It was close, but no cigar for GamerLegion

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It has been a rollercoaster of a week for GamerLegion.

The German organization failed to qualify for the major after they lost to 9 Pandas in the final of the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen Europe Last Chance Qualifier. After being so tantalizingly close, it appeared the major dreams were over for the UK duo of Sebastian “volt” Maloș and coach Ashley “ash” Battye.

Little did UK fans know, William “mezii” Merriman would not be the only UK representative at the major.

Unfortunately, 9 Pandas could not travel to Copenhagen due to visa issues, and with only two days left, PGL started making travel arrangements for GamerLegion to come to the Major. No one knew what would happen at this stage, not even the players. At 10 am on Saturday, just 24 hours before they are slated to face AMKAL in the first round, GamerLegion got the green light.

Now with the outside factors decided, and no BootCamp, GamerLegion could focus on what they have in front of them. Seedings did not change as GamerLegion entered the sixth-best European team, directly replacing 9 Pandas.

As previously mentioned, their first game was versus AMKAL, and after a rough CT start on Overpass, only claiming five, it didn’t spark hope. However, seemingly warming up into the game, GamerLegion went near flawless on the T side, only losing one round to take the map 13-8.

Heading into the 1-0 bracket, they faced off versus the Portuguese powerhouse of SAW. Unfortunately, this would be where they suffer their first defeat as AWPer João “story” Vieira shone on Vertigo.

Looking for retribution, GamerLegion dominated Legacy 13-4 once again on Vertigo putting them one win away from the next stage.

Now entering the best-of-three (BO3) part of the Swiss System, they had their toughest opponents yet, Eternal Fire. A team representing a whole region certainly did not want to roll over. After a dreaded start for the Turkish warriors, they lost the first map 13-4 on Overpass. However, they clambered back into the game and won their map pick of Inferno decisively 13-2.

Heading onto Vertigo, Eternal Fire took the first half 7-5. And even though rounds kept being traded back and forth, GamerLegion eventually came out on top, taking an 11-9 lead. Unfortunately, misfortune struck as superstar Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş on the CT side lined three up as they ran up ramp and turned the game back in favour of the Turkish side.

With busted money at 11-12, XANTARES was completely dismantling them and it looked dire for GamerLegion. Coming down to the wire, the Kings of Turkey silenced GamerLegion as they clinched a ninja defuse in the final round in a 1v1.

With one more chance left, GamerLegion faces up against their second Brazilian opponent, Imperial. The Brazilians were fighting for much more than just the Elimination stage, if they won The Americas would be granted a sixth spot in the next Major!

With one final chance left, they had an extremely rough start losing the first half of their map pick 3-9. However, the tides changed in their favour as GamerLegion forced it into overtime after three rounds in a row culminating in a 3v5 on 11-12. They did not stop there as Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski’s troops went flawless, winning their map pick 16-12. This was supported by Frederik “acoR” Gyldstrand who struggled on the final map yesterday dropping a 1.52 rating.

Imperial fumble a 5v3 and map one goes to overtime

Much to HEN1’s displeasure 😬 pic.twitter.com/d1zfGcal6C

— HLTV.org (@HLTVorg) March 20, 2024

Unfortunately, history repeated itself. Similar to the game versus Eternal Fire, when they went onto their opponent’s maps pick they got outclassed on Mirage as everyone on Imperial stepped up.

With fans on the edge of their seat, Gamerlegion had one final chance.

Nuke didn’t look favourable on paper for GamerLegion. Imperial has a 67% win over 15 maps, whereas GamerLegion has a 33% win over 6 maps. Nevertheless, Gamerlegion picked up the first three rounds of the game… only to lose eight in a row. A silver lining amongst the rain clouds was that this was on their T side, and by picking up the final round of the half, and the second pistol round. The game was back on!

As all UK CS fans are used to now, we can’t have nice things. Utilizing the bomb plant, Imperial bought back and overwhelmed Gamerlegion. They then subdued the force buy in the following round, even though snax got the opening pick.

As the game trails out, this is where the story ends for GamerLegion. Imperial simply outclassed them on the final two maps and the UK duo will have to reset for next time. Now as a UK CS fan, we turn our attention to Vitality and mezii. Can he bring the torch home for us?