It’s an odd time for Counter-Strike fans at the moment. With the top teams agreeing to take a month off after the major there’s little professional CS to be watched. A rarity considering the esports’ usually hectic schedule. This makes it the perfect time to reminisce over some of the best major moments we’ve had. Some of the fondest will be Coldzera silencing the crowd with his jumping AWP or Olofmeister’s burning defuse, both of which have been commemorated by in-game graffiti. This article will pick out some of the best major plays that could have made their mark with graffiti.
Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski sneaky beaky like – EMS One Katowice 2014
Probably the most memorable play from Katowice 2014, Snax’s triple kill almost guaranteed Virtus Pro the first map of the final. The play not only demonstrated impeccable decision making but also nerves of steel. Snax kept his cool in the grand final in front of a packed home crowd at CSGO’s biggest event in history at the time. If anyone ever asks how to describe him as a player just show them this.
For the design of the graffiti, I would take inspiration from Stuart “TosspoT” Saw who was casting at the time. I like the idea of the repeated use of “he waited, he waited, he waited” or a picture of a CT walking around in a “Snax wonderland”.
Josh “jdm64” Marzano’s 1v5 clutch – ELEAGUE Major 2017
This clip has all the makings of a perfect AWP highlight, flashy flicks and wall bangs. Partly allowed due to a Team EnVyUs blunder, there were calls for this play to receive a commemorative graffiti from pros such as SK’s Fallen. Had Liquid gone on to win the game in overtime or the feat occurred in the playoffs it’s likely that JDM would have left his mark on Cache.
As everyone would agree, the best way to honor the play would be with JDM’s signature playing position, better known as lounging.
Adam “friberg” Friberg’s ace – ESL One Cologne 2014
The King of Banana hit Fnatic hard when he single handily destroyed his rival’s three man stack. Not only is the clip a display of marksmanship but the context of the play was important in NiP’s only major win. Fnatic had a great start on the favored side of Inferno with NiP not looking too hot. Friberg took matters into his own hands earning the Ninjas’ second terrorist round, which seemed to be the catalyst for the rest of the half.
The newest iteration of Inferno has included a small testament to Friberg by including a sign which reads “Via Adamo”. In Italian, via means road and Adamo translates to Adam meaning that the sign reads Road Adam.
Håvard “rain” Nygaard’s 1v5 clutch – Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca 2015
This clutch says everything about Rain and his monstrous aim. The play is even more memorable because at the time G2 was the first international super team with many skeptical whether the team could make it to the top. The roster proved doubters wrong by reaching the semi-finals of Cluj-Napoca only losing to eventual champions Team EnVyUs in three maps. G2 even had the chance to sweep the series 2-0 but lost on Inferno in overtime. Had the team made the final it’s likely they would have won the tournament which would have made the play even more deserving of a memorial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEgazYEZ4Nc
An idea for the Rain graffiti could have been something to do with raining terror down on the B bomb site or a white flag with Rain on it considering the play was against the French.
Abay “HObbit” Khasenov’s quad kill 1v3 clutch – PGL Major Krakow 2017
While Krakow did gift us with a graffiti for Dosia’s grenade into pit, there is certainly an argument that Hobbit’s clutch should have received the honor instead. While the grenade was huge in context because of the way it damaged Immortals’ economy forcing them to re-buy after a single round win, Hobbit’s play also had its own merits.
The Brazilians won the second half pistol bringing the map back into close contention. Gambit looked as if they were about to lose another round before Hobbit opened up his backpack. Similarly to Friberg’s ace, this opened up the floodgates for more terrorist rounds with the play filling his team with confidence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tzeB1kNxOk
At the time people started nicknaming the drain area as the “Hobbit hole” which would make for an appealing graffiti.
Unfortunately, Photoshop isn’t my forte so I can’t bring any of these ideas to life. So I’ll leave that part to your imaginations.
You can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles. You can find me on Twitter at @JackWrightIGL. Thanks to The Demo Vault, HLTV and the other respective uploaders for the clips. Feature image courtesy of gamesync.us