What was the best Major in Counter-Strike history?
Majors are the largest official Counter-Strike tournaments recognized by Valve. The current Major format, starting in 2025, features a large 32-team field (instead of the old 24-team field) with multiple stages and a playoff bracket to determine the winner.
What makes Majors truly special is not just winning the trophy but the story that builds behind it. Most of the majors are remembered for their legendary runs, others for dominant performances, unforgettable grand finals, or just the moments that change the history of Counter-Strike forever.
Still, only one event stands above the rest for most of the fans, and that's the PGL Major Stockholm 2021.
What Led to the Stockholm 2021 Major being so Special?
Before the Stockholm 2021 tournament, the last Major was held in 2019. The cause of it was COVID-19, which made not only the esports scene but the world pause. For two consecutive years, the CS:GO community starved for the most sacred event; they lacked roaring arenas and moments of pure major glory that made them crazy.
By the time Stockholm 2021 was announced, the hunger for major events was at its peak, as the community had not seen a major event for over 24 months. The scene of Counter-Strike didn’t stop evolving, new stars rose, teams rebuilt, and people were thrilled to watch once again how the best teams clash on the biggest stage of the game. Stockholm 2021 meant more than just a tournament on the calendar, but felt like a return of Counter-Strike's soul.
The Playoff Bracket Full of Drama
Stockholm’s playoff bracket was stacked with tier-one pro-teams such as NaVi, G2, FaZe, Heroic, and Vitality. A field full of teams making deep runs filled with genuine championship credentials.
Every match felt consequential, every match had a huge weight with the competition, not just watchable but kind of matches that make you forget to blink.
The most Notable Playoff Teams were:
- Natus Vincere (NaVi) – Champions
- G2 Esports – Runners-up
- Gambit Esports
- FaZe Clan
- Team Vitality
- Heroic
The Moment that Rewrote History
One single missed shot that should not have happened changed how Stockholm 2021 would finish.
Map Nuke – Grand Final, NaVi vs. G2, both teams locked in for an unforgettable grand final. The first match before the Nuke was on Ancient, where NaVi secured the win. Now things were not looking good for them on Nuke. A bomb is planted on A-Site while there are only NiKo with huNter on the terrorists' team and s1mple with b1t on the counter-terrorists side. The score is 15:12 in favor of G2.
An intense moment. s1mple is sitting on the hut while b1t jumps from heaven to check the surroundings. At that time huNter is under s1mple in hut waiting for the moment to push them, while NiKo is climbing the heaven ladder. NiKo has a Desert Eagle in his hands, climbs to heaven, notices s1mple on the hut, and decides to kill him.
While s1mple is checking Main using AWP, NiKo tried to kill him from the back. One, two, three shots from a Desert Eagle, all bullets missed. s1mple quickly notices him and kills him for his mistake. At the same the b1t decides to check the hut, notices huNter and eliminates him. huNter was not expecting b1t to push him, and because of those mistakes, they lost the round.
One straight Desert Eagle shot would secure the Nuke map win for G2, because of the intense pressure created, NiKo missed the shots. What followed the mistake of NiKo is now considered the most breathtaking comeback in major history. NaVi seized on the opening but clawed back when they saw the opportunity for victory.
That one missed shot did not just change the round, but changed the entire narrative of the grand final.
Who Was the Star of the Show?
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev has been universally acknowledged as the best player in the world. Known for his mechanical skill, game sense, and sniping skills, he only missed one thing from his resume – Major Championship.
Yet on November 7 of 2021, during the Stockholm 2021 grand finals, he finally changed that. He not only won the Major Trophy but also got nominated as the MVP of the Major. With the unreal grand-final performance and relentless training, he removed any doubt about his place among the all-time Counter-Strike greats.
Winning a Major was not just a personal achievement for s1mple but a validation for an entire fanbase that, after years of grinding, he eventually achieved the moments they deserved to see. Stockholm 2021 handed that moment to him and gave itself an immortal storyline.
Final Verdict
A two-year drought, a starving fanbase, and a stacked bracket – all roads led to the greatest player in the world to finally claim what was rightfully his. A single missed Deagle shot defined the narrative of the game, creating a historical significance in the Counter-Strike community.
