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There’s not a star in Copenhagen that we can’t beat.

As some stories end, some beautiful ones rise - and we get to do it all over again when the second RMR starts today. We love the Major.
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“We don’t dislike SAW, but that is embarrassing for a team who has spent that much money and effort on trying not to be awful. ewjerkz was the best player in the server, despite being on probably a tenth of k0nfig’s salary.”
Ha! What kind of idiots would say something like that?
We really thought that one was safe. When SAW beat NIP to kick ‘em out 0-3, we thought that was going to be SAW’s only win. Hell, MUTiRiS and roman have been playing since donk was like two years old, and haven’t made a Major at any point.
Until now.
SAW found themselves 0-2 after getting banged out by VP 6-13, smushed by 9 Pandas 1-13, and looked dead in the water. It seemed like once more, the Portuguese veterans would miss out on the glory of the Major.
And the payday. Oh boy the payday.
When they ended NIP’s hopes and gave us all a hearty chuckle, the reverse sweep was on - but it seemed unlikely. Enterprise were next up though, which… look, there are harder games you could get, but SAW had no room for errors.
Fortunately, they didn’t make any. They smacked Enterprise, dropping just eight rounds, with ewjerkz topping the charts again. He was the best player in the server against NIP and turned Enterprise to mincemeat.
But SAW have been here before. The 2-2 game. If you remember Jame’s last-second noscope at 15-14 on B site Inferno, you know what I’m talking about.
Man, it still hurts to watch.
fnatic stood in SAW’s way this time, and while they’re not the titan of yesteryear, they’re a scary team for someone like SAW. Or at least, they used to be.
The new SAW tore fnatic to shreds and looked like a team who’d been at every Major. Whether it was destiny, desire, or plain good quality Counter-Strike, something powered SAW past fnatic with ease.
MUTiRiS and roman will be at their first Major - and just look at what it means to them.

Money can get you lots of things. Players, partner spots, infrastructure, Lars Robl wizardry.
But it can’t guarantee you a Major spot, as Falcons have found out.
After losses to FaZe, Eternal Fire, and AMKAL, Snappi, and co. have been banged out of the RMR and will miss the first CS2 Major. Couldn’t happen to a nicer org, honestly.
It was a miserable week for them. BOROS was back to his usual lackadaisical antics, getting picked over Outside smokes and lazily clearing angles. SunPayus lost every 1vs1, none more important than this one in overtime to Forester.
Back to the infinite money glitch post-Major then, we assume.
Elsewhere, FaZe and NAVI got through in the 3-1 pool before a wave of fun teams made it in.
Movistar KOI have an EU flag but are still speaking Spanish, so we’re counting them. SAW, as you know, joined them. Eternal Fire continued their great 2024 by smashing Falcons and BetBoom to secure a spot of their own.
They ended 3-2 but with losses to G2 and FaZe; their run couldn’t have been harder.
Wicadia is a stud, as anyone who’s watched him since he burst onto the scene knows, and has been the final piece in the Turkish superteam that has threatened to emerge ever since Space Soldiers.
EF, in an increasingly international space, are breaking the trend. And we’re all for it.
The eight teams booked in for the Major:
🇷🇺 Virtus.pro
🇪🇺 G2
🇪🇺 FaZe
🇪🇺 NAVI
🇪🇺 Movistar KOI
🇵🇹 SAW
🇹🇷 Eternal Fire
🇷🇺 AMKAL
Well, that didn’t take long.
On Friday morning we wrote all about how NIP were awful. It was a story full of schadenfreude, and we’d like to see we’re a little bit ashamed of how much we enjoyed it, but we’re really not.
It turns out that re-adding es3tag wasn’t the solution to their firepower problems — quelle surprise — and he has been reportedly re-benched. Some lessons one has to learn twice, as anyone who has ever gone back to an ex will tell you.
It never ends well.
k0nfig and headtr1ck, reportedly, will join es3tag on NIP’s bench, alongside coach djL. This will come as no surprise to anyone who watched them at the RMR, as neither player looked anywhere near their best, and NIP need a change.
Quite who they will get is up in the air, and with most good players still in the Major cycle, it mightn’t be ‘til post-Copenhagen that we find out what the new look NIP team will be.
It will have alex and REZ in it, supposedly. alex was handed a poisoned chalice, and will get another chance to build a team that he can succeed with, while REZ has a long contract and has Swedish brand value, in the most diplomatic way we can say “he doesn’t offer much else”.
If NIP are to be ‘on the top by January 2025’, as THREAT was quoted as saying they have to be, then this is a good first step towards that goal.
As long as they replace them with better players, anyway.
NIP now have:

Group B of the European RMRs is kicking off today, carrying some big names.
The group is headlined by world’s #2 and #3, Vitality and Spirit. Both teams will be making their major bid in Bucharest tomorrow starting with a rematch of the Paris Major’s final, Vitality vs GamerLegion. Very fitting to start an RMR with a final rematch. As for Katowice’s newest champions, Spirit, they’ll be staring down a tenacious ENCE roster trying to prove themselves. We’re waging one of these has to be an upset.
But these are not the only big boys in this RMR.
For example, Heroic and Astralis are both in this group, and we’re on our knees begging for them to meet in an elimination match. THE DRAMA.
Clown Ni-, erm, sorry, Cloud9 is also amongst the stack of teams trying to make it out of group B, and it’s looking good because they’ve been gifted a soft opener. They’re playing PERA who, despite a great qualifier run, should be light work for C9. So we’re placing bets on PERA.
This group is so stacked, there are still good teams we’ve not named yet, oh, and OG.
MOUZ, Guild Eagles, Apeks, and Monte are all in this mix as well, and the first two even play each other in their openers.
With only 8 teams making it out, we’re kind of due a big scalp flunking out of this RMR à la NIP.
Whilst we have our usual “joking” agendas here at TLDR, in reality, Monte is at a big disadvantage. SDY is out for “at least the first day” and his replacement, 19-year-old Gizmy has some big shoes to fill. The only good news here is that Gizmy has a bit of relevant experience as he played in the Paris Major RMR for Viperio.
We can’t wait for the action and upsets in Group B, even if it might turn out to be nothing but Team Spirit’s encore.

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