Throwback: The biggest moment from the BLAST.tv Paris Major RMRs
The RMRs are some of the toughest and most intense battlegrounds for Counter-Strike pros.
The tournaments that decide whether or not they will be within a chance of writing their names into Counter-Strike history by winning a Major, RMRs can prove to be the most important tournaments in any given year.
With the Asian RMR for the Perfect World Shanghai Major kicking off today, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to take a walk down memory lane and go over some of the biggest moments from the BLAST.tv Paris Major RMRs.
FaZe qualifying from the Last Chance Stage
Majors in 2022 were a mixed bag for FaZe. They won at the PGL Major Antwerp, but crashed out with a 0-3 record as they looked to defend their crown at the IEM Rio Major.
Still one of the best teams in the world, the BLAST.tv Paris Major looked to be a perfect opportunity for FaZe to redeem themselves in Major CS, but they almost didn't make the tournament at all.
Despite ending day one with a 2-0 record after wins against OG and Apeks, FaZe would quickly find themselves in the 2-2 brackets after subsequent losses to NAVI and Bad News Eagles.
The idea of a Major without karrigan and co. was unimaginable, but we were soon faced with that prospect after they lost a third consecutive game to MOUZ, leaving them with a 2-3 record.
Fortunately for FaZe, the available Major spots for Europe meant that they would have a chance to qualify from the Last Chance Stage, an opportunity that they didn't take for granted.
Eventually qualifying for the Major thanks to wins over Aurora and Cloud9, FaZe would put in some big performances at the final CS:GO Major, going all the way to the quarter-finals where they ultimately fell to HEROIC.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenThe most-decorated organisation fail to make the Major
Back in 2018 and 2019, Astralis won three Majors in a row to take their total Major wins to four. Fast-forward four years later, and the greatest organisation in CS:GO's history would be absent from the final Major in the game.
Of course, it wasn't the only Major they would be absent from, they also missed the IEM Rio Major the year before, but given that device had returned to the fold, expectations were high for a potential Paris campaign for the Danish org.
Now featuring a core from their legendary four-Major winning roster, as well as the extremely talented blameF and Buzz who was highly rated by device, their failure to make the Major signaled the beginning of the end for gla1ve and Zyp9x on Astralis.
Exiting the competition with a 1-3 record after a win over Spirit but losses against NIP, Eternal Fire, and Vitality, the only positive of their RMR run was the legendary photo captured by HLTV's brcho.
Not that the photo is exactly a positive for Astralis.
Photo: Michal KonkolThe reigning Major champions are eliminated
The history books may not show Virtus.pro as winning their second CS:GO Major at the IEM Rio Major, but they were the home to the Major-winning roster by the time Paris rolled around.
Unfortunately for the organisation, that ended up mattering for very little.
Virtus.pro were out of sorts in the Paris RMR. Clearly unhappy with the trajectory of their roster, they won their opening game against SAW but the two losses that followed against B8 and Into the Breach saw them swap out KaiR0N- in favour of n0rb3r7, the final piece from their Rio winning team.
However, the change didn't have the desired effect, and they exited the RMR with a 1-3 record, falling to MOUZ in what was a comfortable 2-0 win for the German organisation.
Photo: Michal KonkolFluxo secure the final Americas spot
Due to the Americas only having five available spot in their RMR for the Paris Major, the region ended up being one of the most competitive when it was time to book those places in Paris.
Liquid, Complexity, and FURIA all claimed the spots they were expected to with biguzera's paiN shining for the fourth, but the fifth and final spot went to a somewhat unexpected team.
Given Imperial and MIBR both had shown that they could turn up to big events and look competitive, one of those two teams would have been expected to claim the last spot for themselves.
However, it was Fluxo who picked up the final Paris Spot in the Americas, securing an emotional final Major place for one of the most iconic coaches in the game, zews.
Photo: Michal KonkolEverything Into the Breach did
Forget everything Into the Breach did when they actually made it to Paris, just making it to the RMR was considered a huge achievement at the time.
There were absolutely no expectations for Into the Breach at the RMR. A relatively new roster, CYPHER and volt were very inexperienced, and while the remaining members of the team may have made up for that, their careers were largely unremarkable up until that point.
Still, the team entered the RMR with no fear, and nothing summed up that lack of fear more than watching CYPHER charge up Vertigo's A Ramp to execute any CT that was foolish enough to stand in his way.
They opened their campaign with a loss, but that loss was expected, it came against NAVI. However, that loss was in a 22-19 game, a vast over-performance against one of the world's best teams.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenITB then followed up on that promising loss with three of the most entertaining and historic matches in Major history.
First, they trounced Sprout with a 16-7 scoreline. This set them up for a game against Virtus.pro, the reigning Major champions. Expected to lose once again, ITB cared little for those expectations, forcing VP into a precarious position as they took them down 16-13 on Mirage thanks to a combined 52 kills from CYPHER and rallen.
Now a game away from becoming the first UK core to make a CS:GO Major, ITB would secure that landmark at the first time of asking, taking down B8 and booking themselves a place in the Legends Stage of the Final CS:GO Major.