Round 1 of the Elimination Stage at the PGL Major Copenhagen ended with victories for G2 and Team Spirit.

Nikola “NiKo” Kovač and the rest of the G2 gang didn’t take long to smash FURIA on Inferno. Fans of the team will be happy to see Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač back in excellent shape after a couple of lackluster months. The Bosnian kept up with the two stars of G2, Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov, and Nikola “NiKo” Kovač at the top of the scoreboard. G2 won 13-3 on Inferno.

Team Spirit and Cloud9 played the last match of the round on Ancient. Here Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov faced his old teammates, who had gone flawlessly through the Opening Stage of the Major in Copenhagen. But against Spirit, Cloud9 could not continue their excellent showing from the first stage. The firepower from Spirit was simply on another level with Danil "donk" Kryshkovets, and Myroslav 'zont1x' Plakhotia showing very promising signs in their Major debut. Spirit won 13-7 and move on into the 1-0 bracket.

You can see all results and the upcoming matches in round 2 in the article below.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"pgl-copenhagen-major-2024","isNewTab":true}]

zont1x

sh1ro

donk

huNter

G2 Esports

Spirit

Cloud9

FURIA

The final phase of IEM Cologne is starting to look like a banger!

Team Vitality and G2 joined Heroic and ENCE in the playoff bracket with big wins against MOUZ and FaZe.

For Team Vitality it took less than two hours to destroy MOUZ 16-4, 16-5. David 'frozen' Čerňanský was the only MOUZ player putting up a fight against the defending Major champions who looked stellar throughout the match.

Shortly after G2 could celebrate a huge victory against FaZe, where especially Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač delivered two impressive maps. The Bosnian was part of a very determined G2 roster that took control from the get-go against FaZe. On Inferno in-game leader Rasmus 'HooXi' Nielsen came out blazing on the T-side and drove G2 to win their own map pick 16-4. On Ancient it was again a very good first half that gave G2 the upperhand, which allowed them to finish off FaZe 16-12.

G2 and Vitality face each other later today, where they will fight for a direct spot in the semi-finals.

In the lower bracket of the two groups, Fnatic, Monte, NIP, and OG got eliminated.

The schedule for the last day of the group stage at IEM Cologne looks like this:

Team Vitality

The IEM Katowice 2023 event has come to a close, with G2 emerging as the champions against the Danes from Heroic in a 3-1 victory. Among the standout players in the grand final was Bosnian player, Nemanja “huNter-“ Kovac, who was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament.

huNter- had a tournament rating of 1.28 through the playoffs, which placed him among the top performers. Despite not being the highest-rated player overall at IEM Katowice, the Bosnian rifler proved himself as the player to watch when it mattered the most.

He finished with an impressive ADR of 106, making him the third-most consistent fragger with 53% of rounds. He was also the fourth-highest damage dealer, with 83.3 damage per round, and the third-best fragger overall, with 0.79 kills per round.

With his second MVP award of his career now secured, the success of huNter and G2 at IEM Katowice 2023 serves as a testament to the talent and hard work of not only huNter, but also the rest of the team.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"highest-rated-players-2023-far","isNewTab":true}]

For the second year in a row G2 will fight for the title in the Grand Final at IEM Katowice. The star-studded team qualified today after a dominant performance against Team Liquid.

In front of a packed Spodek Arena, Team Liquid tried to throw a curveball picking Anubis as the first battleground of the day. But G2 quickly proved that they were more than capable of fighting back. Seven T-rounds gave Rasmus 'HooXi' Nielsen and his men an excellent push into the second half, where G2 completely outplayed Liquid.

Inferno was even rougher for Liquid. With Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač playing phenomenally, there was little to no chance for the North Americans. huNter- broke Liquid in the third round in a 2vs5 situation. The Bosnian aced Liquid almost out of the server and played a key part in why G2 was able to take a convincing 11-4 lead into the second half.

