The CS:GO Majors used to be the pinnacle of success for every Counter-Strike player. With the final CS:GO Major being played at BLAST.tv Paris and with Counter-Strike 2 now released, we await the first CS2 Major at PGL Copenhagen.
As we await that event, we at bo3.gg decided it was time to look back at the CS:GO Majors and rank every Major MVP. But first, here is a list of every Major MVP in the order they won them:
The CS:GO Major MVPs
- Dreamhack Winter 2013: Jesper “JW” Wecksell - fnatic
- EMS One: Katowice 2014: Jaroslaw “pashaBiceps” Jarzabkowski - Virtus.pro
- ESL One: Cologne 2014: Adam “friberg” Friberg - NIP
- Dreamhack Winter 2014: Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer - LDLC
- ESL One: Katowice 2015: Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer - fnatic
- ESL One: Cologne 2015: Robin “flusha” Ronnquist - fnatic
- Dreamhack Open: Cluj-Napoca 2015: Kenny “kennyS” Schrub - Envy
- MLG Columbus 2016: Marcelo “coldzera” David - Luminosity
- ESL One: Cologne 2016: Marcelo “coldzera” David - SK Gaming
- ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017: Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjaerbye - Astralis
- PGL Krakow 2017: Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev - Gambit
- ELEAGUE Boston 2018: Tarik “tarik” Celik - Cloud9
- FACEIT London 2018: Nicolai “device” Reedtz - Astralis
- IEM Katowice 2019: Emil “Magisk” Reif - Astralis
- StarLadder Berlin 2019: Nicolai “device” Reedtz - Astralis
- PGL Stockholm 2021: Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev - NAVI
- PGL Antwerp 2022: Havard “rain” Nygaard - FaZe
- IEM Rio 2022: Dzhami “Jame” Ali - Outsiders
- BLAST.tv Paris 2023: Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut - Vitality
What is a CS:GO Major MVP?
Before we rank the MVPs, if you’re unsure on what an MVP is, it means ‘most valuable player’. This means that the player given the award was not just the most important player to his team, but in every team across the tournament.
Although MVP awards are occasionally given out to players who did not win the event, that has never been the case for a Valve CS:GO Major.
Ranking the CS:GO Major MVPs
19: friberg - NIP - ESL One: Cologne 2014
friberg was the MVP winner as NIP finally won their first CS:GO Major after losing two finals beforehand. He won the MVP award over legends like Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund and Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg.
Although he was the highest-rated player on his team, he wasn’t even in the top ten at the event and is the lowest-rated Major MVP of all time.
18: Jame - Outsiders - IEM Rio 2022
Although Jame was very highly rated at IEM Rio and deserved to win the MVP award, we have put him so low because it was the worst and most boring Major of all time.
17: Happy - LDLC - Dreamhack Winter 2014
Like friberg, Happy won the MVP award because he was the highest-rated player on his team. However, he wasn’t the highest rated at the event which is why he is so low on our list.
16: Kjaerbye - Astralis - ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017
MVP as the Astralis core finally got their first Major win, Kjaerbye had impressive impact throughout the event.
That being said, he only got the MVP award because his teammate, device, choked in the final against Virtus.pro.
15: AdreN - Gambit - PGL Krakow 2017
Similar to Jame, AdreN’s run to the Major MVP award was utterly forgettable. All the favourites were eliminated, and the final was played by two underdogs.
14: ZywOo - Vitality - BLAST.tv Paris 2023
Although ZywOo is one of the highest-rated Major MVPs ever, he won the award because of consistency, not great plays.
He is so low on our list because his winning was controversial and decided upon the final. Magisk had saved Vitality throughout the event, while GamerLegion’s Ivan “iM” Mihai carried them to the most unexpected Major final appearance ever.
13: Magisk - Astralis - IEM Katowice 2019
The second-easiest Major final Astralis had to play was at Katowice 2019 against ENCE. Still, Magisk was very good at the event, but their weak final opponent means he can’t be any higher.
12: device - Astralis - StarLadder Berlin 2019
The final Major win in CS:GO for device, he was strong throughout. However, Astralis were still too dominant and they had an easy final against AVANGAR.
Astralis did at least play the second best team in the world, Liquid, who they knocked out in the quarter-finals.
11: device - Astralis - FACEIT London 2018
device got his first Major MVP at FACEIT London 2018. He was very good at the event, although was lower-rated than both s1mple and his then-NAVI teammate Denis “electroNic” Sharipov.
device is low on the list because Astralis were too dominant at this time for it to be difficult for them.
10: rain - FaZe Clan - PGL Antwerp 2022
rain was awarded the MVP award because although he was goo throughout the event, he was excellent in the final on Nuke.
He kicks off our top ten because of the road he had to take to get to his Major MVP.
9: kennyS - Envy - Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca 2015
Legendary French AWPer kennyS is at number 9 because he is the second-lowest rated MVP award winner in our top ten.
8: tarik - Cloud9 - ELEAGUE Boston 2018
Despite tarik being lower rated than kennyS, he appears higher on our list because he was also the IGL of his squad.
He was the leader of the Cloud9 team that had to make an incredible comeback against FaZe to win NA their only CS:GO Major.
7: JW - fnatic - Dreamhack Winter 2013
JW is the next lowest-rated MVP winner in our top ten. He was the first recipient of the Major MVP award.
6: olofmeister - fnatic - ESL One: Katowice 2015
olofmeister had an incredible 2015, and that started at ESL One Katowice 2015 as he was awarded the MVP of the event.
5: flusha - fnatic - ESL One: Cologne 2015
The second Major win of the year for fnatic, flusha places higher than olofmeister because of his higher rating.
4. pashaBicpers - Virtus.pro - EMS One: Katowice 2014
Virtus.pro won the second CS:GO Major in their home country of Poland. pashBiceps was the highest-rated player for them at the event and was a deserving MVP.
3. coldzera - Luminosity Gaming - MLG Columbus 2016
The first of coldzera’s Major wins, his performances at Columbus are best know for the jumping AWP clip.
2. coldzera - SK Gaming - ESL One: Cologne 2016
As if winning one MVP award in a year wasn’t enough, coldzera won a second at ESL One: Cologne 2016. Even more impressive, he was rated even higher in Cologne.
Two Majors for a team from anywhere outside of Europe was unprecedented, and coldzera’s 2016 remains one of the best years ever.
1. S1mple - NAVI - PGL Stockholm 2021
The first Major after COVID, s1mple’s performance at PGL Stockholm 2021 is the greatest performance by a player at a Major ever.
NAVI’s first Major win, s1mple was instrumental in making it a possibility.
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