Stewie2K

The Cloud9 leader who brought North America its only Major.

Stewie2K (Jacky Yip, born 1998) is an American streamer and professional Counter-Strike player who, as a member of Cloud9, became the first North American to win a Valve-sponsored CS:GO Major. He later played for MIBR, Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses.

Quick Facts

Born: 7 January 1998
Nationality: American
Role: In-game leader; Rifler (entry fragger)
Nickname: Stew
Career games: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive; Counter-Strike 2

Facts from the source article.

Background

Raised in San Francisco, Yip learned Counter-Strike 1.6 from his older brother, drifted to RuneScape, League of Legends and other games, and only took up CS:GO in the summer of 2014 after a friend gifted him a copy. His parents disapproved of gaming, and the rift drove him to fly to Los Angeles at 17 to chase a career. Cloud9 signed him on January 11, 2016, hours after his 18th birthday, as in-game leader on Sean Gares's recommendation, to criticism from some veterans.

In two years with Cloud9 he won ESL Pro League Season 4, DreamHack Open Denver 2017 and iBUYPOWER Masters 2017, then the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, beating FaZe Clan in double overtime on the third map of the final, still the only Major won by a North American roster. He left for SK Gaming in March 2018, moved with the roster to MIBR, and was traded to Team Liquid in December 2018 for TACO and coach zews.

With Liquid he won seven tournaments in 2019 and became the first North American CS:GO player to pass $1 million in prize money. He joined Evil Geniuses in January 2022, stepped away that July to stream CS:GO and Valorant, and returned as a stand-in for G2 Esports at IEM Dallas in May 2024, where G2 beat Vitality 2-1 in the final.

Did You Know?

Stewie2K signed his Cloud9 contract a few hours after turning 18.
His 2024 stand-in appearance for G2 at IEM Dallas, his first LAN in two years, ended with the trophy.