Skip to main content
PC Gamer PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES
UK EditionUK US EditionUS CA EditionCanada AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
  • Hardware
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Video
  • Forum
  • More
    • PC Gaming Show
    • Software
    • Movies & TV
    • Codes
    • Coupons
    • Magazine
    • Newsletter
    • Affiliate links
    • Meet the team
    • Community guidelines
    • About PC Gamer
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$32.49
Subscribe now
Popular
  • Essential Hardware
  • Top 100
  • PC Gaming Show
  • Arc Raiders
  • BF6
  • Quizzes
Don't miss these
a post apocalyptic landscape, yellowed and dusty
Third Person Shooter Extraction shooter Gravebound's bullet hell action adds an exciting twist to the genre, and you can try it out in an open play test right now
Counter-Strike 2 header image
FPS Valve yoinked a new Counter-Strike 2 map out of the game after just 2 days, either for potential Disney copyright infringement, a 'gamer word' hidden in its data, or both
Counter-Strike 2
FPS Rejoice, Counter-Strike's grenades now sound crisp and clear as a chorus of angels—plus subtick shooting is either better or the fanbase is experiencing a shared delusion
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary The Master Chief Collection
FPS The best FPS games on PC
Escape From Duckov - A green pigeon stands unaware while a duck in a SWAT helmet sneaks up from behind
Action Escape From Duckov is the latest breakout Steam hit to owe its success to China
Escape From Duckov - A duck in a swat helmet runs away from a red bird with a butcher knife
Third Person Shooter Escape From Duckov might look like a parody, but it's a full-fledged, full-featured singleplayer bottling of extraction shooter juice
Escape From Duckov - A duck with sunglasses and a pistol stands on a wood platform looking over a lot of shipping containers.
Action Duck-themed extraction shooter Escape From Duckov sold 500,000 Steam copies in its first 3 days
Arc Raiders: A Raider wearing a full helmet hiding behind a rusted car on the left while a massive ARC robot surveys the road with a red 'eye' light.
Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders' 'match journey' feature is the perfect extraction shooter addition, as it charts my inevitable path to defeat, loss, and regret
Escape From Duckov - A green pigeon stands unaware while a duck in a SWAT helmet sneaks up from behind
Action Escape From Duckov quacks past 300,000 concurrent players only 10 days after release
Codename Eagle
FPS Battlefield had a messy predecessor, Codename Eagle, that predates even DICE’s involvement in the series
Haz Carter, commander of Dagger 13 in Battlefield 6.
FPS A very silly Battlefield 6 bug is letting players levitate by smacking drones with hammers
Counter-Strike 2 header image
FPS Latest CS2 patch has skin collectors in meltdown over a supposed $2bn in losses, with others saying 'this is the best update ever', but maybe Valve is just doing some course-correction and doesn't care
A Helldiver from Helldivers 2 seeing the ruination of Super Earth in the visor of their helmet.
Third Person Shooter 'Remember Beach': Arrowhead has awarded thousands of 'inexplicably dedicated' Helldivers 2 players with a commemorative 'Avengement Day' after they ignored High Command to save a planet reminiscent of Halo Reach
A duck points a submachinegun into a porta potty in Escape From Duckov.
Third Person Shooter After making 1 million sales, Escape From Duckov makes eating poop less nutritious
Team Fortress 2 Engineer avatar
FPS Team Fortress 2 player cooks themselves by destroying a Golden Frying Pan worth $6,800—for the second time
  1. Games
  2. FPS
  3. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

The legendary CS:GO plays that got immortalised in the form of map graffiti

Features
By Henry Stenhouse published 19 July 2016

And also the time people rode pigeons to freedom.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Counter-Strike tournaments are rife with moments of incredible skill as players push themselves to their limits in jaw-dropping performances. These stupefying moments, combining just the right amount of skill, luck and bravado leave people talking for months. In a unique approach to the competitive scene, Valve has taken recognition one step further, immortalising events in-game through graffiti and signs. As CS continues to develop, these memorials embed the competitive history of the game within each map, offering long-term fans a nod of recognition while advertising key moments for new players to look back to. 

Page 1 of 8
Page 1 of 8
AWPing in two s1mple steps

AWPing in two s1mple steps

The most recent commemorative addition to the game came from the recent ESL One Cologne Major, where Team Liquid’s Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev hit two unscoped AWP shots in a row to beat Swedish powerhouses, Fnatic. Entering the B-bombsite on Cache through heaven, s1mple eliminates one player while falling before flicking to a second kill at absurd range. Here's the video.

