The American CS scene was one of the most competitive in the world in the pre-CGS era. Teams like 3D and compLexity were dominating the International tournaments, with the latter placing in top 3 at several Grand Slams.

On home soil there was great competition though, as neither of the two International giants could fall into a slump without being punished. Up and coming teams were always trying to close the gap, and the likes of United5, Pandemic and zEx put up huge performances on several occasions.

As The Championship Gaming Series entered the American market with CS:S, it scooped up a great deal of the CS-talent in the country, eventually leaving the CS 1.6 scene in ruins. In 2007 eMazing Gaming won the first ever post-CGS WCG qualification, clinching a spot in the Grand Finals in Seattle.

In an a(e)mazing turn of events, the American team grabbed a fourth place, exceeding everbody's expectations for them. The result was for a large part of the community written off as a fluke; a simple lucky punch.

It wasn't. Instead it was the first sign of the healthy development the American CS 1.6 scene was going through. Fast forward to the next big International event; the KODE5 Grand Finals in Moscow, Russia. Evil Geniuses had qualified as the American representative, sporting three players from the 4th place finishers in Seattle, namely Steno, chE and evolution.

The team was not given big chances of making an impact though, as they had swapped NineSpot for Lim and Ph0bius shortly before the event. Having added the talented NineSpot on so short notice seemed like an odd move, but it certainly paid off in the Russian capital.

EG ripped their way through the first groupstage, besting both Virtus.Pro and fnatic with impressive 16-10 victories, before running into SK Gaming in the Quarter-final. Two maps and one red-hot Tentpole later, EG had been eliminated from the tournament, but not without making a deep impression on everybody who had watched them play. The raw talent the team had showcased promised much for the future.

None of the American teams went deep in any of the ESWC-tournaments, but x3o did manage to beat mTw before losing a close match against the latter winners in ESWC Grand Final, MYM. The old TEC-player Jonahthan 'Elude' Gilbert analyzed the team's matches, closing it with this remark: "x3o is very capable of dominating both mTw and mYm, if they could fix all their small mistakes. Don't be surprised if they do so at the next tournament."

It wasn't x3o who got to beat the ESWC Champions, EG took care of that. After trashing fnatic 16-1 in the 1st round of Upper Bracket at Global Challenge LA, EG faced MYM and beat them in a thrilling encounter on de_train. With 7 rounds for the Polish side as T on de_train, it looked like the favourite would progress, but as EG's offensive T-tactics went into play, MYM had nothing to stop them with.

Even though EG crashed out of the tournament, losing consecutive matches to mibr and SK - losing 16-2 and 16-1 - the third place for EG at the Global Challenge-tournament in LA, could sound the horn for a new American Golden Age. EG's third place is not only the first International medals for that team, it is also the first podium finish for an American team in the post-CGS era. The dawn has reached America, and we still have a whole day to come.