NAVI Win Inaugural Esports World Cup In Counter-Strike 2

In what quickly became a grand final to remember, the Counter-Strike 2 tournament for the inaugural Esports World Cup 2024 saw Natus Vincere take on G2 esports to be the first to take home the champion title. 

Both teams brought their best to the Best of Three game. G2 took the first map (Ancient) which, despite being a G2 pick, went into overtime and eventually culminated in a 16:14 victory. However, with a fire lit under them, NAVI stormed into their map pick (Nuke) and kept G2 on the backfoot. The map ended with a 6:13 win for NAVI, and took us all into the decider map, Inferno. 

This map had historically been a G2 strong point, with NiKo and HooXi executing coordinated plays. But for this S-Tier event, G2 were operating with their brand new line-up with the addition of new IGL Snax, and malbsMd. Though these two newcomers gave it their best, it wasn't enough to contend with the likes of NAVI's b1t, who regularly stopped the opposition in their tracks.

In a worthy grand final, NAVI ended their Inferno run with another 6:13 victory, winning the CS2 EWC tournament with a 1:2 win and $400,000 in prize money. All wasn't completely lost for G2 who, in addition to finishing second, also saw NiKo awarded the CS2 PlayStation MVP, earning him an extra $50,000. 

Natus Vincere CS2 EWC Roster

• Valerij "b1t" Vakhovsjkyj
• Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen
• Justinas "jL" Lekavičius
• Mihai "iM" Ivan
• Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov
• (Coach) Andrij "B1ad3" Ghorodensjkyj

G2 Esports CS2 EWC Roster

• Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač
• Nikola "NiKo" Kovač
• Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov
• Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa
• Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski
• (Coach) Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas

The two teams are now looking ahead to IEM Cologne 2024, set to take place from August 7 to August 18, 2024.