North American Counter-Strike is dead, or in the middle of dying.
Team Liquid, the prototypical NA team, now fields a primarily European roster, while Cloud9’s roster is Russian. The remaining stalwarts in Complexity and EG are not competitive internationally.
This isn’t unique to North America.
This death of the national team is framed as a problem endemic to North America. But one only needs to look in Europe to see that the concept as a whole, is withering away.
In 2015, the top 5 consisted of fnatic, EnVy, Na’Vi, TQM (ex-TSM) and Virtus Pro. Sweden, France, CIS, Denmark, and Poland. In 2023, there are no elite Swedish, French, or Polish line ups. Na’Vi abandoned their fully Russian speaking lineup. Only Denmark remains, with Heroic and Astralis.
While international teams had been around before, FaZe’s Antwerp victory changed the course irreversibly. The dreaded language barrier was no longer a problem.
A smattering of EU flags at Stockholm 2021
At Cologne 2023, the last big CS:GO event, the EU flags have truly taken over. And Monte and NiP barely count as national rosters, as they are English-speaking international rosters.
Talent comes from everywhere
A language barrier was a gate for new talent. You might have been a better player than SmithZz, but could you speak French? And no top team was going to switch languages, while they were within touching distance of each other.
The scene has evolved, and the ceiling for raw mechanical talent is higher than ever. New teams are capitalizing on the wealth of available talent by being English from the start, and formerly established teams are transitioning to keep up.
Israeli players demonstrated this in 2023, with Spinx, flameZ, xertioN and NertZ emerging from a scene that has never had a notable team. Israel is only behind Denmark in representation in the top 3.
This page doesn’t officially exist, but it demonstrates my point.
Fortunes over the Atlantic Ocean may yet exist
If the mechanical skills of North American players assert themselves, individual players can still venture over the ocean to a bright future. oBo and RUSH have already shown that American talent could fit on an EU team. Twistzz hammered that point home at FaZe.
No team is willing to pass up talent anymore.
Yet, of course, transplanting yourself across continents is a big ordeal, especially without the trappings of fame and fortune that other, well-established sports can offer. Some might say that this is the price for success, but this is easy for EU fans to say, given their players don’t have to make such a choice. Even Twistzz and NAF have the luxury of European relationships.
A scene divided
NA players grow up watching the demos of ZywOo, while EU players can play against him. Even in casual settings, EU players have the breadth of the entire continent to refine their skills against, while NA players have little in terms of elite talent to pick from.
Compounding this further, retired legends also tend to contribute little to the scene, finding more lucrative retirement opportunities in content creation. This isn’t a dig - there is no obligation to do so. However, you cannot deny the lost opportunity for young talent to not play against the trophy winners of their region.
All in all, this arrests their development. How can you be elite, without playing against them?
FalleN raised a good point about the benefits of ESEA League bringing European talent to Europe for a couple of weeks. American tournaments have dried up over the years.
When Brazil’s SK Gaming established themselves at the top of the world, NA had greatness on their doorstep. It is no surprise that Cloud9’s Boston victory, Liquid’s Grand Slam, and NRG becoming a #1 capable team happened in the years following.
Will there even be players?
Without a fully North American team to root with, will the viewership for Counter-Strike continue to diminish? Will this dissuade local players from even picking up the game competitively, without anyone to idolize.
VALORANT has established itself at the top of the American tactical FPS foodchain, and while Counter-Strike 2 offers an opportunity to strike back, I’m unconvinced it’ll have the same cultural impact. Even without VALORANT, CS has bled players to other games, such as Apex Legends (Aceu and dizzy come to mind).
You can’t force people to play something they’re not interested in - whether that be the game itself, or the lack of community surrounding it. Football is the apex sport in the world, and cricket stands tall behind it. Despite the success of these sports elsewhere, America is a non-existent force in both.
Counter-Strike ending up at a similar fate would hardly be a bad thing. But America has contributed a rich tapestry to the games’ history, and it would be sad to see a future without American teams.