PGL Major Copenhagen

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 marked the first Major played with Counter-Strike 2's new 12-round halves. The defending Major champions were Team Vitality, who won their first Major championship at Blast Paris Major 2023. They would be eliminated following a semi-final defeat to FaZe Clan. On November 4, 2023, it was announced that Valve had renamed the Major's stages from Challengers Stage, Legends Stage and Champions Stage to "Opening Stage", "Elimination Stage" and "Playoffs Stage", respectively. During a 2–2 bracket match between Virtus.pro and G2 Esports, Virtus.pro player Dzhami "Jame" Ali experienced a game crash, after what was later determined to be an NVIDIA driver crash. The event led to G2 reaching map point, and caused a response regarding controversial technical issues with the Major, including from G2 player Nikola "NiKo" Kovač. On March 29, during a quarter-final match between G2 and MOUZ, spectators rushed the stage and were tackled by event security, damaging the trophy. PGL released a statement following the incident stating that they intended to press charges against the disruptors, who were reportedly involved with a Counter-Strike gambling platform.

In Their Own Story

The PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 was the first Counter-Strike 2 Major Championship. Twenty-four teams qualified from regional qualifiers for the tournament, which involved a prize pool of US$1,250,000. Natus Vincere were the tournament's champions, following a 2–1 victory over FaZe Clan. The defending Major champions were Team Vitality, who won their first Major championship at Blast Paris Major 2023. They would be eliminated following a semi-final defeat to FaZe Clan. The Opening Stage was played between March 17 and March 20, 2024. The Elimination Stage was played between March 21 and March 24, 2024. The Playoffs Stage was played between March 28 and March 31, 2024. On March 29, during a quarter-final match between G2 and MOUZ, spectators rushed the stage and were tackled by event security, damaging the trophy.

Reader's Guide

The PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 was held in Copenhagen, Denmark at the Royal Arena from March 17 to 31, 2024. Twenty-four teams qualified from regional qualifiers for the tournament. Like previous Majors using a Swiss-system group stage, twenty-four teams qualified for the tournament. This includes sixteen teams who qualified for the Opening Stage. The top eight teams from the Opening Stage moved on to the Elimination Stage, along with eight teams directly from the Regional Major Ranking (RMR) qualifiers. Finally, the top eight teams from the Elimination Stage played a single-elimination Playoffs Stage to determine a champion. In the first two stages, all matches except for progression or elimination matches, which are played as bests-of-three, are played in a best-of-one format. All matches in the Playoff Stage are played in a best-of-three format. It is the first Major to be played with Counter-Strike 2's new 12-round halves. The map pool consisted of Ancient, Anubis, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, and Vertigo. Qualification took place through three Regional Major Ranking events, based on teams' geographical regions, events were held in Europe, Americas and Asia. The RMR tournaments took place in Bucharest, Romania (February 14–24), Shanghai, China (February 26–28), and Monterrey, Mexico (March 1–4).

Did You Know?

• The PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 was the first Counter-Strike 2 Major Championship and the twentieth Counter-Strike Major overall.
• It is the fourth Counter-Strike Major organized by PGL after PGL Major: Kraków 2017, PGL Major Stockholm 2021 and PGL Major Antwerp 2022.
• On March 13, 2024, PGL announced the first ever 'Newbie' stream, intended to ease in newer viewers unfamiliar with Counter-Strike.
• During a 2–2 bracket match between Virtus.pro and G2 Esports, Virtus.pro player Dzhami 'Jame' Ali experienced a game crash after an NVIDIA driver crash.
• On March 29, during a quarter-final match between G2 and MOUZ, spectators rushed the stage and damaged the trophy.