And then there were three. With three more teams advancing to the next round yesterday, today we’re going to meet the final 3 teams heading to the elimination stage in Copenhagen. Who’s going to face off? Who’s kicking it back at home? Keep reading to find out what happened on Day 3 of the PGL Major 2024!

2-1 Bracket

Match 1: Eternal Fire vs GamerLegion

The first 2-1 face off was between the Turkish Eternal Fire and last year’s dark horse in GamerLegion. GL picked Overpass, EF picked Inferno, and Vertigo was going to be the final map. After a strong start, it looked like the Paris Major finalists will be heading to the Elimination Stage, as they took Vertigo with ease in a 13:4 stomp. However, the stomp didn’t go unanswered, as an excellent showing on Inferno saw the Turks win 13:2. So it all came down to Vertigo, and the match was about as close as they get, with teams trading winning streaks all along until Eternal Fire pulled away to get the narrowest of victories and advance to the Elimination stage off the back of an incredible performance from Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş.

Match 2: SAW vs paiN

Portugal vs Brazil, a rivalry as old as… well, Brazil, takes its first turn to Counter-Strike, and the arenas are Vertigo (picked by paiN), Nuke (picked by SAW), and Overpass. On their map pick, paiN didn’t have the easiest of times, however, excellent pistol round conversions guaranteed a 13:10 win. Heading into SAW’s map pick with a decent performance under their belt, you’d think we’d be seeing Overpass soon. However, Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt showed up once again, leading his team to an 8:0 opening in the first half, before finishing the map with a 13:7 scoreline, stopping any chance of a SAW comeback and heading to the Elimination Stage.

Match 3: ECSTATIC vs Imperial

Brazil’s representation in this tournament is strong, and Imperial were looking to join paiN in the Elimination stage, however, to do so they had to go through the Danish ECSTATIC. The Brazilians picked Anubis, the Danes picked Inferno and Vertigo was left over. It didn’t start well for the Brazilians, as they got absolutely stomped on their map pick, with a 13:4 scoreline, before heading to Inferno where they managed to eeek out a 13:10 win to stay in it against the odds. That would be all for winning for a while, though, as ECSTATIC took the first half 11:1. Imperial tried to bounce back, however, eventually the Danes found the two rounds they needed for a 13:7 win and ensure a full Danish roster’s presence on the big stage.

1-2 Bracket

Match 1: TheMongolz vs Lynn Vision

A rematch of the Asia RMRs, the Mongolians were looking to stay alive against their local foes. Mongolz picked Ancient, Lynn Vision picked Anubis, Nuke was left over. Spoiler alert: we never got there. Similarly to the RMR, the Mongolians took their ball and ran with it, winning the games 13:8 and 13:6, and sending the Chinese team home.

Match 2: Legacy vs Apeks

We’re back to the Brazilians, with Legacy facing off against one of last year’s standouts in Apeks. The latter picked Anubis, while the former picked Inferno with the tiebreaker on Ancient. However… we never got to see the jungle, as the Brazilians took over and never looked back, winning both maps 13:7 and ensuring Apeks won’t repeat their surprise run.

Match 3: ENCE vs FURIA

My prediction was looking grim as it was and ENCE drawing FURIA didn’t make it any easier, as Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander faced off against his former nemesis Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo. The Brazilians picked Mirage, while the Poles picked Ancient… Unfortunately for my pick, it wasn’t EZ4 ENCE, instead it was Fantastic4Furia as they took the two maps with relative ease, sending the Poles back to Warsaw (and gla1ve back to his Copenhagen home).

What’s next?

Today is the last phase of the Opening Stage, meaning all games decide who advances, and who stays. The matches are:

1. Legacy vs TheMongolz
2. Imperial vs GamerLegion
3. SAW vs FURIA

An interesting note from this draw is that whatever the result, Europe will be losing a RMR spot or even two in the next Major to either the Americas or Asia depending on the result of the Legacy vs TheMongolz. While Legacy has a backup in the form of Imperial and FURIA, the Underdogs from Ulan Bataar are fighting not just for themselves, but for their entire region.

As a reminder, the following teams have qualified so far:

• Heroic 3-0
• Cloud9 3-0
• ECSTATIC 3-1
• paiN 3-1
• Eternal Fire 3-1

And the following teams have been eliminated:

• KOI 0-3
• AMKAL 0-3
• Lynn Vision 1-3
• Apeks 1-3
• ENCE 1-3 (:()

We’ll be back tomorrow with 2-2 match recaps and our preview of the Elimination Stage! Cheers!