Bad. News. Eagles.

The first Kosovan team to qualify for BLAST, the first ones to be in the RMR/Minor system, and now, the first to be at a Major.

Every time a new challenge appears, these boys overcome it. Having lost to G2, they needed to win a BO3 against ASG and then SINNERS to qualify, and they did so with aplomb. They body bagged ASG and ground their way to a 30-round victory in map three against the Czech outfit.

Fair to say, their celebrations tonight are going to be wild. They already are. Poor coach.

They, obviously, weren’t alone in going through. They were joined by Copenhagen Flames, Players (more on them shortly), NIP, ENCE, G2, Astralis, and Team Spirit.

It wouldn’t be a Major cycle if a Russian team upset the pack, would it? Spirit took down Anonymo to break the hearts of the Polish population who haven’t had a team to root for... a little bit too long, now.

Stage one of chopper’s master plan is in action.

But the Flames picked up another 3-0 to make it to the Legends stage, and might just go on to make Complexity look a bit silly for picking up an NA roster. We’re sure floppy and co. will do better than Copenhagen Flames in the main tournament.

inhales a, frankly, unhealthy amount of Stars and Stripes-branded copium.

Astralis almost became the main focus of this piece after they spluttered to a victory over HEET in a 2-2 game. While it would have been amusing to see Astralis not qualify for a Major, it’s much funnier to see neL upset.

For the others, it was relatively smooth sailing. NIP grabbed a Legends spot over ENCE in an important seeding game (yes, it’s an oxymoron, we know), while Players confirmed a simple 3-0 as they triumphed over Astralis.

That means their sticker money is confirmed; but without an org, where could it go?

Now THAT’S a segue.

Well, Cloud9 certainly knows how to make news.

Early Sunday morning local time, on the last day of the European RMR, Cloud9 just about broke CS:GO Twitter by announcing the signing of the entirety of what is now formerly Gambit’s roster.

The North American organization hasn’t had a team since early 2021, and now reenters CS:GO with a roster currently ranked third in the world and already qualified for the Legends stage of the major that’s coming up. Not bad, C9, not bad at all.

It’s worth noting that in addition to all five players the team has also acquired Groove, the roster’s coach.  It was even mentioned by Cloud9 owner Jack in an interview with the Sports Business Journal that choosing to sign the roster was clinched by the fact “that Groove would join Cloud9 as well.”

If there was any roster for Cloud9 to sign, this one was a good choice. Gambit has come under fire in recent months due to their ownership’s ties to the Russian government, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, causing the players to have to play under the neutral name Players.

Now, the players will be able to play under an organization’s banner again while Cloud9 gets an incredibly talented roster.

Nothing has been said about the costs of acquiring the roster, but it’s worth noting that the Sports Business Journal interview with Jack notes that “While financial details of the signings were not released, the deal was a negotiation between Cloud9 and Norwegian-based Ulti Agency, which now represents the players of Players.”

It’s also unknown where the team will be playing out of; in the same interview, it was stated that “Relocation of the team is currently underway, stay tuned. We will be looking to play any premier events available.”

While there’s no way to know how well this move will go for Cloud9, it certainly can’t end with more frustration than the last attempt the organization made and it does feel very Cloud9 to have the first tournament their new team plays be the Major.

🏆 The Major is just around the corner

• And some teams got to cheer (just like our title) as they booked their spot.
• Some of them also already know their first matchups.
• But one of them, Bad News Eagles, got a very special congratulation from their Prime Minister. Congrats!

🇺🇸 ‘Murica

• We’ll be sure to use this trick next time we play Mirage. Thank you Cooper, very cool.
• NA being as delusional as ever. Koi, we give you the gold medal in mental gymnastics.
• We know a lot of you reader folk are “American”, so beware when opening this tweet. It just might shock you.

🪶 A little bit of fluff

• We know Easter’s already over, but this way you’ll have plenty of time to practice for next year.
• We’re 100% certain that the best thing to come from Cloud9 would be polo shirts and varsity jackets. We’re dying on that hill.
• Can’t have enough stickers, we need more stickers.