19 legendary highlights: The best play at every CS:GO Major

The Paris Major was the 19th and final CS:GO Major. As CS2 is ready to take over and create its own rich history, we’re looking back at the 11 years of CS:GO excellence we got to enjoy. It’s often individual plays that make us jump out of our seats, and there’s been no shortage of incredible highlights at the Majors. Today, we’re going back to each one and picking the best play from every CS:GO Major.

No need to delay the highlight bonanza, so we’ll get one clarification out of the way and get on with it. We’re specifically focusing on the best plays at the Majors—not the most popular ones—so no olofboost, for example. We want to celebrate the unbelievable skill of CS:GO players first and foremost, but don’t worry, the more gimmicky plays will get their own time to shine at Dot. Stay tuned for that.

DreamHack Winter 2013: Xyp9x (Copenhagen Wolves) vs. VeryGames

Xyp9x isn’t called the Clutch Minister for nothing. Years before Astralis was even a thought, the Danish legend was pulling off ace clutches at the first-ever Major. The skill and game sense was all there as early as 2013, as evidenced by this master play, in which he picked off all five VeryGames players, including a one-vs-two clutch. We’re personally glad we could celebrate Xyp9x through this play right as his benching and likely departure from Astralis was made official.

EMS One Katowice 2014: Maniac (LDLC) vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas

We move from a legend of the game to a somewhat forgotten figure in Maniac. The Swiss player fell victim to the intense French shuffles of 2014 to 2015 and never recovered his career. For what it’s worth, he gets to be our pick for the best play at the second CS:GO Major. Dare we say, Maniac demonstrates Xyp9x-like qualities to neutralize NiP’s retake single-handedly, and even goes a step further by pulling off a one-vs-three to ace the round.

ESL One Cologne 2014: Friberg (Ninjas in Pyjamas) vs. Fnatic

The King of Banana has come to claim his crown. Friberg had the best, or at least the most impactful tournament of his career at the most opportune moment. Plays like this propelled NiP to its first and, as it would turn out, last CS:GO Major trophy. Friberg’s unmatched aggression is a joy to behold as he erases Fnatic by himself on the deciding map of the final.

DreamHack Winter 2014: F0rest (Ninjas in Pyjamas) vs. LDLC

We’ve been looking at nothing but aces so far, but here’s exhibit A that it’s been purely coincidental. We have back-to-back Ninjas appearing on the list, and it’s very well deserved. The man, the myth, the legend f0rest morphed into a long-distance decapitation machine as he collected four AK headshots in six seconds against eventual champion LDLC. Has a strong case for the most beautiful highlight we have on offer.

ESL One Katowice 2015: PashaBiceps and NEO (Virtus.pro) vs. Fnatic

Aces, clutches, and one-taps are all nice, but nothing beats good old-fashioned teamwork. What better team to demonstrate this than the original Virtus.pro lineup? NEO and pasha win our Katowice 2015 ballot by virtue of a perfectly coordinated boost that got them the opening kill in a crucial round against Fnatic.

ESL One Cologne 2015: KRIMZ (Fnatic) vs. Envy

We almost gave Papito the best play of Cologne 2015 too, courtesy of four kills in four seconds, but the impact of this KRIMZ one-vs-three clutch was not to be denied. Impressive spray control to take out two players, followed by a headshot on the third, all to deny Envy what would have been eight straight map points to go up 1-0 in the final. Fnatic would go on to win the map in overtime, then 2-0 the match. It was their third and final Major title, and this KRIMZ play had a lot to do with it.

DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 – Rain (G2) vs. Envy

Envy are on the receiving end of another fantastic play, but they were crowned as Cluj-Napoca champions, so it all worked out well for the Frenchmen in the end. In this particular play, though, rain was a god among men. We’d argue this is the best ace in CS:GO history, not just of this one Major. Enemy mistakes are a necessity to pull something like this off, but rain’s game sense, positioning, and aim were all sky high to meticulously take down the French players one by one and seal the inevitable one-vs-five clutch.

MLG Columbus 2016: Hiko (Liquid) vs. Luminosity

As hyped as coldzera’s jumping AWP is, deservedly so, there’s not an objective CS:GO fan that would deny there was a hint of luck during the unthinkable scenes in B apartments, and we want all skill for this list. That’s why we’re going for another play from the same match. Hiko was the NA version of Xyp9x back in the day, seemingly able to clutch out any situation. No round encompasses Hiko’s clutching ability better than this one-vs-four against Luminosity. With the bomb ticking, he entered the site with an M4 and a dream, looked at all the right places at the right time, and of course nailed all the shots.

ESL One Cologne 2016: Dennis (Fnatic) vs. Liquid

Another play involving jumping around with an AWP is brushed aside in favor of a different highlight from the same match. Dennis was known as the best pistol player in CS:GO around that time and you can see why—five kills, five headshots. One of the last great moments for that Fnatic core, and it came from its then-newest player.

