Live updates from PGL Major Copenhagen quarter-finals day 2

G2 4-0 MOUZ

Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen's troops have laid claim to a solid start on their opponent's pick of Vertigo, scooping up the first four rounds on their CT side with ease.

The last time these two squads met on Vertigo, G2 edged out the young side 13-11, but this time around G2 will be looking to finish off this map with a far more confident scoreline.

After a mixed showing in the Elimination Stage for Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač, the Bosnian rifler has his stride when it matters most, dominating MOUZ with an impressive individual showing on his team's map pick of Inferno.

Will NiKo be able to keep it up on MOUZ's pick of Vertigo?

G2 11-4 MOUZ

Although MOUZ managed to rally together some rounds at the tail-end of their CT side, G2 still entered the second half with a daunting 8-4 lead.

With the second pistol round and subsequent two rounds now under their belt, G2 are just a stone's throw away from locking down their pick in style, something that would certainly give the European combine confidence heading into their opponent's pick of Vertigo.

G2 7-1 MOUZ

G2 are starting to run away with their pick of Inferno, with the European combine already guaranteeing that they finish the first half with the lead after procuring their seventh round.

MOUZ are struggling to piece things together, and with their economy soon to be in dire straits yet again, the young side will need to compose themselves quickly if they don't want to get blown out on the opening map.

G2 3-1 MOUZ

After dropping the pistol round after Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen was unable to deny Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo's defuse, G2 have charged ahead on the offense thanks to a force-buy victory.

The Danes in the Royal Arena are loving this success, with HooXi's presence garnering his side the arena's support in their all-important quarter-final match.

The last quarterfinal of PGL Major Copenhagen is about to get underway, with the series slated to kick off on G2's pick of Inferno, followed by MOUZ's selection of Vertigo. Should a decider be required, we'll be headed to Overpass to figure out the Major's final semi-finalist.

On reaction to quarter-final loss: "Of course, disappointed. I tried my best, I also tried my best to put my team in the best conditions today. It was not enough. We had some chance to win Mirage, also Inferno. Today is just about getting experience; we lose but I hope we get experience today and it is going to be better in the future".

On the team's positive results: "Obviously now I'm disappointed, but in two or three days with a clean mind we can say that we did really good, positive things here. We beat FaZe, Vitality, some really great teams here that are also in the quarterfinals, it does not mean nothing."

A message to the fans: "First of all, in English, I receive a lot of messages from everywhere in the world, because you guys followed us. You guys believed in our dreams, my dreams. Thank you very much for that. Sorry if we disappointed you guys. The most important thing for me today was to make you happy, more than me, but I cannot do that, sorry for that."

On X/Twitter, Natus Vincere captain Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen heaped praise on Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov, who was vital to his team's victory, especially on the CT side, where he had a 112 ADR and a 1.54 rating throughout the series.

The Ukrainian AWPer, who was brought in to replace Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev, is averaging a 1.16 rating in Copenhagen, second only to Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius's 1.21 rating on his team.

Speaking to James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks after his team's victory over Eternal Fire, Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius admitted that the series was a bit "too close" for comfort. He also said that the team had to wake up towards the end of Mirage as Eternal Fire were about to steal away NAVI's map pick.

"I was a little embarrassed, I had to come back a little bit," he said. "But we got warmed up and we won this as a team."

jL makes it to the semi-finals of a Major once again, and he has no doubt that his team will go one further than his old Apeks roster.

"We have a better roster, better players, a better in-game leader, and we're going to the finals, for sure."

Eternal Fire 8-11 Natus Vincere

Eternal Fire called their last timeout. of the game after Natus Vincere picked up their 11th round of the game, stopping the Turkish team's momentum. Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli's troops have no room for error if they want to win this game in regulation.

Eternal Fire 6-6 Natus Vincere

A chaotic end to a thrilling half of Inferno. Eternal Fire waited too long to commit to a site and ended up losing the round to the clock after Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov took down the bomb carrier with 10 seconds left. The Ukrainian AWPer ended the half with 20 frags, 12 more than any of his teammates.

Eternal Fire 4-3 Natus Vincere

Eternal Fire seem to have found their footing on Inferno after two massive blunders at the start of the game. They won three rounds in a row to take the lead, with Natus Vincere then responding with a gun round to tie up the score at 3-3.

