PGL Major Copenhagen 2024

The PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 was the first Counter-Strike 2 Major Championship and twentieth Counter-Strike Major overall. It 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, which involved a prize pool of US$1,250,000. It is the fourth Counter-Strike Major organized by PGL after PGL Major: Kraków 2017, PGL Major Stockholm 2021 and PGL Major Antwerp 2022. Natus Vincere were the tournament's champions, following a 2–1 victory over FaZe Clan.

Background
Counter-Strike 2 is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the fifth game in the Counter-Strike series. In professional Counter-Strike, the Valve-sponsored Majors are considered the most prestigious tournaments.

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.

Talent
On March 13, 2024, PGL announced the full talent lineup for the Major, including the first ever "Newbie" stream, intended to ease in newer viewers unfamiliar with Counter-Strike.

Hosts


 * James Banks (stage host)
 * Richard Lewis
 * Eefje "sjokz" Depoortere
 * Pala Gilroy Sen

Analysts


 * Jacob "Pimp" Winneche
 * Mathieu "Maniac" Quiquerez
 * Sudhen "Bleh" Wahengbam
 * Jason "moses" O'Toole

Casters


 * Anders Blume
 * Henry "HenryG" Greer
 * Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill
 * Alex "Machine" Richardson
 * Harry "JustHarry" Russell
 * Hugo Byron
 * Mohan "launders" Govindasamy
 * Conner "scrawny" Girvan
 * Vince Hill (Newbie stream)
 * Jack "Jacky" Peters (Newbie stream)

Format
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.

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.

Map pool

 * Ancient
 * Anubis
 * Inferno
 * Mirage
 * Nuke
 * Overpass
 * Vertigo

Europe

 * G2 Esports
 * Virtus.pro
 * Movistar KOI
 * FaZe Clan
 * Natus Vincere
 * AMKAL ESPORTS
 * SAW
 * Eternal Fire
 * Cloud9
 * MOUZ
 * Apeks
 * Team Vitality
 * Team Spirit
 * ENCE
 * ECSTATIC
 * HEROIC
 * GamerLegion

Asia

 * The Mongolz
 * Lynn Vision

Americas

 * Imperial Esports
 * FURIA Esports
 * paiN Gaming
 * Legacy
 * Complexity Gaming

Qualification
Qualification took place through three Regional Major Ranking events, based on teams' geographical regions, events were held in Europe, Americas and Asia. Unlike in previous Majors where teams were seeded according to performance at RMRs, a number of Opening Stage and Elimination Stage places were instead distributed according to Valve's own regional standings.

Seven teams from Europe and one team from the Americas RMRs who qualified earned direct berths to the Elimination Stage, in accordance with the number of each region's teams that advanced from the Challengers Stage to the Legends Stage of Paris 2023.

The RMR tournaments took place in the following cities:


 * Europe: Bucharest, Romania: February 14–24
 * RMR A: February 14–17
 * RMR B: February 19–22
 * Last Chance Qualifier: February 23–24
 * Asia: Shanghai, China: February 26–28
 * Americas: Monterrey, Mexico: March 1–4

RMR results
Source:

Team seeding
Following the conclusion of the Americas RMRs, Valve updated their regional standings and awarded teams Elimination Stage berths based on their new rankings.

Opening stage
On November 4, 2023, it was announced that Valve had renamed the Challengers Stage and Legends Stage of the Major to "Opening Stage" and "Elimination Stage" respectively. Teams would also be seeded into these stages according to their regional standings. Like previous Majors using a Swiss-system bracket, sixteen teams will compete for eight Elimination Stage spots, with all matches besides elimination and progression matches, which are bests-of-three, being bests-of-one.

The Opening Stage was played between March 17 and March 20, 2024.

Elimination stage
Like the Opening Stage, the Elimination Stage is played in a Swiss-system bracket, with eight teams advancing to a single-elimination Playoffs Stage. The Elimination Stage includes the eight teams that advance from the Opening Stage, as well as the seven highest teams from the Europe RMR and the highest team from the Americas RMR in Valve's regional standings. Matches are played in the same format as in the Opening Stage.

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.

The Elimination Stage was played between March 21 and March 24, 2024.

Playoffs stage
The top eight teams from the Elimination Stage will advance to a single-elimination bracket. Each match in the Playoffs Stage is played in a best-of-three format.

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.

The Playoffs Stage was played between March 28 and March 31, 2024.

Final standings
The final placings are shown below. In addition, the prize distribution, roster, and coaches are shown.

Source: