https://www.cybersport.ru/counter-strike-go/articles/v-cs-go-zagovorili-ob-obedinenii-sng-i-evropy-na-meidzhorakh-est-li-v-etom-smysl

When did the CIS have their own qualifiers?

Our Counter-Strike scene got a major boost in 2016 when Valve established regional miners for the CIS. Thanks to this, before the first Major of the year, one team was guaranteed to participate in the decisive qualification, and from the second to this day – two teams from the region.

Before that, slots on the majors were most often guaranteed only by NAVI, all the other teams in our region were butting in qualifications. They did it most successfully FlipSid3 Tactics and compositions Kirill ANGE1 Karaseva, the rest were not able to impose a struggle on European teams from Sweden, France, but with the appearance Team Kinguin – and stellar international roasters.

With the new system, teams began to have more opportunities to express themselves. The innovation has greatly helped to open up many esports players who are now the stars of the scene. Take electronic, for example, it caught the attention of the public with an impressive game of Team empire on the minor to ESL One Cologne 2016, and later – at many tournaments as part of FlipSid3 Tactics. The same can be said about Leonid chopper Vishnyakov, Nikolay mir Bityukov, Kirill Boombl4 Mikhailov and the backbone of the current roster Virtus.pro…

In January 2023, the secession of the CIS from the rest of Europe will be five years old, and it’s probably time to ask the question – what has our region achieved during this time?

Our region has taken a leap forward, especially in the online era

The transit of generations on our stage began somewhere in the middle of 2017. Then the Kazakhs from the Jami Jame Ali, Victor somedieyoung Orudzhev and Quantum Bellator Fire with Boombl4, which miraculously made it to the “legend” at ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, having played in the decisive match of the group stage with mousesports from the score 2:13 after the first half.

Despite the progress of the players and teams, many did not have the opportunity to prove themselves at a high level. Virtus.pro has been working with Poles for quite a long time, and Natus Vincere did not update the roster after returning Daniil Zeus Teslenko – the chances fell out to a few.

By 2019, many teams in the CIS have grown stronger and more often won at prestigious tournaments. The trend started to set AVANGARreaching the final of the Major, and then – forZewhich had Copenhagen Games trophies by the end of the year, DreamHack Open Winter 2019, Minor for CIS and silver for BLAST Pro Series Moscow 2019…

In a pandemic, our teams have even more chances to prove themselves. COVID-19 severely crippled the industry, but with the transition of matches to online, the chances of the teams leveled off – the number of championships increased, and underdogs in competitions increased. It was in 2023 that they shone brightest of all Team Spirit and Gambit youngstersalready included with Abay HObbit Khasenov began to appear under the main tag of the organization.

In addition, one cannot fail to notice that the 2023th Natus Vincere was a cut above the last year. It was our team that won the only top LAN, even if it passed without spectators. In addition, NAVI has two finals of major online events and several top-4 finishes. The club can definitely be proud of itself – an impressive result.

The successes of the CIS are especially noticeable against the backdrop of the CS: GO crisis in America. It can be noted that among the top 30 teams in the world at the moment, five represent America, and only one less from our region. Of course, the proportion may change after the return of LAN, but at least online ours have shown tenacity and resistance to stress.

Why did they start talking about the re-unification of regions?

This is most likely due to several factors. Some of our teams have really grown up and are ready to play on equal terms with the Europeans – in principle, it would be quite reasonable to see conditional forZe, Gambit, mouz, Spirit and Fnatic… This is not to say that one of them is head weaker or stronger than the other, each can beat everyone on a good day – it would be interesting to see who is stronger in the long run.

The unification of regions will help to understand the true strength of our teams in comparison with Europeans. Yes, it can be shock therapy, but otherwise there is a risk of getting stumped when evaluating CIS teams – how long should they be considered “promising”? After all, esports has already grown, and if the team is spending funds comparable to competitors with less exhaust – isn’t it time to think about looking for a stronger roster?

