Open qualifiers for the PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major began on Jan. 8 worldwide. The community and pro players are excited about the upcoming first Major, but it turns out the qualifiers are flooding with cheaters, some of whom have already been banned by the organizers.
On Jan. 11, Bleed Esports’ coach, kassad, shared a clip of a CS2 team blatantly cheating in one of their games during the qualifiers. At the 18-16 scoreline, they all stacked at A site on Mirage after the opposing squad started making their way through ramp. Knowing the opponents were backing off, the cheaters even decided to push through the Smoke, which is considered a foolish move in all circumstances.
The cheaters made it to the third round of the open qualifiers, which prompted kassad to ask, “what the fuck are you [organizers] doing?” This was obviously due to the tournament having numerous issues already, with cheaters being among the most severe.
The case brought up by the Serbian coach isn’t the only one that made headlines in recent days. On Jan. 10, the team Lazer Cats claimed their former opponents in the open qualifier were banned for “playing unfairly,” which gave them a second chance. On Jan. 9, content creator Ozzny posted a video of another team, Never More, blatantly cheating against Movistar KOI.
Players and fans aren’t satisfied with PGL’s organization of the open qualifiers so far. Besides cheaters in multiple games, the tournaments have been a logistical disaster, with sign-up pages not working, the anti-cheat program crashing players’ PCs, and more. With that in mind, the community is worried about the upcoming Major, and you can’t really blame them.
Still, the event is ongoing as scheduled, with some teams already making their way onto the closed qualifiers. There, they will face off against each other for spots in their local RMRs, where the world’s best CS2 rosters will compete for a spot in the Copenhagen Major itself. Luckily, the RMRs will take place in an offline environment.
