eSports

Falcons fail to qualify for PGL Major Copenhagen 2024

February 17, 2024

We’re approaching the end of the European RMR 1 for the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, and we’re beginning to have a clear picture of the first set of teams who will be appearing at next month’s Major. Today, we had the biggest shock so far, with Falcons’ big-money superteam falling to AMKAL, leaving the qualifier in the process.

So, how did it come to this? Let’s take a look at what exactly went down in Bucharest.

Falcons flop in Bucharest

Credit: PGL

It’s impossible to call this anything other than a catastrophe of epic proportions. After putting together a superteam built to win CS2 tournaments, Saudi-owned Falcons have crashed out of the RMR for the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 with a 1:3 record. It’s a performance even worse than the Falcons’ record at the BLAST.tv Paris RMR last year, with a roster consisting of players such as NBK-, bodyy, and the corpse of kennyS.

For the likes of Magisk and zonic, this is not quite what they signed up for. Four and five-time Major winners respectively, it’s unthinkable that they won’t be there for their home Major in Copenhagen. Being reverse-sweeped in the final series against AMKAL should never have been on the cards, but a massive performance from ICY on the final map meant Falcons were dumped from the competition. On paper, Falcons should have been the only winner here. But then again, Counter-Strike simply isn’t played on paper.

So, what next for Falcons. We imagine Magisk and the former ENCE core of Snappi, SunPayus, and maden will be given more time to get things right, despite this abject failure. For BOROS, the last remaining survivor of the previous Falcons roster, this could be his final showing. NiP’s failure at the RMR yesterday was bad, but somehow, this feels worse.

NAVI continue their Major streak

It’s not a Counter-Strike Major without NAVI. As the only organization to have been involved in every CS:GO Major, the team went into their 2:1 bracket match against BetBoom looking to extend that impressive record into CS2. It wasn’t without a few hiccups, but they got there in the end.

Credit: PGL

NAVI came flying out of the gates on map one, taking Overpass in 13:4. They slipped up on Anubis, where BetBoom just seemed to have all the answers to NAVI’s questions. Coming on to the Nuke decider, they showed great mentality to fight back even when BetBoom won a few titling rounds. Praise needs to go to jL and Aleksib in particular, who were firing on all cylinders to get this match over the line.

As for BetBoom, they face another tough matchup tomorrow against Turkish team Eternal Fire. It’s an unfortunate, difficult draw, but at their best, they’ve shown enough to prove they can take the 2:2 match. If not, the Last Chance Qualifier awaits.

Here is the full selection of results from the latest day of action at the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 European RMR 1: