We are now less than one week away from the start of the much-awaited IEM Rio Major in Brazil. To ease the waiting time, we have created a countdown series, where we dive into the history of all 17 Majors. Today we have reached PGL Major Kraków 2017.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"countdown-major-6-days-go-beginning-era","isNewTab":false}]

 Gambit (Hobbit, AdreN, Dosia, Zeus, mou)

 Cache, Cobblestone, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, Train.

PGL Major Kraków 2017 was the eleventh CS:GO Major tournament in the history of the game and was held from July 16 – July 23, 2017 in the TAURON Arena in Kraków Poland. Like the three previous Majors, this one also featured a total prize pool of $1,000,000 with 16 teams competing for the lions share.

Back when Gambit were formed, the roster consisted of a mix of unproven rookies and legends that were supposedly past their prime. They had their work cut out for them to prove their worth in-game. However, running rampant at tournaments like DreamHack Winter Open 2016, Gambit dominated their competition. This event saw them rip apart Renegades in a dominating 2-0 Grand final.

Gambit continued to impress and slowly made a name for themselves throughout the early half of 2017, and in events, they obliterated the likes of fnatic and Astralis, making it clear that they had no intention of slowing down. Finally proving themselves to the Counter-Strike world, Gambit took home the victory at PGL Major Kraków 2017 against Immortals in the Grand final and became the first CIS team to ever win a Major. Gambit shocked the entire CS:GO scene as many expected an early exit from them.

One thing the Counter-Strike community especially remembers from the Grand final at the PGL Major Kraków 2017 is Mikhail “Dosia” Stolyarov’s legendary grenade.  

For many CS:GO players it’s a well-known fact that, on the iconic Inferno, you can stand in the corner of pit and survive the bomb explosion if you have a good amount of health. An individual who certainly knows this is Gambit’s Dosia who is the man behind one of CS:GO’s most iconic moments in the history of the game. On the final map of the Grand final, Dosia hurled a perfectly placed grenade to that exact above mentioned corner in ‘pit’ on Inferno, killing two enemies to crater Immortals’ economy. Gambit lost the round, but Dosia’s nade helped them win the war.

The grenade is genuinely legendary, so much that it even got immortalized as a graffiti by Valve who hung up a poster depicting Dosia’s grenade and placed it right where it exploded. The play encapsulated everything that was special about Gambit’s Major run. The determination. The ingenuity. The magic.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"tournaments/dosia_grafe_ehai7p","originalWidth":1000,"originalHeight":563,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Valve"}]

FaZe, SK Gaming, and Astralis were the only conceivable contenders. Teams like G2, fnatic, and NAVI were dark-hose picks, but it seemed like an unrealistic ask even for those teams. Zeus and company from Gambit were not even in the conversation. Yet Gambit won the PGL Major Kraków 2017 and surprised every CS:GO fan.

Gambit went up against the Brazilian squad from Immortals after beating defending champs from Astralis 2-1 in the semi-finals. Immortals were no slouch either as they took down Virtus.pro themselves in the semi-finals.

The action of the Grand final started on Immortals’ pick of Cobblestone, where the Brazilians exploded into action with an impressive 3-12 lead at the end of the first half. Playing on the CT-side, the Brazilians continued playing like a train with no brakes and managed to quickly close out the map with a 4-16 scoreline.

But then Gambit got to work. On the second map of the series, Train, Zeus and company delivered a solid T-side and threw Immortals off their game with quick executions, which Immortals had no response to. Stellar performances from HEN1 and kNg helped Immortals grab 6 rounds in total before Gambit ended the first half with a 9-6 advantage. The Brazilians would go on to equalize the score, but after buying up, Gambit took control of the game with no response from Immortals, bringing the scoreline to 12-9. A triple-kill from Gambit’s mou in a partial buy gave his team their 14th round and left the Brazilians with no money to attempt a comeback. Gambit tied off the series 1-1 with a 16-11 scoreline, forcing the decider.