Here Liquid woke up. YEKINDAR found several good entry-kills to set up his team for a comeback. They made it all the way to 11-14 before G2 finally found the right answers. G2 won 16-11 and is now ready for the Grand Final against Heroic tomorrow at 16.00 (CET). 

MVP: {cflag:BA} Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač - 1.36 rating / 49-34 K-D / 90.7 ADR

Team Liquid

Back in December 2022 when G2 clinch their first trophy since the DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017, the mixed European team has become a completely different roster. G2 has been playing lights out at the IEM Katowice 2023 beating the likes of FaZe and Natus Vincere in a dominant 2-0 fashion.

G2 struggled during the 2022 season but following their victory at BLAST Premier Fall Finals, the squad led by Rasmus 'HooXi' Nielsen gained so much confidence that they now are favorites to win IEM Katowice 2023. After taking down last year's IEM Katowice champions, G2 secured themselves the number-one spot on the HLTV World Ranking list. 

huNter- is certain that confidence has been the main reason behind their recent success.

- I think it was different, we started really bad as they were leading 5-0, and we knew that we made some individual mistakes but we didn't give up so we just kept on fighting because we knew that we would bounce back. Confidence is everything and we have it now. 

Watch the full clip with Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač down below:

[twitchClip:CorrectGoldenFerretFUNgineer-B2rreDEO5oULkiLE]

A feel good win at BLAST World Final capped off the year in style under difficult circumstances and finally there is a modicum of belief in Rasmus 'HooXi' Nielsen’s vision. Propelled by the rookie of the year in Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov, G2 enjoyed sporadic success throughout the year but failure to qualify for the IEM Rio Major left them in dire straits, lacking direction and doubting leadership. Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač, famed for his angst toward his IGL’s seems to have turned a corner, putting trust in his Danish friend and long may it continue because G2 are finally exciting to watch again.

Who knows what form BIG are going to show up in and it feels like they haven’t fielded the same five players at consecutive tournaments as long as I can remember. Seemingly they are back to the full roster here but it’s all a bit up in the air and the Germans will be praying for the inevitable carry performance from Florian 'syrsoN' Rische. IEM Rio went about as well as could be expected, but not even a single map win during the best-of-three phase showed their true colours. BIG’s talismanic IGL, Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz can never be truly put away, and BIG certainly have a chance of making it past the knockout stage if it all clicks into place.

2022 didn’t actually end all too well for Na’Vi with failure in the quarter-finals of the last four big events, including the Major, prompting the move culling Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhev for rookie Andrii 'npl' Kukharskyi. The CIS squad are never far from greatness thanks to Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev but as we’ve seen over the years, he cannot go it alone and I'm not sure this change is quite the answer to their problems. You cannot ever count out the GOAT though, and the expectation remains that he will continue to be the catalyst to their success.

A new superstar young CIS AWPer. Where have we heard that before? The latest chapter in the seemingly never ending machine cycle of NiP roster moves has finally secured a true AWPer, but will the language barrier prove too much to handle? Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen is once again tasked with collating raw talent, and sculpting it into title contention, but I don’t have much hope that they will hit the ground running here at BLAST. A great match to kick it off though, and the Ninjas are more than capable of taking down a rebuilding Na’Vi.

The closest group by far and any combination to progress can be argued for, but G2 and Na’Vi are expected to duel it out for the coveted top spot.

Group C kicks off on the 20th January with G2 taking on BIG.

Krimbo

nipl

headtr1ck

Natus Vincere

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Nemanja "huNter" Kovac got himself the perfect start to the new year with great news of him finishing at number 14 on the top 20 players of 2022. 

huNter ended the year with a 1.12 rating across the 12 months and a 1.09 IMPACT rating. But more than rating and a top 20 placement is huNter more than pleased with the decision of G2 keeping their lineup going forward in 2023. 

