NAVI move on to Copenhagen Major final over G2

HooXi was denied the chance to compete against karrigan in front of a home crowd.

Natus Vincere have emerged the winners of PGL Major Copenhagen's second semi-final, securing their place in the title decider after beating out G2 in a tightly-contested series.

"The best birthday gift ever" was how Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen described his team's hard-fought victory over G2. With this win, the Finnish in-game leader returns to a Major grand final for the first time in over five years, having done so under the ENCE banner during the team's fairy-tale run at IEM Katowice 2019.

G2 will no doubt be lamenting the way their run ended in Copenhagen, as the international side had come close to taking the series from Natus Vincere. In particular, young gun Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov will feel particularly aggrieved, bowing out of the Major as the highest-rated player with a 1.37 rating, even after the loss.

Natus Vincere are now poised to clash with Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's FaZe in a star-studded grand final matchup. This series will serve as the first meeting for the two sides in over five months, having last played at IEM Sydney prior to the additions of Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov and David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský to Natus Vincere and FaZe, respectively.

Date	Matches
PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024
31/03/2024	FaZe 20:00 Natus Vincere	Match

Anubis, the pick of G2, would serve as the initial setting of the Major's second semi-final. Natus Vincere hit the ground running on their opponents' pick, stringing together five rounds in a row off the back of a pistol-round victory. G2 managed to rebound with some individual prowess from Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković, allowing Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen's men to claim their own streak of four rounds. Unfazed by this development, Natus Vincere snatched the final three rounds to finish off the half with a solid 8-4 scoreline.

Although Natus Vincere managed to snag the second pistol round, G2 immediately retorted with a force-buy victory, limiting their hopes of closing things out quickly. G2 soon tied things up off the back of a crucial 2v5, and although Natus Vincere stabilized long enough to be the first to secure match point, G2 snagged the final rounds they needed to secure overtime.

Despite being able to mount an impressive comeback in regulation off the back of m0NESY, the young AWPer's heroics were not enough in overtime, as Natus Vincere set aside G2 to lock down the map 16-13.

Although they dropped the ball at the end of Anubis, G2 hit their stride to kick off their opponents' pick of Nuke, racing ahead to a 9-3 scoreline at halftime after overcoming an early 2-2 tie. Natus Vincere bagged the pistol round on their CT side to begin closing the gap, but a fast play onto the A bombsite called by HooXi immediately shifted things back into G2's favor, allowing them to close out the map 13-7.

G2 kept things up with a flashy pistol round win, in which m0NESY secured a spin-around one-tap with the Dual Berretas to close things out, but the tide soon turned when Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius secured a show-stopping ace to get his team on the board.

jL's play completely turned the tides of Ancient, as G2 only managed to procure one more round for the rest of the half as Natus Vincere charged to an 8-4 lead. A pistol round win for G2 did little to change things as Natus Vincere immediately retorted with a force-buy win, allowing them to close in on match point. G2 managed to string together an impressive comeback, but HooXi's troops were denied the opportunity to tie things up at the last hurdle, as Natus Vincere finally locked down the map 13-11.