2024 will feature the first CS2 Major in history when the PGL Copenhagen Major is set to take place in March. 24 teams will participate in the event, where 17 teams from Europe will battle seven teams from the Americas and two teams from the Asia-Pacific region.
The eight teams that reached the Champions Stage at the BLAST.tv Major in Paris 2023 will be invited for the closed qualifier if they have three or more members of the core lineup who participated in the Elimination Stage of the previous Major on the team. Vitality, Apeks, Monte, GamerLegion, and FaZe all qualify for a spot in the closed qualifier, while Heroic, Team Liquid, and Into The Breach miss out on the invitation due to roster changes.
Bucharest, Monterrey, and Shanghai to host Copenhagen Major qualifiers
32 teams from Europe will play in two groups of 16 to find the 17 qualifiers for the event. 16 spots are reserved for the open qualifiers, which leaves 11 spots open for EU teams, who will have to look at Valve’s Regional Standings to learn if they need to go through the excruciating open qualifiers. The final update to the rankings will happen on Monday after the conclusion of the BLAST World Finals and the ESL Challenger Atlanta 2023.
Regional Standings for Europe as of 11th of December 2023:
1. FaZe – 1980 points (Already qualified)
2. Vitality – 1796 points (Already qualified)
3. MOUZ – 1783 points
4. Virtus.pro – 1755 points
5. Spirit – 1712 points
6. ENCE – 1659 points
7. G2 – 1652 points
8. Monte – 1649 points (Already qualified)
9. Natus Vincere – 1573 points
10. Cloud9 – 1530 points
11. Eternal Fire – 1479 points
12. BIG – 1423 points
13. Astralis – 1363 points
14. Heroic – 1348 points
15. 1WIN – 1324 points
16. Apeks – 1322 points (Already qualified)
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17. BetBoom – 1315 points
18. GamerLegion – 1266 points (Already qualified)
19. Preasy – 1262 points
20. 9 Pandas – 1254 points
The standings leave 1WIN out of the race for a closed qualifier ticket as they will be surpassed by GamerLegion, who has already guaranteed themselves an invitation due to their success at the last Major. Just outside of the qualifier we also see Team BetBoom. Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov’s troops are playing at the YaLLa Compass Fall 2023 tournament right now, where they are in the semi-finals. The question remains if a tournament win is enough to overtake Heroic or Astralis in the rankings. Heroic is guaranteed $15,000 in prize money regardless if they lose all their matches at the BLAST Premier World Final. Team BetBoom can win $12,500 with a Grand Final victory at YaLLa Compass Fall 2023. It’s still not known how Valve distributes points in their Regional Rankings other than it is heavily reliant on tournament winnings.
The online qualifiers will feature teams such as Fnatic, FORZE, Preasy, 9INE, Ninjas in Pyjamas, TSM, OG, and Falcons. There will be four different online qualifiers with four spots in each tournament for the EU RMR. All matches until the last eight will be played as best of ones.
See the dates and how to participate in the open qualifiers here.
