All of the favorites have made the Budapest playoffs. Who are the most tried and true Major players, and who are the chokers?
Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac has been at the top of Counter-Strike both individually for almost 9 years. Despite being the best rifle player of all time, according to most analysts, he has never been able to win that coveted major trophy.
But NiKo is not the only star that has failed to get a Major trophy. In fact, none of the favorites for this Major, barring Vitality, have ever picked up a Major trophy in their history in CS:GO/CS2.
Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo is an exception on FURIA, as Lotan ‘Spinx’ Giladi is on MOUZ, but let’s look at how these teams’ stars have performed in the playoffs of Majors.
NiKo
Record in quarter-finals: 4W/2L, 277-226 K/D, 1.23 KDR
Semi-finals: 2W/2L, 203-161 K/D, 1.26 KDR
Grand finals: 0W/2L, 108-121 K/D, 0.89 KDR
Overall: 6W/6L
NiKo is perhaps the most criticized player for a single loss at a Major, at the grand final of the ELEAGUE Boston Major. As the star player of FaZe, he finished the series against Cloud9, led by Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik, with a 56-71 Kill-Death record (K/D).
However, it’s easy to forget that this event was NiKo’s first ever Major playoffs. Did people criticize storied players like Nicolai ‘device’ Reedtz and Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut as much as NiKo, for their early Major underperformances?
NiKo was also the top-fragger in both the quarter and semi-final against threatening MOUZ and NAVI squads with players like Robin ‘ropz’ Kool and Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev.
NiKo’s other grand final loss came against prime NAVI, who had a ridiculous positive record of wins against the entire opposition at the time. Still, NiKo had 88 average damage per round (ADR) and 52 kills across a 0-2 loss in that final, only leaving behind a momentary but crucial Deagle miss as a negative there.
NiKo’s early Major semi-finals were dominant, but his more recent ones leave something to be desired. His highlight was his carry performance to get over the line against Casper ‘cadiaN’ Moller’s HEROIC squad in Stockholm 2021. The biggest lowlight was being virtually non-existent on the server against the NAVI squad, who pulled an early Major win in Copenhagen out of nowhere in early 2024.
NiKo’s record in quarter-finals is exceptional, considering in two of them he lost as the IGL as FaZe. If we don’t consider these quarter-final matches, his individual numbers in these matches go up to a 215-145 K/D, and a 1.23 overall KDR in Major playoffs.
ZywOo
Record in quarter-finals: 3W/3L, 265-187 K/D, 1.42 KDR
Semi-finals: 2W/1L, 141-108 K/D, 1.31 KDR
Grand finals: 2W/0L, 85-62 K/D, 1.37 KDR
Overall: 7W/4L
ZywOo has some of the best numbers in Major playoff history. However, he also got to benefit from the easiest Major-winning run of all time in BLAST Paris, HLTV-ranking wise.
If we consider his sole grand final besides that, ZywOo had a 37-34 K/D in a 2-0 win at Austin against the MongolZ. If we discount Vitality’s three wins in the Major playoffs in BLAST Paris, ZywOo has the same number of match losses (4) in Major playoffs as wins (4).
ZywOo’s semifinal outings are a mixed bag, considering his stature. His most recent one against MOUZ in Austin was decisive, closing the door on any possible upset. He went 53-32 in the series with his best performance being on the decider. ZywOo’s worst semi-final came against FaZe in Copenhagen, in a close loss where he went 38-40 over 3 maps. Less than 13 kills per map is very much unlike the ZywOo we know, and nothing like the star we know he is.
Despite being on the favored team on most occasions, ZywOo lacks a positive record in Major quarter-finals. Those upset losses came in Berlin, ZywOo’s first Major playoffs, and in Shanghai, when Vitality were upset by FaZe once again.
ZywOo performed admirably in the loss against FaZe, going 48-34 in K/D, despite losing the last two maps convincingly. As a caveat, he was not even close to being the best player on the server, as current teammate Robin ‘ropz’ Kool ran circles around Vitality.
If we don’t include the run in Paris, ZywOo’s K/D in Major playoffs is 347-267, with a 1.3 KDR. Still incredible numbers, but not a far cry from NiKo’s 1.23, once discounting the matches he was the in-game leader.
KSCERATO
Record in quarter-finals: 1W/3L, 167-170 K/D, 0.98 KDR
Semi-finals: 0W/1L, 68-45 K/D, 1.51 KDR
Grand finals: N/A
Overall: 1W/4L, 235-215 K/D, 1.09 KDR
Kaike ‘KSCERATO’ Cerato’s low sample size in Major playoffs illustrates exactly how inexperienced FURIA is in the late stages of prestige tournaments. FURIA have never played in any Major, Cologne or Katowice grand finals.
