TALKESPORT

Hundred thousands of internet users voted for their favorite event for over two weeks. We announce the list of winners of the first e-sport event in Poland.

PGL Krakow Major 2017 was nominated for the best esports event of the year in Poland. The other nominees of the event included IEM Katowice & Esports Now 2017.

Although we don’t have the data of how many votes were actually been recorded. The percentage of votes do have a nominal margin between the two nominations.

Breakup of the votes

• IEM Katowice – 44.3%
• PGL Krakow Major – 47.5%
• Esports Now 2017 – 8.2%

Other than the best esports event of 2017, the awards also had the mention of best esports athlete and organization. Convincingly, Virtus.pro clinched the award for the best esports organization. Whereas, pasha won the award for the best esports athlete.

Since the rise of the CS:GO scene, the prize pools in tournaments have gone up significantly so as the number of tournaments coming to light. CSGO prize pools have emerged with time.

Further, Valve has a fixed prize pool for their tournaments set at $250,000 which is the highest prize pool in CS:GO at the moment. With the growth of esports and Counter-Strike, the prize pool amounts will raise for sure.

With an expanding fan base and growing prize pools, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one if the most popular esports in the world.

New sponsorship deals and tournaments are announced every other day in the world of CS:GO, and as it grows, so too does the size of the prize pools on offer.

Highest CSGO prize pools of all time

We have compiled a list of the events from Esportsearnings.com as of Tuesday, February 13th and their details for you to enjoy.

MLG Major Championship: Columbus 2016 – $1,000,000

Organized by Major League Gaming (MLG) MLG Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship: Columbus was the eighth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive held throughout March 29 to April 3, 2016, in the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, US.

It was the first CS:GO Major in North America as well as the first run by Major League Gaming, who previously ran an exhibition CS:GO tournament at X Games Aspen 2015.

It was also the very first CS:GO major in which ESL or DreamHack was not the organizer. It was announced on February 23, 2016 that MLG Columbus 2016 would be the first Counter-Strike tournament with a $1,000,000 prize pool.

The tournament hosted a total of sixteen teams and witnessed the solidification of the ‘Luminosity/SK’ era.

The then Luminosity team claimed first place and $500,000 as they defeated Natus Vincere in the grand final.

The final standings for MLG Major Columbus:

• 1st: Luminosity – $500,000
• 2nd: Natus Vincere – $125,000
• 3/4th: Liquid – $70,000
• 3/4th: Astralis – $70,000
• 5-8th: Counter Logic Gaming – $35,000
• 5-8th: Fnatic – $35,000
• 5-8th: Ninjas in Pyjamas – $35,000
• 5-8th: Virtus.pro – $35,000
• 9-12th: Gambit – $8,750
• 9-12th: Mousesports – $8,750
• 9-12th: FaZe Clan – $8,750
• 9-12th: G2 Esports – $8,750
• 13-16th: Cloud9 – $8,750
• 13-16th: EnVyUs – $8,750
• 13-16th: Splyce – $8,750
• 13-16th: FlipSid3 – $8,750

ESL One Cologne 2016 – $1,000,000

ESL One Cologne 2016 was an Electronic Sports League Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. It was the ninth Valve-sponsored tournament in CS:GO history.

It was held at the Lanxess Arena In Cologne, Germany from July 8–10. It featured 16 teams from throughout the world competing. Cologne 2016 had the second consecutive major with a prize pool of $1,000,000.

The playoffs featured eight teams. Astralis, Fnatic, Gambit Gaming, Natus Vincere, SK Gaming, Team Liquid, and Virtus.pro were returning Legends and FlipSid3 Tactics was the only new Legend. Ninjas in Pyjamas failed to retain its Legends status after eight straight majors of being Legends.

ALSO READ: Interesting Facts about CSGO

The grand finals had SK Gaming, which was the defending champion from the previous major at MLG Major Championship: Columbus, against Team Liquid, which was the first ever North America team to reach the grand finals at a major. SK Gaming defeated FlipSid3 Tactics and Virtus.pro and Team Liquid upset Natus Vincere and Fnatic to reach the finals. In the end, SK Gaming defended its title 2-0 over the underdog Team Liquid and continued to be the only non-European team to win a title until the PGL 2017 Kraków Major Championship, in which Gambit Esports from Kazakhstan won the title. SK Gaming also joined Fnatic to be the only teams to have multiple major titles.

