30-year-old glowiing shines to secure 9 Pandas Major berth

seized returns to a Major after six years.

seized won the battle between him and Snax to return to the Major

9 Pandas have advanced from the Europe RMR Last Chance Qualifier to secure a spot at PGL Major Copenhagen, completing a reverse-sweep victory over GamerLegion (14-16 Overpass, 13-8 Ancient, 13-11 Nuke) to become the 17th and final team from Europe to punch a ticket to Denmark.

Focus coming into the match was on the battle between Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski and Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin, two veterans who last attended Majors six years ago at FACEIT London and ELEAGUE Boston, respectively. Both players had reinvented themselves as in-game leaders and impressed while at the helm, with 9 Pandas winning PARI Please at the end of 2023 and GamerLegion reliably performing well against top opposition, tallying wins against the likes of FaZe and Virtus.pro.

It ended up being 30-year-old Aleksandr "⁠glowiing⁠" Matsievich who completely stole the show once the series was underway, however, tallying an absurd carry performance across all three maps and single-handedly winning game-changing rounds to carry 9 Pandas across the finish line and complete seized's redemption arc with a return to the Major.

"I'm speechless really, I'm back to a Major after six years," seized said in a post-match interview. "It was a tough six years but I still believed I can go, I just needed a team who fit around me, and finally the hard work paid off."

seized also spoke about feeling pressured in the series, particularly when things came down to the wire on Nuke. "The whole match we felt the pressure, we were so nervous, shaking, but thanks to a god performance from glowiing, he really saved us this game. It was such a tough game for everyone, but I'm glad that we did it."

Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand got GamerLegion ahead early on with a 1vs2 clutch in the fifth round in a bid to establish dominance on his team's Overpass pick, although 9 Pandas eventually kicked into gear on the CT side and retook the lead. It didn't last, however, as a smart play by Snax faking on the A site to allow for Isak "⁠isak⁠" Fahlén to take an empty B site in a 2sv3 kept it even at the switch.

Snax came alive on the T side to put his side within reach of map one, but he and GamerLegion were shut down in the 22nd round by glowiing, who responded with an ace to put his team on map point. All tied up after 24, Snax once again came alive in overtime while acoR downed all opponents in a 2vs3 situation to get GamerLegion past the finish line, 16-14.

The series moved to Ancient, where GamerLegion tried to get back into it after an 0-3 start by tying the series up, first 3-3 and then 4-4, but their steam finally ran out as 9 Pandas’ attacks, including a 1vs3 clutch by glowiing, tipped the scales in his team’s favor: 8-4 at the switch.

GamerLegion immediately showed their teeth and tied the series up on the attack, but 9 Pandas once again found their pace after a slow side on the defense. This time, by stopping two A hits effectively, after which they ran away 13-8 to tie the series up. glowiing shone for the Pandas once again, this time with a 1.82 rating.

9 Pandas' excellence continued on Nuke, a few scrappy rounds at the start by GamerLegion keeping the Russian team honest before utter destruction ensued. An impassable defense and a triple kill round from Artem "⁠iDISBALANCE⁠" Egorov powered 9 Pandas to a flawless 7-0 start, and though Sebastian "⁠volt⁠" Maloș stepped up in the dying moments of the half to help his side tally three, the map looked like a foregone conclusion with all of GamerLegion's hopes resting in the second half pistol.

Snax's side dug deep and showed incredible resilience, however, securing that required pistol win and slowly reducing the deficit to 10-7. Fittingly for the series, it was none other than glowiing that struck a devastating blow to GamerLegion's comeback efforts by finding four kills with a saved AK before selflessly handing it to iDISBALANCE to trade him out, grabbing 9 Pandas their 11th.

GamerLegion were shaken but not out of it quite yet, and continued their tenacious recovery run with two more rounds before glowiing struck again, another triple kill round setting his side on match point. 9 Pandas almost closed in the round that followed, a vintage 1vs2 clutch from Snax giving GamerLegion one last lifeline, but heartbreak came in round 24 as an Upper rush from 9 Pandas cut a knife through the defenses and earned seized his return to a Major after six years.

PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Europe Last Chance QualifierBest of 3

9 Pandas

Matchpage

2

1

24th February 2024

GamerLegion

14

Overpass

16

13

Ancient

8

13

Nuke

11

9 Pandas	K - D	Swing	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Aleksandr 'glowiing' Matsievichglowiing	85 - 48	+4.56%	112.1	77.3%	1.69
Timur 'clax' Sabirovclax	54 - 46	+1.20%	74.9	80.0%	1.13
Daniil 'd1Ledez' Kustovd1Ledez	43 - 48	-3.67%	63.0	73.3%	0.99
Artem 'iDISBALANCE' EgoroviDISBALANCE	41 - 43	+0.21%	59.6	74.7%	0.97
Denis 'seized' Kostinseized	36 - 52	-0.56%	59.0	69.3%	0.85

GamerLegion	K - D	Swing	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Isak 'isak' Fahlénisak	52 - 52	+1.56%	80.9	68.0%	1.03
Frederik 'acoR' GyldstrandacoR	49 - 50	+1.08%	64.6	73.3%	1.01
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	53 - 54	+0.48%	75.9	60.0%	1.00
Sebastian 'volt' Maloșvolt	43 - 48	-1.97%	67.5	70.7%	0.97
Nicolas 'Keoz' DgusKeoz	36 - 58	-2.90%	60.6	69.3%	0.82

The 17 teams qualified for the Major from the Europe RMRs are:

Virtus.pro
G2
Natus Vincere
FaZe
KOI
Eternal Fire
SAW
AMKAL
9 Pandas

MOUZ
Cloud9
Spirit
Vitality
Apeks
HEROIC
ECSTATIC
ENCE