First CS2 Major - PGL Copenhagen 2024
Intro
It’s been a while since I’ve maintained this blog. Sorry for that! Since I got into podcasting, the need to jot down my thoughts has withered.
Last september (2023) Valve decided to finally treat us to Counter-Strike 2, the long awaited follow up to CS:GO. Which meant that the last major of CS:GO would be the one in Paris. Which I also forgot to blog about - sorry.
The release of CS2 resulted in tons of people coming back to the game and brought old comraderies back to life. The game we all enjoyed together for over 10 years finally had a new installment. It was supposed to extend the grip that CS had on the esports world. But with the new subtick system and long list of bugs the talk of the town was mainly about the “ready-ness” of CS2 as an esport and ready for a potential major.
As a collective, everyone agreed we weren’t there yet, while Valve kept hammering on the codebase and trying to resolve some bugs - which were greatly appreciated by the community since the relationship between Valve and the community always was a bit of a debatable topic.
For people who don’t know, Valve doesn’t organise the major themselves, they award an organisation the responsibility to lead everything from start to finish. With PGL (same organisation as the Major we had in Antwerp) announcing they would be the one who would be organising the first Major of CS2 in Copenhagen! The Nordic countries always were a basis of the raw esports of Counter-Strike, which really convinced me that I -needed- to be there.
I’ll skip the online and offline qualifiers for the RMR, which basically means thousands of teams were able to give it their best to try to qualify for the RMR’s which are played on LAN. Which are, when you are reading this, already being played out in Bucharest.
Every esports organisation has been signing their corresponding lineup while millions have been spent trying to gather the ultimate troops. All the players have been bootcamping for the ultimate goal, qualifying for the actual Major, which is the ultimate honor.
With some heartbreaks along the way ofcourse, as of today, the top of the top from the EU from those online and closed qualifiers will be battling through the Swiss system to try to qualify for the actual major which starts the 17th of March in Copenhagen. The upcoming weeks, the groups from EU, NA and Asia will be battling to earn the top spots of their corresponding region because each region is assigned only a specific amount of spots. So the upcoming weeks mean anything to the teams while they try to claim one of those spots.
EU RMR Day 1
Funny enough, today, on Valentines day, the esporters woke up thinking of only love, their true love for the game.
We started the day off with:
Faze - 9 Panda
With FaZe’s horrible final last week at IEM Katowice fresh in the back of their mind FaZe had to face (huehue) the “easier” competition of the group. A team with player Seized, a former member of the legendary NaVi lineup back in the day. With a lackluster first half, FaZe put their foot down and got the win quite easily with a straight 7 round T side run towards 13-6 win for FaZe clan.
Virtus Pro - SAW
Meanwhile on the other stream the Virtus Pro team, tightly managed by Jame as IGL was battling SAW, a team that is not a bad team perse, but a bit of a gamble on how far they would get. But with a monstrous 10 round CT side, VP had SAW in their grip. With the final score being 13-6 as well.
G2 - Into The Breach
G2 vs Into The Breach was next. With a lackluster finish at IEM Katowice last week G2 wants to show they are one of the top teams in the world, with players like m0nesy, one of the hottest “talents” of the last years, while the Kovak nephews are there to back him up whilst HooXi is there to give the calls. On the other side, ITB is a dark horse team, with a cool run last major, but with a roster shuffle and as a #50+ ranking team in the world, going up against such strong players is always a though nut to crack. The match started with early sparks from the ITB side, trading rounds with G2. But I think they were promised bonuses depending on their K/D ratio, because they woke up and chose violence. Even running into full stacks of ITB, G2 dispatched of them with ease. With a final score of 13-3, it wasn’t even close.
NaVi - KOI
NaVi vs KOI. Another one that is ALWAYS supposed to be in favor of NaVi on paper. But their gamble going international was always a big bet. And with THE best player of CSGO ever named S1mple benching himself a while ago from the squad. The eyes were on his replacement, w0nderful, who had very very very big shoes to fill. Wonderful’s biggest issue this game was, that his lurk style wasn’t working at all, he always had to retake, save his AWP. It felt like he couldn’t contribute this match for his team, even though we know how able he is to manipulate the rounds with his awping skills. When it started going down south for NaVi in this matchup, iM (the player) decided he had enough of it. He just held W and held down his Mouse 1 button and totally started decimating the KOI squad, with over 121 ADR he definitely pulled his team through the match. Which resulted in a 13-8.
Eternal Fire - Ninjas in Pyjamas
Eternal Fire vs Ninjas in Pyjamas was a matchup that was meant to be fire for sure. See what I did there? With the Eternal (I keep the puns coming) struggle of EF over the last few years with their Turkish core with players leaving, entering, leaving, entering. Players going international, coming back. They had their rough patches for sure. But it appeared they finally found their missing puzzle piece in Wicadia, an 18 year old talent that is trying to rise through the ranks. With his first Major RMR, all eyes were on him from the gigantic fanbase. Last week at IEM Katowice he has proven that he has what it takes, but battling on these prestigious events is something you can’t understimate.
On the other side we have NiP, one of the biggest names in esports, who have had their part in the struggle over the last years. When the last player left/was benched from their 2014 Major-winning squad they have been battling with themselves ever since, with switching up players faster than some of the nerds change their underpants. With an “international” team with a Spanish IGL called Alex they want to give it their all this RMR.
Both teams wanted to prove that they got their core finalised and show what they can do.