The final standings for ESL One Cologne 2016:

• 1st: SK Gaming – $500,000
• 2nd: Liquid – $150,000
• 3/4th: Fnatic – $70,000
• 3/4th: Virtus.pro – $70,000
• 5-8th: Flipsid3 – $35,000
• 5-8th: Natus Vincere – $35,000
• 5-8th: Gambit – $35,000
• 5-8th: Astralis – $35,000
• 9-12th: Ninjas in Pyjamas – $8,750
• 9-12th: Mousesports – $8,750
• 9-12th: Dignitas – $8,750
• 9-12th: FaZe Clan – $8,750
• 13-16th: EnVyUs – $8,750
• 13-16th: G2 Esports – $8,750
• 13-16th: OpTic Gaming – $8,750
• 13-16th: Counter Logic Gaming – $8,750

World Electronic Sports Games 2016 – $1,500,000

World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) is an international eSports championship tournament based in Shanghai and organized by AliSports. The first edition has a total prize pool of over US$5.5 million and the finals will be in December 2016.

WESG 2016 World Finals featured 24 teams ran from January 12-15. it was a unique event that had the clause that each team must be comprised of five members from the same country.

Because of this rule, many of the top CS:GO teams could not attend the event, creating a much more varied lineup.

The final standings for WESG 2016:

• 1st: EnVyUs – $800,000
• 2nd: Kinguin – $400,000
• 3rd: Virtus.pro – $200,000
• 4th: Space Soldiers – $60,000
• 5-8th: Epsilon – $10,000
• 5-8th: DarkPassage – $10,000
• 5-8th: Tyloo – $10,000
• 5-8th: iGame.com – $10,000
• 9-12th: K23
• 9-12th: Selfless
• 9-12th: VG.CyberZen
• 9-12th: Signature
• 13-16th: Colombia
• 13-16th: Ukraine
• 13-16th: Bravado
• 13-16th: .Russia
• 17-20th: REAK
• 17-20th: QuetzaL
• 17-20th: FIVE
• 17-20th: TeamOne
• 21-23rd: SubtLe
• 21-23rd: ENZO
• 21-23rd: JYP

ELEAGUE Season 1 – $1,410,000

ELEAGUE Season 1 was the inaugural season of the ELEAGUE Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league that ran from May 24, 2016, to July 30, 2016, and was broadcast on cable television on TBS and online on twitch.tv.

On September 24, 2015, Turner Broadcasting announced that it was partnering with talent agency WME/IMG for a new esports project.

The season featured 24 teams from across the world to compete in a 10-week season, which included a regular season and playoffs. Matches are broadcast live on TBS on Friday nights, starting on May 27, 2016. The broadcast is simultaneously available on the online streaming service Twitch. Matches are played at the Turner Studios facility in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

ALSO READ: Interesting Facts about CSGO

The semifinals and final were played at the Cobb Energy Center.

Bringing eSport to a wide audience through mainstream cable TV provider TBS. During the course of ELEAGUE Season 1, almost 19 Million viewers were reached through TBS. This audience comprised of 97% Men aged 18-34. ELEAGUE had a prize pool of $1,410,000.

The final standings for Eleague Season 1:

• 1st: Virtus.pro – $390,000
• 2nd: Fnatic – $140,000
• 3/4th: Mousesports – $60,000
• 3/4th: Natus Vincere – $60,000
• 5-8th: Ninjas in Pyjamas – $50,000
• 5-8th: Astralis – $50,000
• 5-8th: EnVyUs – $50,000
• 5-8th: Cloud9 – $50,000
• 9/10th: FaZe Clan – $40,000
• 9/10th: Renegades – $40,000
• 11-14th: CLG – $40,000
• 11-14th: Gambit – $40,000
• 11-14th: FlipSid3 – $40,000
• 11-14th: G2 Esports – $40,000
• 15/16th: OpTic Gaming – $30,000
• 15/16th: Dignitas – $30,000
• 17-22nd: Team Liquid – $30,000
• 17-22nd: CompLexity – $30,000
• 17-22nd: NRG – $30,000
• 17-22nd: TSM – $30,000
• 17-22nd: Echo Fox – $30,000
• 17-22nd: Selfless – $30,000
• 23/24th: SK Gaming – $30,000
• 23/24th: Team X – $30,000

ELEAGUE Season 2 – $1,100,000

ELEAGUE Season 2 was the second season of the ELEAGUE Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league that ran from October 21, 2016 to December 3, 2016 and was broadcast on cable television on TBS. The season featured 120 teams overall and 16 teams in the main tournament from across the world competing in a seven-week season, which included a regular season and a playoffs.

The season began with Season 1 semifinalist mousesports defeating Brazil’s second best team Immortals and ended in the grand finals with OpTic Gaming pulling off an upset against Astralis to take home Season 2’s ELEAGUE title.

