NA CS at the Majors: FACEIT London 2018

Cloud9's fairytale run in Boston had given North America hope that the region's fortune was changing. However, the defending champions made changes to their lineup between the two Majors, so it would be the other two NA teams in attendance who would put together impressive runs.

The FACEIT Major London would be the first Major to use the Buchholz system and have BO3's for the 2-2 matches, additions aimed to improve the fairness of draws and level of competition throughout the event. These were the first changes made to the Majors format since ELEAGUE Major Atlanta 2017.

Despite Cloud9 being the reigning champions, the majority of North America's hopes for a title challenge were placed on Liquid, who was ranked third in the world at the time. After Liquid's disappointing results in Boston they had freshened up the squad with the additions of Keith "NAF" Markovic and Epitacio "TACO" de Melo, leaving the team without a dedicated star AWPer as NAF replaced former AWPer Josh "jdm64" Marzano.

Cloud9 had lost two of their key players from their Major win at Boston, with Jake "Stewie2k" Yip and Tarik "tarik" Celik moving to MIBR as Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo's team looked to regain the magic of their 2016/17 form that saw them win back to back Majors among a string of tier one tournaments. In their place, Cloud9 loaned Martin "STYKO" Styk from mousesports and picked up Swede Maikil "Golden" Selim to lead the team.

FACEIT London would be the first Major for the Brazilian side under the legendary 'MIBR' brand. Despite still being one of the top teams in the scene, FalleN's side had failed to win any significant LAN events in 2018 apart from the ZOTAC Cup Masters Grand Final. In their run, they did not encounter very strong competition as they beat Flash, MVP, and the Polish Kinguin team to win the trophy. The acquisition of the Americans was a left-field move in an attempt to once again get their hands on the big titles.

Liquid made it through the New Challengers stage with little trouble, but they weren't the only North American team trying to book a ticket to the main event. Both Complexity and Rogue also played in the London New Challengers Stage with neither team favored to make it to the next stage. Rogue went out with a respectable 1-3 record with a win over Space Soldiers followed by losses to Astralis, Spirit and North. This would be North American veteran Spencer "Hiko" Martin's last-ever appearance at a CS:GO Major.

On the other hand, Complexity joined Liquid in progressing to the next stage as they went 3-1 with their only loss being against Astralis. The team did have a relatively easy run of matches they beat Space Soldiers, BIG and Vega Squadron on their way to qualification. All dangerous teams but not on the same level as who they would be facing in the next stage, so little was expected of the Complexity team moving forward at the event.

MIBR

• Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo

• Fernando "fer" Alvarenga

• Marcelo "coldzera" David

• Jake "Stewie2K" Yip

• Tarik "tarik" Celik

• Janko "YNk" Paunović (Coach)

Cloud9's title defense started in the worst way as they got ran over 16-4 by Vega Squadron in their opening match. This was followed by three close matches all going to Overtime, first was a 19-16 loss to Hellraisers, then a 19-16 win over Winstrike, and finally a heart-braking double OT loss to the French G2 team. The team's big problem at the event was a lack of firepower with STYKO, Golden, and William "RUSH" Wierzba all posting negative ratings.

Cloud9's fortunes were a stark contrast to that of their fellow NA teams, with both Liquid and Complexity going 3-0 to qualify for playoffs. It was the first time two North American sides had made the top eight since MLG Columbus, and whilst Liquid where expected to be there, no one foresaw Complexity making it to the big stage.

Liquid's 3-0 included wins over Winstrike, NIP, and Astralis, with their match against Astralis going to Overtime. Complexity had to beat Fnatic, G2, and BIG on their way to a perfect record. Interestingly for Complexity, their highest rated player at the event would be their IGL Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz with a 1.15 rating, with their lowest rating at the event being 0.98 it shows the team shared the fragging burden to be able to have success despite having no real stars on the roster.

Liquid in comparison relied heavily on their stars, with the trio of NAF, Russell "Twistzz" Van Dulken and Jonathan "ELiGE" Jablonowski taking on the majority of the fragging responsibilities whilst TACO was used to create space for the team. The two teams different styles of approach to the game worked well with both teams securing top-eight finishes.

Complexity was drawn up against MIBR in the Quarter-finals, and with dephh being in front of his home crowd, the form of the team, and MIBR's comparative struggle in the previous stage there was hope for another upset from the NA side. It didn't end well for Complexity as Stewie2k and tarik's MIBR ran out comfortable 2-0 winners.

Liquid would fare better, with their terrifying trio on a rampage they overpowered Hellraisers in the Quarterfinal with NAF dropping a 1.39 rating to help the team through a 2-1 victory to progress to the top four. In the semifinals, Liquid would come up against their Achilles heel in Astralis, although the team had managed to beat them in the Legends stage.

Astralis would once again prove to have Liquid's number on the big stage as the Danes ran away with the series with a 2-0 win. NAF in particular struggled in the series for the NA side as he managed to post just a 0.72 rating across the two maps. On the other side of the bracket, tarik and Stewie2k's attempt to defend their title failed as MIBR lost to NAVI 2-0, with Oleksandr "s1mple"Kostyliev posting a mammoth 1.57 rating.

A top-four placing for Liquid would have been taken before the event, but having beaten Astralis in the previous stage to not even make the semifinal competitive was a disappointing end to a good run for the team. For Complexity, a top-eight finish surpassed expectations, and was the organization's first Major top eight finish since EMS Katowice 2014.

Cloud9's miserable run in London would be the last Major appearance for North America's greatest CS:GO AWPer Tyler "skadoodle" Latham as he announced his retirement at the end of the year. Cloud9 would continue to look overseas for new players as they signed Robin "flusha" Rönnquist and Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey to their roster for 2019.

Despite the top four finish, Liquid would choose to make some changes at the end of the season. Choosing to end their Brazilian experiment as they swapped TACO and Wilton "zews" Prado for MIBR's Stewie2k. The team would pick up Eric "adreN" Hoag as their new coach and had finally formed the roster that would become North America's most successful team in CS:GO.

MIBR as previously mentioned would swap Stewie2K with Liquid to bring back TACO and zews for 2019, who would take back the coaching job as Janko "YNk" Paunović would leave at the end of the year when his contract expired. At the start of the new year, tarik would also find himself out as the team returned to an all-Brazilian lineup with the signing of João "felps" Vasconcellos.

Complexity would also make changes, despite their impressive run as they benched Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker, Bradley "ANDROID" Fodor, and released Ron "Rambo" Kim from his coaching roles. In their place, the team would sign Australian Ricardo "Rickeh" Mulholland and bring on Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert as a stand-in for IEM Katowice 2019.