With high stakes on the line, both teams showcased world-class performances, but in the end, NAVI rose above, claiming the coveted title and a hefty $100,000 prize.

, where NAVI came out strong despite a rocky start. Mouz took a promising 7-5 lead by halftime, with 

 delivering remarkable plays, earning him recognition as the top performer according to 

’s player ratings. However, NAVI’s resilience shined through, as they mounted a comeback in the second half, securing a 13-11 victory on the first map.

This initial win was a critical psychological advantage for NAVI, setting the tone for the rest of the series. Inferno saw tactical depth, sharp aim, and outstanding communication from both teams, but NAVI's ability to recover from early setbacks proved pivotal.

, further solidified NAVI’s dominance. They stormed into an overwhelming 10-2 lead in the first half, showcasing their tactical precision and individual brilliance. Winning the pistol round after halftime allowed NAVI to close the map with a commanding 

, NAVI's in-game leader, orchestrated a flawless strategic execution, leaving Mouz struggling to gain any traction.

Dust2 was a clear example of NAVI's superior map control, aggressive positioning, and unparalleled synergy. Each player on NAVI performed their role to perfection, further demoralizing Mouz and pushing them to the brink of elimination.

. The team demonstrated resilience and determination, pulling off incredible performances across the board. They secured a commanding 

 victory, fueled by impeccable teamwork and a never-say-die attitude. 

 led the charge, delivering critical multi-kills and forcing NAVI into uncomfortable positions.

This victory on Mirage showcased Mouz’s potential when firing on all cylinders, leaving the arena buzzing with anticipation as the match headed to a fourth map.

, delivered one of the most jaw-dropping comebacks in recent Counter-Strike history. 

 began the map on fire, rushing to a dominant 

 lead, seemingly on their way to forcing a decider. However, NAVI, known for their composure under pressure, clawed their way back into the game.

With each round, NAVI inched closer, winning 10 out of the next 11 rounds, leveling the score at 

. The momentum had firmly shifted, and NAVI sealed the map with a 

 victory, capping off an unforgettable series.

, whose crisp aim and smart utility usage outclassed Mouz in the closing rounds. The mental fortitude displayed by NAVI after being down by such a large margin is a testament to their experience and championship pedigree.

Player of the Tournament: Justinas "jL" Lekavicius

 was named the tournament’s MVP after delivering consistently high-level performances throughout the IEM Rio event. His fragging power, combined with his impactful mid-round decisions, made him a key factor in NAVI's success. His contributions on the final map, Ancient, in particular, were instrumental in turning the tide in NAVI’s favor.

 title but also reinforced their status as one of the top teams in Counter-Strike. Their ability to adapt, remain calm under pressure, and execute strategies at the highest level was on full display throughout the final.

 and the invaluable experience of competing in one of the year’s most exciting finals. As the competitive CS scene continues to evolve, both teams will look to build on their performances, with NAVI further cementing their legacy and Mouz looking to capitalize on their potential in future events.

Natus Vincere

Vitality and Natus Vincere made it through the group stage with three straight wins to put them directly into the Semi-Finals on Saturday in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne. However, when looking at the top performers of the tournament so far, G2 sticks out despite their opening loss against SAW. In the lower bracket, G2 completely annihilated their opponents to secure a Quarter-Final spot in Cologne. Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa is one of the two new members on the roster, and looking at the stats for the tournament so far, it looks like a very good move by the management of G2.

Here are the 10 best performers in the group stage of IEM Cologne 2024:

1. {cflag:BA} Nikola “NiKo” Kovač (G2) – 1.44 rating (9 maps)

2. {cflag:RO} Mihai "iM" Ivan (Natus Vincere) – 1.43 rating (7 maps)

3. {cflag:UA} Valerij "b1t" Vakhovsjkyj (Natus Vincere) – 1.42 rating (7 maps)

4. {cflag:RU} Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov (G2) – 1.39 rating (9 maps)

5. {cflag:GT} Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa (G2) – 1.38 rating (9 maps)

6. {cflag:LT} Justinas "jL" Lekavičius (Natus Vincere) – 1.35 rating (7 maps)

7. {cflag:BA} Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač (G2) – 1.33 rating (9 maps)

8. {cflag:PL} Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak (Liquid) – 1.30 rating (9 maps)

9. {cflag:IL} Shahar "flameZ" Shushan (Vitality) – 1.29 rating (7 maps)

10. {cflag:FR} Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut (Vitality) – 1.28 rating (7 maps)

You can read more about the tournament, results and schedules on our [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/everything-need-know-about-iem-cologne-2024","isNewTab":true,"text":"tournament page"}].