The final standings for ELEAGUE Season 2:

• 1st: OpTic Gaming -$400,000
• 2nd: Astralis – $140,000
• 3/4th: SK Gaming – $60,000
• 3/4th: FaZe Clan – $60,000
• 5-8th: Ninjas in Pyjamas – $50,000
• 5-8th: Mousesports – $50,000
• 5-8th: Virtus.pro – $50,000
• 5-8th: Dignitas – $50,000
• 9-12th: G2 Esports – $30,000
• 9-12th: Natus Vincere – $30,000
• 9-12th: Fnatic – $30,000
• 9-12th: Cloud9 – $30,000
• 13-16th: EnVyUs – $30,000
• 13-16th: ALTERNATE aTTaX – $30,000
• 13-16th: Echo Fox – $30,000
• 13-16th: Immortals – $30,000

 PGL Major Kraków 2017 – $1,000,000

Organised by PGL, PGL 2017 Kraków Major Championship was the eleventh Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major tournament. It was organized by PGL and held in Kraków, Poland from July 16 to 23, 2017.

A total of 16 teams participated in the tournament and all of the top tier teams were in attendance. Eight teams directly qualified based on their top eight placement in the last major, ELEAGUE Major 2017, while another eight teams qualified through the Offline Major Qualifier.

Analysts and casters were shocked by the result of the Major as favorites SK Gaming and Astralis failed to reach the final and the Kazakh team of Gambit claimed the title and a $500,000 first place prize.

The final standings for PGL Major Kraków 2017:

• 1st: Gambit – $500,000
• 2nd: Immortals – $150,000
• 3/4th:Virtus.pro – $70,000
• 3/4th: Astralis – $70,000
• 5-8th:SK Gaming – $35,000
• 5-8th: Fnatic – $35,000
• 5-8th: BIG Clan – $35,000
• 5-8th: North – $35,000
• 9-11th: Cloud9 – $8,750
• 9-11th: FlipSid3 – $8,750
• 9-11th: G2 Esports – $8,750
• 12-14th: Mousesports – $8,750
• 12-14th: Natus Vincere – $8,750
• 12-14th: PENTA – $8,750
• 15-16th: Vega Squadron – $8,750
• 15-16th: FaZe Clan – $8,750

ELEAGUE Major 2017 – $1,000,000

Organized by ELEAGUE, ELEAGUE Major 2017, was the tenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major tournament held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States from January 22 to 29, 2017.

It features sixteen professional teams from around the world. Eight teams directly qualified based on their top eight placement in the last major, ESL One Cologne 2016, while another eight teams qualified through the ELEAGUE Offline Major Qualifier. ELEAGUE Major is the third consecutive major with a prize pool of $1,000,000.

The playoffs had eight teams. Astralis, Fnatic, Gambit Gaming, Natus Vincere, SK Gaming, and Virtus.pro were returning Legends. FaZe Clan and North were new Legends and FlipSid3 Tactics and Team Liquid were out after failing to make the top eight.

The grand finals pitted Astralis, which was in its first-ever final after nine playoff appearances, and Virtus.pro, which was in its second finals and looking for its second major title. Astralis defeated Natus Vincere and Fnatic and Virtus.pro defeated North and the defending champions SK Gaming. After a close and tense three-game set, Astralis edged out Virtus.pro in the thirtieth round of the best of thirty rounds in game three for its first major title.

The final standings for Eleague Major 2017:

• 1st: Astralis – $500,000
• 2nd: Virtus.pro – $150,000
• 3/4th: SK Gaming – $70,000
• 3/4th: Fnatic – $70,000
• 5-8th: Natus Vincere – $35,000
• 5-8th: Gambit – $35,000
• 5-8th: FaZe Clan – $35,000
• 5-8th: North – $35,000
• 9-11th: Liquid – $8,750
• 9-11th: GODSENT – $8,750
• 9-11th: EnVyUs – $8,750
• 12-14th: Mousesports – $8,750
• 12-14th: G2 Esports – $8,750
• 12-14th: OpTic Gaming – $8,750
• 15-16th: HellRaisers – $8,750
• 15-16th: FlipSid3 – $8,750

 ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 – $1,100,000

ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, was the twelfth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major tournament and second organized by ELEAGUE.

The group stage was held in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States from January 12, 2018, to January 22, 2018, and the playoffs took place in Boston, Massachusetts, the United States from January 26, 2018, to January 28, 2018.

It featured twenty-four professional teams from around the world. All sixteen teams from last major, PGL 2017 Kraków Major Championship, directly qualified for the major while another eight teams qualified through their respective regional qualifiers as ELEAGUE and Valve Corporation agreed to expand the major to 24 teams.

