NAVI Won the First Ever Major in CS2
Ukrainian team Natus Vincere won the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 CS2 tournament. It was the first tournament in the much-loved cybersport discipline since the upgrade from CS:GO to CS2. In the finals, NAVI faced the team from the US, FaZe Clan, and won 2:1 (Ancient — 13:9, Mirage — 2:13, Inferno — 13:3). The tournament prize pool is $1,250,000, of which NAVI will get $500,000 and Faze will get $170,000.
How Was the Deciding Bout?
The choice of the first map was for the FaZe Clan. The team from the US decided to play on the Ancient. However, this choice may not have been the best one, as NAVI players felt more comfortable here. Successful plays from Justynas “JL” Lekavicius and Valery “b1t” Vakhovskii allowed NAVI to win the map with a score of 13:7.
The most intense fight was on the second map, Mirage. NAVI won the pistol round but then lost 10 rounds in a row, making it hard for them to get back on their feet. FaZe Clan evened the score in the match by winning 13:2 and maybe even believed they had a chance to defeat the Ukrainian headshot machine.
The last map was Inferno. Natus Vincere started strong with 7:0. Vakhovskii played especially well, his K/D statistics reached 13:2. FaZe Clan showed a pretty good level of play, taking two rounds in a row, but NAVI closed the first half successfully with the 9:3 score. This was enough to win this decisive map and become the winners of the historical Major with a score of 12:3. Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov struck the decisive blow.
NAVI's winning roster
- Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov (Ukraine).
- Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskii (Ukraine).
- Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen (Finland).
- Justynas jL Lekavicius (Lithuania).
- Mihai "iM" Ivan (Romania).
- Coach Andrii "B1ad3" Horodenskii (Ukraine).
The team commented on their victory:
It took us 16 tries to win our first CS:GO major. Sorry, once again we weren't ready to wait so long again. The trophy is coming home. It’s coming to Ukraine!
This is the second Major won on NAVI's account. The team was known for the highest level of play but has often been joked about for not winning a single Major. That all changed at PGL Major Stockholm 2021, where the team defeated G2 Esports with a score of 2:0.
