Apogee complete underdog run to qualify for PGL Bucharest over OG

The Polish team emerged as the unlikely victors of a 32-team, 145-map qualifier to lock in a spot in Romania.

Betclic have completed a dream run through the PGL Bucharest Europe closed qualifier, claiming the scalps of Ninjas in Pyjamas, fnatic, and BetBoom before defeating OG 3-1 (13-5 Ancient, 14-16 Nuke, 16-14 Dust2, 13-9 Anubis) in the grand final.

The Poles were among the bottom three teams invited to the closed qualifier (based on Valve's Regional Standings as of the February 3 cut-off date) and were ranked No. 79 on HLTV at the event's start (25th out of 32 teams), but will earn a jump up in both rankings after becoming the plucky underdog to earn a ticket to Romania.

The team — which houses Jakub "⁠jcobbb⁠" Pietruszewski, Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo's Bold Prediction of 2025 — got the job done the hard way with a group stage run that included a tight, three-map win over Ninjas in Pyjamas and a 1.45-rated series from jcobbb to 2-0 fnatic to reach the four-team playoffs.

jcobbb's entry work still did wonders for Betclic but it was Patryk "⁠Demho⁠" Tomaszewski and Milan "⁠hypex⁠" Polowiec who took over to get the Poles past BetBoom and OG, crushing the latter's surprise run to the final in heartbreaking fashion.

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HEROIC and BetBoom suffer shock exits in PGL Bucharest qualifier semis

Betclic dominated OG's Ancient pick to start the series but seemed set for the same treatment on Nuke, going down 4-11 after losing the pistol and then 5-12 after their economy was crushed in the second gun round.

An exceptional half out of hypex and jcobbb saw Betclic win seven straight to force overtime before they lost 14-16, and an almost mirrored situation played out on Dust2. Betclic went 2-0 up before losing the next 10 rounds in a row, only for jcobbb and Demho to help recover on the T side and force overtime again.

This time, they got the job done to go up 2-1 in the series and ran with that momentum onto Anubis, where they led 7-1 on the CT side before sealing victory on the offense.

The victory earned the Poles some plaudits from Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen shortly after the match. "Great comeback and good calls," the FaZe captain told Prism in a post on X.

His post came minutes before another followed from his wife, Anna "anjdasuder" Suder, who joined the Portuguese organization in December as a Sports Psychologist.

"Reached our expectations by winning the group and outdid it by winning the entire qualifier, I’m incredibly proud of how the guys persevered. Great mentality and comebacks in the final," she said on X.

It's a missed opportunity that OG will look back on with some regret after a stellar recent run of form with Nico "⁠nicoodoz⁠" Tamjidi as a stand-in.

The Danish sniper led the team throughout the qualifier (1.19 rating over 18 maps) and remained a decent performer through the final, but had several key misses with the AWP on the CT side of Dust2 — after an excellent T half — that ended up costing his team the map and a 2-1 series lead.

Still, OG will earn more than a few VRS points for their efforts and nicoodoz can take a little bit of solace from an incredible 1v4 ace clutch he got against NAVI Junior in the group stage.

PGL Bucharest 2025 Europe Closed QualifierBest of 5

OG

Matchpage

1

3

12th March 2025

Betclic

5

Ancient

13

16

Nuke

14

14

Dust2

16

9

Anubis

13

OG	K - D	Swing	ADR	KAST	Rating2.1
Nico 'nicoodoz' Tamjidinicoodoz	79 - 69	-0.89%	78.8	72.0%	1.11
Maciej 'F1KU' MiklasF1KU	67 - 68	-0.38%	69.3	74.0%	1.02
Olle 'spooke' Grundströmspooke	66 - 72	+1.09%	72.4	62.0%	0.95
Christoffer 'Chr1zN' StorgaardChr1zN	60 - 75	-1.38%	80.2	64.0%	0.93
Christian 'Buzz' AndersenBuzz	51 - 72	-4.00%	57.6	69.0%	0.78

Betclic	K - D	Swing	ADR	KAST	Rating2.1
Milan 'hypex' Polowiechypex	92 - 54	+2.04%	81.2	81.0%	1.31
Jakub 'jcobbb' Pietruszewskijcobbb	67 - 71	+0.00%	87.9	75.0%	1.12
Patryk 'Demho' TomaszewskiDemho	66 - 57	+1.39%	75.4	76.0%	1.12
Wojciech 'Prism' ZiębaPrism	72 - 71	+1.42%	76.2	71.0%	1.10
Oskar 'hfah' Wrońskihfah	57 - 72	+0.39%	69.0	73.0%	0.95

The final spot at PGL Bucharest will be determined later today by the winner of the South America closed qualifier match between Legacy and 9z. The team list for the $1,250,000 event is now:

Eternal Fire
G2
The MongolZ
FaZe
Falcons
Virtus.pro
Astralis
Liquid

paiN
GamerLegion
3DMAX
FURIA
Complexity
Rare Atom
Betclic
SA Qualifier