ECSTATIC stay alive in Copenhagen at FURIA's expense

The hometown heroes kept their cool in a tightly-contested series to move on to the fourth round of the Major.

ECSTATIC prevailed over FURIA in a hard-fought three-map affair in the 0-2 pool, sending the Brazilian side packing from the Elimination Stage of PGL Copenhagen Major with a 0-3 record.

Entering the Major in Copenhagen as the sole fully Danish lineup in attendance, ECSTATIC were far from favorites to move on to the Elimination Stage from the Opening Stage, but Patrick "⁠Patti⁠" Larsen's troops prevailed with a solid 3-1 run through the first phase of the Major. The Danes have taken their first step in bouncing back from an unfortunate 0-2 start, moving on to the 1-2 pool thanks to this victory.

Meanwhile, FURIA had entered this series hoping to replicate their run in the Opening Stage, which had seen them similarly start with a 0-2 record before an uptick in form allowed them to reach the Elimination Stage with a 3-2 record. This time around, Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan's troops were unable to replicate that magic, seeing them bow out of the Major's second stage without claiming a single win.

Date	Matches
PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024
21/03/2024	G2 Finished 13:3 FURIA	Match
21/03/2024	FaZe Finished 13:7 FURIA	Match
22/03/2024	ECSTATIC Finished 2:1 FURIA	Match

The series kicked off on FURIA's pick of Overpass, but one would be forgiven for thinking that it was the selection of ECSTATIC. Although things were close early on, with FURIA tying things up 3-3 to respond to the Danes' pistol win, ECSTATIC quickly ran away with things on their CT side, accruing a solid 9-3 scoreline at the side swap.

A pistol round win for FURIA allowed them to gain some ground, but with only Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo managing to put up numbers for the Brazilian side, this momentum was difficult to maintain. In the end, ECSTATIC were able to capitalize on their established lead, stealing away FURIA's pick 13-7.

ECSTATIC's pick of Inferno told a far different tale. The Danish squad struggled to find their footing on the T side early on as a result of a FURIA pistol round win. A 1v4 clutch from Patti would finally allow ECSTATIC to get a string of rounds on the board, but it would still be FURIA who emerged victorious at the half, with a 7-5 lead.

ECSTATIC kept up the momentum they had accrued in the first half into their CT side, notching five rounds straight after the swap to reach double-digit rounds. Just rounds away from elimination, FURIA rallied on the offense, with the map descending into overtime after a back-and-forth slog. Post-regulation went the way of FURIA, as Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato stepped up to keep his team alive in Copenhagen.

Although ECSTATIC were able to respond to FURIA's early lead on the decider of Ancient with a three-round streak of their own, they would find little else throughout the half as FURIA took control on their T side. Beaten down by a stellar showing from Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos, ECSTATIC seemed poised to crumble as they headed into the offense with a 5-7 scoreline.

Despite the less-than-stellar start, ECSTATIC put together a phenomenal T side on Ancient, kicking off the second half with a pistol round win that segued into a number of fast and aggressive plays that FURIA simply had no answer for. In the end, the Danish squad claimed a flawless second half, taking Ancient with a 13-7 scoreline, and the series 2-1 along with it.