"Lifting that trophy in Abu Dhabi is obviously the best moment of the year. It changed a lot of things, at least I think that I am finally happy that we will keep this lineup and not start from zero, because I am tired of it" - huNter said to [link:{"url":"

https://www.hltv.org/news/35326/top-20-players-of-2022-hunter-14

Despite a tough year for the G2 side with many roster chances and no success during tournaments, it now appears that they have found the right core going forward. G2 took down Liquid doing the BLAST World Finals to secure themselves their first victory of the year, a victory that was much needed for the players and their confidence. Now the players need to keep their momentum in the upcoming events. G2 and huNter can look forward to yet another BLAST tournament when BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023 kicks off on Jan 17th. 

We look back at the last big event of the year, where some of CS:GO biggest stars went head to head for the $500.000 in first prize.

In the Grand Final, it was G2 who lifted the trophy. The star-studded roster also had four of five players in the top 8 best-performing players at the tournament. You can see the top 10 list here.

Highest-rated players at BLAST World Finals 2022:

m0NESY

Twistzz

degster

ropz

NiKo

ZywOo

k0nfig

EliGE

Nemanja "huNter-" Kovac just won his first top-tier title with G2 after a dominant showing against Liquid at BLAST World Final in Abu Dhabi. The win ended the long, long trophy draught that both huNter and G2 has experienced during the past couple of years.

For the Bosnian, the win was extra special due to the fact that he did it alongside his cousin, Nikola "NiKo" Kovač. The two of them grew up playing the game together and were finally put on the same team last year when NiKo joined G2.

- Lifting the trophy with my brother. This was our dream. This was my dream when I started to play this game. I didn't care about winning trophies without him or anything else. I just wanted to play with him and do it with him. This is what we did, and I hope we keep doing it.

The win for G2 was also extra special given the circumstances surrounding Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen, who lost his father the day before the tournament started.

- What happened to HooXi and all the circumstances that he went through, of course, the emotions were even higher after winning this trophy, huNter stated.

HooXi

BLAST will once again honor the best CS:GO players and coaches by selecting the 2022 Team of the Year.

Taking part in the vote is a diverse selection of experts consisting of journalists, broadcast talent, and other respected voices from the world of Counter-Strike. We here at Pley.gg are among those who have been asked to nominate players and coaches within six different categories.

{cflag:EE} Robin “ropz” Kool (FaZe) - 1.14 rating in 2022 

ropz has been an important part of the huge year for FaZe. The Estonian joined the team in January and quickly proved to be the last part of the puzzle to elevate FaZe to a championship team. ropz has been one of the most consistent players all year around. 

{cflag:DK} Benjamin "blameF" Bremer (Astralis) - 1.24 rating in 2022

blameF has been one of the bright spots on a struggling Astralis roster. The Dane has consistently been the top-fragger for Astralis, and has at least statistically been one of the best players in the world in 2022. 

{cflag:IL} Lotan "Spinx" Giladi (ENCE/Team Vitality) - 1.11 rating in 2022

As one of the biggest revelations of 2022, it quickly became obvious to everybody, that ENCE would have difficulties keeping Spinx on the team with Team Vitality knocking on the door. The 22-year-old would probably be among the favorites for the award if he had kept up the impressive performances from the start of the year. But during the Rio RMR and at the Major the Israelian had problems finding his feet on his new team.

{cflag:BR} Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato (FURIA) - 1.17 rating in 2022

The FURIA lurker nearly made every Brazilian dream come true with a deep run at IEM Rio. KSCERATO rarely plays badly at events, and topped his performances with an impressive showing at IEM Rio.

