The Esports World Cup 2024 has ended, and we’ve got you covered for a recap of everything that happened during the tournament as Na’Vi were crowned champions. But before we get there, let’s get it from the start.

First, there was…

The Opening Stage

G2 vs. TheMongolz

We started the Esports World Cup 2024 with the game with the biggest upset potential, and it both did and didn’t disappoint. With G2 being joined by new IGL Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski and rifler Mario “MalbsMd” Samayoa, they looked a bit shaky to start, while TheMongolz are always dangerous. The maps picked were Ancient, Inferno, and Nuke. Ancient was a really fun back and forth with both teams trading winning streaks before a ending the map with a 13:11 G2 win. Inferno was similar, with the teams trading 7:5 halves on their way to an overtime that G2 took 16:13. MalbsMd showed excellent potential, finishing the game with a 1.17 rating, while Snax seemed to settle into the IGL role pretty well, even if his rifling wasn’t quite on point. However, the big difference was the AWP battle with Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov absolutely dominating Usukhbayar “910” Banzgrach. Even though TheMongolz were four round wins away from the knockouts, they became the first team to go down to the Resurrection Bracket.

FaZe vs. FlyQuest

The Aussie underdogs faced a story very similar to that of the Mongolz. As the teams picked Anubis, Nuke, and Inferno, the first map became a potential upset, as the team from Down Under took the first half 8:4. However, FaZe recovered and led the match to overtime where, you guessed it, they won 16:13. Nuke saw an even first half turn into a minimal FaZe win thanks to a strong showing on their CT-side, with the game going the distance into a 13-11 scoreline. No upsets yet.

MOUZ vs. Sashi

Sashi became the only Danish outfit at the Esports World Cup 2024 with Astralis not participating, and they immediately were faced with one of the best teams in all of Counter-Strike in MOUZ. The maps chosen were Nuke, Inferno, and Mirage… and Nuke exploded with a surprise. Unlike the other underdogs, Sashi didn’t just come close for no cigar, they managed to take a map off MOUZ in a 13-11 thriller courtesy of a dominant performance from Oliver “kwezz” Rasmussen who ended the match with a 1.58 Rating 2.0, including a pistol round ace. However, MOUZ wouldn’t stand for an upset, taking Ancient and Mirage 13:7 and 13:5 as Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo took over, posting a 1.71 Rating 2.0 of his own on Ancient and ending the Sashi scare.

Vitality vs. M80

With the departure of MalbsMd for G2, M80 had to find a replacement quickly, eventually going for Mason “Lake” Sanderson as they prepared to face off against G2 on Vertigo, Dust2, and Inferno. Unfortunately, Lake is no Malbs and he struggled in a close 13:11 loss on Vertigo, and a 13:5 stomp on Dust.

Guess who didn’t struggle, though. That’s right, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut absolutely balled out, putting up one of the highest ratings in the entire tournament. Still no underdog wins.

Na’Vi vs. FURIA

The Brazilians have changes of their own with Kayke “kye” Bertolucci being benched in favor of Felipe “skullz” Medeiros as they went to Nuke, Mirage and Dust2 against the reigning Major champs. The first map went in a way that’s sort of emblematic of this tournament, with two pretty even halves ending with a 13:11 win for the favorited Na’Vi. The second map, however, was all Na’Vi, to the point that the first half of Mirage ended with a 12:0 scoreline for the international team. The Brazilians managed to win the pistol courtesy of a big Yuri “yuurih” Santos clutch, and a five round comeback was broken up by a Na’Vi win for a 13:5 win for the champs. Still no upsets.

Spirit vs. MIBR

Another Brazilian team in the tournament, MIBR faced off against the top ranked team in the world. Unlike previous games, here’s not much to write about because Spirit steamrolled both Nuke and Vertigo to ensure they wouldn’t even get to Ancient. The first map ended with a 13:4 win, while Vertigo ended with a 13:3 scoreline. The one notable thing is the performance of Boris “magixx” Vorobiev who matched Danil “donk” Kryshkovets basically note for note in a great performance.

Virtus.Pro vs. Complexity

Russia faces off against the US in this one, and it went as well as anyone who knows Counter-Strike expected. The maps picked were Anubsi, Dust2 and Inferno, but we never got to the latter, with VP taking Complexity’s map pick of Anubis 13:9 after an insanely strong T-half. Dust2 was also a wash, with new addition denis “electroNic” Sharipov leading the way on both maps, which ended 13:9 and 13:4.

