3DMAX knock Into the Breach out of Europe RMR

The Paris Major quarter-finalists couldn't pull off another Cinderella run.

3DMAX have kept themselves alive in Romania after seeing to the elimination of Into the Breach in the 0-2 pool, recovering from a blowout loss on their own pick of Inferno (3-13) by reverse-sweeping the series on Ancient (13-8) and Anubis (13-7).

Date	Matches
PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Europe RMR A
16/02/2024	9 Pandas 15:05 3DMAX	Match

Expectations of both teams were not high coming into the event, and even more so for Into the Breach, who brought back Thomas "⁠Thomas⁠" Utting from four months of inactivity just to earn a direct invite to the RMR as a result of retaining the core from their quarter-final run at the Paris Major.

The Brit's return failed to bear fruit for his organization, however, with the team getting just four rounds combined against G2 and BetBoom to end up in the 0-2 pool before their elimination at the hands of 3DMAX.

The French team had gotten off to strong starts against Falcons and KOI in their first two games, but couldn't maintain the lead and lost both matches 8-13 to end up in the 0-2 pool. Bryan "⁠Maka⁠" Canda and company showed better tenacity in this series as they recovered from a blowout loss on their pick of Inferno, a map where they managed just three rounds and struggled to consistently crack past Aurimas "⁠Bymas⁠" Pipiras and Thomas' defenses in the first half.

Pierre "⁠Ex3rcice⁠" Bulinge is owed a lot of thanks for 3DMAX's recovery from that point onward, with the 24-year-old racking up a total of 16 multi-kills over the next two maps as he powered his team to a reverse-sweep in the series. He was particularly impactful on the Anubis decider, where he posted a 23-13 K-D, 121.3 ADR, and 1.74 rating to help 3DMAX convert an early CT lead into victory after the side swap with a seven-round streak on the attack.