ELEAGUE Major was the fifth consecutive major with a prize pool of $1,000,000. This was also the first time a CS:GO major will take place in two cities.

The grand finals featured FaZe Clan, which was the favorite to win the tournament, and Cloud9, which was the second North American team to reach a major final. FaZe defeated mousesports and Natus Vincere to reach the finals, while Cloud9 pulled off two upsets with wins against G2 Esports and SK Gaming. In what is being called one of the greatest finals of all time, Cloud9 etched out the win over FaZe Clan to become the first-ever North American team to win a major. It would also mark just the third time in CS:GO history in which a North American team won an international event, behind iBUYPOWER winning the ESEA Global Finals Season 15 and Cloud9 winning ESL Pro League Season 4.

The final standings for Eleague Major Boston 2018:

• 1st: Cloud9 – $500,000
• 2nd: FaZe – $150,000
• 3/4th: SK Gaming – $70,000
• 3/4th: Natus Vincere – $70,000
• 5-8th: Mousesports – $35,000
• 5-8th: fnatic – $35,000
• 5-8th: Quantum Bellator Fire – $35,000
• 5-8th: G2 Esports – $35,000
• 9-11th: Space Soldiers – $8,750
• 9-11th: Gambit – $8,750
• 9-11th: Vega Squadron – $8,750
• 12-14th: Astralis – $8,750
• 12-14th: States Liquid – $8,750
• 12-14th: Team BIG – $8,750
• 15-16th: Virtus.pro – $8,750
• 15-16th: North – $8,750

Ate Gaming, India’s CS pride has ventured into the CSGO roster, again. The organization will make their first presence at Gods of the Gaming event, scheduled a couple of days from now.

The roster will have their former players, Kappa and Ritz, who were also a part of their CS 1.6 squad.

Ate Gaming’s journey in CS goes back to the time when Indian CS was emerging. Among the few first – literal – teams in India was Ate Gaming, competing with NSD Gaming, Invictus.

With the likes of Mikhail ‘Rshknn’ Mehra, Ben ‘raid’ Varghese and Amar ‘rey’ Ratnam, Ate’s journey was worth appreciation. ESWC 2007, WCG 2010, ESWC 2014,  ESWC 2013 were some of the events where Ate Gaming got global recognition. At that point in time, Karthik Rao had the possession to promote the team and invite collaborations from the brands.

Tejas ‘Ace’ Sawant, once lead the team (CSGO) during the year 2012, the results of which were not fascinating enough for their survival. Hence, it had to be dismantled.

Ate Gaming won the WCG 2010 – India Qualifiers

Ate Gaming’s Gods of Gaming roster looks like:

• Sagnik ‘hellfightR’ Roy
• Akshay ‘Kappa’ Sinkar
• Ritesh ‘Ritz’ Shah
• Shara ‘Buster’ Dave
• Hasnain ‘impale’ Sayed

We had earlier predicted that there could be the re-entry of Ate Gaming into the industry. Sagar ‘lOvEsx’ Vyas, renowned FIFA champion from India and also a part of Ate Gaming’s core management confirmed their progress in forming a permanent roster for the future events.

Furthermore, the announced team will only take part in the Gods of Gaming event. The active players’ nomination for the future tournaments will be unveiled later.

An earlier version of the story mentioned Ate Gaming as the winners of ESWC 2014, which was factually incorrect. Instead, Virtual Impact had won the India qualifiers. We projected it as Ate due to the similarity of the players, SmX, MithilF.

After the recent move by NiP which discarded Xizt from the active roster, the 26-year-old said it was a “sad day.” The reference was to his long-run with the Swedish organization from the time the NiP CSGO was formed.

Sad day having to step down from @NiPGaming… definately wanna keep playing and looking forward to what happens next. Will post something more detailed another day. Thx for the support ❤️

— Richard Landström (@Xizt) February 13, 2018

Six great years

Richard ‘Xizt’ Landstrom has been a part of this active roster since 2012. The time goes back when the teams phased in from CS 1.6 to the new franchise in the year 2012. In the breathtaking run for NiP in the first few years of the game. They 87-0’ed rest of the world, where Xizt had a significant contribution.

If the Virtus.pro was glorified at a global level, Xizt’s contribution to NiP should have no less traction.

The anticipating roster change from Sweden has finally been executed as NiP have officially signed Dennis. The pistol-master will take the role of the in-game leader. NiP has been struggling to get good results at all sort of events lately. Their continuous bad performance have led the team to look out for alternate options.

Recently at BeyondTheSummit’s CS_Summit 2, NiP had a landslide defeat where they couldn’t win a single series.

