With the BLAST.tv Paris Major Challengers Stage fully wrapped up, we’ve already seen the dreams of eight teams shattered. We wanted to take a look at three teams in particular, looking at their current legacy in the game and how they’ve performed in the BLAST.tv Paris Major.
Credit: Stephanie Lindgren | © BLAST
Complexity
It’s easy to forget when they’re not regularly competing for trophies, but Complexity is one of the oldest names in esports. The team entered the Counter-Strike scene all the way back in 2004, and haven’t looked back. It’s poetic, really – they’re one of the only teams to be at both the first CS:GO Major in DreamHack Winter 2013, and the last in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023, but they never quite managed to become CS:GO Major winners in between.
At DreamHack Winter 2013, Complexity was eliminated in the Semi-Finals. It would prove to be their best-ever finish, with 7 attempts in total. They might not be the team competing all of the time, but their consistency is admirable. Even when other North American teams seemed to overtake them, Complexity was looming over their shoulder, almost like gatekeepers of the region for Counter-Strike.
As well as this, Complexity has proven to be something of a talent factory over the years. Looking at their past players, names like jks, es3tag, blameF, k0nfig, and shroud stand out among others. It’s a miracle they haven’t done better over the years, but sometimes the financial realities of esports can take over for smaller organizations.
Ultimately, there’s no grand prize for taking part, and Complexity won’t be thrilled with their performance in the CS:GO Paris Major. Going 1:3 in the Paris Major Challengers Stage after winning the opener was something of a false dawn, but the organization can still look back with pride at their overall legacy in CS:GO.
MOUZ
MOUZ is a strange case. In our Paris Major power rankings, we had them as one to watch. We were right but for all the wrong reasons. Of all the Paris Major eliminations so far, MOUZ is by far the most surprising.
Like Complexity, they’re a stalwart of the scene, originally founded in 2002. Over the years, they reached a total of 14 Majors, but never managed to win a single one. They’re a team with a rich history in the game, attracting talents such as karrigan, Snax, NiKo, and ropz between 2015 and 2020. At their peak, they were even consistent trophy winners, with ESL Pro League Season 10 perhaps the biggest of all. They’re an organization that feels like they should have won a CS:GO Major, but the pieces have never really quite aligned for them.
In the CS:GO Paris Major Challengers Stage they never even got started, and were dispatched swiftly by an 0:3 record. Bear in mind, this MOUZ team fell at the Semi-Finals of the previous Rio Major, and there seemed to be no reason they couldn’t fight their way to go a few steps further this time around.
It’s not all doom and gloom for MOUZ. As an organization, they’re one of CS:GO’s biggest. They have the resources and the know-how to get back on top, and it will certainly be interesting to see how they act in the wake of the Paris Major Challengers stage to right the ship going forward.
OG
Compared to Complexity and MOUZ, OG are complete newcomers to the scene. Despite only entering CS:GO in 2019, the team has made quite a splash since their debut and is definitely one of the bigger Paris Major eliminations so far.
The CS:GO Paris Major Challengers Stage was only OG’s second-ever appearance in a Major. Their previous attempt in Rio ended at exactly the same stage, but going 2:3 was a respectable attempt this time around, especially with their recent IGL troubles. Their legacy at the moment is simply inexperience, but that will surely come for this roster.
If anything, their lack of a past offers even more hope for the future. Players can play for OG without the crippling weight of expectation that can come with playing for more historied organizations. Right now, they certainly have the talent to be so much more. For one, degster is one of the most talented AWPers in the world and just needs that bit of consistency. Meanwhile, flameZ seems to have arrived from the conveyor belt of the Israeli talent factory that keeps churning out incredible riflers such as NertZ, XertioN, and Spinx year after year. While CS:GO Majors may be over for OG, the potential of CS2 for this team is endless.
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