{cflag:BA} Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač (G2) - 1.12 rating in 2022

Despite a troublesome year for G2 huNter- has shown consistency. The Bosnian has not had one event under a 1.00 HLTV rating all year long. Since the addition of Justin "jks" Savage on the team, huNter- is moving more and more away from the lurker role, so maybe he should be placed in a new category next year. 

blameF

Spinx

KSCERATO

FaZe

Astralis

ENCE

It's been a tough year for G2 with new additions in Justin "jks" Savage and Ramus "HooXi" Nielsen who started out as fire on their new team. However, G2 failed to qualify for the IEM Rio Major as well as exited the BLAST premier Fall Final in the quarter-final. 

G2 are now looking to turn the ship as they are among the eight teams competing at the BLAST Premier World Finals 2022.

Before their first match of the event, HLTV spoke with huNter- about their expectations doing the Worlds finals and the struggles that the team has faced in the past three months. 

There's a lot of positives, the mood and atmosphere in the team is always good and even if we don't have good results we always try to stay together. There's not individual, even if they played well, that is just focused on themselves. We win and we lose together, and I really like that.

" - huNter said to [link:{"url":"https://www.hltv.org/news/35231/hunter-we-need-to-deal-much-better-with-pressure","isNewTab":true,"text":"HLTV"}] doing an interview.

huNter- and co. will take on FaZe in their first game of Group A. 

The match will go live at 10:00 (CET) on the following Twitch channel:

Have you ever thought about what professional Counter-Strike players are doing when preparing for a big tournament? Posted on G2´s own Youtube channel, the players and staff are preparing for the last big tournament in 2022. BLAST World Finals are on the calendar for eight top teams in the world, who will be competing for a World Final trophy as well as $1,000,000 in prize pool.

Many fans in the community believe that CSGO players spend every hour on the server practicing executes and retakes to best their opponents, but in reality, the players from G2 use team building and mental performance as a big part of their training before going into top-tier tournaments. A 2022 year with ups and downs from the mixed European team now leads to one last tournament with hopes to give something back to all the fans who have witnessed G2 crumble on the big stage in recent tournaments. 

No days off, give you an insight into how G2 uses their time preparing for World Finals. Watch the VLOG, produced by the G2 team down below:

G2 survived the first elimination match at BLAST Fall Finals with a clear 2-0 win against the Brazilian underdogs from Fluxo.

The veto of the match heavily favored G2, who could see Fluxo picking Dust2 as the first playground. Here the two Bosnian cousins NiKo and huNter had a field day averaging above 100 ADR during the 20 rounds it took G2 to win 16-4.

On Mirage the match was much more balanced. Fluxo did well in the first half and took a 9-6 lead with them to the break. Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov kept G2 in the match with several good rounds, but Fluxo kept themselves alive right until the end. But here nerves and maybe the lack of experience kicked in to allow G2 to finish the job with a 16-14 win.

G2 will now play Heroic in the next round, while Fluxo is out of BLAST Fall Finals. 

G2 also guaranteed their spot at the World Finals in Abu Dhabi in December with today's win.

Fluxo – G2 0-2 | BLAST Premier Fall Finals

4-16 (Ancient) {cflag:BA} huNter – 1.93 Rating / 24-8 K-D / 127.0 ADR

14-16 (Mirage) | {cflag:RU} m0NESY – 1.40 Rating / 27-17 K-D / 93.3 ADR

MVP: {cflag:RU} Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov – 1.44 Rating / 42-24 K-D / 91.1 ADR

G2's exit at the RU RMR was one of the biggest surprises in recent memory. The star-studded roster was eliminated by a completely newly formed GamerLegion, who took G2 out after three hectic maps.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"no-rio-niko-g2-eliminated-huge-downfall","isNewTab":true}]

After the match, several of the G2 players made statements on their Twitter accounts including the two Bosnian cousins, NiKo and huNter.

G2 has decided to shake up their roster significantly for the second season in a row, through the signing of Justin “jks” Savage and Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen. The latter was brought in to replace Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen as their new in-game leader.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"jks-hooxi-signs-g2","isNewTab":true}]

A move that has led to some changes in G2’s playstyle and mindset. Something, Nemanja “huNter-“ Kovac discussed in an interview with us right after yesterday’s win over Vitality at BLAST Fall Groups.

