Vitality began their BLAST.tv Paris Major campaign with high expectations, as they had just come off a dominant IEM Spring (IEM Rio 2023) victory a few weeks beforehand, while many esports betting sites had them pinned as one of the favourites to claim the title.
The last CS:GO Major Champions @TeamVitality
And they've done it on home soil!#BLASTTVMajor |
@theMAKKU pic.twitter.com/tLr7XdcbwL
— HLTV.org (@HLTVorg) May 21, 2023
Of the five players on the Vitality roster, the two hometown boys in Dan ��apEX�� Madesclaire and Mathieu ��ZywOo�� Herbaut had a lot riding on this Major, with the in-game leader searching for his second Major of his career and ZywOo seeking his first.
Emil ��Magisk�� Reif now has four Major wins in his career, having claimed three during his time with Astralis.
Magisk’s former Astralis alumni Danny ��zonic�� Sorensen and Peter ��dupreeh�� Rasmussen also added to their impressive career records, with dupreeh now owning more CS:GO Major wins than any other player in history.
The sixth and final piece of this Vitality roster is Lotan ��Spinx�� Giladi, who was signed in August last year and has become the first ever Counter-Strike Major winner from Israel.
Vitality completed the Paris Major without losing a single map — thus matching Natus Vincere, who also managed to win 10 consecutive maps at the PGL Major Stockholm in 2021.
As for the runners-up, GamerLegion surpassed all expectations, with many people predicting them to be knocked out in the Challengers Stage.
However, in front of a hostile French crowd, the inexperience of the GamerLegion roster showed and Vitality took advantage of their mistakes and put them to the sword.
THE CHOSEN ONE
@zywoo finally wins his first Major and claims his first Major MVP award from HLTV & @1xBet_Esports #BLASTTVMajor pic.twitter.com/MqReZUeg3x
— HLTV.org (@HLTVorg) May 21, 2023
To go with his first Major of his career, ZywOo took home his first Major MVP award, finishing the event with an impressive 1.39 overall rating including a server-high rating in the final of 1.54.
With the final CS:GO Major now over, the next Counter-Strike Major will be played on the new game – Counter-Strike 2 – kicking off in Copenhagen, Denmark, on March 17 next year.
]]>PGL also revealed that the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 would be held from March 17-31. It will be the first Major event in Denmark and will take place at the Royal Arena, where several previous BLAST CS:GO events have occurred since 2017.
The tournament will be the first Major of Counter-Strike’s newest version, set to be released this summer. Valve informed fans of the new game early last week and began its Limited Beta Testing phase.
The game developer selected gamers to participate based on factors like their Steam account standing, playtime on official servers, and trust factor. The testing period is expected to last until Counter-Strike 2’s official release.
In a press release, PGL’s CEO Silviu Stroie revealed that it was an honor for the company to host such an important event, and they would strive to achieve a record-breaking viewership count with this tournament.
“One of the greatest games of all time is marching to another chapter, and we couldn’t be happier to host probably the most important Major of the franchise in recent years,” Stroie said.
“Denmark has a rich esports heritage, and we are excited to bring the world’s best Counter-Strike teams to Copenhagen to compete for the game’s most prestigious title. Our ambition for PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 is to break the game’s all-time viewership records.”
The tournament organizer set the previous record with the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, which achieved over a 2.7 million count during the match between G2 and Natus Vincere in the grand final.
PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 will be PGL’s fourth Major organized and the third since 2021. The tournament will feature 24 teams competing for a prize pool of $1.25 million.
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