On the decider of Inferno, Gambit stormed to a 11-4 lead on the CT-side full of momentum. Immortals picked themselves up early in the second half, winning four rounds without response. Adrenaline was running high in both squads, and when Hobbit secured Gambit their first round of the half with a sensational 1v3 clutch, the whole TAURON Arena exploded. That was the start of a great run from Gambit, who brought the scoreline to 14-9 and only allowed Immortals to take a single round before wrapping up the series 2-1 with a 16-10 scoreline.

Following this outcome, Hobbit and company from Gambit earned $500,000, while the Brazilians took home $150,000.

Highest rated players at PGL Major Kraków 2017

1. {cflag:UA} Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (NAVI) – 1.43 Rating

2. {cflag:BR} Marcelo ”coldzera” David (SK Gaming) – 1.40 Rating 

3. {cflag:DE} Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz (BIG) – 1.30 Rating  

4. {cflag:KZ} Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev (Gambit) – 1.26 Rating 

5. {cflag:FI} Miikka “suNny” Kemppi (PENTA) – 1.21 Rating 

6. {cflag:DK} Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen (Astralis) – 1.20 Rating 

7. {cflag:DE} Johannes “nex” Maget (BIG) – 1.20 Rating 

8. {cflag:DK} Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke (North) – 1.17 Rating 

9. {cflag:DK} Nicolai “device” Reedtz (Astralis) – 1.17 Rating 

10. {cflag:RU} Denis “electronic” Sharipov (FlipSid3) – 1.15 Rating

Gambit won 72 out of 137 rounds on the T-side (52.6%) and even did better on the CT-side winning 82 of 145 rounds (56.5%).

Tomorrow we take a look at the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018. 

AdreN

Hobbit

Dosia

Gambit Esports

Mikhail "Dosia" Stolyarov and Rüstem "mou" Telepov, two Major winners from PGL Major Kraków 2017, are set to make their official return to competitive CS:GO after a lengthy break. The CIS duo have starred in a five-man mix since August – however, now they seem to have been formally contracted.

It’s the North American esports organization Forward Gaming that’s set to pick up Dosia and company, with the org publishing a video on Twitter where they are teasing the transfer.

Besides Dosia and mou, Forward is set to possess the Russian trio of Vladislav "xiELO" Lisov, Dmitriy 'ProbLeM' Martinov, and Nikita 'JIaYm' Panyushkin. The two latter players have previously represented HellRaisers while xiELO is more of an unknown quantity being only 16 years old. 

If confirmed, Forward could field the following lineup.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"graffiti-series-dosias-legendary-grenade-pgl-major-krakow","isNewTab":true}]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"countdown-major-5-days-go-first-only-cis-team-ever-win-major","isNewTab":true}]

The first two matchups of the playoffs at EPIC CIS League saw Spirit and Gambit take the expected wins.

Spirit sent K23 to the lower bracket after winning their opponent's map pick 16-4 before finishing the job on Dust2.

16-4 (Overpass) | {cflag:RU} mir – 1.81 Rating / 22-11 K-D / 120.2 ADR

16-14 (Dust2) | {cflag:KZ} mou – 1.72 Rating / 31-18 K-D / 121.4 ADR

The world's no. 1 had more difficulties. Against Entropiq, sh1ro, and the rest of the talented Russian roster had to work hard. On Dust2 they lost 16-7, but before anyone had spelled out "upset", the winners of IEM Katowice won the next two maps in similarly dominant fashion. Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov popped off on Vertigo, while Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov made life tough for Entropiq on Mirage. 

16-7 (Dust2) | {cflag:KZ} Lack1 – 1.55 Rating / 22-10 K-D / 93.6 ADR

6-16 (Vertigo) | {cflag:RU} Ax1Le – 1.79 Rating / 22-10 K-D / 109.3 ADR

7-16 (Mirage) | {cflag:RU} sh1ro – 1.65 Rating / 26-12 K-D / 112.1 ADR

Gambit and Spirit will face each other in the upper semi-final at EPIC CIS League. K23 and Entropiq will fight against each other in the lower brackets on Wednesday.