The moment highlights a spectacular tournament for both Liquid and s1mple, carving their path to a first North American major final. Map creator FMPONE was quick to post a design to twitter. The mockup, which shows an angelic counter terrorist descending while the scope falls from his weapon, has since been added to the game. 

Page 2 of 8
Page 2 of 8
Stone-cold slayer

Stone-cold slayer

There have been many phenomenal individual plays in competitive CS, but SK’s Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David holds what could prove to be CS:GO’s true standout moment. At a 15-9 scoreline, Team Liquid needed just one round to secure victory over the Brazilians (then Luminosity Gaming) at the 2016 MLG Colombus Major. With absolutely no margin for error, coldzera led a crucial AWP defence of Mirage’s B-bombsite. Here's the video.

Quickly dispatching one player, cold follows up with an unbelievable, unscoped, jumping double-kill. Seemingly unfazed, he then finishes one more player with a sharp, reactive noscope. Such a performance was crushing to Liquid who proceeded to lose the match in a double-overtime. Luminosity, however, went on to win the Major. Tucked away by the van on Mirage’s B-site you can now find a winged AWP, adorned by four red skulls taking the place of the gun’s scope. The design proved so popular that cold commissioned a tattoo artist to replicate it on his arm. 

Page 3 of 8
Page 3 of 8
Four-AWP Fnatic

Four-AWP Fnatic

Swedes Fnatic are no strangers to employing avant-garde tactics in the competitive scene, with player JW well known for his sawed-off shotgun dominance on Cobblestone. At Cologne 2015, Fnatic utilised an aggressive AWP play to push an overtime victory against French side EnVyUs. At $4750 dollars coupled with a lack of flexibility, it’s rare to see teams run more than one AWP per round, with more than two all but unheard of. Here's the video.

However, having built an enormous bank of cash for the final round of the half Fnatic chose to empty their reserves. In what must have been the professional equivalent of a jump-scare for EnVyUs’ apEX, he stepped out to contest the centre of Dust2 only to find himself facing not one, but four AWPs. Gaining an early advantage, many of Fnatic even swapped back to AKs to overwhelm the French side. Resting high over the T’s mid sightline, a grinning terrorist now watches over, wielding a ludicrous four sniper rifles. 

Page 4 of 8
Page 4 of 8
Burning man

Burning man

CS:GO’s molotovs are no joke, capable of delaying pushes, dealing serious damage and, crucially, denying bomb plants. With little time left on the clock, even an outnumbered player can make use of a well thrown molotov to win the round. Here's the video.

Would that threat stop Fnatic’s Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer Gustafsson? Not a chance. At 14 rounds a piece in the 2014 Cologne Major, the bold Swede wasn’t about to let a little heat stop their run, completing a full five second defuse while burning, dying just a fraction of a second after the bomb was defused, much to the delight of his team and fans. In one of the first real nods to the competitive scene, Valve added graffiti of a Hazmat-adorned angel, defusing while wreathed in flames. 

Page 5 of 8
Page 5 of 8
Booster justice

Booster justice

During 2014-15, Fnatic established themselves as the dominant force in CS, winning titles left, right and centre. Despite this, Fnatic haven’t always proven popular. During the Dreamhack Winter semifinals of 2015, Fnatic revealed an outrageous boost against LDLC, stacking players on top of each other to gain an unprecedented sightline across the map. Having lost the first half 12-3, Olof’s sniping dominated the bewildered French side into submission. Here's the video.

The boost proved so controversial that the match was put in for review to see if it violated any rules for the tournament. Sure to go down in CS history, the play resulted in countless analysis videos and the entertainingly terrible musical tributes. Extra controversy was raised after it was revealed Fnatic’s coach had actively stifled knowledge of the spot through take down of YouTube videos. After heated discussion with tournament admins, Fnatic eventually forfeited their place, allowing LDLC to progress to the final. Valve acknowledged the exploit with the addition of a warning sign, reading “geländer übersteigen verboten!” or “surpassing the rails is forbidden!” Combining memories of both bravery and infamy, it’s little surprise Overpass is sometimes referred to as Olofpass. 

Page 6 of 8
Page 6 of 8
Top gun

Top gun

CS:GO’s map secrets have been known to acknowledge more than just competitive events. Tucked in the corner of Dust2’s A-bombsite is a rather unassuming “goose” spray which serves to honour Minh 'gooseman' Le, a co-developer of the original CS mod. The spray existed as far back as CS 1.6. 

Page 7 of 8
Page 7 of 8
Bird hopping

Bird hopping

In recognition of one of CS:GO’s more entertaining bugs, Train has a small sign asking players not to step on the birds, after the introduction of pigeons to the map allowed players to ride them out of the map boundaries. 

