They deserve to win a Major. The best players who have not yet become champions of Valve tournaments
PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 will be the 19th major hosted by Valve. Over the long history of the tournament series, we have seen many different winners and bitter defeats. Every player who decides to connect his life with the professional Counter-Strike scene wants to become a major champion. But this doesn’t work out for everyone: for some, defeats strengthen them to develop and become better, but some players, after failure at several majors, give up and end their careers.
Today we will talk about esportsmen who failed to become major champions, despite the community’s confidence that it was high time for them to earn such an important title. We will touch upon both experienced players whose careers are coming to an end, and young talents who are already worthy of receiving the championship trophy from Valve. PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 will be their next attempt to achieve this, and for some it may be their last.
Nikola Niko Kovac
When talking about players who have yet to win a major, Nikola NiKo Kovac definitely comes to mind. The Bosnian is one of the most talented players on the professional scene, but he is constantly plagued by failures at Valve tournaments. He played in 12 majors, but at each one something strange happened to him. During his time playing for MOUZ, NiKo had not yet particularly claimed the title of major champion, and missing the playoffs four times did not surprise anyone. After this, Kovacs’ high-profile transfer to FaZe Clan happened. But the star team on the roster with the Bosnian also faced failures. The community later dubbed this trend the «NiKo curse» and began to believe that an esports player would never be able to win a major.
The first official championship from Valve in the FaZe camp for NiKo was PGL Major Krakow 2017. The team was one of the favorites, but failed miserably in the group stage and was eliminated with statistics of 0-3. This result was certainly terrible for a team of this level, but the biggest blow to Nikola Kovac’s mental component came at ELEAGUE Major 2018.
On it, FaZe was able to reach the grand final, but it became fatal for her. In the decisive match, the team faced Cloud9, where the NiKo squad was the undisputed favorite. At first, it seemed so in the match itself: FaZe won the opponent’s pick and had a chance to become the champion with a score of 2:0. But she suddenly lost her Overpass, taking only 3 rounds for the attack. The team managed to redeem themselves at the decisive Inferno and the victory was almost in their pocket, but something went wrong. FaZe Clan led with a score of 15:11, but failed to win the last round in regulation time. She also failed to achieve success in overtime: Cloud9 led with a score of 18:15 and in the first round of extra time FaZe had difficulty returning to the game. But thanks to the insane support of the local crowd and self-belief, C9 were able to take four rounds in a row and snatch the trophy from the hands of their formidable opponents. This result disappointed the team even more than the elimination in the group stage of PGL Major Krakow 2017 and became the first real failure in the career of Nikola NiKo Kovacs.
The Bosnian’s next close attempt to become a major champion was with G2 Esports. At PGL Major Stockholm 2021, the team managed to reach the grand final, but their opponents were the then invincible Natus Vincere. G2’s chances in that match ended after a fatal miss from NiKo with Desert Eagle on Nuke.
Ilya m0NESY Osipov
Despite his young age and the small number of majors played, Nikola NiKo Kovac’s teammate, Ilya m0NESY Osipov, can be included in this category. At 18 years old, he is one of the best players on the professional scene, but has not yet become a major champion. During his short career, the Russian took part in two of them: PGL Major Antwerp 2022 and BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. At both championships, G2 Esports failed to leave the legends stage.
In 2024, m0NESY is at the peak of his form and manages to keep afloat such a controversial roster as G2 currently has. PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 would be a great opportunity for the sniper to win the first major of his career, but with such a lineup, he has little chance of doing so. Most likely, m0NESY’s championship will be delayed until he leaves the team. Currently, only Ilya Osipov and Nikola Kovac play consistently in G2 Esports, and this is definitely not enough to win the main championship with such great competition on the professional scene.
Denis seized Kostin
After 6 years, the legendary player from the CIS, Denis seized Kostin, returns to the major. He is no longer in the same shape as his best years, but has come a long and hard way to lead his new team to PGL Major Copenhagen 2024. 9 Pandas had to start by playing in smaller tournaments and faced constant roster changes, but after all, they found their ideal five and achieved the desired success. The team qualified for the major through the difficult Last Chance Qualifier, and before that they had to go through the RMR qualifications themselves, which were also difficult.
Denis seized Kostin has already played in 12 majors, and the upcoming PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 will be an opportunity for the esports player to truly return to the tier-1 stage, but most likely there will be no chance of winning it. 9 Pandas is a long way from being a major favorite, and for some of the team’s players it will be their first. Kostin is already 29 years old and is at the final stage of his career, and he no longer has time to develop stars. The esportsman certainly deserves to become the champion of PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, but there is no real chance of this.
Dmitry sh1ro Sokolov
Dmitry sh1ro Sokolov, who has long been one of the best players on the professional scene, received his long-awaited opportunity to win a major. After moving to Team Spirit, he no longer has to deal with the internal problems of the Cloud9 roster and can concentrate on his individual play, which he has at the highest level. Everything worked out as it should in Spirit: the team has a stable sniper, the talented Danil donk Kryshkovets and an experienced captain in the person of Leonid chopper Vishnyakov. This led to the natural growth of the team and a well-deserved championship at IEM Katowice 2024. Now Team Spirit is one of the main favorites for the championship at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024.
Before Spirit, Dmitry sh1ro Sokolov played at three majors: PGL Major Stockholm 2021 for Gambit Esports and PGL Major Antwerp 2022 with IEM Rio Major 2022 in Cloud9. During these championships, the team’s best result was 3rd-4th place at the championship in Stockholm, which does not satisfy the ambitions of such a star player as sh1ro.
Jonathan EliGE Jablonowski
One of the most promising players on the American scene also did not win his major. Jonathan EliGE Jablonowski spent his entire career with Team Liquid, with whom he participated in 12 Valve championships. The team’s closest results were 3-4 places at MLG Columbus 2016 and FACEIT Major 2018, as well as second place at ESL One Cologne 2016, where the roster with Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev lost to SK Gaming in the grand finals.
The community has always celebrated the talent of Jonathan EliGE Jablonowski, but his career was ruined by loyalty to the local Counter-Strike scene. He never played for European teams; he even changed Team Liquid only in the summer of 2023 after 8 years in the organization. Now EliGE performs in the new line-up Complexity and again shows good results. But the roster is unlikely to be able to compete for high places at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 with the world’s greats. This means that Jablonowski will again be left without the coveted major to his credit.
We will see these players in action very soon – PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 starts on March 17. It is still difficult to predict that any of them will overcome their barrier and finally be able to win the first major in their career, but there are always a lot of sensations at Valve championships and there is a chance that we will get an unexpected champion. Dmitry sh1ro Sokolov has the most opportunities for this, since Team Spirit is on a huge rise. We will see what G2 Esports, 9 Pandas and Complexity can achieve at the championship itself.