Live updates from PGL Major Copenhagen grand final

FaZe 0-3 Natus Vincere

An impressive retake of the A site secured Natus Vincere the pistol, and they weathered FaZe's force buy to go 3-0 up. A good start was needed for them to bounce back from that Mirage showing.

FaZe 10-2 Natus Vincere

Just load up Inferno, this one is done. FaZe have answered with a dominant CT side on Mirage, with the decider looking incredibly likely.

FaZe 6-1 Natus Vincere

One-way traffic for FaZe after that force buy. Even when the odds are against them, they pull out something like this 2vs4 conversion by Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard and Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen.

FaZe 3-1 Natus Vincere

FaZe's pistols ring true once again as the Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen-led squad finds a flawless round after losing the pistol.

At the end of Ancient, 1.49 million people watched Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius map-winning play.

Source: EsportsCharts

Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's fragging and Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius' clutching got Natus Vincere over the line on Ancient. Mirage up next!

FaZe 9-11 Natus Vincere

FaZe 9-10 Natus Vincere

You simply can't break FaZe. Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen and company got four rounds in a row to get within one round of Natus Vincere. We're in the end game now.

FaZe 5-10 Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere are feeling it. A second-half pistol and conversion got them up to ten rounds, and they are now just three rounds away from taking the map.

FaZe have a full buy in the next, though.

FaZe 5-7 Natus Vincere

Three rounds for FaZe since their pistol round conversion, one of them being a Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants clutch in a low-buy round, and another being a low-buy B attack.

Classic FaZe, I guess.

The match has already broken the one million mark just nine rounds in. Counter-Strike.

FaZe 3-6 Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere are absolutely rolling over FaZe, who can't get a handle on their offensive half. Every individual for Natus Vincere is hitting their shots, with Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen sitting at the top of the scoreboard with 10 kills.

FaZe 2-3 Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere have lost the pistol, but they have been competitive in every round since. A crucial 3k by Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius' AK got them ahead, and they converted the anti-eco to find an early advantage.

FaZe 0-0 Natus Vincere

FaZe picked Ancient, the map where Natus Vincere earned their grand-final spot after a 13-11 win against G2.

Natus Vincere picked Mirage, with Inferno, obviously, the decider.

Harry "⁠JustHarry⁠" Russell and Hugo "⁠Hugo⁠" Byron have been awarded the grand final cast after the duo shone in their semi-final cast of Spirit against FaZe at the last PGL Major in Antwerp.

Natus Vincere have made history as the organization with the most appearances in Major finals with six. Previously, they were tied with Ninjas in Pyjamas with five Major final appearances each.

Despite this impressive record, NAVI have only one Major title in their cabinet. They won PGL Major Stockholm 2021 after beating G2 in a final that had a peak of over 2.7 million viewers.

NAVI's results in Major finals:

DH Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 - Natus Vincere 0-2 Envy
MLG Columbus 2016 - Natus Vincere 0-2 Luminosity
FACEIT Major 2018 - Natus Vincere 0-2 Astralis
PGL Major Stockholm 2021 - Natus Vincere 2-0 G2
PGL Major Antwerp 2022 - Natus Vincere 0-2 FaZe

The last seven Majors have all ended with 2-0 wins in the grand final, with the last 2-1 being Cloud9's win against FaZe at the ELEAGUE Boston Major all the way back in 2018.

BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Vitality 2-0 GamerLegion
IEM Rio Major 2022 Outsiders 2-0 HEROIC
PGL Major Antwerp 2022 FaZe 2-0 Natus Vincere
PGL Major Stockholm 2021 Natus Vincere 2-0 G2
StarLadder Major Berlin 2019 Astralis 2-0 AVANGAR
IEM Katowice 2019 Astralis 2-0 ENCE
FACEIT Major 2018 Astralis 2-0 Natus Vincere

One of the biggest talking points ahead of the match is that Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen returns to a Major final, five years after guiding ENCE to a second-place finish at IEM Katowice 2019. The Finnish team then lost to Astralis in a one-sided final.