In a game renowned for it’s high skill ceiling and serious competition, It’s nice enjoy a bit of levity through the surprising number of playful easter eggs. A personal favorite is the chicken followers, whereby If you press E on a chicken, it will follow you through the map until killed, even spawning with you in the following round.

Page 8 of 8
Page 8 of 8
Henry Stenhouse
Read more
Counter-Strike 2 header image
Valve yoinked a new Counter-Strike 2 map out of the game after just 2 days, either for potential Disney copyright infringement, a 'gamer word' hidden in its data, or both
 
 
Counter-Strike 2
Rejoice, Counter-Strike's grenades now sound crisp and clear as a chorus of angels—plus subtick shooting is either better or the fanbase is experiencing a shared delusion
 
 
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary The Master Chief Collection
The best FPS games on PC
 
 
Escape From Duckov - A green pigeon stands unaware while a duck in a SWAT helmet sneaks up from behind
Escape From Duckov is the latest breakout Steam hit to owe its success to China
 
 
Escape From Duckov - A duck in a swat helmet runs away from a red bird with a butcher knife
Escape From Duckov might look like a parody, but it's a full-fledged, full-featured singleplayer bottling of extraction shooter juice
 
 
Arc Raiders: A Raider wearing a full helmet hiding behind a rusted car on the left while a massive ARC robot surveys the road with a red 'eye' light.
Arc Raiders' 'match journey' feature is the perfect extraction shooter addition, as it charts my inevitable path to defeat, loss, and regret
 
 
Latest in FPS
A Sister of Battle slide-kicks toward a Chaos marine in terminator armor
Boltgun 2 will let you play a Sister of Battle
 
 
Image for Darktide's narrative will be expanded as part of future updates: 'We are definitely going to be adding to the story of the game'
Darktide's narrative will be expanded as part of future updates: 'We are definitely going to be adding to the story of the game'
 
 
Halo Campaign Evolved's Master Chief
One original Halo designer blasts the new remake, wonders if the point was just 'Occupying an enormous art team while you figure out what to do'
 
 
halo campaign evolved
Xbox fully surrenders the console wars: 'Halo is on PlayStation going forward,' a fact that just doesn't seem real
 
 
Halo Campaign Evolved's Master Chief
Halo: Campaign Evolved, the second remake of Halo 1, is coming out next year
 
 
Battlefield 6 XP farm: An Engineer crouched with a large rocket launcher over their shoulder, with another soldier mostly out of shot in the bottom right corner.
EA is making Battlefield 6 challenges less horrendous, but due to 'the scale of challenges,' it'll take a while
 
 
Latest in Features
A screenshot from Misery showing two men in tracksuits drinking vodka and playing guitar
Five new Steam games you probably missed (October 27, 2025)
 
 
A billboard from PowerWash Simulator 2 with bright colored animals on it and a bit of dirt
PowerWash Simulator 2 introduces a new tool that makes washing mud from a billboard more enjoyable than ever
 
 
It breaks our hearts to cut great games from the Top 100 list, but sacrifices must be made—these are some of the omissions that caused us psychic damage this year
 
 
Femme Phyre with intricate scars and grey hair wearing one of the unique outfits in Bloodlines 2. It's black with gold and red rose detailing.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2's biggest mistake is being called Bloodlines 2
 
 
A large hero doing admin
Dispatch's superheroic efforts have changed my mind about its episodic release schedule
 
 
EU5 key art
25 years of making history: Europa Universalis lead Johan Andersson talks grey hair, running out of ideas for DLC, and only hiring a menus guy after 3 games
 
 
  1. Two of the best PC cases with the PC Gamer Recommended badge in the top right.
    1
    The best fish tank PC case in 2025: I've tested heaps of stylish chassis but only a few have earned my recommendation
  2. 2
    Best gaming laptop 2025: I've tested the best laptops for gaming of this generation and here are the ones I recommend
  3. 3
    Best Hall effect keyboards in 2025: the fastest, most customizable keyboards for competitive gaming
  4. 4
    Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC
  5. 5
    Best graphics cards in 2025: I've tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today's top cards
  1. 8BitDo Pro 3 controller
    1
    8BitDo Pro 3 review
  2. 2
    Edifier G2000 Pro review
  3. 3
    Razer Raiju V3 Pro wireless controller review
  4. 4
    The Outer Worlds 2 is a great RPG that exceeded my expectations
  5. 5
    Farthest Frontier review: Crate Entertainment's survival city builder is both challenging and chill

PC Gamer is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google
  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...