Who will make it to the finals of the first CS2 major? PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 semi-finals preview
There are four strongest teams left at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024. Like the entire championship, the playoff bracket turned out to be extremely unpredictable. Team Vitality, unnoticed on the Elimination Stage, unstable FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere with two almost the worst players of the major, and G2 Esports, whose composition still raises big questions, reached the semifinals. In this article we will look at all the semi-finalists and decide who has the best chance of making it to the grand final of PGL Major Copenhagen 2024.
Team Vitality vs FaZe Clan
In the first semi-final, two teams that deserve to play in the grand final will meet, but one of them will go home after this match. FaZe Clan occupy the first line of the HLTV rating, and Team Vitality is third. This meeting has every chance to become the most exciting after the fight between FaZe and Team Spirit. When both of these teams are in their peak form, their head-to-head meeting on paper looks like a grand final agenda, but the bracket is set up differently and they will have to find out who is the strongest now.
Team Vitality’s strongest and most obvious advantage is having the best player in the world on its roster. Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut continues to dominate the professional scene after falling ill on the Elimination Stage. Without ZywOo’s impact, everyone had already written off Vitality, but they did it in vain. The break before the playoffs was beneficial for the team, and the greatest sniper on the planet managed to recover. After problems in the group stage, Team Vitality easily dealt with Cloud9, who were in their best form.
Besides Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut, Team Vitality has one of the best riffler duos. Lotan Spinx Giladi and Shahar flameZ Shushan perform excellently at all major tournaments and make a huge contribution to the team’s victories. Only thanks to them the team was able to reach the playoffs with the main player almost absent.
Considering that the playoffs of PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 are taking place at the Royal Arena – one of the largest arenas in the world, the support of the Team Vitality fan sector also plays a big role in important matches. The French fans arrived in full readiness, and their drums can be heard throughout the stadium and on the official broadcast. Under such pressure, it becomes even harder for Vitality’s opponents to play, and the team itself is charged with positive energy.
But, nevertheless, although Team Vitality is one of the strongest teams, sometimes they have great difficulties and unexpected failures when Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut cannot find his game. It doesn’t happen that often, but when a Frenchman plays poorly, the whole team goes down with him. Perhaps players lose confidence when their best player fails to make the wild impact he usually does.
Team Vitality’s only weak link is their latest acquisition, William mezii Merriman. The esports player has never been famous for his stability, and successful games are extremely rare for him. But for some reason, one of the strongest rosters in the world needed him. So far the team has been able to win with him, but someday this trend may fail Team Vitality at the most inopportune moment.
In the semi-finals, Team Vitality faced the most formidable opponent, who was in no way inferior to the roster of Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut. FaZe Clan has a clear advantage in the captain. Finn karrigan Andersen, at 33 years old, has played a huge number of matches in big arenas and has enormous experience in the most important meetings. The Dane has won a lot of grand finals, but also lost a lot of them. This makes you aware of the cost of mistakes, because it is much easier to learn from negative experiences. He always knows how to get the team out of situations in which it already seems that there is no way out. This was once again confirmed in the quarterfinals with Team Spirit, when he decided to play Vertigo, who is the team’s permanent member and she never trains her.
FaZe Clan also brings together the best players in their roles. This is one of the few examples where the star team concept actually works. If one of the esportsmen is not playing well, the rest replace him and against this background the team does not completely suffer in individual performance. FaZe Clan does not have a player like Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut, without whom the team’s success is impossible, because of this there is not so much pressure on it.
The only weak side of FaZe are two older players; if Finn karrigan Andersen has the right to play matches with poor statistics due to his role as captain, then the constant sagging of 29-year-old Howard rain Nygaard is no longer acceptable. More often than not, he is the weakest link, but he has a great ability to step in when it matters most in a match.
Despite Team Vitality having such a big counterweight in the person of Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut, in our opinion it is FaZe Clan that will be stronger. The team was charged with motivation after a hard victory over the main favorite, Team Spirit. Finn karrigan Andersen and Howard rain Nygaard are at the end of their careers and perhaps this is their last chance to win a major, they will take advantage of any opportunities on the way to their goal. The team’s chances of winning are almost equal, but we’ll give a slight advantage to FaZe Clan: 55 to 45.
Natus Vincere vs G2 Esports
Natus Vincere and G2 Esports were among the weakest representatives of the playoffs before it began. However, they managed to deal with their opponents without much difficulty. This is another example where performing in the group stage and playing in the decisive stage are completely different things.
The strongest side of Natus Vincere, no matter how strange it may be, is Ihor w0nderful Zhdanov. Initially, it seemed that it was impossible to replace Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev. But the team’s new sniper proved that it was feasible and managed it 100%. The young talent managed to become a new star of NAVI and the success of the roster at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 is mainly due to him. In the quarterfinals, he completely destroyed Eternal Fire, although the match was very even to begin with.
However, despite all the strength of Ihor w0nderful Zhdanov, Natus Vincere have two players who are seriously sagging in individual play, and at the Elimination Stage they were in the top of the worst, despite reaching the playoffs. Aleksi Aleksib Virolainen has never stood out statistically, but his contribution to the team is still quite large, since he acts as captain. It is difficult to justify the poor play of Ivan iM Mihai; most likely he will not remain in the lineup, even if Natus Vincere wins at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024. One of the stars of the club, Valeriy b1t Vakhovskiy, has also recently been unable to find himself. After moving to CS2, his individual form sagged greatly and he is no longer one of the factors in NAVI’s victories.
G2 Esports also has something to answer. If we compare team snipers, the advantage is still on the side of G2. Ilya m0NESY Osipov is in the best shape of his entire career and definitely intends to become a major champion in the near future. The composition of G2 Esports raises big questions, but it is thanks to m0NESY that it is afloat and is competing in the playoffs of PGL Major Copenhagen 2024.
In the quarterfinals, Ilya Osipov was joined by Nikola NiKo Kovac, who had not been seen for a long time. Before the playoffs, the e-sportsman returned to his old mouse and showed an excellent game against MOUZ. If NiKo can continue to show the same performance, G2 has a good chance of winning their first major title.
However, the team still has three unstable players in Rasmus HooXi Nielsen, Nemanja nexa Isakovic and Nemanja huNter- Kovac. The presence in the lineup can only be justified in the case of the latter; sometimes he performs at the level of his star teammates and, moreover, is NiKo’s brother and will not leave the team until he leaves.
Like the first semi-final, this match will be fairly even. However, Ilya m0NESY Osipov and Nikola NiKo Kovac can create the necessary advantage for their squad to win. We estimate the teams’ chances at 60 to 40 in favor of G2 Esports.
Regardless of the results of the semi-finals, the grand final of PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 will be grandiose and extremely interesting. It becomes more difficult to predict the outcome of matches at the first CS2 major with each stage, but in our opinion, FaZe Clan and G2 Esports will play in the final match. FaZe will have a chance to win a second major, and G2 can do it for the first time and at a time when no one expected it.