9Pandas needed the slimmest of margins to secure the last-chance qualifiers of EU RMRs, moving past GamerLegion. In what was an exciting series, 9Pandas secured a place in the first CS2 Major. It will be their first Major appearance since the 2018 ELEAGUE Atlanta Major.
9Pandas needed three maps and three overtimes in total to be the 17th team from Europe to get their PGL Copenhagen Major in an impressive run through the stacked European RMR CS2.
Victories in matches against SAW and 3DMAX won them a spot in the last-chance qualifier, and an upset against Astralis pitched them against GamerLegion in the deciding match for the final qualification spot.
Despite being the fewer favourites, 9Pandas forced a close encounter with a 6-6 in both halves during regular time, forcing the first map of the overpass to go overtime. Eventually, GamerLegion notched a 16-14 win on their own map pick, although 9Pandas struck back on Ancient 13-8. Nuke and Cedar Creek also delivered a memorable finish to the series.
With the outcome of the events, the Paris Major finalists won’t be at the next Major, and it also means that Snax will have to continue to wait for his return to the competition since his last time during his stint with MOUZ at the FACEIT London Major in September 2018.
However, a veteran will make a return to The biggest stage of Counter-Strike esports. A crucial member of the old NAVI rosters, Seized, is back. His last top-tier play was a stint on FlipSide, plus an early elimination at the ELEAGUE Atlanta Major in January 2018.
Meanwhile, The American RMR and the Asia-Pacific qualifiers continue with more actions in their respective regions.
The European RMRs for Counter-Strike 2’s first Major broke records for concurrent viewership and total watch hours, previously set by the BLAST Paris Major last April.
Concurrent viewership for the PGL Copenhagen Major RMRs peaked at 480,590 viewers, which is over 300,000 more than previous numbers.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