Announcement: Richard @officialxizt Landström steps down from the active #CSGO roster. We welcome Dennis @denniscsgod Edman to the line-up.

🔥 https://t.co/5bI8dNL149#GONINJAS pic.twitter.com/dKjEEam3VK

— Ninjas in Pyjamas (@NIP) February 13, 2018

NiP Roster 2018

• f0rest
• Get_Right
• Dennis
• Draken
• Rez

In both the best of three series, NiP could only win one map in each case. The 1-2 defeat against Liquid, followed by another 1-2 against Heroic in the loser brackets had left fans disappointed. NiP’s road ahead in the year will be determined by their performance in the ESL Pro League S7 (Europe) which is scheduled a few days from now. The new roster will face their Swedish counterpart, fnatic. Dennis ‘dennis’ Edman will also be seen competing against its former playground.

“I’m very excited to become the new in-game leader for NiP,” said Dennis. “I’m positive that we can become what NiP once was, a world-dominating CS:GO, team. I am super excited about the next step in my career as a player!” he added in a statement to the organization.

Beyond The Summit have announced plans to host a third installment of the extremely popular cs_summit Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament, CS Summit 3.

The second cs_summit event was held in Los Angeles. California, in February of 2018 and featured a $150,000 prize pool. The winners were Liquid Gaming, claiming their first title, by defeated Cloud9 in a best of five Grand Final.

CS Summit 3

The more laid back format of the first and the second cs_summit event was a big hit with CS:GO fans, who got to see their favorite players joining the broadcasting talent on the casting couch and relaxing in the casual environment.

On February 11th Beyond The Summit released a short teaser video on YouTube to announce that cs_summit 3 will be coming to the CS:GO scene in October 2018:

So far, the details for cs_summit 3 are fairly scarce. Beyond The Summit have revealed that the tournament will take place from October 11th – 14th 2018.

The cs_summit 2 featured a double elimination playoff bracket with no group stage but it is uncertain whether this format will remain unchanged at cs_summit 3.

The second installment of Beyond The Summit’s international Counter-Strike Global Offensive event concluded with Liquid Gaming taking home their first championship title as a team.

On their road to the championship, Liquid blew out SK Gaming in the Loser Finals and Cloud9 in the Grand finals on Train Mirage and Overpass with 19-17, 16-8 and 16-10 scorelines. Keith “NAF” Markovic totaled 94 kills in the grand finals with an ADR of 89.0 split between the 4 maps.

The finals began with a bo5 series in which Train, Mirage, and Overpass were played with C9 being given a 1-0 map advantage because of their successful run through the winner’s bracket.

Surprisingly, C9 dropped Train to liquid gaming 19-17. On Mirage, a strong Terrorist side from C9 gave them the early lead. However, Liquid set up a strong defense for the rest of the half, which ended in a surprisingly close 9-6 scoreline in favor of steel’s side. Liquid won the pistol round with an A executing with an amazing 1v2 clutch by Keith “NAF” Markovic. Liquid won the second map with a scoreline of 16-8 by taking lead in the series, but they lost Cache 16-11 because of C9’s overwhelming CT side. C9’s “Stewie2k” Yip sat atop the server at 25 kills and an insane Deagle collateral triple kill during an early force buy. In the last map of the series, newcomer Keith “NAF” Markovic led his lineup at 29 frags to close out the series on Overpass 16-10.

The moment that @TeamLiquid won the second ever #cs_summit

Congratulations!! 🏆🤲 pic.twitter.com/uLvfKiidL7

— BTS Dota (@BTSdota) February 12, 2018

This victory at the cs_summit 2 secured $63,750 for Liquid, as well as their first tournament win and second consecutive North American squad to win an international tournament in 2018.

CS_SUMMIT 2 final standings:

1. 🇺🇸 Liquid – $63,750
2. 🇺🇸 Cloud9 – $33,750
3. 🇧🇷 SK – $19,500
4. 🇩🇰 Heroic – $15,000
5. 🇺🇸 Torqued – $5,250
6. 🇩🇰 North – $5,250
7. 🇷🇺 Vega Squadron – $3,750
8. 🇸🇪 NiP – $3,750

Keith “NAF” Markovic was named MVP of the tournament by HLTV considering his consistent gameplay in the grand finals and throughout the tournament.

Incidentally, this is the second time the 20-year-old has been awarded the Most Valuable Player of the tournament title. NAF ended the tournament with an average 1.23 rating, second only to Valdemar “valde” Bjørn Vangså’s 1.31, and was in the top five in 13 other categories, leading in KDD (+50), percentage of rounds with at least one kill (52.7%), clutches (6) and opening frags (46).