SkyEsports headlines the revival of India’s Counter-Strike scene

Counter Strike was in dire need of revival in India, after the title was earlier shamed by incidents of cheating and suppressed.

Skyesports realizing the potential at hand within decided to take a major risk. Skyesports Master is a CS:GO league that was initiated this year with a price pool of ₹2 Crore ($240,673).

In what was the first major event for CS:GO in a few years, no one was sure about the caliber of talent one could see. Most of the teams had an all-Indian roster, but not many notable names and not a lot of info to go by. It is a known fact that the country of India is filled with a huge population of video gamers. In the year 2022, India was stated to have over 421 million online gamers.

We are now officially entering a new era for Counter Strike in India, headlined with SkyEsports as the main driving force.

New regional CS:GO rivalries were formed

Skyesports Masters was the first major Lan event in India in over a year. It does seem that the organizers left no stone left unturned and exceeded expectations in event deliverables. It does seem like the organizers wished to make this event a celebration. A celebration of video games and players from around the world to notice the budding esports industry in the county of India.

We saw some interesting matches and rivalries at form at this event as well. Marcos Gaming was quite dominating in their run to the top of the league. They ended their league run as 11-3. Being the favorites to win it all in the playoffs. During their run, it felt like Enigma Gaming was their kryptonite as they lost both their fixtures against them. The only other team to win against Marcos Gaming was Revenant Esports who sit second on the table. Being able to slay down Marcos Gaming provides Revenant Esports to gain momentum. Revenant Esports ended the tournament strong winning 5 of their last games to get to second place. Ending the group stage as 10-4.

There was one team who wanted to take down Revenant Esports during the early parts of the group stages and that was 7Sea Esports. 7Sea Esports ended the Group Stage tournament with a score of 9-5. In the middle phases of the event, it did seem like the team was lacking the mentality to make it into the playoffs. Losing games that they just weren’t able to clutch. But the ones they won they did with a huge map difference. These map differences resulted in a team that has the same finish of 9-5, but just missed out on a third place in the Playoffs.

Come Playoffs, it was all God’s Reign all the way. They disposed of both Marcos and Revenant without dropping a map to claim the ultimate prize.

Bright future ahead

The level of execution and the mass appeal of CS:GO does bode well for the title’s future in the region. With CS2 just around the corner, India is now primed and ready to welcome a new era of competitive Counter-Strike and SkyEsports are leading the path forward.

I hope the next season is even bigger and better than the one we just concluded.

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