Every time bar once, FURIA has been playing against one of the favorites in the quarter-final, who they’ve normally lost to. The exception came against NAVIin the quarter-final of the IEM Rio Major 2022. KSCERATO popped off to send s1mple home, getting 70 kills over three maps.
He continued his rampage in the semi-final against HEROIC, getting 68 kills over three maps. This included a 27-7 CT-side on Ancient, which gave FURIA a chance to even win this series 2-0. FURIA ended up losing at Rio, but not because of KSCERATO.
Unfortunately, when FURIA did get beaten by both favorites and underdogs in Major playoffs, KSCERATO failed to become the reason that they had a chance. When FURIA were upset recently by paiN Gaming at Austin, KSCERATO failed to step up, being the weak link in the Inferno decider, going 11-21 in K/D there.
Against the underdog Team Spirit at Antwerp, he was shockingly bad, getting 10 kills per map in a thrashing by Spirit. Against Gambit in Stockholm, he played well in the opener, dropping a 30-bomb, but fell off massively in the next map.
Despite a low sample size and a negative record, KSCERATO is nothing to sneer at at Majors, demonstrated by his monstrous run at Rio.
donk
Record in quarter-finals: 1W/2L, 202-155 K/D , 1.30 KDR
Semi-finals: 1W/0L, 42-43 K/D, 0.97 KDR
Grand finals: 1W/0L, 69-44 K/D, 1.57 KDR
Overall: 3W/2L, 313-242 K/D, 1.29 KDR
Daniil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets may seem infallible, due to becoming a Major MVP at the ripe age of 17. But even he has had losses in Major playoffs. In fact, he lost his first ever Major playoff match to FaZe, even while coming in as the favorite.
Despite losing that series, he was the top fragger in it, and dropped 29 kills on the deciding map of Vertigo, a map Spirit preferred to avoid. The quarter-final of the Shanghai Major, he destroyed Liquid with 47 kills over two maps and 104 ADR. The next year, he top-fragged with 78 kills against MOUZ, in a series that he lost.
Donk’s only negative performance in a Major playoff match came in a win at Shanghai against MOUZ, where he was -1 in K/D. However, this doesn’t even tell the full story. All the bad in this series for donk came on Nuke, where Spirit got thoroughly outplayed by MOUZ, and donk went 6-17. If we count only the next two maps, he went 36-26.
donk is on track to become the best player ever at Majors, but he has stiff competition with ZywOo and the Great One.
s1mple
Record in quarter-finals: 7W/5L, 510-463 K/D, 1.10 KDR
Semi-finals: 4W/3L, 377-245 K/D, 1.58 KDR
Grand finals: 1W/3L, 162-164 K/D, 0.99 KDR
Overall: 12W/11L, 1049-872 K/D, 1.20 KDR
Despite not playing in the last few Majors, s1mple is still the measuring stick when it comes to ranking stars at Majors.
s1mple’s semi-final stats are the most bonkers. Since hitting that 1v2 no-scope in his first one, he never had a negative K/D in any of them. He averaged 53 kills per semi-final series he’s played at a Major, including those that only went to two maps.
The grand finals paint an awful picture, but the stats don’t tell the full story. All of the finals s1mple lost convincingly were against all-time great teams: 2016 SK Gaming, 2018 Astralis and 2022 FaZe. In all of them s1mple failed to perform, but there is no better excuse for not performing, considering the teams he was facing.
The one against FaZe was the closest of the losses, where even a bit more from s1mple might have gotten it over the line. He came in with a NAVI team that was the best on paper, but carried over out-of-game issues that affected the team.
In the final he won, he had the best performance ever in a Major grand final B.D. (before donk). Facing an underdog in G2 finally, he made mincemeat of them. In the second map of Nuke, he was the engine behind a massive comeback that secured the Major win without losing a single map.
The bad side is hidden within those quarter-finals. He often played great in them, but had notable stumbles. One of them was the aforementioned one against FURIA at Rio, where s1mple provoked the crowd only to receive the brunt of it himself.
Conclusion
Heading into tomorrow, all of these players (minus s1mple), will take the stage once again. There’s no telling how they’ll perform, but it’s clear that all of them have had trials and tribulations while on that stage.
Some more than others, as donk has largely avoided that problem. But he is only at his fourth major, and has pressure to show that he is what he’s built up to be.
And then there’s NiKo. There’s no doubt he’s had issues at Majors, but he is also one of the best Major players ever at the same time. We can see that he can disappear, but he can also be the reason FaZe, G2 and Falcons win.
