Natus Vincere

Team work is a big part of counter strike, one team that displays this amount of team work is Natus Vincere. Natus Vincere are a Ukrainian team that lives together in Kiev,they are a underdog team that are capable of taking on any of giants in the counter strike scene.They have been in numerous tournaments,but their most notable events are Gifinity and ESL Pro League 2015.

 Gifinity Lan started off as a event that Na'Vi was looking forward to going to, after an easy group stage they found themselves in a semi final against the polish team Virtus Pro.The first map was Virtus Pro's pick, The polish team ran a standard setup and demolished the Ukrainian side on the first half of the match, The unthinkable happened Na'Vi managed to make an amazing half bringing the match to overtime. But in the end the polish team reigned victorious over the young players of Na'Vi, the match finished with a scoreline of 19.-17.The second map was Na'Vi's pick, they came into this match with determined you could see the determination in their eyes. They wanted to win this badly the match started off in favor of Na'Vi, the first half was a complete blow out the Ukrainian team looked they had won the match already. But then the polish squad woke up and tore Na'Vi apart just barley edging out overtime in over time, Na'Vi fought back hard eding out a second overtime but virtus pro was to strong taking the match with a final score line of 25-22.

The ESL Pro league tournement was an event that many teams would have loved to participate in,the Na'Vi team was going into this tournement with alot of practice after a crushing defeat at gifinity. Na'Vi ran through the group stage with great ease crushing everyone in their path.They found themselves in the final against a long time rival Titan.The First map was in favor of Na'Vi and Na'Vi proved this by completely dismantling Titan in the first match with a scoreline of 16-12.In the second map Titan worked together as a team and overran the defenses of the Na'Vi and crushed them with a scoreline of 16-7.The last match was a death match that came down to the wire it was a slaughter on both sides both teams played like it was their last game ever in their careers but in the end Na'Vi came out victorious.This is the final round of the tournement.


cited sources  MIRAA.(2015)Na'Vi win ESL Pro League over Titan retrieved from http://www.hltv.org/news/14731-navi-win-esl-pro-league-over-titan
MIRAA.(2015)Virtus Pro to Gifinity final over Na'Vi retrieved from http://www.hltv.org/news/14984-virtus-to-gfinity-final-over-navi

Titan

Individual skill is a big part of video games, one team that displays this amount of skill is titan.Titan are a french team that have been thrown into the spot light after some of their most notable events, such as Dream Hack Stockholm and ESL Pro League 2015.

Dream Hack Stockholm was the first event that threw titan into the spotlight,They had a phenomenal group stage upsetting teams like Fnatic,Ninjas in Pyjamas and Na'Vi. here is a clip of an amazing play by Titan's star player kennyS
After crushing the Ninjas in pyjamas, titan went on to the finals where they found themselves against their french rivals Team LDLC. In the first half of the finals Titan completely destroyed LDLC, they had make them look like a joke.After the first half the slaughter continued in favor of titan. They took the first map with a scoreline of 16-4.On the second map first half LDLC man handled Titan. they looked focused and stronger but in the second half titan came back with a determination to win. LDLC had no way to counter the tactics of their french rivals and eventually lost the game with a score line of 19-15. here is a video of titans winning moment    Fast forward a year later and you now see the french giants in a tournament that every team has been waiting for. They breeze through the group stages and find themselves in a final against their biggest rivals Na'Vi. In the first map of the finals titan looked completely out of sync, they were getting demolished by the Ukrainian stars after an awful beating and loss on the first map.The tides turned and titan annihilates the Ukrainians on their map choice titan finishes the second match with a scoreline of  16-7.In the final match titan brought out every single trick in the book they were almost convinced they were going to win but in the end they lost with a scoreline of 16-13.
cited sources: lurpiss.(2014)Titan win Dreamhack Stockholm retrived http://www.hltv.org/news/13298-titan-win-dreamhack-stockholm
MIRAA.(2015)Na'Vi win ESL Pro League over Titan retrieved from http://www.hltv.org/news/14731-navi-win-esl-pro-league-over-titan

Ninjas in pajamas

Strategy is a big part of video games at the professional level.One team that display alot of strategy  is the ninjas in pajamas.The ninjas in pajamas are a legendary team, coming second almost at every single major event making them one of the best teams in all of counter strike global offensive. Their most notable events are EMS One Katowice 2014 and ESL One Cologne 2014 although the ninjas had come second at almost every single event they stayed determined to win.

At EMS Katowice 2014, the ninjas in pajamas were one of the favored teams to win the event along side the Polish home team Virtus Pro.After an amazing show throughout the brackets of the tournement the ninjas in pajamas made it to the finals against the home team Virtus Pro.In the first map of a best of three, the Polish team dominated the ninjas having a half time score of 5-10. An awful scoreline for a team on the more favored side of the map, making them the under dogs to win the fist match of the final. But in a stroke of lucky the ninjas magically managed to grab 4 rounds making the score nail bitingly close, But Virtus Pro kicked in to action decimating the ninjas making the scoreline of the first match match 16-9. The ninjas were battered but not broken. After the break ,they came back with a revengance. But Virtus Pro were not fazed everything that ninjas in pajamas threw at Virtus Pro didnt work, the ninjas had a repeat of the first map and lost the tournement 10-16.In a 2-0 loss to Virtus Pro this is the first time in counter strike that the ninjas lost 2-0 in a final.