- Comparing with the other team [G2 under Aleksib] we have now started from zero because we want to play a different game – not like we played before with a lot of structure. Now we’re playing more loose and we want to play off each other a lot. This is the biggest comparison, huNter- said to Pley.gg

In the interview, huNter- also touches on the criticism of HooXi, his own roles on the team, and why they only are playing at 20 percent right now. Watch the entire thing in the video below.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"g2-snatch-last-ticket-fall-finals","isNewTab":true}]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"hooxi-most-people-talking-trash-dont-know-they-are-talking-about","isNewTab":true}]

While we wait for the playoffs to begin later today we have gathered some of the best clips from the tournament in Lisbon.

[twitchClip:VastCogentEggJebaited-5euhE3CjqeNaG8F2]

[twitchClip:FancyProudMallardBudBlast-BHJleoVkNCYIBiLY]

[twitchClip:SparklingMoistChickenPunchTrees-Ut4Flhqbdjvd31Vk]

degster has been a superb stand-in for OG. His good chemistry with flameZ has been visible through the many hardcore slaps, that he gives out to his new teammate.

[twitchClip:ExpensiveColorfulLaptopGivePLZ-EQweY0IC__RVcPHJ]

How about a running headshot entry from huNter?

[twitchClip:CarefulOutstandingCurryKappaRoss-A62Jbe3tzOx29Dk_]

Magisk made magic happen with his insane spray on Dust2.

[twitchClip:PiercingRichPorcupineHeyGuys-dvltsnR7obtpm5Uf]

BIG may be out of the tournament, but their wholesomeness belongs to the top!

[twitchClip:ManlyTardySheepPMSTwin--lkxAybvcWFtzpFG]

A beautiful ace from Misutaaa rounds of this list.

[twitchClip:VibrantSpunkyDogeUnSane-VkOPVSUw1g0UrcPY]

Magisk

Misutaaa

It wasn't just any ordinary game when the two giants of FURIA and G2 locked horns in a thrilling Bo3-series at the IEM Dallas 2022 event. A spot in the Semi-finals was up for grabs for the winning team, whereas the loser would have to see themselves eliminated from the event. Very little separated the two teams on paper as they are neck and neck on the official HLTV rankings. FURIA were the slight favorites, ranking as the seventh-best team in the world, whereas G2 were ranked as the eight-best team in the world before the clash. It was a close affair from the start to start to finish, as all three maps were needed to find a victory between the two CS:GO giants. Ultimately, however, it was FURIA to have the slight edge on their opponents as they finished the Bo3-series with a masterclass in Mirage. The 2-1 victory against G2 means that they are through to the Semi-Finals of the IEM Dallas 2022 event. 

As mentioned, the first map of the Bo3-series was to be played on the Italian soil of Inferno. Both FURIA and G2 are known to be a scary opponent to face on Inferno, however, with an ongoing win-streak of 9 on Inferno, it was clear to see why G2 opted for Inferno as their map pick, even against the Brazilians of FURIA. The aggressive FURIA roster managed to secure early control on Inferno. Not long after, however, the T-sided G2 roster let their presence be known as they answered back with rounds of their own. A close and intense first half of Inferno came to an end as the two rosters switched sides at the scoreline of 8-7. The second half brought more intense battles across the map, this time with FURIA on the offensive side. Despite the creative and aggressive nature of FURIA's t-sided strategies, the G2 defense proved too potent to penetrate. A great performance from the Kovač's in "NiKo" and "huNter-" helped G2 contain the Brazilians. At the scoreline of 16-13, it was G2 who were able to walk away from Inferno with a first-map victory and an advantage going into the remainder of the Bo3-series. 

