Counter-Strike.
Say it. "Counter-Strike".
On LAN. With s1mple and NiKo in a Grand Final of a Major. The first Major in two years.
The script was already written: Whomever won, the victor would claim his first Major and most likely the MVP title too.
G2 surprise-picked Ancient and tried to pull a trick on NaVi, but s1mple stuck to the script and demolished the French/Bosnian mix with 32 kills in 27 rounds.
And then... Counter-Strike happened.
NaVi who had 17 consecutive wins on Nuke before the Grand Final became choppy. The strain was visible on their faces, and G2 were pulling ahead after a 10 round CT-side.
They got to 15 rounds well ahead of NaVi, and it looked a certainty that we were going to Mirage for the decider. Alas, NiKo and Major Finals don't mix well.
At 15-12, in a 2on2 with the bomb planted, the Bosnian had the drop on s1mple. All he had to do was hit him in the head, and let his team-mate defend the bomb.
Suddenly everyone was talking about NiKo, but for all the wrong reasons. As in Boston in 2018, he on a team that was blowing a 15-something lead in a deciding match.
It felt inevitable at that point. NaVi got to 15, and despite heroics by AmaNEk and huNter in the double OT, the best team in the world closed it out at 22-19.
NaVi became the first Major champions since Astralis beat AVANGAR in Berlin, 2019, and also managed to become the first to do so undefeated. 9 straight map wins, 0 losses.
And who took the MVP? You'll never guess.
Oh and as if the game wasn't wild enough, Boombl4 used the chance to speak in front of a record breaking 2,200,000 audience to propose to his girlfriend. You can't make this shit up.
(She said yes)
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