Cloud9 beat FaZe Clan in a grueling best-of-three series Saturday at the ELEAGUE Boston Major to take home the first major victory by a North American team in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive history.

As the top organization in North American Counter-Strike for the past four years, Cloud9 had made it past the group stage only once in its history, and that was in 2014. Since then, the team has attended six majors, all of which ended with group-stage exits.

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2020 was an eventful year for CS:GO. Not always in a positive way. Actually, much like basically every other field of life, most CS:GO happenings last year were on the negative side. For example, 2020 was the first year since 2012 to not have a Major. We have COVID-19 to thank for that of course. Secondly, it saw Fnatic take three major titles during ESL One Cologne against EnVyUs, which is in itself, puts Fnatic as one of the best teams that graced CS:GO history. Finally, Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca saw the best production in the history of any CS:GO tournament, as renowned commentator Jason “moses” O’Toole attests.

The only significant success North America has had in majors was with Team Liquid, which had a final and a semifinal appearance in 2016. Even then, there remains a significant caveat on these placings for North American fans as the best player on the team was Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev, the prodigy from Ukraine.

Despite a couple strong rosters and some decent placings at top tournaments, it seemed like North American teams were never contending for the major titles. Even coming into this ELEAGUE major, Cloud9 was far from the favorite to win it all.

But Cloud9 did just that in front of a bombastic home crowd to win the most celebrated trophy in CS:GO.

This trophy means so much for a region that has historically disappointed, and it means all the more given who Cloud9 beat. Unlike Gambit Esports, which beat only one elite team on its way to the PGL Major Kraków trophy, Cloud9 beat the top four teams in the world. It came back from the brink of elimination to pass through the group stage and eliminated Astralis in doing so. Then, C9 drew the hottest team at the tournament, G2 Esports, in the quarterfinals, and dismantled the favored European squad. In the semifinals, Cloud9 faced the legendary Brazilians of SK Gaming and managed to win 2-1 in convincing fashion.

Those matches, somehow, were the least of Cloud9's worries. In the finals, it faced the best team at the tournament, FaZe Clan. And somehow, the North American underdogs did it again.

The way Cloud9 played was the sign of an evolution in North American Counter-Strike. A far cry from the stereotypical pick-up game playstyle of its region, C9 looked coordinated, confident and, above all, versatile. Force-buys on the second round, clever Counter Terrorist-side setups on Mirage, changing the pace of the Terrorist-side; Cloud9 was not afraid to innovate. Beyond pushing the boundaries, C9 was fundamentally sound and incredibly patient: Its character won the team this major as much as its play style.

Cloud9's ability to be composed and creative on both sides of every map it played earned it the major trophy. That's a sign of the maturity that North American fans complained their teams lacked: C9 is all grown up, and its victory pulled at the heartstrings of every Counter-Strike fan watching.

As Tyler 'Skadoodle' Latham said in the postmatch interview, 'I'm not crying. You're crying.'

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The International Esports Federation has announced that DOTA 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive have been chosen as the official games of the IESF 13th Esports World Championship. DOTA 2 is a returning title for the event having been featured at IESF events in the past. CS:GO, however, is a new addition to the IESF’s flagship international competition.

The event

The 13th Esports World Championships will be held in Eilat, Israel. Eilat was chosen as the host city of the 13th Esports World Championships, after the cancellation of the global finals event in 2020. The competition, like many over the past 12 months, has been impacted by the pandemic. It will follow the format of last year’s World Championship’s Regional Games. Events will be held online and the best players and teams will be participating in the offline Global Finals in Eilat, Israel.

The International Esports Federation

The International Esports Federation is a global organisation that brings together some of the top esports competitors from around the world to represent their country and has 100 member teams around the globe. These 100 teams represent 100 countries that send their best and brightest esports competitors to these global events.

IESF’s mission is to further esports on a global scale. This is done together with a partnership between their national federations around the world. The organisation is working for a world where Esports athletes can compete on the same level and with the same support as athletes from traditional sports.

In order to make these lofty goals a reality, they have implemented many of the same principles that the traditional Olympics have followed for years. You may not believe that it is a problem in the esports world, but IESF is compliant with the World Anti-Doping Agency and has adopted rules and regulations to ensure a clean and safe environment for Esports athletes.

IESF player support

Last month, the IESF announced that they had established an Athletes’ Committee to help protect the player’s interests. Malaysian Dota 2 player, Tiffani “Oling” Lim will serve as the chair of the Athletes’ Commission.

In the announcement about the Athletes’ Committee, Lim wrote:

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“Today the term ‘esports player’ already means something very different than it did a decade ago, yet we still have many prevalent systemic issues regarding player rights – organisers get away with unpaid prize monies, and players sign uneven contracts and get exploited unknowingly.”

“As ex and current competitive players we have encountered our fair share of issues, and thus we are able to share our experiences so our fellow players don’t have to run into the same walls as we did.”

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“We will do everything within our capacity to provide a safe avenue for players to seek help from.”

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The International Esports Federation events are always interesting ones to watch, especially if you are interested in esports betting. The teams that take part in the events are not your typical esports organisations. They are national teams that are made up of players from many different organisations. They inevitably end up being some of the best that each country has to offer. This makes it a little harder for esports betting sites to offer consistent odds.