Eleague Major II

Published - 3 mins to read
The final of the Major was tonight and I think it is the most excited I have been about anything in months. Usually I always root for NA over EU but I love an underdog story above all else, so with North Americans Cloud 9 playing against #2 in the world Faze, it was an easy choice, especially given some of the personalities on the C9 roster. The finals were held in Boston so C9 were on home soil, and you could hear the crowd incessantly chanting "USA! USA!" through the casters' microphones for pretty much the entire match. C9 had gone 0-2 at the start of the tournament (three losses gets you eliminated) before bouncing back to get out of the groups 3-2. They faced the #4 team in the world in the quarters, the #1 team in the semis and then improbably reached the finals to face Faze, with the latter being huge favourites to win. It couldn't have been better scripted if someone had tried. Faze won C9's map pick, C9 won Faze's map pick, in the final decider map Faze go 15-9 up (first to 16 wins/best of 30) and C9 claw it back to 15-15 for overtime. Overtime is an additional six rounds, and if the score is 18-18, they play an additional overtime, etc until one team scores at least 4 rounds in OT. C9 go 18-15 up, securing them 3 championship points, with some incredible clutches and displays of skill, coordination and teamwork, before letting the next three rounds slip to go 18-18 and see 2nd OT. At this point, I can feel my heart racing, I am physically nervous, I am cheering every C9 kill and round win as if they are my home soccer team. C9.Skadoodle is a player I have had marked as one of the best snipers in the world since 2015, but have always felt he was cursed to be on NA teams who couldn't match his level of play and support him to get to a major title. C9.Stewie2k is a player who I have always admired for his truly unbelievably individual skill and passion at such a young age, and to see him mature and work as part of a team in a way he hadn't previously is incredible. C9.Tarik is a player I wrote off years ago as simply being "typical NA", just not skilled enough to compete with the best teams from Europe and Brazil, but he made me look like a fool with that prediction. I felt so invested in the players personalities and the outcome of the match, and was cheering along with them and the fans, feeling a tiny fraction of what they were feeling, but still having some kind of shared experience. Over 1.3 million people watched the 2nd OT, and likely more on untracked and foreign streams. In the end, Cloud 9 did it, and Faze clan looked utterly devastated afterwards. Most were too distraught to leave their seats after the game was over. Most of C9 were crying, including their staff. The stage host started crying. Skadoodle is known for being incredible shy and reserved, often dubbed a silent assassin, but said several rounds ago that he would give an interview (one of his first on stage/camera) if they won the major. And so, he did, choking back tears the whole time, being the first North American team to ever win a major in Counterstrike, thanking his friends, family and fans for support. What an amazing moment. I am so happy I got to watch part of esports history live, and proud to be a fan of esports as they take another huge step towards legitimacy.