With a click of the mouse, the race against time begins.
The crowd of spectators falls mostly silent, eyes trained on the colossal screen suspended above.
As a rhythmic beeping ramps up through the arena, so does everyones pulse.
IEM Cologne 2023: The Cathedral of Counter-StrikeAdela Sznajder; ESL FACEIT Group
One by one, players drop to the controlled boom of tactical teamplay.
The beepings crescendo foreshadows a lost round that never comes.
Instead, a mic clips and the digital voice announces, Counter-terrorists win.
Thousands of people stand in uproar, before settling once more to watch yet another round of gameplay.
This is the experience of seeing professionalCounter-Strikelive and its unlike anything else.
Equal parts action movie and Super Bowl, many consider it to be the pinnacle of esports.
Given its perennial dominance over the scene for 25 years, its hard to argue otherwise.
Cologne has been at the center of the professionalgamingscene since the early 2000s.
Its home toESL FACEIT Group, one of theorganizationsbehind the rise ofCounter-Strikeas a global esport.
Its also called The Cathedral ofCounter-Strike.
But how did it get here?
The first iteration of IEM in Cologne touched down in 2007 under the banner of Intel Friday Night Lights.
In 2014, ESL returned home for the initial ESL One Cologne during that years Gamescom.
Bringing the Majors to ESL One Cologne also brought an increased level of drama around the tournament.
In doing so, they produced one of esports most iconic images.
In the early days, [we] would go regularly to concerts in LANXESS arena, he says.
Did we think and joke like, Yeah, one day were going to do a tournament here?
Did we really plan for it?
Probably not, to be honest.
But it was a good joke back then.
[With the LANXESS arena] a lot of whats esports these days was decided at that time.
A major component of that goal has been the incorporation of theater and spectacle into the events.
Attending aCounter-Striketournament can feel like a religious experience.
There are heroes to cheer and idols to revere.
By 2022, back was the community mecca with all its glory.