With thousands of eyes staring at Wicadia’s POV, he looked like he crumbled under the pressure. With a score of 0-10 he looked like he forgot anything he ever learned. Thankfully for him, EF’s most experienced players pulled their weight in gold. They put NiP to the test, who also seemed to be stumbling on their part. With k0nfig missing a lot of his timings and the rest of the team looking lost. With some clean kills from REZ, NiP tried pulling back here and there so it got competitive in the end. But stumbling in the last round with a wrong information call, EF ran over NiP and pulled it over the line. 13-11 for EF. Pushing NiP to the 0-1 bracket, something they wanted to avoid ofcourse.
Amkal - Enterprise
Sadly, I was not able to watch this match, since my little demons (apparently I have to call them my kids according to my wife) needed their attention. But Enterprise took the match with 13-9!
BetBoom - Fnatic
Again, I was not able to watch the game, even though I really wanted. Since Fnatic is one of those household names since I started following competitive CS, I’ve been with them through all ups and downs. With legendary players like Krimz, he wants to squeeze out one more RMR run. And they pulled through, with 13-6. Betboom had nothing to say. Which is very unexpected, since it’s a very potent lineup which should be able to stunt in this RMR.
3DMAX - Falcons
With the newly build international superteam Falcons, where no expenses are spared to create the new #1 team in the world on one side. On the other side of the boxing ring, we have 3DMAX who are kind of a mix of French players who were cut from their respective “Tier 1” French lineups like Vitality and G2 back in the day. So basically, Falcons had to obliterate 3DMAX on paper, but 3DMAX as the underdog put up a good fight, they had a very solid first run of rounds vs the Falcons who looked lost. The experienced IGL of Falcons named Snappi ordered his troops to do what they are signed for. Focus on their game and shoot people in the face. With an unstoppable run after that, Falcons wiped the floor with 3DMAX. With the sweat still on their eyebrows, they closed the game 13-8.
SAW - 9 Pandas
Meanwhile, SAW was being stomped by 9Pandas, with 1-13 being the final result. Not something to write home about. Especially since that means they are in the 0-2 bracket. One more strike, and they’re out.
BetBoom - Into The Breach
BetBoom looked mad they got overrun by Fnatic, they wanted to prove the world they aren’t to be underestimated. They looked ITB in the eyes and said “Not today buddy”, and took the game home with 13-1. ITB being booped into the 0-2 bracket, that must have hurt. Barely getting 4 rounds over their 2 games.
Ninjas in Pyjamas - AMKAL
This was a match that looked like a done deal, it would’ve been the easy rebound match for NiP to get them back in the 1-1 bracket. But AMKAL took them by surprise and used that mental state against NiP. Stringing 10 rounds together in the first half, it looked very bleak for the Ninjas. With only 2 rounds under their belt, heads hanging low. REZ went on an absolute tear for NiP, finding multikills each time and perfect CS timings along with his teammate k0nfig who came alive, and they pulled it all the way back to a 12-12 scoreline. First overtime was a nailbiter, AMKAL apparently remembered they know how to play CS, making the game competitive again. It looked like it was over for Amkal, but they started clawing back yet again, slowly grinding away rounds putting fire to the shins of the Ninjas.
They even managed to get it back to second OT, Overtime 2, they took over, taking all 3 CT rounds. Which put NiP on the block. They fired back, grabbing all 3 rounds on their respective CT side as well.
Overtime 3? For sure! Amkal took 2 T rounds, which were very crucial, since both teams struggled with their T sides. Even worse, not a single player had positive K/D on T side overall. Which means NiP had managed to snag 1 CT round, when they took the first T round, it looked like NiP was going to make make the full comeback again. But with some obliterating shots, AMKAL decided it was done playing with their toy. NiP slowly accepted their faith, losing the game with 22-20 in OT3. To the 0-2 bracket it is, which is a very heavy hit for the legendary org.
FaZe - Falcons
2 international superteams. One was the first ever international superteam, who want to prove they still have it after their loss last week. But they had to battle the newly formed superteam Falcons for it. 2 legendary IGL’s versus each other. Snappi vs Karrigan, who are in each others head. But the explosive players from FaZe were on fire, Frozen wanted to show that he deserves his spot on the team after Twistzz’ departure. When FaZe switched over on the T side, which is known for being the way harder side, they even stepped it up. Swinging together absolutely headshotting everyone who crossed their path. With a 1 v 2 clutch from the IGL karrigan, who wanted to make a statement and wanted to close out before Falcons could start a comeback, it ended up with a 13-7 for FaZe. Who are on their dream run to qualify this RMR.
3DMAX - KOI
I was feeding the demons, wasn’t able to check the game out myself, but from the stats page from HLTV.org I see that the entire 3DMAX squad was equally balanced. Everyone tried to do their job, but it wasn’t good enough to fight off the KOI barrage with Mopoz on top, with 119 ADR and 27 kills, it looks like he piled through 3DMAX. 13-8 for KOI it is!
NaVi - Enterprise
Final match of the day, NaVi vs Enterprise. NaVi really “need” that 2-0, they need to show they are not to be messed with, even with their current squad, and the unknown state of the future after the major, when s1mple is supposed to be back. Everyone wants to defend “their” spot on the team. On Mirage, after a super long technical pause, NaVi just kept grinding the rounds vs Enterprise. Taking a very big lead, with 10-4 under their belt they started throwing bodies at every fight. Since they have the firepower in their team, and it totally worked. When reaching 12, the money was reset for the NaVi squad, Enterprise got 2 rounds back, but with 6 rounds weighing on your shoulders, the pressure is huge. NaVi converts the pressure into a winning round, cleaning up. To the 2-0 bracket, which is something NaVi really needed.
I’ll be back tomorrow with more writeups!
J.