| 2018 | |
 The ELEAGUE Major 2018 logo | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Counter-Strike: Global Offensive |
| Location | Atlanta, Georgia, United States Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Dates | January 12, 2018–January 28, 2018 |
| Administrator | Valve ELEAGUE |
Tournament format(s) | Two 16 team swiss-system group stages 8 team single-elimination playoff |
| Venue | Agganis Arena |
| Teams | 24 (one withdrew)[1] |
| Purse | $1,000,000 USD |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Cloud9 (1st title) |
| 1st runners-up | FaZe Clan |
| 2nd runners-up | Natus Vincere SK Gaming |
| MVP | Tarik "tarik" Celik[2] |
The ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, also known as ELEAGUE Major 2018 or Boston 2018, was the twelfth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship and the second organized by ELEAGUE. The group stage was held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States from January 12 to January 22, 2018, and the playoff stage took place at the Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts, United States from January 26 to January 28, 2018. It featured 24 professional teams from around the world, as ELEAGUE and Valve agreed to expand the Major from the usual 16.[3] All 16 teams from the previous major, PGL Major: Kraków 2017, directly qualified for the Major, while another eight teams qualified through their respective regional qualifiers. Boston 2018 was the fifth consecutive Major with a prize pool of $1,000,000. This was also the first CS:GO Major to take place in two cities.[4][5][6]
SK Gaming and Fnatic were the only entering Legends to advance to the playoff stage and retain their Legend status: the fewest in Major history. The two teams continued their respective streaks of making the playoffs at all Majors attended, with Fnatic's run starting at Dreamhack Winter 2013 and SK Gaming's run starting at ESL One Katowice 2015 as Keyd Stars. The new Legends at Boston 2018 were FaZe Clan, G2 Esports, Natus Vincere, Quantum Bellator Fire, Cloud9, and mousesports. Defending champions Gambit Esports, along with 100 Thieves (formerly Immortals), Astralis, BIG, North, and Virtus.pro, lost their Legend status. This marked the first time in Major history that Astralis's core – Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz, Peter "dupreeh" Rothmann, and Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth – did not make the playoffs. This left Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer of FaZe Clan and Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson of Fnatic the two remaining players to have been Legends at all twelve majors.
The grand finals featured FaZe Clan, the favorite to win the tournament, and Cloud9, the second North American team to reach a Major final. FaZe defeated mousesports and Natus Vincere to reach the finals, while Cloud9 pulled off two upsets with wins against G2 Esports and SK Gaming. Cloud9 etched out the win over FaZe Clan to become the first North American team to win a Major. It would also mark just the fourth time in CS:GO history in which a North American team won a premier international event, after iBUYPOWER winning the ESEA Global Finals Season 15, Cloud9 winning ESL Pro League Season 4, and OpTic Gaming winning ELEAGUE Season 2.
- ^ "100 Thieves to miss ELEAGUE Major". HLTV. January 12, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
- ^ "TARIK CLAIMS ELEAGUE MAJOR MVP AWARD". HLTV. January 29, 2018. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
- ^ Mira, Luis (December 13, 2017). "VALVE REVAMPS MAJOR STAGE NAMES TO INCLUDE QUALIFIER; ALL 24 TEAMS TO HAVE STICKERS". HLTV.org. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
- ^ "ELEAGUE Major – Boston, 2018". Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
- ^ "ELEAGUE to Host Next Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship, January 26–28, 2018 in Boston". Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. 5 October 2017. Archived from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
- ^ Wolf, Jacob (October 5, 2017). "ELeague to host first two-city CS:GO Major in Atlanta and Boston". ESPN. Retrieved October 5, 2017.