Eleague Major Atlanta 2017 – jdm (Liquid) vs. Envy

Envy has a thing for blowing five-vs-one situations on Cache it seems. A comparison between rain’s and jdm’s aces shows how different the “same” CS:GO play can be. Both are ace clutches on Cache vs. Envy, but while rain’s was more drawn out and tactical, jdm’s AWP ace happened in a matter of seconds and required inhuman reactions—pun intended. Equally great plays of a different nature.

PGL Major Krakow 2017 – pashaBiceps (Virtus.pro) vs. Immortals

Pasha was denied the Cologne 2015 top highlight, but even Hobbit’s immensely important clutch in the grand final could not overthrow the Polish legend this time. With Virtus.pro in desperate need of a round, pashaBiceps was left alone vs. four. A shot in the back of steel was the opener, and a shot in the back of HEN1 was the closer. Two pin-point kills between them and the 200 IQ maneuver that got pasha that final kill convinced many that this one-vs-four clutch is the best play of pashaBiceps’ illustrious CS:GO career. We’ll leave it to you to decide on that, but at the very least we believe it’s the best play of PGL Major Krakow.

Eleague Major Boston 2018 – paz (Space Soldiers) vs. Cloud9

It’s a little ironic how the play that saved Cloud9 in the final is upstaged by the play that sent them to the brink of elimination in the groups. We bet not a single soul predicted what C9 would go on to achieve in Boston after paz pushed them into the 0–2 bracket with an AWP ace in the final round. It’s not like the Americans gifted him the frags either. Paz played around the wooden wall on Cobblestone to perfection, and for that, his play is our pick for the best at the second Eleague Major.

FACEIT Major London 2018 – gade (OpTic) vs. Tyloo

Shoutout to this majestic tiziaN one tap, but we have to give the play of the tournament to gade’s pistol ace. Five headshots, including three one-taps are too much to pass on. There’s just something about USP aces that gets us hooked. Spoiler alert, there’s more of that coming right up.

IEM Katowice 2019 – flamie (NAVI) vs. FaZe

If one pistol ace doesn’t get your heart pumping, here are two. Flamie achieved something we hadn’t seen before and haven’t seen since by grabbing all 10 kills in the two pistol rounds in the quarterfinal vs. FaZe, eight of which came with the deadly USP. It would probably be our choice for best overall play in CS:GO Majors history if we were ranking them, by the logic that two great plays are better than one great play. Perhaps that’s cheating, but look at these highlights and tell us they’re not worth some minor rule-bending.

Starladder Berlin Major 2019 – CeRq (NRG) vs. Astralis

There were so many worthy challengers for best play at the Starladder Major that we had to go for alternative criteria to sort out the winner. The chosen metric was game impact, and no other candidate came close to challenging CeRq’s ace in a must-win round to force double overtime. The NRG AWPer defended the bomb plant all alone and finished the round off with a one-vs-two against the best team ever and future Starladder champion Astralis. Therein hide some more bonus points.

PGL Major Stockholm 2021 – Jame (Virtus.pro) vs. mousesports

After the internal struggle we went through with the Berlin Major, Stockholm was a relief. We knew exactly which play was going to make the cut. Jame completely obliterating mousesports in a one-vs-five with the Galil of all weapons is a small sample of what grew to be one of the most respectable resumes in CS:GO history. Following the Galil quad kill with a jumping Glock headshot was the icing on the cake. Jame would have to wait another year to lift a Major trophy, but he gets our imaginary trophy for the best play at Stockholm 2021.

PGL Major Antwerp 2022 – magixx (Spirit) vs. FaZe

The only person who could have stopped magixx from getting the Antwerp nod was magixx himself. The youngster aced FaZe during Dust 2 regulation, worthy of a tournament’s best play all by itself, but it was magixx’s heroics in overtime that make our list. He accomplished one of the most absurd one-vs-four clutches we’ve ever seen. Three M4 kills set the stage for a veteran play against a veteran, as young magixx quickly swapped for an AWP and needed to see a pixel of rain’s head to remove it.

IEM Rio Major 2022 – Jame (Outsiders) vs. mousesports

Jame has been tagged as a boring player due to his notorious save tactics and his generally rigid and tactical play. How boring can you truly be when you are the only player to have the top highlight from two separate Majors? That’s according to us of course, but it’s good enough in our book. We’re confident there won’t be many opposers to the claim that Jame hitting three clutch shots with the AWP, including a 90-degree flick onto dexter deserves the title of best play at IEM Rio 2022.

BLAST Paris Major 2023 – isak (GamerLegion) vs. Heroic

Here it is, the final “best play at a CS:GO Major” we’ll ever have, and it’s a map-winning play in the semifinals. A mere double kill might seem like a bit of a downer to finish on, but controlling the AK spray transfer from the first enemy to the other, in a one-vs-two situation on the final round of a Major semifinal map absolutely deserves praise, and we’re giving it to isak wholeheartedly.

These are our choices for the best plays at every CS:GO Major. We’re sure at least some will be debated, it comes with the territory of making a list. We are genuine by saying we’d be happy if you disagree with us, as it would be another testament to the greatness of CS:GO esports and the endless source of entertainment that it’s been for the last 11 years.