NiKo

B1tGOD

m0NESY

malbsMd

huNter

Ultimate

flameZ

ZywOo

G2 Esports

One of the best performers at the PGL Major in Copenhagen was the Lithuanian rifler, Justinas "jL" Lekavicius, who also played a key part in the Grand Final win against FaZe. After the match the Lithuanian rifler took his revenge against some of the online hate, that he has encountered after joining NAVI.

- It’s crazy. Two weeks ago, I was reading comments on how I was a Tier-2 bot, and that I would never reach anything in life. And now I’m a Major Champion. So, who is talking now, bitch!

[twitchClip:SingleEphemeralDelicataNotATK-6pIf88cH0lJ6R0_F]

Justinas "jL" Lekavicius was the 7th highest-rated player at the event. You can see who ended up on top on the individual scoreboard of the event in the article below.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"highest-rated-players-pgl-copenhagen-major","isNewTab":true}]

Facing a packed Royal Arena, NAVI continued their impressive campaign in Copenhagen, where they were initially considered outsiders. However, during the playoffs, NAVI demonstrated their ability to thrive under pressure, securing victories against Eternal Fire and G2. Against the seasoned FaZe roster, NAVI elevated their performance yet again.

FaZe opted for Ancient as the opening map, yet they never managed to gain a lead. Finn "karrigan" Andersen's squad consistently trailed NAVI, with NAVI's in-game leader Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen excelling in both shot-calling and fragging. Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy, the sole remaining member from NAVI's 2021 Major Champions team, and Justinas "jL" Lekavicius, the standout performer of the event, contributed significantly, culminating in NAVI securing the map.

Moving to Mirage, NAVI secured the pistol round, but FaZe struck back, seizing momentum and dominating NAVI's map pick with ten consecutive round wins. FaZe's 10-2 lead at halftime transitioned into a resounding 13-2 victory, forcing the match onto Inferno as the final map.

Inferno, renowned as the ultimate decider map in Counter-Strike, set the stage for the historic conclusion of the first CS2 Major. NAVI swiftly amassed seven rounds, overturning the narrative once more. FaZe's dominance on Inferno waned, allowing NAVI to dictate the pace. A pivotal 1vs3 clutch by FaZe's newcomer, David "frozen" Čerňanský, momentarily halted NAVI's momentum. However, NAVI's proactive approach, exemplified by Justinas "jL" Lekavicius, ensured they maintained control, thwarting FaZe's comeback attempts. The first half concluded 9-3 in favor of NAVI.

The pistol round in the second half proved decisive, as NAVI capitalized and won all rounds in the second half to emerge victorious in Copenhagen. A first Major win for Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, Justinas "jL" Lekavicius, Ivan "iM" Mihai, and Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov, while Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy won his second Major with impressive win in the Royal Arena.

NAVI takes home the title alongside the first prize of $500,000 and the honour as the first Major winner in CS2.

NAVI - FaZe 2-1 | PGL Major Copenhagen Grand Final

13-9 (Ancient) | b1t - 1.55 Rating / 19-12 K-D / 98.1 ADR

2-13 (Mirage) | ropz - 1.91 Rating / 16-4 K-D / 109.1 ADR

13-3 (Inferno) | b1t - 2.16 Rating / 23-7 K-D / 131.6 ADR

Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy - 1.52 Rating / 51-34 K-D / 104.0 ADR

Aleksib

w0nderfu1

FaZe

The match took several unexpected turns as both teams managed to win on each other’s chosen maps, leading to Ancient being the decisive map.

Firstly, G2 lost their map pick of Anubis in overtime. Once again, it was the two AWP players, Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov and Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov, who made significant impacts. Ultimately, NAVI emerged victorious with a 4-1 overtime win, securing the first map.

However, on Nuke, Nikola “NiKo” Kovač finally found his form, aiding Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov in his quest to reach his first Major Grand Final. The two G2 stars led their team to a solid 9-3 lead on the CT side before ultimately winning the map 13-7.

