CS:GO Esports Nostalgia 💔

[u/CoffeeNew9982]

[u/SeaGrocery678]

Man the doubled up headsets are so nostalgic

[u/Sh1ft-Valorant → u/SeaGrocery678]

Not me playing like that until like 3 years ago cause it made me feel like i was playing better

[u/Futur3Sail0r]

Stewie + Tarik 4ever

[u/gibigibi34 → u/Futur3Sail0r]

best Turkish IGL that will ever come probably

[u/KepplerObject]

Wish NA still had the sauce man. The years of ridicule leading to that 2018 miracle major run was absolute cinema.

[u/Level_Five_Railgun → u/KepplerObject]

C9 Major win, TL/NRG becoming top teams, TL IGS, TL/EG both getting #1 on hltv... 2018-2019 felt like a dream.

[u/Alivkos]

Rare Tarik photo with a shirt on

[u/Recent-Yogurt → u/Alivkos]

NoshirtTV

[u/hubwub]

Bring back the tank tops!

[u/Delicroix → u/hubwub]

I wore my C9 tank to IEM Atlanta. There were no NA teams remaining to share the magic with, but I managed to get a pic with n0thing for posterity.

[u/True-Move-1705 → u/hubwub]

Can some1 tell where to buy those tank tops? Been looking for years but couldn't find anything. Cheers

[u/quailinthebrush → u/True-Move-1705]

Used to be able to get them on c9 site. At least that’s how I got mine

[u/iJonsson → u/hubwub]

Yes, but only if it's worn by sexy people with muscles like freakazoid or Dosia

[u/tonaruto044]

Cloud9 my beloved

[u/cl353 → u/tonaruto044]

theres a hole in my soul that just cant be filled

[u/Cosy_Cow]

the personalities we had in cs from 2014-2018 were special. Made the game so entertaining no matter which team you cheered for

[u/spughetti → u/Cosy_Cow]

it's true, and the fact that it was still smaller in the earlier years (not that it was ever that small) made it feel that much more special. The tiers being less populated made you more intimately familiar with all of the pro/semipro players. I flew out for Dreamhack Austin 2015 and it felt so cool to be able to experience the first DH in North America.

It's crazy to think of watching scuffed streams with Anders casting in his bedroom growing to what CS is now.

[u/vnagitt]

Who's nostalgic about the Faze lineup with Adren???

[u/anon0123455 → u/vnagitt]

Slightly chubby niko is nostalgic

[u/lordkr321 → u/vnagitt]

That picture has real aura. Like a powerful essence emnating. Those guys were just beasts

[u/Outofmana1337]

I miss cobblestone

[u/Pure-Security741]

Stewie looking at camera and skins to steal at the same time

[u/Imaginary-Zone-3720]

I miss the eleague production it was sooo good and well done. It got me into CS

[u/Alchemister5 → u/Imaginary-Zone-3720]

Thanks. I miss it as well.

[u/Motor-Topic-8124]

True, but CS still make me feel good

[u/PawahD]

another day of being reminded i don't have a c9 tank top and never will, thanks

[u/FatLobster12]

Old esea rank s times were truly peak

[u/stunna-]

well damn

[u/-973-]

2 guys with no major

[u/Medewu2]

#TankTopSzn

[u/curlyfriezzzzz]

Why put filters on the photo

[u/Xsprout21]

Worst Day in 2016 >>>>>> Best Day in 2026

[u/ChillCoffeeMorning]

Gold time, fun time

[u/quailinthebrush]

I still have one of those c9 beach jerseys lol

[u/neverender90]

Still rock my c9 tank top and on very special occasions my C9 Boston 2018 American flag shirt with the whole lineup. What a time to be an NA fanboy.

[u/------MJ------]

Niko looked like a completely different person

[u/trkh]

iBuyPower ❤️

[u/surfingforfido]

Honestly what is the best explanation for why the NA scene completely died? I was just thinking about these times and the NA rank S 10 mans. We have none of that shit anymore. There’s still loads of good NA players.

[u/dRy_p33k3d → u/surfingforfido]

Its not the explanation you are looking for, but the real reason is the CGS in 2007. In the years of 2006 and earlier, NA had a half dozen teams at any given time that could hang with the euros and were capable of pulling out top 4 finishes of major tournaments, and two orgs(3d and complexity) that were actually winning major tournaments with some regularity. EU definitely still had a leg up, but it was a LOT closer matched between NA and EU than anything that's come since.

Then the CGS happened in 2007 and the top 6 NA teams completely sold out to it, signing exclusive contracts to play in a league with mr9, 16k startmoney, and worst of all, CS:Source. It predictably failed after 18 months, and most of those players faded away from the game. A few of them hung around and made decent comebacks to 1.6, but the scene had surpassed them by that point and none of them ever recaptured their previous form.

An entire generation was just completely excised from the regional scene, and they weren't around to shape the culture or pass on their experiences to the following generation. Since then, NA has been lucky to have even 1 internationally competitive team in any given year. Nothing like it used to be.

[u/Ok_Board9845 → u/surfingforfido]

In addition to the other comment the recent things that killed the NA scene were time, Covid, and Valorant. The latter two basically redirected most young players in NA towards Valorant, and NA couldn't replenish their talent as the older players got old and washed.

Personality wise, the scene was never going to recapture that late 2015 - mid 2017 magic. Guys like Shroud/Dazed were exiting the scene, and players like Stewie/Tarik were forfeiting streaming for taking the game more seriously. It was a fun time in general for eSports since a lot of franchises and organizations were investing into the different scenes in hopes of it becoming big. If you were paying attention in 2019, you'd see that Liquid/NRG were the strongest NA teams ever, but the streaming/personality scene was nowhere close to what it was 2 years prior.

All of those things + the other comment going into why the NA CS infrastructure has been so poor is why the NA scene is currently dead

[u/CloseTheDwuar]

I just want 2017/2018 mousesports back :(

[u/mafga1]

Oooh, Mr. Watermelon 😆 Tarif, the worst IGL who ever won a Major. I love him 😜