G2 Esports secured their first Counter-Strike 2 trophy on June 2 after defeating Team Vitality in the IEM Dallas 2024 grand final. But while it was a memorable moment for the whole team, it was special for one particular member for an additional reason.
That individual is none other than G2’s head coach, TaZ. While this was his first trophy since joining the European giants as a coach, it’s yet another Intel Extreme Masters title added to his collection. In fact, the Pole made history since he was one of the players who won the first IEM in 2007, which took place in Counter-Strike 1.6. Last week’s IEM Dallas 2023, on the other hand, was the 100th edition of the event in history. With that in mind, TaZ is the only person in CS history to triumph at both the first and 100th IEM—a truly special feat.
The first IEM took place in March 2007 in Hannover. TaZ was a part of a legendary squad called Golden Five, who dominated the scene from 2006 to 2008. During the first edition of the tournament, TaZ and the rest of his Golden Five teammates, like NEO and kuben, represented Team Pentagram.
The event was full of top-tier teams trying to get their hands on the trophy. The list included Fnatic, with legends like cArn and f0rest on its roster, as well as squads like mousesports and SK Gaming. The latter was defeated by TaZ and Pentagram in the grand final, which let them secure a lion’s share of the 92,000 euro prize pool (around $122,000 at the time).
For their victory in Dallas, G2 secured $100,000 out of the $250,000 prize pool. Their achievement is even more admirable given the fact they did it with a stand-in, Stewie2K. The North American returned to Dallas five years after hoisting a trophy there with Team Liquid. He was called in by the organization after G2’s in-game leader, HooXi, couldn’t attend the event due to his sister’s wedding.