On Ancient, Justinas "jL" Lekavicius dominated the server. The Lithuanian player has been in exceptional form throughout the Major, and his performance on Ancient was unforgettable. An early ace set the tone for jL on the map, where NAVI secured an 8-4 lead going into the second half. jL and Ivan "iM" Mihai formed a formidable duo throughout the map, where G2 almost came back but ultimately was denied on the finish line by NAVI, who stopped the comeback at 13-11 to qualify NAVI for their sixth Major Grand Final in history.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"faze-eliminate-reigning-major-champions-copenhagen","isNewTab":true}]

See the reaction from Justinas "jL" Lekavicius just after NAVI’s 2-0 win against Eternal Fire in the Quarter-Final at the Copenhagen Major.

[twitchClip:HotMildWheelTheTarFu-DDAR8TJxU9EAo9VV]

The Lithuanian reached the Semi-Finals at his first Major in Paris last year with Apeks, and will now play his second Semi-Final in a row tomorrow against the winner of G2 and MOUZ.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"w0nderful-extinguish-turkish-fire","isNewTab":true}] 

After a long and grueling match, Spirit came out on top in their encounter with NAVI in the 2W-0L bracket.

The match started on Nuke with an overtime win for NAVI. Justinas "jL" Lekavicius went completely bonkers with a 40-19 K-D score.

The problem for NAVI was, that the Lithuanian was the only player from NAVI, that really popped off. Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov also had his moments, but against both Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov and Danil "donk" Kryshkovets in a great form, NAVI had to see their new CIS rivals run away with the victory after a 13-9, and 13-7 score on Ancient and Mirage in favor of Spirit.

Spirit join MOUZ in the 3-0 bracket, and can now look forward to the Quarter-Finals at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen next week.

NAVI now has a 2W-1L record, and will face Cloud9 tomorrow for a spot in the Playoffs.

donk

sh1ro

Spirit

Huge news broke today with Natus Vincere confirming the rumors about their move to an international roster.

Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, Justinas "jL" Lekavicius, and Mihai "iM" Ivan are the new faces on the team joining Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev and Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskyi on the team.

While Aleksib has been a household name during the last couple of years in CS:GO, it was at the BLAST.tv Paris Major, that Justinas "jL" Lekavicius (Apeks), and Mihai "iM" Ivan (GamerLegion) made quite an impression with several outstanding performances.

There is no news yet about the future of Denis "electroNic" Sharipov, Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy, and Andrij "npl" Kukharsjkyj. The two Russians have been connected with a move to Cloud9.

Natus Vincere will play with this lineup at BLAST Fall Groups from July 10th.

Justinas "jL" Lekavicius is the first player to be announced by the Apeks organization following some changes in the squad. These changes resulted in Hugo "chawzyyy" Günther and Asger "AcilioN" Larsen being benched from the active line-up. 

jL played for the Spanish organization, utilizing the rifle role as well as the Big Green registering 18.3% of his frags with the AWP. jL also played a big part in many of their event victories under the MAD Lions banner. After the resolution of MAD Lions, jL alongside Woro2k and TMB, played under the ex-MAD Lions banner until late July. 

Who the last player on the Apeks roster will be, is still yet to be announced, but for now, the active roster is as follows:

Apeks

For the second time at DreamHack Open November, MOUZ was beaten by MAD Lions.

Both teams were 1-1 in Group A and had to win the decider match to qualify for the playoffs. It started well for MOUZ, who came out hot on their CT-side on Dust2. But the 11-4 lead at the break quickly diminished in the second half, where MOUZ crumpled and only managed to win two rounds. It was the trio of Thomas 'TMB' Bundsbæk, Justinas 'jL' Lekavicius, and Pere 'sausol' Solsona Saumell who stole all of MOUZ' momentum during the map, that ended 16-13 in favor of MAD Lions.

The hot streak carried over on Nuke for MAD Lions. Once again it was their CT-side, that was near flawless. Again it was the Lithuanian rifler Justinas 'jL' Lekavicius who made a lot of damage, while Volodymyr 'Woro2k' Veletniuk controlled the outside area with his AWP. On the other side of the server, it took in-game leader Christopher 'dexter' Nong 15 rounds to put his first kill on the scoreboard in another catastrophe of a T-side from MOUZ.

