After a couple of days of break following the Elimination stage, Counter-Strike was back for its biggest celebrations of the year, the PGL CS2 Major 2024. The Opening stage kicked off the action in Copenhagen. Then we had the Elimination stage, after which eight teams stood tall, taking part in the Playoffs, which started on March 28, in Copenhagen.
Let’s have a look at how the action unfolded on Day 1 of the playoffs at the PGL CS2 Major 2024 –
In the first quarter-final game, we had Cloud9 face off against Vitality. The team in yellow and black, Vitality, were on a mission to start off CS2, the same way they ended CS:GO – by winning the PGL CS2 Major 2024. Cloud9, fielding a roster consisting of players from the CIS region, want to restore the team’s former glory. C9 also have a Major win under their belt, having won the Boston Major back in 2018.
When the teams faced off, Vitality was on a roll right from the get-go. Thanks to the tactical fragging by Lotan ‘Spinx’ Giladi, the team started off the proceedings on Inferno, with a 13-8 win. Cloud9 showed sparks of promise but did not stand a chance against the charge led by Vitality, led by Spinx, who had the best HLTV rating and most frags to his name.
On Anubis, the story continued. Cloud9 had hoped to stage a comeback on their map pick; however, Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire and Co. had other plans. This time it was Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan who starred for Vitality, helping them secure an easy 13-2 win. He ended the map with 18 frags to his name. He was supported by mezii, who had 11 frags in the bag, and the AWPer ZywOo, who finished the map with 10 frags in the bag.
With a 2-0 win over Cloud9, Vitality became the first team to secure a spot in the semi-finals of the PGL CS2 Major 2024.
The second quarter-final of the PGL CS2 Major 2024 had FaZe taking on Spirit. Led by the hometown favourite, Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen came into the tournament as on of the strongest contenders for the title, even after their roster shakeup. Their opponents in the game, Spirit, were also on a roll coming into the tournament, fielding a roster with two of the hottest talents in CS2 right now – Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets and Dmitry ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov.
The face-off against the two teams kicked off on Mirage, picked by Spirit. And, FaZe looked in no mood to play more than two maps in the Best of Three series (Bo3). They started the proceedings, winning the map 13-7. Mirage, one of the oldest maps in the CS2 Competitive map pool, is a tricky pick for, as things can swing away from your favour in a blink of an eye. And, it happened with Spirit, as they saw their map pick slip away from them.
However, come the second map of the series, Nuke, picked bu FaZe, we saw how donk and his team of fraggers were not here to be innocent bystanders in the FaZe CS show. They were here to fight till the very end for a shot at winning the PGL CS2 Major 2024. There was an intense back-and-forth on Nuke, as the teams battled hard. The game was decided in the third overtime, as Spirit, riding on the back of the 30-bomb by donk, danced home to a win.
On Vertigo, the decider map, the same story repeated, albeit with one less over time. FaZe secured a 16-14 win and a spot in the semi-finals of the PGL CS2 Major, piggybacking on a phenomenal performance by Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants.
Here’s how things stand at the end of the first day of the playoffs at the PGL CS2 Major 2024 –
With two of our semi-finalists having been decided in the form of FaZe and Vitality, locking out the first face-off on Saturday, we await the last two teams for the second semi-final. On Day 2 of the playoffs of the PGL CS2 Major 2024, we will have Eternal Fire, facing off against NAVI in the third quarter-final game of the tournament. That will be followed by G2 taking on the tournament favourites, MOUZ, in the second quarter-final game of the PGL CS2 Major 2024.
As it has been with the games that we have seen so far in the tournament, one thing is guaranteed on Day 2 of the PGL CS2 Major 2024 in Copenhagen, exciting Counter-Strike action!
To check out all of our coverage of the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen, check out this page.
