Intel Grand Slams compared

The fifth season of Intel Grand Slam kicked off at IEM Rio. How do the previous four compare to each other?

By earning their gold bars at ESL Pro League Season 17, FaZe enshrined their name among the very best teams of all time. Only three teams achieved the same feat of winning four ESL events within an Intel Grand Slam (IGS) season: Astralis's 2018 dynasty, Liquid's hard and fast burst in the summer of 2019, and the Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov-led Natus Vincere that front-ran their way to a new level of dominance at the back end of 2021.

Each run is different, containing its own set of challenges and caveats, but the IGS has become one of Counter-Strike's most premier prizes, perhaps second only to the Major. Four events in ten does not sound like a huge amount, but with an increased level of competition and fewer events it clearly provides an excellent challenge: You must not only hit a superb peak, but maintain it over a period that likely spans a player break.

For FaZe, many might have thought that they missed their opportunity. They won three IGS events during their hegemony in the first half of 2022, but they — like many a great team before them — came out of the player break too weak to maintain their grip on the top of the scene. At ESL Pro League Season 17, however, opportunity knocked and they became champions of the fourth Intel Grand Slam season.

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IEM Rio kicks off next Intel Grand Slam season

IEM Rio has been announced to be the first event of Season 5, so now is as good a time as ever to compare FaZe to the three previous Grand Slam champions. Let's take a look, in chronological order.

Astralis

The very first IGS was won by Astralis, crowned as the "best of all f*cking time" by Matthew "⁠Sadokist⁠" Trivett after completing a dominant year. This is the roster that defined modern Counter-Strike: the active, information-hungry fragging IGL in Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander, Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz's mobile AWP, combining ruthless teamplay with a knack for utility damage. 2018 was the year all five Astralis players made it into the HLTV Top 20, a feat unlikely to be repeated.

Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif was the final addition, the player to push a team that had already won a Major in 2017 into a whole new level. He replaced Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye, picking up big-site anchor roles that he would later make his own while freeing Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen to return to his preferred entry-fragging role of old.

Taking those anchor roles meant gla1ve could lead from the front even on CT side, playing rotator positions with the stats to match; he sported a 1.22 CT side rating during their Grand Slam run, second only to device (1.38).

Magisk and dupreeh had the luxury of being able to take turns at being the second star behind device, while gla1ve and Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth's individual form gave a true sense of balance to the roster.

The squad completed the grand slam in seven attempts, nine including the events in Belo Horizonte and New York that they skipped. Interestingly, Astralis would have had to wait a bit longer to win a Grand Slam under the modern requirements, as you now need to win four ESL events including one of IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne, or an ESL-organized Valve Major. Their win at IEM Katowice 2019, which kicked off Grand Slam Season 2, renders this a bit of a moot point.

Liquid

The next team to win the IGS were the fastest to do it. After parting ways with Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo and Wilton "⁠zews⁠" Prado, who went to MIBR at the end of 2018, there was as much fear of Liquid failing to maintain their status as the second best team in the world as there was hope they could finally eclipse their great Danish rivals.

Despite beating Astralis at iBUYPOWER Masters in a warm-up event for the 2019 season, Liquid were humbled by Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's ENCE in the IEM Katowice quarter-finals. After that, however, the North Americans kicked into gear.

Astralis had controversially — given that they and BLAST were both owned by RFRSH — chosen to skip several ESL events early in 2019, which gave Liquid a chance to grab an early lead in the Grand Slam race at IEM Sydney and DreamHack Masters Dallas. By the end of the two, Liquid were already halfway to a Grand Slam.

At the next event, the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals, Liquid defeated Astralis 2-1 and proved that they were, without doubt, the best team in the world.

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EliGE: "We're 100% the best team in the world"

Suddenly, ESL One Cologne — an event Liquid originally declined an invitation for — was the first of seven opportunities to complete the Grand Slam. They did so with aplomb, defeating a young Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut in the final after he had carried Vitality past Astralis.

Liquid operated in a completely different system to that which came before and those that came after. With the AWP weakened slightly by the SG553 and AUG meta, Liquid made the best out of one of the best rifling cores of all time, at the very best time to do so.

Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski was the star, at the peak of his form; Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic was the rock, a consistent lurking threat; Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken was this team's Magisk, a third star over-performing in tough roles; Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip, after being the star of Cloud9, only needed to be an X factor; and Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella was the nominal AWPer, although he operated more like a supportive rifler in the vast majority of T sides.

It was the perfect blend of opportunity and talent. They were fortunate with Astralis' absence, as well as the rifling meta arriving at a time when both North America lacked a star AWPer and the region's riflers were hitting their peak. Each Grand Slam has asterisks, but you can take nothing away from Liquid — winning four top tier events in a little over two months is, and likely will always be, the absolute zenith of North American CS:GO.

Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere were poised to take over at IEM Katowice 2020. Both Astralis and Liquid had slowed down coming out of 2019 and Natus Vincere beat both of them en route to a 3:0 drubbing of G2 in the final.

The pandemic, though, threw a wrench in the works. There were no more Intel Grand Slam events until December and while playing online Natus Vincere were a shadow of the side that won the title in Katowice. To shake things up Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy was introduced as a sixth man at the start of 2021, substituting for Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev on certain maps before taking over full time in April.

