katowice and cologne in 2023, but they never won a major

bro what?

on maps like these (before that it was train, but there the CT side was just as dominant) you just have the mindset of ''alright boys let's get as many as possible, 4-6 is amazing, we get the pistol we are all tied up

5 rounds on CT side is amazing tbf, anubis is really T sided

nah that's a bullshit reason lmao I agree :D It can sometimes push people away, but that's like a few thousands, not even reaching 10k

because lol's primary market is asia which has a population in the billions and counter strike's is europe with 700 million, let's not act like that doesn't have anything to do with the volume of viewers

So by this logic for example a storied player like apex from cs is fucking stupid because he screams nice the loudest every time his team wins? Literally the most emotionally invested player in CS Of all time and he gives it 100% every game. Esports are not the established sports, true, but the point of every competition is to cheer for either skill or the people who are playing. Exhibit A: Cristiano Ronaldo. People are fans of him not only because he is one of the best footballers of all time, but because people know he is an absolute egoistic machine who will do anything to win. People cheered for McGregor because he is an absolute showman. Every sport NEEDS either a genius who is so good people watch him play just to witness greatness (faker, messi, magnus carlsen, zywoo), or a guy who you WANT to cheer for/against (ronaldo, apex, mcgregor, jon jones). VCT cannot produce a genius because the meta is always changing, so they need a personality. And they do not have one

league literally has the biggest esports personality of all times in faker. I am a cs fan, I grew up in Ukraine where no one gives a fuck about LOL, but I know how cracked, insane and absolutely godlike that guy is in LOL. I do occasionally watch worlds because I know who Faker is. VCT simply cannot produce the same personality because of the rules they have

bro I am watching falcons vs vitality, there is no way USA and Australia of all teams play blue lock-style IRL

tbf that's why I kinda don't watch vct a lot. just the strict rules. Like, don't get me wrong, these guys are skilled, but all the teams just feel the same somewhat? Like, whenever I see their reactions they are the same. It's like they are not even allowed to show emotions. Like some people dislike boaster, but the guy is at least special, he has some character, mannerisms. Newer guys are just kinda the same in what they do, how they behave. The protocols just kill the personalities playing for me

well this event is special because it's cologne and the major at the same time, so it's really prestigious. In the playoffs you get 3 teams with russians (huge CIS viewership), 2 LATAM teams (furia and 9z), turkish team (aurora) and 2 eu big name teams (g2, vitality). The games were quite decent actually, the only way I could see the viewership being even higher if it was aurora-navi/faze, but both navi and faze shat the bed :)

yeah, like just one lucky deflection, or a bad angle and that's an own goal. especially during scrambles during corners or free kicks

how can you even currently compare vct pacific to cs eu or korea in lol? Like, just compare the playoffs split. not to diminish what pacific does in vct rn, but the comparisons can only start where you get 4 pacific teams in the playoffs of champs for example. The same region winning does not equal having 4-6 teams in the playoffs just from your region

all g, to be fair heretics weren't much better :D

damn sounds like a downfall of vct, yikes....

nothing french about vitality's or gentle mates' roster what so ever btw

facts, I am glad it was g2 and not navi, navi would get destroyed and wrecked 13-4 13-8 or something

wait so from what I see vct viewership kinda blows this year cuz unpopular teams make it and either the timezones are shit or more hype events happen at the same time?

SPI just looks cancerous and wrong

wasn't santiago viewership also kinda low for vct standards or??

was a demon even before he turned into a femboy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r5VmrQNC_4

I am betting my life on major playoffs magixx, fucker is a demon

I mean somewhat, their roster with m0nesy, niko, hunter as the core definitely was. This new g2 roster is like the gatekeeper of t1. They make the playoffs, they can even go deep, but they are never the favourite. They bombed out of the previous 2 majors in top 9-11, but here they went to the playoffs as the 8th seed sending navi home

maybe on major playoffs. if they go one more set and the losing team gets 2 rounds they beat the cs2 major record (28-25)

VALVE IF THIS IS NOT A GRAFFITI I FUCKING HATE YOU

is it confirmed? Like, I do not have a good feeling. Maybe it was just the liquid curse, but that was a disaster in 2023

except it's not his last :D he will be retiring in the end of 2026, after the singapore major

That was testicular cancer, my bad guys

define good. Like, if ''good'' is dominating, then nah, but furia are always sniffing around S tier trophy wins and top 4s, so they are good.