Ax1Le

sh1ro

Lack1

Entropiq

Spirit

Heroic have recently reshaped their roster. After benching "niko" and "b0RUP" they immediately signed "refrezh" and "sjuush" and finalized their new-look five-man roster. The newly shaped roster had a dream debut as they took down VOYVODA with a 2-0 victory. Despite Heroic being heavy favorites they remained calm and methodical and ultimately closed out the game with a dominating 16-3 victory on their map pick Vertigo.

16-11 Heroic (Train) | sjuush 1.50 Rating / 98.4 ADR / 26-17 K-D

16-3 Heroic (Vertigo) | stavn 2.36 Rating / 134.6 ADR / 28-9 K-D

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Copyright_-_Bart-Oerbekke_-_stavn_xo991w","originalWidth":3840,"originalHeight":2160,"cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Bart Oerbekke ESL","alt":"CS:GO, Counter-Strike, Stavn"}]

Just like Heroic, Cloud9 was huge favorites going into their Bo3-series against K23. Unlike Heroic, however, Cloud9 didn't manage to close out the series in two maps and therefore had to go to the third and final map of Overpass in order to find a victor. Despite K23 giving them a run for their money, Cloud9 ultimately closed out the series with a narrow 2-1 victory. 

16-14 Cloud9 (Dust2) | n0rb3r7 1.34 Rating / 97.8 ADR / 26-21 K-D

16-11 K23 (Vertigo) | mou 1.35 Rating / 85.6 ADR / 23-14 K-D

16-14 Cloud9 (Overpass) | Xeppaa 1.39 Rating / 88.1 ADR / 27-18 K-D

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"teams/cloud9/Copyright_-_Carlton-Beener_-_Cloud9_tufk2y","originalWidth":3840,"originalHeight":2160,"cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Carlton Beener ESL","alt":"CS:GO, Counter-Strike"}]

OG had recruited some help from the Danish "niko" as they found themselves lacking a fifth and final member going into the Qualifiers. He joined OG on loan and is perhaps looking at an upcoming permanent contract as the OG roster managed to defeat Nordavind with a 2-0 series victory. "mantuu" became the star of the show, but "niko" was by no means performing under par. You can read more about the Bo3-series right here: 

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/niko-helps-og-with-2-0-victory"}]

16-4 OG (Inferno) | valde 1.79 Rating / 106.0 ADR / 24-9 K-D

16-8 Liquid (Dust2) | mantuu 2.09 Rating / 105.7 ADR / 30-9 K-D

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Copyright_-_Damian-Gatkiewicz_-_cadian_and_valde_q8xntr","originalWidth":3840,"originalHeight":2160,"cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Damian Gatkiewicz","alt":"CS:GO, Counter-Strike"}]

The Complexity roster was, without any doubt, the favorites going into their match against Movistar Riders. It was also the side of Complexity to show themselves as the better team today, but not without them having to fight for it. Putting up a good fight was Movistar Riders, as they ultimately had to admit defeat when Complexity closed out the series 2-1 with a 16-9 victory on Nuke. 

 16-6 Movistar Riders (Overpass) | smooya 1.59 Rating / 102.0 ADR / 22-11 K-D

19-16 Liquid (Mirage) | blameF 1.83 Rating / 113.6 ADR / 42-15 K-D

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"Blamef_1_nm8knq","originalWidth":1620,"originalHeight":911,"cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Complexity","alt":"CS:GO, Counter-Strike"}]

blameF

niko

cadiaN

valde

mantuu

compLexity Gaming

Movistar Riders

Nordavind

Heroic

VOYVODA

Cloud9

As usual, the AWP produced some stunning moments in the past year.

The Youtuber "VirreCSGO" has collected all the incredible AWP highlights from 2020.

In 2020 Bogdan "xsepower" Chernikov made the most kills with the AWP. A total of 5412 times the Russian killed an opponent with the Sniper Rifle.

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	0	0
Maps count	0	0

mou

Player stats

Articles mentioning mou

PGL Major Kraków 2017: The first CIS team to ever win a Major

North American org teases Dosia and mou transfer

Spirit, and Gambit through to upper semi's at EPIC CIS League

DreamHack Qualifier update - Cloud9, Complexity, and Heroic win

Video: Best AWP Plays of 2020

Follow Pley