Here are some fun facts from those days:

1. Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen was without a team after the end of his loan spell with Envy. The Danish tactician, who had been benched by FaZe months earlier, would join MOUZ days after the Katowice Major.

2. Natus Vincere were ranked third in the world, while FaZe were fifth.

3. Ninjas in Pyjamas and fnatic had all-Swedish teams, while G2 had a French lineup.

4. Cloud9 had Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist and Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey on their roster.

5. North America had four teams in the top 30: NRG (#7), Cloud9 (#10), Ghost (#16) and Complexity (#29)

6. MIBR were the No.4 team in the world.

7. Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković and Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač were playing for Valiance.

8. North were still around.

9. Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy was coaching Gambit.

10. Renegades had just made history as the first Australian team to reach the playoffs of a Major.

Two of the most talked-about IGLs in Counter-Strike are on the verge of leading their troops onto the server for one final PGL Major Copenhagen battle, with everything on the line.

Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen and Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen have marshalled plenty of wars against one another over recent years, with their first engagement coming in 2018. Over that time karrigan has gotten the better of his Finnish counterpart more often than not, taking 13 wins to Aleksib's six.

Many of these games have come in group stages, but twice in more recent history the pair tested their mettle in high-pressure playoff games: IEM Katowice 2022 and BLAST Fall Final 2022. The first was a grand final where Aleksib was of course leading G2, and the second was a semi-final with Aleksib at the helm of Ninjas in Pyjamas. karrigan came out on top both times.

What about Aleksib's record since he joined Natus Vincere? The Finn has managed to score 2-1 over karrigan, winning at IEM Cologne 2023 and ESL Pro League S18, before losing the most-recent matchup at IEM Sydney 2023.

Plenty of criticism has been levelled at Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen in the wake of Natus Vincere's triumph over G2 in the semi-finals yesterday, with much of it focusing on G2's veto.

Head coach of G2 Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas has since posted to X/Twitter to insist that any criticism of G2's veto rests solely on his shoulders. The duo discussed the matter briefly in a video, titled "Post Plant with HooXi and TaZ," on G2's YouTube channel:

ECSTATIC 6-13 Denmark

The update you've all been waiting for is here — Denmark won the showmatch as Major-MVP Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye did his best to secure the victory for his team by not buying anything else than rifles across the whole game.

Hopefully that warmed up the crowd!

As always, HLTV have been hard at work on the ground in Copenhagen to bring you the best coverage of PGL Major Copenhagen. With the grand final around the corner, why not find out what some of the players had to say when we spoke to them over the last few of days?

Read more

frozen on floating Vertigo: "It was a good chance to put our balls on the table"

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iM: "If we win the Major and I'm last on the scoreboard, no one cares"

Read more

NEO: "We've had close to 20 practices on Vertigo after Katowice"

Read more

Aleksib: "I feel like we could be unstoppable"

ECSTATIC 1-5 Denmark

ECSTATIC started the match with R8s and Novas, but the match has since descended into a sweaty Mirage affair that FACEIT players would be proud of.

ECSTATIC vs Denmark

An all-out Danish clash will attempt to warmup before the main event gets underway at 20:00 . ECSTATIC will face off against a rag-tag Denmark team featuring Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller and Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye.

To even up the scores somewhat, the match will be played on ECSTATIC's permaban of Mirage.

It is time. Months of play dating back to the open qualifiers, many gruelling matches, countless teams with hearts broken, all building up to this moment: the first ever CS2 Major grand final.

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

FaZe and Natus Vincere both limped through the elimination stage in unconvincing fashion, but rose to the occasion when it mattered most on the big stage and elevated their game, as all true champions do.

Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen is seeking to emphasize his credentials as a GOAT IGL candidate by picking up his second Major, whilst Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen looks to earn his first, five years after making the grand final in his first-ever Major. Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius has been a playmaking monster for Natus Vincere, whilst Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants has embodied the FaZe mantra of stepping up when the stakes are high.

These storylines and many more are set to play out in a few hours time, so make sure you stay locked in with this live post to stay up to date with everything going down on this momentous occasion.