No Russian in Major playoffs for first time ever

For the first time in CS:GO history, there will not be a single Russian player in the playoffs of a CS:GO Major. It is a unique statistic, considering that the CIS region has been one of the most dominant in history, with Russia being represented 173 times since 2013.

At the beginning of the game, the first Russian players to ever play in a Major playoff were Mikhail "Dosia" Stolyarov and Emilj "kUcheR" Akhundov from Astana Dragons at DreamHack Winter 2013 in Jönköping, Sweden. Those two would also represent the country at the ESL Major Series One Katowice 2014.

Since then, Natus Vincere took up the mantle of ensuring that Russian players would feature in the playoffs as they would make the top eight of every event from ESL One: Cologne 2014 through the IEM Rio Major 2022, only missing PGL Major Kraków 2017.

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Natus Vincere would feature Russian players like Denis "seized" Kostin, Egor "flamie" Vasilyev, Denis "electroNic" Sharipov, Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov, and Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy throughout every one of their Major appearances.

As for the PGL Major Kraków 2017, while Natus Vincere would miss out on the playoffs, Russia would still see representation in the final stage through Dosia. The emblematic leader guided Gambit to a Major win and was immortalized in his famous "Dosia Nade" on Inferno that propelled them to victory, even earning himself an in-game graffiti.

The only other country that has featured in every single playoff since the beginning of CS:GO is Denmark and Ukraine. Thanks to the dominance of the Astralis core that started out as Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen, Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth, and Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz, but has changed over the years. It did get scary during the ELEAGUE Boston Major 2018 as most of the Danish-majority rosters failed to qualify, however, Finn "karrigan" Andersen and FaZe allowed the streak to continue. Then, you know, something, something 15-11...

For Ukraine, it is a similar case to the Russian players and the Natus Vincere organization for propelling them into the playoffs every years. During PGL Major Kraków 2017, Ukraine was represented by Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko on Gambit, who also helped the team win a Major. Now, at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023, Monte and their Ukrainian squad will continue the nation's representation at the Major.

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Editor's Note: Previously this article did not mention that Ukraine was also represented at every Major. We have updated the article and regret the error.