And thus the Opening Stage ends with no upsets, sending the losing teams to the Last Chance, or as the Esports World Cup 2024 called it, the Resurrection stage, with the final spot being up for grabs in a series of BO1s for the 7 losing teams and the MENA qualifier JiJieHao. Speaking of…

The Resurrection Stage

Round 1: JiJieHao vs Sashi

JJH was a big unknown coming into this tournament, having added former Major MVP Markus “Kjaerbye” Kyaerbye to the team along with Osama “0SAMAS” Orabi. You might also recognize Issa “ISSAA” Murad and Denislav “dennyslaw” Dimitrov from their days in the European scene. The game was closer than expected given that JJH rarely played outside of MENA and Sashi were the 32nd ranked team in the world. Despite an absolutely starmaking performance from 0SAMAS (1.98 Rating 2.0!!!!), Sashi’s T-Side overwhelmed JiJie Hao on Ancient. And Kjaerbye? Kjaerbye didn’t look good, unfortunately.

Round 1: FlyQuest vs. FURIA

Aussies vs. Brazilians as we head to Nuke. FlyQuest gave FaZe a scare, but couldn’t deal with FURIA on NUke as the Brazilians turned up the heat in the second half, winning their T-side 6:0 on their way to their next game.

Round 1: TheMongolZ vs. MIBR

You thought that was a blowout? Well, TheMongolz absolutely stomped on MIBR on Inferno, allowing only 2 rounds to be won by the Brazilian side. Ayush “mzinho” Batbold went crazy with a 2.01 Rating 2.0, recovering from a bad opening stage match against G2.

Round 1: M80 vs. Complexity

The two NA teams had to face off in the first round of the resurrection bracket, and the game took us to Anubis where we saw Lake making up for his opening round performance with a very decent game en route to an M80 Overtime win after a big comeback on their CT-Side that nearly eliminated Complexity outright.

Round 2: Sashi vs. FURIA

Coming off two rather easy wins, the Danes and Brazilian faced off on… Nuke. That’s right, FURIA got Nuke again, and this game went on for a while, with the team trading 8:4 halves and drawing the first overtime before FURIA managed to run away with it on their T-Side and defused Sashi’s plant to complete their road to victory. Once again FURIA’s two “fangs” in yuurih and Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato balled out, carrying the team to victory.

Round 2: TheMongolZ vs. M80

The Underdogs from Ulanbataar returned to Ancient, but they definitely weren’t the underdogs in this game against the NA outfit. Another poor showing from mzinho was made up for by Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren and Munkhbol “Senzu” Azbayar on their way to a 13:8 win.

Resurrection Final: FURIA vs. TheMongolz

The last BO1 of a busy day would come down to the two lower bracket favorites FURIA managed to put the game on Nuke once again, and did what they were doing all day long. Won. Another great showing from their Fangs guaranteed a 13:8 wins as TheMongolZ couldn’t answer the Brazilains. Thus FURIA completed the QF Bracket which presented itself as:

• Spirit vs. G2
• Vitality vs. Virtus.Pro
• MOUZ vs. FURIA
• Na’Vi vs. FaZe

The Quarterfinals

Spirit vs. G2

Spirit were the heavy favorites heading into this tournament, and they were also favorited in this matchup given that G2 had two new players, including an IGL on board. G2 picked Mirage, Spirit picked Nuke and Ancient was left over. Almost immediately, Snax showed them that an old dog can learn new tricks, with his T-Side absolutely decimating Spirit, and limiting Donk to only 6 kills in the first half as the score read 9:3 G2. The second half started going better for the Russians as they managed to win 3 rounds in a row, but with G2 only needing 4 rounds for the map victory, they managed to secure it in the end.

Spirit’s pick of Nuke was a map that both teams regularly play, however a big challenge for a new IGL… and it was dead even. After two 6:6 halves, the game went to overtime where Spirit staved off elimination with the tiniest of margins, sending us to Ancient.

After beating TheMongolZ we knew that G2 was decent on Ancient… and this was a show, the Snax and MalbsMd show, with the two putting up excellent rankings and Snax causing a ton of damage alongside his 11 kills. The team shut down donk limiting him to a map worst 7 kills and 54.6 ADR on their way to a dominant 13:5 victory.

Vitality vs Virtus.Pro

VP picked Mirage, Vitality picked Inferno and Dust2 as left over in this one. The first map, being VP’s map pick was an absolute doozy. After two 7:5 halves for each side, the game went to overtime. And then another overtime. And another one. The game was eventually settled in triple Overtime, with Vitality winning 22:20.

As we went to Inferno, it may have felt like VP lost their best chance to steal one from the French outfit, but Dzhami “Jame” Ali and co recovered quickly, answering a 7:5 half with 8 rounds in a row on their T-side to take us to the final map of our classic CS extravaganza, Dust II.

