Natus Vincere beat FaZe Clan to win PGL Major Copenhagen

2 April 2024

March 2024 has been a big month for the Counter-Strike franchise, as it saw the first ever official Counter-Strike 2 Major since the launch of the game back in September of last year. From March 17th to March 31st, the PGL Major Copenhagen was played at the Royal Arena in the Danish Capital, which saw Ukrainian esports organization Natus Vincere beat FaZe Clan in the final. It was the second time in their history that NAVI, the abbreviated form of Natus Vincere, won a Major championship, after their first victory in Stockholm in 2021. On top of the prestige, the Ukrainians also raked in $ 500.000 in prize money plus 3.500 BLAST Premier points.

Growing into the tournament

While Natus Vincere have been known as one of the best Counter-Strike teams in the world for some years already, they got off to a rather slow start in Copenhagen. They entered the event in the Elimination Stage, where sixteen teams were competing for eight spots in the Playoff Stage. With an eventual 3-2 score, and 108 won rounds versus 119 lost rounds, the Ukranian team didn’t exactly give off a vibe of invincibility, but it was enough to qualify for the playoffs. They finished in sixth place, behind Team Spirit, MOUZ, Eternal Fire, Cloud9 and Team Vitality, and above G2 Esports and FaZe Clan.

Turkish player-owned Eternal Fire was the first opponent for NAVI in the quarterfinals of the Playoff Stage, where the Ukrainians dispatched of them rather comfortably. Round one on Mirage ended un 13-16 and the following map (Inferno) was won 9-13. This brought Natus Vincere into the semifinals, where G2 Esports were waiting. The Berlin, Germany, based organization eliminated MOUZ in the quarterfinals, but they were not up to the NAVI challenge. The latter started strong on Anubis, winning the map 16-13, before losing the second map (Nuke) 7-13. The final round was played on Ancient and won by NAVI, meaning that the Ukrainian esports organization qualified for the grand final of the PGL Major Copenhagen.

Spectacular grand final

In the grand final, former PGL Antwerp 2022 winners FaZe Clan were waiting after defeating Team Vitality in the semifinals. The international esports organization, which is based in both Europe and the United States, lost the first map of the final (Ancient) 9-13. At that point, it looked like the expectations of a tight affair were being confirmed, but then FaZe suddenly blasted through map two (Mirage), beating NAVI 13-2 to make it 1-1.

It all came down to the third and final map, Inferno, which, against all odds, became a one-sided affair in favour of Natus Vincere. The Ukrainians waltzed over FaZe 3-13 to clinch the second Major title in their history, as wel as half a million American dollars in prize money. On top of that, NAVI also received 3.500 BLAST Premier points and a direct invite to the BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 in November and the Esports World Cup 2024 (dates not announced yet).