05.04.20243 min read

NaVi is our first CS2 major winner

This year’s Major Finals games, just like the Opening stage and Elimination stage, defied expectations. In the first game, FaZe vs. Spirit, people were confident that Spirit would win and go on to become a major champion, and FaZe’s poor preparation and performance were already clear from their 13-1 game against Eternal Fire.

But the FaZe team not only took the first map but also won overtime on Map 2 and secured the win on Map 3 to continue further in the tournament. However, Vitality vs. Cloud9 was fairly balanced, with bookmakers putting Cloud9 at a 55% chance of winning compared to Vitality’s 45%. Vitality won 13-8, 13-2 and breezed through to the semifinals.

In the Eternal Fire vs NaVi match, people were also speculating whether Eternal Fire would win, but NaVi pulled off a clean 2-0 win. This just left the final game of G2 vs. MOUZ, which G2 Esports won. But the strangest thing that happened during this game was that protesters appeared on the stage to object to G2’s sponsor, an online casino site. The match was put on hold for 30 minutes, and the tournament trophy even fell off the stage!

This was the first time a CS tournament had ever been delayed by protestors. As a result, iron railings were installed for the next day’s game to tighten up security and prevent spectators from reaching the stage.

So, despite the 4 teams from the boys, the teams predicted by the audience did not appear, FaZe, Vitality, NaVi and G2 Esports became legends, and the top teams were able to show themselves. Out of these four teams, FaZe, Vitality, and NaVi are each Major 1-time champion teams, while G2 Esports is the only team that has never been a Major champion.

Still, G2 Esports managed to get the audience on their side, but while they elevated NaVi to an unwinnable tournament, NaVi qualified for the grand finale. On the other hand, FaZe vs. Vitality ended in a victory for FaZe after three maps, propelling them onto the grand finals.

In CS2 ‘s first Major grand final, FaZe went up against NaVi. FaZe defeated NaVi on the first map, on the next map FaZe got to make the 3rd map. It’s the first time since the 2018 Boston majors that a grand final game appears on map 3, and the 7 majors prior to him always ended 2-0.

Of course, the last map of their play was Inferno and could show a game that came out of fire from both teams but the NaVi team made a clear advantage and the FaZe team became the champion of the NaVi team by defeating the FaZe team by a 13-3 number ratio. For FaZe team, in-game leader Karrigan’s 15 kills on the last month is a pretty good indication of how one-sided this game was. NaVi, on the other hand, is the only team to have won a CS2 tournament after becoming a Major champion in the CS game type 3.

They have before CS: While Source won the biggest tournaments, and was once a major CS:GO version champion, the CS2 version was able to get the first major.

AuthorTemujin Batbayar

Analyst from Ulaanbaatar specializing in CS2. Has competed in MESA tournaments, worked with Esports TV during the ESL Pro League, and reviewed both the PGL Major Antwerp 2022 and IEM Katowice 2024. Author of his own player evaluation metrics and known for accurate predictions. Has interviewed s1mple and ZywOo. In esports since the days of CS 1.3.