The second map of the Bo3-series was, of course, picked by FURIA and saw the two rosters climb the heights of Vertigo. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Vertigo came to be the pick of the Brazilians. Just as G2 on Inferno, FURIA have been scarily good on Vertigo as of late. They are currently sitting on a win-record of 82% in the past three months (11 maps). However, G2 are no slouches on Vertigo themselves, and it proved. Starting on the arguably stronger CT-side of Vertigo, it was G2 to take control of the map in the first half. A strong defense and a "NiKo" on fire proved to be difficult for the Brazilians to handle as they would have to see themselves behind at 11-4, going into the second half of Vertigo. The second half saw "arT" and his troops finally wake up as they won back a handful of rounds, attempting an impressive comeback against G2. The comeback dream stayed alive as FURIA managed to force overtime against G2. At the scoreline of 19-17, it was the Brazilians who claimed victory on Vertigo and secured themselves a third and final map in the Bo3-series against G2. 

The third and deciding map of the Bo3-series was to be played on Mirage. Once again, Mirage is a map that both rosters are incredibly tried and tested on, and who favors the free-flowing playing style can be ascribed to both G2 and FURIA. After the comeback victory on Vertigo, it was the T-sided FURIA roster to come flying out of the gate on Mirage. With aggression and precision, the Brazilians mowed down the G2 defense and managed to secure a more than solid first half before switching sides at the scoreline of 11-4. The second half saw a FURIA roster just as dangerous as in the first half of Mirage. Without too much difficulty, the Brazilians closed out a phenomenal performance on Mirage at the scoreline of 16-5 and took home the victory against G2. 

[twitchClip:AbstemiousObliviousMangetoutTheThing-49mWyS6E_b1GDeOE]

G2 – FURIA 2-0 | IEM Dallas (Quarter-finals) 

16-13 (Inferno) | {cflag:BA} huNter- – 1.46 Rating / 28-17 K-D / 98.3 ADR

17-19 (Vertigo) | {cflag:BR} yuurih – 1.43 Rating / 32-26 K-D / 111.6 ADR

16-5 (Mirage) | {cflag:BR} yuurih – 1.98 Rating / 24-10 K-D / 123.5 ADR

MVP: {cflag:BR} Yuri "yuurih" Santos – 1.40 Rating / 76-58 K-D / 103.8 ADR

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/yuurih_miykm8","originalWidth":1920,"originalHeight":1080,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"png"}]

yuurih

It was a playoffs-or-elimination match when FURIA and G2 took to the server. When the two last met at IEM Katowice, G2 took a narrow three-map victory.

FURIA started great on the T side of their pick, Vertigo. The Brazilians went up 6-2 and it looked as though they would dominate the first half. Unfortunately for the South Americans, a man called "huNter-" had other plans. The Bosnian led his team back in contention, and to an 8-7 halftime lead.

The G2 squad did not find the same success on the T side as "arT" was relentlessly bullying them around Ramp. Add to this the fact that "yuurih" had an incredible game and you have got a FURIA win.

Moving onto G2's pick of Inferno, it was the unlikely duo of "JaCkz" and "arT" that shone for their respective teams in the first half. As close as can be at 8-7 at halftime these two entry-fraggers both had an ADR of over 100.

The second half continued in the same close fashion and went the full thirty rounds. "KSCERATO" almost pulled out a 1v4 in the dying stages of the map, but "JaCkz" took him down and secured their map pick.

FURIA had a good start to the T side of Ancient which was the last map of the series. The Brazilian squad went up 4-3 but the rest of the half belonged to the Europeans who ended the half on a 7-1 streak.

The second half started with four straight rounds of force-buy wars. All of the rounds were extremely close, but "arT" and co. ended out on top, and drove it home from there with a ten-round winstreak.

G2's Major dreams are over as they get knocked out and see FURIA advance to the quarter-finals.

