Top 5 Indian Counter-Strike Moments from 2023

With the 2023 year coming to an end, it's also an end to what was a very exciting year for Indian Counter-Strike.

After a lengthy-period, the Indian Counter-Strike scene finally saw organisations enter the scene, there were multiple TOs hosting various events and most importantly it led to a solid base for 2024. With CS2 officially making its debut this year, along with a lot of interest from the audience, we have a lot of players returning to the game, who switched to other titles.

With 2023 wrapping up, we close out the year with some of our best moments from the Indian Counter-Strike scene.

Skyesports' Masters 2023 sees multiple orgs enter/ re-enter Counter-Strike

One of the biggest moments of the year came early on when Skyesports announced the Skyesports Masters 2023. A franchise league with 8 organisation (Gods Reign, Revenant Esports, 7SEA Esports, Marcos Gaming, Enigma Gaming, Reckoning Esports, Medal Esports and Velocity Gaming).

Played across two months, in a round robin Group Stage with the top four teams heading to LAN finale in Bangalore in August 2023, the Skyesports Masters 2023 saw not only the best players from India come together but the tournament also saw international players from Australia, Malaysia and Russia take part in India's biggest Counter-Strike tournament till date.

The Grand Final saw Gods Reign go up against Revenant Esports with Gods Reign reigning supreme in front of their home crowd. While the accolades and the praises were one thing for India's biggest ever Counter-Strike event, the biggest positive of the Skyesports Masters 2023 was the fact that the tournament got organisations to invest in Counter-Strike again.

While it wasn't that tournaments weren't being held at all, this event got a dormant scene awake again with multiple stakeholders willing to invest and grow the game again, something that the Indian scene needed.

Gods Reign triumphs on the International stage

It wouldn't be totally incorrect if one stated that Gods Reign was the best CS:GO team in India in 2023. The Crazy_Gamer led squad consisting of Ph1NNN, reV3nnnn, clouda and KiiLSwitCh (later Ember after KiiLSwitCh's retirement) was more or less uncontested in CS:GO in the year, taking down almost everyone whom came in front of them.

After winning Skyesports Masters 2023, Gods Reign took down all of the Indian teams to become the Indian representative at Skyesports Souvenir 2023 with teams from Pakistan, Bangladesh and UAE also taking part.

Gods Reign were once again victorious, taking down Team UAE in the Grand Final, cementing their place as one of the best, if not the best CS:GO team in the South Asian region.

An important win for not only Gods Reign but a win for India as well, as the country aims to rise to the top of the Counter-Strike charts in Asia.

Indian girls qualify for the IESF Female Asian Championship 2023

While most or almost all the Counter-Strike action in 2023 was for the boys, the Indian girls also did their best to make the country proud.

After running through Team Sri Lank in the IESF Female Asian Championship 2023: South Asian Qualifier, Team India booked their spot in the IESF Female Asian Championship 2023 held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in July 2023.

It was Sway, Stormyy, Xyaa, COCO and CrackShot representing the country against other teams from around the world. While going up against the likes of Australia and Hong Kong with more prominent players from the competitive scene, the Indian girls did manage to take a convincing and dominating 16-0 win over hosts Saudi Arabia.

The girls finished fourth but the exposure and experience gained from playing on the global stage in front of the world is something that none of them will ever forget about.

The current Counter-Strike scene in India for our female players is almost non-existent but the girls still showed what they're capable of, on the biggest stage

f1redup moves to Gods Reign

In November 2023, just days after the conclusion of the DreamHack Hyderabad 2023 event, Dust2 India broke the news that Gods Reign is parting ways with their star AWPer reV3nnnn and would be replacing him with Revenant's f1redup.

The news was an unexpected and stunning revelation, especially given how successful Gods Reign were over the course of 2023 with reV3nnnn, with the AWPer even being a major force in both their Skyesports Masters 2023 and Skyesports Souvenir 2023 triumphs.

In an exclusive interview with Dust2 India, f1redup revealed that the reason for the change was both personal, inside and outside the server. reV3nnnn moved to Revenant to replace f1redup, but following the team's failure to make it to the LAN event of the Skyesports Championship 5.0 CS2 (which has since been postponed indefinitely), reV3nnnn is org-less and is currently playing with his former Gods Reign teammate Ember, 7SEA's Bhavi and ELV1S and B2 at KingPins as they continue to search for a organisation.

Gods Reign's captain Crazy_Gamer mentioned that the team has had to take certain steps to accommodate f1redup into their team and the team is currently adapting to f1redup instead of the other way around.

f1redup is one of the most talented players in the country and given a platform such as Gods Reign, it remains to be seen if he can grab the opportunity with both hands and increase the silverware at Gods Reign.

A promise for 2024

While 2023 might have gotten the ball rolling, to make sure none of that goes in vain, the grind must continue in 2024 and beyond. And the grind isn't only for the players, it's for the Tournament Organisers, Organisations, other stakeholders, fans and media. We must continue to support the players, upcoming talents and the game we love so much.

There is a lot to look forward to in 2024, with BLAST also making moves into the sub-continental region. At the World Finals 2023, BLAST announced The Draft - an exclusive India and Pakistan tournament with a prize pool of $50,000. The event will have an online stage before the top six teams head to Kuala Lumpur for the LAN Playoffs in February 2024, where each team will have a 'Counter-Strike legend' on their team.

The Draft was celebrated through a special showmatch at the World Finals with Indian and Pakistan taking on each other. BLAST deciding to invest in Indian Counter-Strike is massive news for the region and will only help the region grow and get exposure on the world stage.

BLAST though isn't the only TO who has announced their plans in the country for 2024, a little over 10 days ago Skyesports revealed their massive 'Roadmap' for 2024 which includes a total of 6 events (3 in India, 3 outside India) with a cumulative prize pool of $1 million. With international teams also in the mix, it is going to be instrumental for the local players to grow as they go up against some of the best.

Other TOs will also reveal their Counter-Strike plans for 2024 soon and it is important that we come together as a community and support our teams and players through this crucial upcoming year.

Those were our top moments of the Indian Counter-Strike scene in 2023, let us know what your best moments were in the comments!