Cloud9 complete 3-0 run through Opening Stage

Cloud9 now join Heroic and eight invited sides in the Major's Elimination Stage.

The second 2-0 match has drawn to a close, seeing Cloud9 emerge victorious over a red-hot SAW to secure a place in the Elimination Stage of PGL Major Copenhagen.

Despite their 3-0 record, Cloud9 endured an arduous run through the Opening Stage of the Major, with none of the Russian side's matches being straightforward victories. Their opening victory over ECSTATIC was drawn out, with the Danes earning 10 rounds before ultimately faltering, and their win over Legacy proved to be even more difficult, requiring an impressive comeback from a deficit of 4-10.

Date	Matches
PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Opening Stage
17/03/2024	Cloud9 Finished 13:10 ECSTATIC	Match
17/03/2024	Cloud9 Finished 13:10 Legacy	Match
18/03/2024	Cloud9 Finished 2:0 SAW	Match

Cloud9's qualifying BO3 versus SAW did little to buck this trend of close games for the Russian squad. The series kicked off on the Portuguese squad's pick of Nuke, a map where Christopher "⁠MUTiRiS⁠" Fernandes's troops were enjoying a 10-map winning streak, which included an overtime victory over Cloud9 at the recent BLAST Premier Spring Showdown.

Cloud9 carved out an early lead on the defense despite dropping the first pistol round, with Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov's work on the AWP netting results throughout the first half. A 7-5 scoreline at halftime was followed by a quick run of three rounds on the offense thanks to a pistol round win, but SAW retorted with an indomitable defensive streak of seven rounds, earning the Portuguese side map point.

Despite the utter collapse of their T side, Cloud9 managed to procure the final two rounds of regulation amidst hectic late-round situations, sending the map into overtime. SAW came closest to victory in the first overtime, but were denied the opportunity to close it out as Cloud9 dragged it into a second overtime. Here a narrowly missed clutch by Ricardo "⁠roman⁠" Oliveira and a flawless T side run from Cloud9 propelled Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov's troops to victory with a 19-17 scoreline.

Although reeling from losing their map pick, SAW managed to bounce back from an early 0-3 deficit on Anubis to take control of the half on the offense, but their lead was ultimately narrowed to a meager two rounds by the time of the side swap. Cloud9 capitalized on their offense, dropping only two rounds as the Russian squad found repeated success on hits to the A bombsite, locking down their pick 13-9 to secure their 3-0 record in the Opening Stage.