The Australian immediately took his revenge on the CT-side, where he made three kills in the pistol round to quadruple his total kills on the map, but it was not near enough for MOUZ to avoid the elimination from the tournament. MAD Lions on the other half can look forward to Saturday's Semi-Finals, where they face Fnatic. There is $50.000 on the line for first place and a spot in the ESL Pro League Conference for the winner of DreamHack Open November.

MAD Lions – MOUZ (2-0) | DreamHack November 2021

 {cflag:UA} Woro2k – 1.54 Rating / 25-18 K-D / 107.7 ADR

Justinas 'jL' Lekavicius | 1.32 Rating / 45-30 K-D / 81.6 ADR

ropz

Woro

MOUZ

MAD Lions

Friday's Pley of the Day is from DreamHack Open November 2021, in the match between MAD Lions and the dominant Germans from BIG. In the 11th round on Mirage, MAD Lions' Justinas "jL" Lekavicius saw himself being placed in a tough 1v3 situation, with the bomb dropped near CT. 

Despite the difficult circumstances, the Lithuanian international were capable of bringing home the round for his team by taking down every remaining opponent on the server.

MOUZ got off to a rough start at DreamHack Open November with Aurimas "Bymas" Pipiras missing the opening day with sickness. In his place, MOUZ had called in Chris "chrisJ" de Jong from the bench to help out the team. 

The match began on MAD Lions’ pick of Dust2, where MOUZ started off things on the right foot as they quickly grabbed a 5-0 lead on the defense. MAD Lions responded well by stringing together six rounds of their own to go up 5-6, with the whole team stepping up huge. MOUZ managed to add a single round to the scoreboard before Woro2k and company finished off the first half with a 6-9 advantage. Even though MOUZ came out looking strong on the offense by stringing together five rounds in a row once again, MAD Lions still managed to come back to life and close out the map 12-16.

Starting out on the Terrorist side, MOUZ picked up a strong 3-7 lead showcasing why they picked Nuke as their map. However, unfortunately for them, MAD Lions found their footing at the end of the half and climbed their way back on the scoreboard, picking up an 8-7 advantage right before halftime. In the second half, MOUZ took control of the map and shut down any chances of MAD Lions. The starplayer of MOUZ, Robin "ropz" Kool was instrumental on Nuke, where he dominated the MAD Lions players hard.

With the Estonian activated, it was interesting to see, if MAD Lions could handle MOUZ on Mirage. The Lions had an ace in the sleeve though. Thomas "TMB" Bundsbæk had been quiet in the match, but on the decider map, the Dane went crazy! In the first half alone, TMB accounted for 26 kills and an ADR of 192.7, and a staggering 8-0 in opening kills! MAD Lions took a 9-6 lead with them to the second half, while Chris "chrisJ" de Jong had a terrible time being crushed on the map going 4-21 in K-D. MOUZ won the pistol round in the second half, but that was the only good news for the roster, who had to succumb to the continuing pressure from TMB and MAD Lions, who won 16-8.

With the result, MOUZ will play an early elimination match against the loser of BIG vs GamerLegion. MAD Lions is now one win away from reaching the playoffs.

MAD Lions – MOUZ 2-1| DreamHack Open November

16-12 (Dust2) | {cflag:LT} jL – 1.58 Rating / 29-16 K-D / 102.4 ADR

10-16 (Nuke) | {cflag:EE} ropz - 1.83 Rating / 32-14 K-D / 118.1 ADR

16-8 (Mirage) | {cflag:DK} TMB - 2.31 Rating / 33-14 K-D / 152.9 ADR

MVP: {cflag:DK} Thomas "TMB" Bundsbæk - 1.42 Rating / 69-52 K-D / 103.9 ADR

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

jL

Player stats

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jL: We got warmed up and won it as a team

Spirit wins intense battle against NAVI to qualify for Royal Arena

NAVI confirms international roster

Apeks sign JL on a year-long deal

MOUZ eliminated after another bad performance at DreamHack Open November

Pley of the Day: jL rips BIG apart in strong 1v3 clutch!

MAD Lions take down MOUZ in opening round at DreamHack Open November

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