Despite so many tournaments having taken place over the game’s lifespan, there are still some players who have never won a Major. Some of the best players in the game are on this list, so we thought we’d highlight some of them for you.
CS:GO is one of the biggest titles in esports. Every year, fans of the game can look forward to a variety of different tournaments, including the most important one – the Major. The Major is arguably the most important event in the calendar for the top teams. Most of the time, there are two CS:GO Majors per year, but due to the upcoming release of Counter-Strike 2, there will only be one in 2023.
Many teams that have won a CS:GO Major have gone on to win multiple events after their victory. Astralis will be the name that comes to mind for most. This Danish team won three Majors in a row, and became known as one of the most dominant Counter-Strike teams to have ever existed.
Nikola "NiKo" Kovač
“NiKo” is one of the game’s most decorated individuals, having obtained seven tournament MVPs, and he’s also been on the HLTV Top 20 list for the last seven years. When we mention “NiKo” and a Major tournament together in the same sentence, it would be difficult not to recall the 15-11 lead FaZe Clan threw away in the CS:GO Boston Major Final on the very last map, Inferno, which gave Cloud9 (and North America) their first Major. This should have been the time for “NiKo” to shine, but unfortunately, FaZe squandered the opportunity. Many years later, he would get another chance in the PGL Major Stockholm Major Final, but it still wasn’t meant to be. However, this final can be forgiven more easily than Boston, as we saw Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev dominate in this matchup, achieving 72 kills across two maps.
Luckily for “NiKo”, he is now surrounded by a new array of talent - including his cousin - and they have had a strong start to 2023. The pressure is on for everyone to try and obtain this last title, but not many will be feeling it as much as the Bosnian. Will the 12th time be the charm?
Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács
We can’t talk about the Boston Major Final without talking about “GuardiaN” as well. Before “s1mple” entered the scene, “GuardiaN” was the best AWPer in the CIS region. Unfortunately, he was also victim to the comeback from Cloud9 at the Boston Major Final. The Slovakian has played one more Major final than “NiKo” - two under NAVI, and one with FaZe. Although it’s now impossible for “GuardiaN” to achieve his Major victory, he is a worthy mention as one of the best players to have never won. He was ranked second in the HLTV Top 20 in 2015, and has appeared on the list five other times.
“GuardiaN” is truly one of the greatest to have ever played the game. It’s sad he won’t be known as one of the legendary Major winners, however, he isn’t a player anyone will forget about anytime soon.
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BLAST.tV Paris Major 2023 OddsDennis "dennis" Edman
Another veteran of the game without this title is “dennis”. He has been on the roster for the top three Swedish organisations – fnatic, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and GODSENT – and has also played in four quarter-finals across his career over ten Majors. Of these ten Majors, “dennis” only missed out on playoffs once. He is also one of the few players to make the HLTV Top 20 (in 2016) as an in-game leader (IGL). Given the early success fnatic had in CS:GO, most will probably assume that he has a Major title, but this is not the case. Despite this, he’ll still be remembered as one of the greatest pistol players of all time.
Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski and Keith "NAF" Markovic
It only feels right to discuss “EliGE” and “NAF” together, considering the long-standing duo have played in Team Liquid together since 2018. Since then, they’ve achieved victories at IEM Sydney, DreamHack Masters Dallas, ESL Pro League Season 9, ESL One: Cologne, and IEM Chicago. Team Liquid are also one of the four teams to achieve the Intel Grand Slam, and the fastest to obtain it. Not only are the tournament wins impressive, their individual results are too. Both players have been in the HLTV Top 20 multiple times, reaching as high as fourth and sixth, respectively. Together, they have a combined total of nine MVP medals.
The main difference between these two is that “EliGE” has played in a Major final at ESL One Cologne 2016. It would be a shame to see either of these players go without a Major win in CS:GO, but there’s still a lot that can be done in Paris to change this.
Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut
You can’t make any list mentioning the best players and miss out “ZywOo”. The Frenchman has been at the top of the game ever since he joined Team Vitality in 2018. He has won several titles at numerous events, including ECS Season 7, EPICENTER 2019, IEM Beijing, BLAST Premier: Fall 2020, IEM Winter, and the ESL Pro League Season 16. However, results aren’t what “ZywOo” is known for, it’s his impressive and downright outrageous performances. At Majors, the AWPer has a 1.20 HLTV Rating, and he boasts an all-time HLTV Rating of 1.33. Numbers like these would be difficult to maintain in matchmaking games, let alone against the world’s best teams.
The one thing many people will say about “ZywOo” is that he has never had a team behind him that has been capable of winning big events. This should have changed with the arrival of Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen and Emil "Magisk" Reif – two of the most experienced Major players of all time. However, success hasn’t come as quickly as many would have assumed. “ZywOo” hasn’t ever reached the semi-final of a Major, but with a home crowd, he’ll be hoping to go down in the CS:GO history books alongside other legendary players.
