rating across ten maps. Two years of waiting for a Major culminated in an enthralling grand final watched by a sold-out crowd at the Avicii Arena and a record 2.75 million concurrent viewers on all streams. For context, the second highest-viewed tournament had been ELEAGUE Major Atlanta with 1.33 million. Counter-Strike's arena return was a consummate success.
Strong ends to the year (November-December)
The first of three events that rounded out the year was BLAST Premier Fall Final, featuring five of the top ten teams in the world at the time, such as HEROIC and Vitality. Natus Vincere didn't skip a beat, however, and went on to win the event outright, taking down the French lineup in the grand final without a scare.
Vitality headed into IEM Winter spurred on by the news that their French-speaking quintet was being gutted in lieu of a Franco-Danish project once the new year rolled around. The side were pushed into an overtime affair by MOUZ before being dispatched of by the runners-up of the PGL Stockholm Major, G2, in the group stage upper bracket final. It wasn't the most confident start for a side on a mission. Despite this, Dan "apEX" Madesclaire and company hit their stride in the playoffs, only dropping one map in the their quarter-final game versus Gambit before claiming their only trophy of the year with a clean-sweep over Ninjas in Pyjamas in the grand final.
The final Big Event of the year was BLAST Premier World Finals in Copenhagen, Denmark. A blow down to the lower bracket by a soon-to-be overhauled Liquid did little to deter Natus Vincere, who completed the gauntlet run to match up against Gambit in the grand final — a fitting tribute to a year that was dominated by the CIS teams. There, Natus Vincere completed the reverse sweep after dropping the first map with s1mple being the driving force. He displayed terrifying levels of form as he averaged 1.74 and 1.92 ratings, respectively, across the final two maps, nabbing his side the last Big Event trophy of the year.
2021 was a year that brought life back to CS:GO. The online bubble finally burst with the return to LAN in July, records were broken and storylines made at the first Major championship in over two years, s1mple became the best player in the world once again, Natus Vincere established itself as team of the year and new teams made the ascent up the Counter-Strike summit. It was a much-needed year that allowed the Counter-Strike community to look forward to 2022 with renewed interest.
The CSGO10 series:
Emil 'Magisk' Reif
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Nabil 'Nivera' Benrlitom
Christopher 'dexter' Nong
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Aurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard
Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer
Helvijs 'broky' Saukants
Paytyn 'junior' Johnson
Aleksei 'Qikert' Golubev
Sanjar 'SANJI' Kuliev
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov
Joonas 'doto' Forss
Paweł 'dycha' Dycha
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