Neither team seems capable of stamping their authority on proceedings at the moment.

Talk about a rough start. After fumbling a smoke in the pistol round, Eternal Fire lost the second round to a clutch from Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius. Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş could hardly believe what he was seeing...

Natus Vincere prevail on their map pick of Mirage after a last-gasp comeback. Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's troops recovered from a 10-12 deficit and then two rounds in each half of overtime to take the win, with the Finnish captain picking up three key frags in the final round.

We're off to Inferno, a map that NAVI haven't played since the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, two months ago.

Eternal Fire 12-12 Natus Vincere

With no room for error, Natus Vincere came back from two map points down to force overtime on Mirage. The international team survived a brutal comeback from Eternal Fire , with Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius getting four frags in the final two rounds of regulation.

Eternal Fire 10-10 Natus Vincere

Eternal Fire 7-10 Natus Vincere

Eternal Fire 7-9 Natus Vincere

All of a sudden, it's a two-round game. Eternal Fire are showing signs of life on the T side, winning four rounds in a row in dominant fashion. NAVI have called a timeout to discuss what to do with their first full buy.

Eternal Fire 3-9 Natus Vincere

What a dominant performance from Natus Vincere on their map pick. After losing the pistol and the following round, Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's troops shifted into a higher gear and picked EF's defense apart, led by Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov and Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan.

NAVI almost ended the half with double digits, but Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli found two important kills on the B site in the final round. The Turkish captain was without a doubt Eternal Fire's best player throughout the half. Will he get some help in the second half?

Eternal Fire 2-4 Natus Vincere

Eternal Fire stormed to a 2-0 lead on Mirage, but since then it's been all NAVI. After calling a timeout, Eternal Fire came close to getting their first gun round, but two quick kills from Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov on the B site and a timely flank by Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan ensured that NAVI will maintain the lead, at least for now.

Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan has had a rough Major so far. He was present in the wins but disappeared off the face of the planet in the losses to Spirit and Cloud9, and he now sits at a 0.82 average rating over 10 maps heading into the playoffs.

HLTV spoke to Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy about his performance, and the coach said he believes with time iM will work on his mindset. As NAVI head into the playoffs, the Romanian rifler will need to step up if they want to make it further.

"iM said to me that playoffs are a different game, and I think he also wants to show a much better game by himself. He's constantly trying, and I think with more effort he will succeed."

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B1ad3: "jL has this instant mindset to destroy the other team"

Eternal Fire are the first-ever Turkish team to qualify for Major playoffs and they begin their journey with what we thought was the hardest quarter-final to call against Natus Vincere.

We spoke to Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker following the qualification and it was clear just how much it meant to him to make his country proud. The team has never looked better, and the AWPer knows this is their chance to go even further.

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woxic: "Winning the Major feels more possible than ever"

You might have seen Eternal Fire's watch parties up until now, but they're only getting bigger from here, win or lose, the organization's CEO says.

For the quarter-finals, the team has organized watch parties in three Turkish cities, which will host 4,000 fans. Had it not been for local elections, they could have been even bigger.

Read the full story:

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"We want to show the power of esports" - Eternal Fire's watch parties will get bigger and bigger

Yesterday's blockbuster clash between FaZe and Spirit became the first PGL Major Copenhagen series to break through the million barrier, according to Esports Charts.

At the Blast.tv Major, for comparison, only the grand final surpassed this bar with 1.53 million peopel tuning in.

Our photographers, Radoslaw "MAKKU" Makuch and Josip "brcho" Brtan, and videographer Lewis Farley have been busy running around in the Royal Arena to bring you the best moments through the lens on day one.

Not an easy task. There wasn't much time needed for the Vitality-Cloud9 quarter-final, at least.

What a finish to yesterday, right? The big favorite is out, and now all bets are off on what happens next.

The bottom side of the bracket awaits today with Eternal Fire taking on Natus Vincere first, before MOUZ play G2 later tonight, and we can only hope they deliver half as much as the FaZe-Spirit classic did.

Date	Matches
PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024
29/03/2024	Eternal Fire 17:00 Natus Vincere	Match
29/03/2024	MOUZ 20:20 G2	Match