[twitchClip:pgl/clip/AlertTenuousDadOhMyDog-uLNy2yAFQZqS72sQ]

G2 - FURIA 1-2 | PGL Major Antwerp Legends Stage

12-16 (Vertigo) | {cflag:BR} yuurih - 1.61 Rating / 26-14 K-D / 110.0 ADR

16-14 (Inferno) | {cflag:BA} NiKo - 1.50 Rating / 27-19 K-D / 97.9 ADR

11-16 (Ancient) | {cflag:BR} KSCERATO - 1.47 Rating / 23-13 K-D / 88.0 ADR

MVP: {cflag:RU} Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov - 1.16 Rating / 60-51 K-D / 75.9 ADR

JaCkz

The Internationals of G2 and the Danes Heroic clashed in the day's opening match. Both teams were 1-1 before the match and were now looking for their second win.

The Bo1, which took place on Vertigo, started out well for "stavn" and the CTs of Heroic who went up 5-1. "huNter-" soon found impact, and with the Heroic squad struggling to win retake scenarios, G2 quickly found their way back into the game. Heroic led by one round at halftime.

Right out of halftime, Heroic extended their lead to four. The smiles on the faces of the Danes soon turned to frowns as G2 armed with rifles, and "m0NESY" with his AWP, strung together seven rounds. Heroic found their way back, and with nothing separating the two sides the match went to OT.

It looked great for G2 who won the first two rounds of OT, but with four back-to-back rounds, Heroic came in and snatched away the victory.

With the win, Heroic are now 2-1, while G2 move to the elimination side of the bracket.

G2 - Heroic 0-1 | PGL Major Antwerp Challengers Stage

17-19 (Vertigo) | {cflag:DK} TeSeS - 1.32 Rating / 29-27 K-D / 103.6 ADR

stavn

Heroic

Day 1 of the Legends Stage at PGL Antwerp has been filled with insane matchups to highlight the great level of Counter-Strike that the best teams in the world has to offer. The best match was left for last as a suiting dessert with the two Grand Finalists from last year's Major going head to head.

NAVI and G2 picked Mirage as the battleground for the rendezvous. The two teams gave each other a great fight trading rounds back and forwards. Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskyi picked off where he left at the last Major with a brilliant performance, while Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač played greatly on the other side of the server as well.

G2 carried an 8-7 lead to the second half, where they finally managed to string some rounds together, which gave them a 14-11 lead towards the end of the match. But then s1mple got activated. The best player in the world came in clutch for his team at the exact right time to help NAVI to overtime in a thrilling and intense match.

In overtime it was NAVI that fought best and edged out G2 in a superb last match of the first round. Both teams are back in action later tonight.

NAVI – G2 1-0 | PGL Major Antwerp Legends Stage

19-17 (Mirage) | {cflag:UA} Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy - 1.30 Rating / 31-21 K-D / 90.8 ADR

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	0	0
Maps count	0	0

huNter

Player stats

Articles mentioning huNter

G2 stroll past FURIA – Spirit with promising start

Vitality and G2 superior in Group B of IEM Cologne

huNter- named MVP of IEM Katowice

G2 ready for Grand Final after superb display against Liquid

huNter on G2 succes: Confidence is everything

BLAST Spring Group C Preview

huNter: I'm finally happy that we will keep this lineup and not start from zero, because I'm tired of it

Highest rated players at BLAST World Finals

huNter: I just wanted to lift a trophy with my brother. This was our dream

Who is the best Lurker of the Year?

huNter: We win and we lose together, and I really like that

Video: Come behind the scenes with NiKo and the rest of G2

G2 eliminate Fluxo from BLAST Fall Finals

huNter: Worst feeling ever in my career

huNter compares new and old G2: We don’t want to play as structured as we did with Aleksib

Great moments from BLAST Premier Spring Finals

FURIA secure Semi-final spot over G2

FURIA through to playoffs, G2 eliminated

Heroic vs. G2 thriller go the way of the Danes

NAVI edge out G2 in entertaining battle

Follow Pley