Every player getting their first signature in CS:GO

The BLAST Paris Major will be a historic event even before the action even kicks off, as it is set to be the final Major before Valve's new version of the game, CS2, takes CS:GO's place. For some players, it will be historic for different reasons, with there being a handful of debutants set to take to the Major stage in Paris they get the chance to be etched into the game forever with their very own signature stickers.

paiN

• Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt

• Wesley "hardzao" Lopes

• Felipe "skullz" Medeiros

• Romeu "zevy" Rocco

• Gabriel "NEKIZ" Schenato

Whilst the paiN team has been to the Challengers stage before at PGL Stockholm 2021, the player's themselves did not get signature stickers as this was the Major Valve decided to only release signature stickers for the top eight teams.

This was when the team still sported Rafael "saffee" Costa and former IGL Vinicios "PKL" Coelho within their ranks, with skullz and zevy being the two actual debutants in their current roster. After missing out on the honor last time it will no doubt be a feel-good moment for the remaining three players to finally get their signature in the game.

Complexity

• Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli

Despite qualifying for PGL Antwerp 2022, Complexity's results at the Major and beyond were disappointing enough for them to look for a fresh face to push them to the next level. They turned to Norwegian AWPer hallzerk, who had a mixed time on a poor Dignitas squad, but was still seen as a raw talent. After the AWPers addition the team trended upwards with the youthful side building event on event. However, their heartbreaking exit at the IEM Rio RMR, after starting off 2-0 in the Swiss stage, seemed to break the squad as they floundered at the end of the year.

That exit and the announcement that Paris would be the final CS:GO Major meant that it would be the AWPers final chance to get a sticker in the game before the switch to CS2. The rest of the side had their stickers from Antwerp, but were no less motivated and Complexity secured their spot in Paris after wins over Solid, MIBR and even a revenge match against Imperial, who had knocked them out of the Rio RMR.

Fluxo

• Lucas "Lucaozy" Neves

• Vinicius "vsm" Moreira

• Allan "history" Lawrenz

Perhaps fortunate to make it to Paris, Fluxo had one of the easier runs to the Major as they unconvincingly beat yur, BESTIA, and then 2-0'd Paqueta to qualify. Their fans and players won't care about that though as they join FURIA and paiN as the Brazilian representation at the event.

Their qualification signals the return to the Majors for former SK member João "felps" Vasconcellos, who last played on the big stage in 2019. Alongside the experienced rifler will be four debutants, and it will be a particularly poignant moment for vsm who despite being touted as a rising star in Brazil for some time, had been hampered by an old VAC ban making him ineligible to compete at Valve-sponsored events. With Valve's recent relaxation on the rules around past VAC bans, vsm was finally able to qualify to play at CS:GO's biggest tournament.

TheMongolz

• Baatarkhuu "Bart4k" Batbold

• Chinguun "hasteka" Bayarmaa

After attending IEM Rio under the IHC banner and continuing their impressive showings at international events in 2023, the team left the org to recreate TheMongolz name which has been used by numerous lineups throughout Counter-Strike history.

In what was a major shock, the team decided to make changes by replacing their highest rated player in Tengis "sk0R" Batjargal with hasteka. This move came after the team had already benched Bat-Enkh "kabal" Batbayar at the end of 2022 in favor of Bart4k. It is the two new members that will be making their debut at a Major and thus securing their first signature stickers.

Monte

• Mohammad "BOROS" Malhas

• Volodymyr "Woro2k" Veletniuk

• Sergiy "DemQQ" Demchenko

• Szymon "kRaSnaL" Mrozek

Largely written off as an online team full of pugstars, Monte proved that their aim was just as crisp on LAN as it has been online as they made their way to Paris. The key addition for the team was former NAVI member Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev who brings some much needed tier one experience to the lineup.

sdy is the only player on the lineup who has previously attended a Major, with the rest of the team making their first Major appearance in Paris.