Fast forward a couple of months to ESL One Cologne at this time the ninjas were in the worst form of their careers, they were the running joke at the tournement. But even tho they were out of form the worn out ninjas in pajamas still managed to make it to the finals after a long road to the finals.In the finals they met their fivals team Fnatic.The ninjas were looking to take this final in the first map Fnatic ran a clinic on ninjas in pajamas but after a clutch round from friberg a memeber of the ninjas ninjas in pajamas ran it back to take the first map with a scoreline of 16-11.

friberg's clutch round

After the ninjas won the first map they were fired up and looked like they were in complete form and ready to win, in a 2-0 fashion.But they were not the only legendary team there, Fnatic took the ninjas on the map they choose decimating  them with a scoreline of  16-8 making the ninjas look weak against the swedish super team.

But on the last map the ninjas fought with everything they had making the round and won of their least expected players,Fiflaren made a play lifting the back and forth battle from the ashes and catapulting the ninjas Ahead causing them to win the game.

The ending scoreline was 16-13 making this the first major title that the ninjas had ever won in their careers. here is a video of the reactions of the player on the ninjas in pajamas

Also if you want to see what happend throughout the major here is a video.
work cited:
 lurppis.(2014)NiP win ESL One Cologne 2014 retrieved fromhttp://www.hltv.org/news/13070-nip-win-esl-one-cologne-2014
lurppis.(2014)Virtus.Pro Win EMS One Katowice 2014 retrieved from http://www.hltv.org/news/12212-virtuspro-win-ems-one-katowice

Fnatic

video games have a very high skill gap at the competitive level.One team that displays this amount of skill is Fnatic. They are a Swedish star team, that was created in late 2013 after the dream hack event. They have since began to dominate the professional level, making it to the finals of three major events such as: Dreamhack Winter 2013, ESL One Cologne 2014 and ESL One Katowice 2015 placing first at both Dreamhack Winter 2013 and ESL One Katowice 2015.

          http://www.csgoseries.com/assets/uploads/2015/04/Fnatic-wins.png

It all began in early 2013 when the team won their first major title Dreamhack Winter 2013, over the favored team ninjas in pajamas. In an almost lack luster final, the ninjas in pajamas ran a clinic on Fnatic in the first half of the match. However, Fnatic found their footing later in the second half, running the match back just barley edging out the first match, making the final score of the first match 16-14.The second match however, gave everyone a shock the team ninjas in pajamas made Fnatic look like a complete joke, completely annihilating Fnatic making the second match second match score line 16-6. Although Fnatic were battered and bruised they came with a game plan on their last match of the final. Fnatic brought the same intensity that ninjas in pajamas had brought and crushed them in a way no one expected, the score for the last match of tournement was 16-2. After many months of hard work and training Fnatic had finally taken down the legendary team that was ninjas in pajamas. Here is a video of the team celebrating after the event win. :


Skip forward two more years to 2015 were Fnatic find themselves against their swedish rivals, ninjas in pajamas who also took last years title ESL One Cologne in a crushing victory over Fnatic. This time around Fnatic came back with a better game plan, this time they came with a strategy.

        http://8frag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/esl-one-katowice-2015-fnatic-win.jpg
The finals of ESL One katowice greatly favored Fnatic because they were playing the best counter strike of their short yet fruitful careers, no team could stop them. But in the finals of this event their skill was greatly tested by ninjas in pajamas. The ninjas were not going to go down without a fight however the first map was almost a complete repeat of Dreamhack 2013 were Fnatic had an uphill battle beating all the odds with some amazing clutch rounds coming out of all their players, making the first match scoreline 16-14. The second match however, showed a tremendous amount of skill and strategy coming out of the swedish legends.Taking the second match off the red hot Fnatic squad after the crushing scoreline of 10-16.The third match was the most nail biting match of the whole entire event througout the last match there were many individual plays coming out of both sides.But in the end Fnatic prevailed, with a scoreline of 16-13 going on to obtain their second major title making them the first team in counter strike global offensive history to win two majors. here is a clip of the final round and the celebration of the swedish super star lineup. 
The team Fnatic displays the high skill gap at the competitive level by being consistently able to dominate teams at the highest level of play.

cited sources
Anakiatan.(2013) fnatic win DreamhackWinter 2013. Retrieved from http://www.hltv.org/news/14496-fnatic-beat-nip-to-win-katowice-major

Miraa.(2015) fnatic beat Nip to win Katowice major. Retrived from http://www.hltv.org/news/14496-fnatic-beat-nip-to-win-katowice-major