Probably, the repeated talks about unification can be connected with the fact that we did not become “ours” in the West. If Natus Vincere are Counter-Strike superstars with a bunch of fans, and the backbone of Virtus.pro managed to play in the Major final, then the conditional forZe has much more modest international successes.

But God bless her, with recognition. Don’t be second s1mple – not a crime, but to be like the coaches Hard legion esports, – quite. Until recently, there was a pretty nice Hard Legion team in the CIS, which many liked at the Berlin Major, where they entered under the tag DreamEaters… The team could have a great future if they didn’t cheat. And although the bans were eventually issued only to the team’s mentors, both the cybersportsmen and the club as a whole received irreparable damage to their reputation.

It’s no joke, Hard Legion is the only team, as many as three coaches (!) Of which were banned from the ESL, WePlay and BLAST Pro Series championships. A glaring case, after which it is difficult to find a non-ironic or not contemptuous reaction to the mention of the HL tag on social networks.

And also forZe does not really think about the international reputation. In the West they did not understand when the club took the notorious academy coach Alexandra MechanoGun Bogatyreva – Former Hard Legion mentor who was suspended from top tournaments for three years. Western audiences are outraged when a disgraced cheater gets a place in an organization that is at least heard.

ForZe, on the other hand, defended MechanoGun with all its might. Against the background of the scandal with the coaches, it seems to me, the position of the club in relation to the scene as a whole has become clearly visible – forZe perceives competition as a war. This also manifests itself in a skirmish with Duncan Thorin Shields, and how Sergey MegioN Ignatko reacted to the news about unban Sergey lmbt Bezhanov – as if he won the battle against a monster represented by ESIC. Nevertheless, the club should not forget that this is not a personal enemy of the teams from the CIS and forZe in particular, but a regulator that claims to be universal. When the club was able to prove their case, they deservedly returned the coach. Was it just a fight or was it just a natural course of things, in which one side provides evidence, the other takes it into account and makes the appropriate decision? In any case, excessive hostility is unlikely to meet with the understanding of the general public.

From Valve with love

So far, there are no grounds for uniting the regions. The online era has proven that there are quite strong teams in the CIS, and NAVI online is head and shoulders above those who won the top LANs a year ago. Our teams have been moving towards stability for quite a long time, but still they have achieved it. It is thanks to Counter-Strike that AVANGAR made a name for itself in e-sports, for Team Spirit, disillusioned with Dota, it is now the only top discipline, and Gambit was able to survive the decline in the championship roster, recruited newcomers and is now conquering new heights already with a young five under the leadership of HObbit …

For the CIS it takes a very long time to gain recognition in CS: GO, and over the last year our scene has shown significant progress. With the exception of a couple of North American tops, our teams are in no way inferior to the middle peasants of this region: forZe, alas, did not please at Flashpoint Season 2, but Virtus.pro declared a new multi-million dollar roster Cloud9 and left Gen.G out of business, and lost so far only OG, whose squad is having a very successful year.

In conclusion, it should be reminded that the progress of our Counter-Strike scene is directly related to Valve’s special attitude towards its esports ecosystem, one of the principles of which is representativeness. First, the company approved a separate CS: GO minor for the CIS, and then allocated the CIS as one of five regions in Dota with the Dota Pro Circuit system.

Nobody knows for sure, but it seems to me that this is all a tribute to Gabe Newell’s company to its audience. Dota is immensely adored in South America, and although only a few can play there at the world level, some manage to conquer the audience of the majors and even The International with their passionate play – in those cases when teams from South Africa knock out eminent clubs, being a total outsider. Roughly speaking, in the CIS the situation is similar with Counter-Strike.

It is customary only to criticize Valve, but, in fact, thanks to it, strong cybersportsmen began to grow in our region at first, and since 2018 – also strong teams. No matter how we scold the company, but for this it definitely should be thanked.

Cover photo: Abraham Engelmark / DreamHack