This was the change NAVI needed. They beat Gambit, who had dominated online CS in 2021, in the Dreamhack Masters Spring 2021 grand final to get a second notch in their Intel Grand Slam belt. A third followed at the first LAN since the pandemic, IEM Cologne, and then the run was completed after a tight win against Vitality in the ESL Pro League Season 14 final.

Natus Vincere's Grand Slam run is not really what the team are remembered for: They showed a higher peak during the string of non-ESL organized LAN victories at the end of 2021, including both arena events at the Stockholm Major and BLAST Fall Finals. It is the only grand slam that included online events, as well as the considerable asterisk of IEM Katowice 2020 being included in a grand slam win a year and a half later.

Despite that, they are a team worthy of this list. It was in this era that Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev consolidated his status as the greatest player of all time, hitting a 1.45 LAN rating for 2021. Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov was also reaching new heights as the Robin to s1mple's Batman, with b1t's technical ability unleashed as he developed into a true star. Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy and Boombl4 provided the supportive elements, but like gla1ve and Xyp9x in Astralis, they were never exploitable: This was a team with firepower across the board.

FaZe

Finally, we arrive at the latest entry: FaZe. Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's squad is the only international side in this list, combining players from five different countries and cultures. They also did so without a true superstar, sharing fragging duties between four stars in Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool, Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants, Twistzz, and Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard. It is a team that reflects karrigan's style as a leader, showcasing his strength and versatility to mould the system to fit each player's own individual preferences.

In ropz and broky, karrigan had access to two of the best closers in the world. Twistzz, too, is an expert in the late-round, as well as at finding openers in the mid-round when the game slows down. To enable them to do so, karrigan adopted a fast style, using him and rain to get as much map control as possible as early as possible. If they fail to do so,
FaZe have the players (and the time) to make a 3vs5 still feel like a nervous situation.

During their absolute prime at the start of 2022 it was not just in XvsX situations that FaZe were clutch in. Time after time they would emerge victorious, in close game after close game. In Katowice, with Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage standing in, FaZe beat G2 19-15, 31-27, and 16-14 in the closest 3-0 sweep at a Big Event of all time. ESL Pro League Season 15 followed without as much drama, but still without the overwhelming dominance of 2021's Natus Vincere.

It was even closer in Cologne. Natus Vincere themselves were the opponents, fresh off a win at BLAST Spring Finals. But, yet again, FaZe did not bow under pressure and they rolled with the punches in a mammoth 148-round best-of-five to emerge victorious.

But, unlike Liquid in 2019, there was no triumphant Grand Slam victory in the LANXESS. A previous loss at IEM Dallas to a rampant Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov denied FaZe of that, and the international squad would fall to him and Cloud9 once again at ESL Pro League Season 16. IEM Rio was the next Grand Slam event, an opportunity to raise both of CS:GO's biggest prizes on the same stage, but FaZe did not even reach the playoffs.

The player break had shown some cracks in FaZe's armor, cracks that became gaping holes. The aura of inevitability FaZe possessed in close matches was all but gone. Heroic defeated them in the BLAST Fall grand final and G2 emerged at the back end of 2022 to take their crown as the premier international team. The short window where FaZe could have grasped the Intel Grand Slam was passing and they drifted out of tournament-winning form.

ESL Pro League Season 17 was the first of three chances for FaZe to end this narrative. And, after G2 were eliminated on the other side of the bracket, it was go time. FaZe navigated a tricky match-up against FORZE before defeating their old rival Natus Vincere and capping it off with a convincing grand final victory against Ax1Le's Cloud9. It was a sharp reminder of what this team is capable of and a deserved Intel Grand Slam victory.

By the numbers

All four runs had their own narrative, great stories in their own right. But which was best?

Liquid won their IGS in stunning time and without failing at a single event on the way. They also had the second-highest average rating, 1.15, showing how well spread their firepower was. However, they actually had the closest wins of the four (11 rounds lost in wins) and had the lowest percentage of maps within the top five filter — less than half of their games were against top-five opposition. Liquid were good enough to win a conventional grand slam, but it is clear that their 68-day win came about with a good dose of fortune.

Natus Vincere's grand slam was less impressive than their true LAN peak at the end of 2021, not just in the quality of events needed to earn the gold bars but also with a lower average rating (1.11 during the IGS win compared to 1.19 on LAN in 2021) and average rounds lost per map win (10.1 compared to 8.95). The peak 2021 Natus Vincere team can compete with the best Liquid and Astralis sides, but their Grand Slam run falls short.

FaZe, however, are statistically worse off even if we only look at their peak period in the first half of 2022 (excluding Rio and EPL S16). In Big Events from January to the end of July — when they won all but two events — they had just a 1.09 average rating and lost 10.6 rounds per map win. This shows the nature of FaZe, as the team that prevailed in close encounters but was rarely a front-running stomp-machine. It also shows why these team stats are not always the most useful; FaZe may not have been dominating map-to-map, but they definitely had the aura of a dominant team at the time. Winning that many close games was no coincidence.

And this is where we come to Astralis. The Danes boast the highest average rating (1.17), only lost a staggering 8 rounds per map win, and even had an extra 14% of matches against top-five opposition compared to the other grand slam champions. When you add in the fact that Astralis's dominance straddled a player break, something that affected all three of the other teams in this list, this level of dominance is even more impressive.

They did lose three events in this time span, so there is still an argument for Liquid's 68 day win as the greater achievement, but Astralis's 2018 win is right up there. So where do you land on this debate? What do you think was the best grand slam run of all time?