VP left no doubt on Dust, as they won the first half 8:4 before finishing up with a 5:1 CT-Side on their way to the semis.

MOUZ vs. FURIA

FURIA went straight from the pressure cooker of the Resurrection Stage to facing one of the best teams in the world. They immediately picked Nuke, MOUZ picked Mirage, and Inferno was leftover.

FURIA must’ve been surprised when Nuke didn’t quite go their way, as MOUZ took the first half 7:5, before a dominant 6:2 T-Side finish with Jimpphat leading the fray. FURIA however, shocked Mouz on Mirage with a close 13:11 win, coming back from a 7:5 deficit on their CT side. Finally, we went to the classic decider map of classic CS, and on Inferno, MOUZ started off dominant, winning 9 out of 12 rounds in the first half, before finishing off FURIA in the second half.

Na’Vi vs. FaZe

A classic matchup of super teams, with Major Champs looking to win another title, and FaZe looking to show that they’re still a dominant force in Counter-Strike. In this match, Na’Vi picked Miarge, FaZe picked Nuke and Ancient was leftover.

Both maps were close affairs, with Na’Vi taking their pick 13:10 after two very close halves just about barely went their way, but a strong showing from Valeriy ‘b1t’ Vakhovskiy paved their way to defending their map pick.

Nuke became an even closer affair with both teams trading 7:5 halves before overtime, where Na’Vi took 4 rounds in a row, for a 16:12 win, once again led by b1t, leading them to the semis.

The Semi-Finals

G2 vs. Virtus.Pro

Coming off two upset wins, G2 and VP weren’t really supposed to go this far, especially the former courtesy of their new lineup. VP went through changes of their own with electroNic who also came into the team strong. The Russian outfit chose Dust II, while Snax went with Ancient, with Mirage left over as the decider.

With Dust back on the menu, Nikola “NiKo” Kovacs absolutely cooked, posting up an insane 2.49 Rating 2.0 and 151.4 ADR in a 13:4 win. Of note is that Nemajna “huNter-” Kovacs also posted up a great 1.95 rating, along with 137.8 ADR in the absolute 13:4 stomp.

The hurt continued on Ancient for Virtus.Pro, where they managed to win only 3 rounds more than the last map, sending G2 to the final and eliminating the Russian outfit.

MOUZ vs. Na’Vi

With MOUZ getting the easy job of beating FURIA and Na’Vi beating FaZe, we had a matchup between the Major winner, and one of the tournament favorites. Na’Vi picked Dust II, MOUZ picked Nuke and Mirage was left over. It didn’t start well for the champions, as they were absolutely trounced in a 13:1 game against MOUZ as Jimpphat and Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek owned the server with ease. 

On Nuke,  MOUZ had an amazing chance at securing their final spot on their map pick, they faltered on Nuke, losing their CT-Side after an even half, courtesy of a great showing from Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov.

w0nderful continued his form on Mirage, with another strong showing, while MOUZ just couldn’t recover from their Nuke blunder, leaving us with a 13:5 Na’Vi win and a Na’Vi-G2 final.

The Final: G2 vs. Na’Vi

A final not many could’ve predicted. In fact, not of us had Na’Vi winning, and only one predicted G2’s success. G2 picked Snax’s favorite map so far in the tournament in Ancient, while Na’Vi picked Nuke and finally Inferno was leftover.

Ancient was an absolute classic. G2 came out strong out of the gate on their T-Side winning 8 out of 12 rounds, before Na’Vi answered in kind on their own T-Side. Eventually, Overtime went the distance, but G2 eked out a 2 round win courtesy of a strong Snax showing.

On Nuke, thanks to b1t’s dominant showing as he got more kills than the G2 Top-3 fraggers combined, G2 essentially cruised to a 13:6 win, repeating that feat once again on Mirage, as three out of five Na’Vi players outfragged the entire G2 team. In the end, the Aleksib curse remained in place, as he has gotten to a 12-2 record when playing against his former team, locking a Na’Vi Esports World Cup 2024 and b1t a well-deserved MVP trophy.

Conclusion

The Esports World Cup 2024 was an exciting tournament, although it lacked the upsets we were hoping for when we saw the bracket. All in all, the top teams prevailed in the end and Na’Vi has once again proven that their Major win wasn’t a fluke. G2 has also showed a lot of potential in their new lineup, and as long as they can iron out the kinks of Snax and Malb’s presence, we believe they might make a splash in Cologne, which will be the next big tournament we’ll be covering.

What did you think about the Esports World Cup 2024? Let us know on our socials, and we hope you enjoyed it!