ENCE

• Guy "NertZ" Iluz

Another product of the Endpoint talent machine, just like previously mentioned BOROS and OG's Shahar "flameZ" Shushan, NertZ has breathed new life into a ENCE team that had floundered since the loss of former star Lotan "Spinx" Giladi. NertZ was the second highest rated player at the EU RMR Group B with a 1.40 rating and will now join his teammates on the list of players with signature stickers in the game.

Ninjas In Pyjamas

• Daniil "headtr1ck" Valitov

headtr1ck joined NIP straight out of the NAVI academy and whilst his transition hasn't been as smooth as it was for former academy prospect Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov, he has certainly strengthened the roster with his AWPing. NIP has been far from an ideal situation for the young Ukrainian to transition into, but he has secured himself a signature sticker as he helped the team squeeze into the Challengers stage with a 3-2 record.

Apeks

• Tim "nawwk" Jonasson

• Justinas "jL" Lekavicius

• Damjan "Kyxsan" Stoilkovski

Much has been made of Apeks' plight since they came into CS:GO, largely applauded for what seemed like a string of smart signings the rosters never quite managed to work it out with the organization never qualifying for the Major since their introduction into the space in 2019. A mad moment in the middle of last year led to the team signing Richard "shox" Papillion, despite the Major winner being way past his best as shown from his disappointing run with Liquid.

The experiment lasted just 75 days before Apeks once again turned to unexplored talent as they brought in Kyxsan from BLUEJAYS at the start of the year. The new lineup has managed to achieve the team's ultimate goal of qualifying for the Major with three of their players getting their signatures in the game for the first time.

FORZE

• Evgeny "r3salt" Frolov

FORZE's stalwart IGL Andrey "Jerry" Mekhryakov has made a habit out of bringing up undiscovered Russian prospects into his FORZE squad, and r3salt is the latest to step up. Having turned heads with his flashy aim since the start of the year, the eighteen year old talent has already secured himself a signature sticker and Major debut.

9INE

• Krzysiek "Goofy" Gorski

• Kamil "KEi" Pietkun

• Kacper "Kylar" Walukiewicz

• Wiktor "mynio" Kruk

One of two of the biggest shocks of the RMR cycle, 9INE's qualification was less of a surprise to those who had been paying attention to the EU tier two scene in recent months. The team has been on a string of good results and look set to return Polish Counter-Strike back to the top of the game, being the first Polish core to make a Major since Virtus.Pro in 2018.

The one player who already has his signature in the game was arguably the key piece in the puzzle. As former ENCE AWPer Olek "hades" Miskiewicz helped propel the team to new heights with a 1.31 rating at the RMR, this helped the team not just reach the Major but qualify straight to the Legends stage.

Into The Breach

• Thomas "Thomas" Utting

• Joey "CRUC1AL" Steusel

• Cai "CYPHER" Watson

• Sebastian "volt" Malos

No doubt the biggest surprise of the Paris RMR cycle, Into the Breach made a fairytale run to be the first ever UK core to qualify for a Major. The team led by former ENVY player Thomas, returns the UK back to the top of Counter-Strike with the country having been largely anonymous since the CS:S days were they were one of the best regions in the game.

Like 9INE, Into the Breach also have one player making a return to a Major, Karol "rallen" Rodowicz has gone from a journeyman rifler to a star man on the squad and carries the majority of the team's firepower alongside young Brit CYPHER. rallen's wait to return to the Major stage has been much longer than any of those previously mentioned, as the 28-year-old has had to wait eight years since his Vexed team attended DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015.

NAVI

• Andrii "npl" Kukharskyi

NAVI started 2022 as the best team in the world, but a series of factors outside of their control put the team in turmoil and since removing IGL Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov the team has struggled to settle on a fifth.

Despite not doing much wrong sdy was replaced at the start of the year for npl and despite a string of poor performances the 17 year old performed well at the RMR to help his team secure Legends status and secure himself a signature sticker.