this will go to cinema OT, I can feel it in my balls. 9z came back from 3-9 down on overpass against spirit and won in OT, the game is not over

find me a better igl than fallen in latin america then. art who calls braindead rush B calls 8 times out of 12 on the T side? biguzera, where pain are just stuck in the hell of top 25 for 3 years now? max will not leave 9z, not after this major. Even furia players themselves say that it's almost impossible to replace fallen and that's why they will spend these months until he retires in december 2026 searching actively for his replacement

you are welcome mens)). like the more I find out about fallen as a cs fan, the more I am amazed. Like molodoy actually admitted in that ESL video that his parents divorced when he was 10 and he never really had a father, and fallen is f a father figure to him, so I can only imagine the toll it took on Molodoy when the rumours started going around that he was leaving to aurora right after fallen announced his retirement. The story is also funny, molodoy was playing for AMKAL (tier 3 team) and he lied that he knew english just to get into FURIA

are we deadass slandering fallen when karrigan will play tommorow? night and day in terms of impact

sorry, not that deep into vct lore, I just watch occasionally mostly during champs, so didn't get the reference. Fallen's story is beautiful not only because of skill but also because of the sheer narrative

betting on niko and m0nesy? in major playoffs?

I shit you not, and with no disrespect to FNS, FNS never had such a bond with a player like he and molodoy. He trusted him the AWP, became a site anchor when he never was one, just for molodoy to shine.

fallen is the absolute godfather of brazilian counter strike. Like, literally Messi in argentinian football levels of influence. He has been playing for so long a player for pain (snow) was in fallen's cs school and then played against him in the playoffs of austin major 2025. He was literally the igl for LG/SK who put brazil on the map and won 2 majors for brazil. In 2025, when furia were mid, they signed the kazakh awper molodoy and yekindar, a latvian entry fragger who was clowned for his liquid stint. in late 2025 they were a consistent top 3 team in the world. in rio 2026, in april, fallen announced his retirement in front of his home crowd, said he will retire in december 2026. The absolute legend of the game, the professor to brazil. As for why the game vs 9z is also personal. in 2015, when lg/sk just started showing up, he said that ''I want our team to inspire players from Uruguay, Chile and Argentina to also go pro in cs and grow as a scene''. He got his wish, he now plays against huasopeek (chile), dgt and max (uruguay), luchov and meyern (argentina). He is unironically a father figure to molodoy (I reccomend you watch molodoy's CS profile video published by ESL, their relationship with fallen is explained clearly).
TL;DR An absolute legend of South America is playing his penultimate major against the players he inspired to go pro. It is absolute cinema.

writing about cs with this flair is certainly a choice...

Like I am not even a furia fan, but holy shit it's their 3rd major with this lineup, they go 3-0 for the 3rd time and they just shit themselves in the quarterfinals

I mean I am happy for them because they have a bit of a more aggressive meta on inferno and dust 2, on overpass as well. When they just got the invite to stage 2, people said they scammed it because they almost didn't play S tier events what so ever. Their only showing before the invites was blast open in march where they lost to vitality, won mouz in a 2-1, and then lost to spirit 0-2. Then they went back to SA, farmed VRS, got the invite for stage 2. PGL astana was in may and they actually went 3-0 by absolutely shitting on parivision, falcons and mouz. So, they are kinda like mongolz. A small region for CS, a different approach to the game and godlike mechanical skill. Like, the shit luchov does when he is locked in is just filthy

furia are ruining your hopes of a spirit furia grand final, absolute dog shit CT side

dgt was the part of pain who got top 4 at austin major in 2025, luchov was in BESTIA who should have been in Austin but didn't go due to visa issues. Max has been a part of 9z since 2019 or something. HUASOPEEK has been in 9z since cs2 came out. Funnily enough dgt left them in 2025, went to pain, then came back in january 2026, they also got meyern from some tier 2 argentinian team and just grinded south america. Honestly respect to their team, they are so fucking good on dust 2. should have 2-0'd spirit but choked on mirage

partially because big teams like navi and faze shat the bed and now I get to watch AURORA in the playoffs, bruh.

top team as if the best of the best or just top 5? G2 never really had a long stint where they were the #1 team in the world in cs as well, maybe like early 2023 as far as I can remember. I feel like G2's major history and 100Thieves international history is really similar

are they basically like g2 in counter strike? big names, hella hype, farming groups, still choke whenever it matters? and they went through like 15 roster changes and the results either get worse or stay the same?

May all the gods in this world bless Igor ''w0nderful'' Zhdanov and his entire bloodline with fortune, money and health for defeating this satanic institution

I will not celebrate until I see 2-1 navi, these fucks pull comebacks out of their asses.

kinda sucks tbf, I am always a fan of a wild awp appearing and going apeshit, that's why I am enjoying this furia vs falcons cinema

sorry, not a big val fan, but imo whenever I watched val kangkang kinda felt the most like m0nesy.

is the operator that bad?