The male version of the Copenhagen Games saw an unexpected winner – the local boys from Singularity.
Against all the odds, the Danes beat more experienced and skilled teams to grab first spot and the €30,000 top prize. The Finals were the pinnacle in a series of upsets as the highly favoured Swedes from Dreamchasers went home with a bitter taste in their mouths after being on the receiving end of a 2-0 whitewash.
Climbing up the ladder
Singularity were drawn in Group B alongside Fnatic Academy, Tricked Esport and eFuture.dk. They opened the tournament with an upset win against Fnatic Academy (16-11), but a loss against compatriots Tricked Esport (again 16-11) meant that their fate would be determined by a best-of-three decider. However, Singularity did not falter and went through after a decisive 2-0 victory over eFuture.dk.
The first game in the elimination stage saw them up against iGame.com, where in a 2-1 victory Singularity demonstrated particularly strong play on Nuke, one of their favoured maps.
Facing BIG in the semis, Singularity were yet again written off despite their great play up to this point. However, they proved the doubters wrong once again with a 2-0 sweep that sent them to the Finals.
The big final game
The first game was played on Mirage – Dreamchasers’ map choice. The Swedes started as Terrorists and managed to secure a tiny 8-7 advantage before the swap, but Singularity turned things around in the second half as Terrorists themselves. Initially, Dreamchasers lost the pistol round, but soon got into their stride and started to make progress. However, the key moment in the first game came at 12-13 in favour of the Swedes, when Singularity had a successful bomb planting and equalized. Just when the match seemed to be going into a tiebreak, Singularity enjoyed a streak of three more rounds to secure the clash 16-13.
Surprisingly, Singularity were left to pick Nuke, arguably their strongest map in the tournament, for the second encounter. Similar to the previous game, Dreamchasers took an 8-7 advantage on the Terrorist side, but right after the swap, Singularity managed to take five rounds in a row to bring the score to 12-8 in their favour. After the next three rounds the score was 14-9 and despite a three round streak from the Swedes, Singularity put an end to Dreamchasers’ hopes with a final score of 16-12 to claim a 2-0 sweep and with it the title.
The heroes of Copenhagen
The current team roster was formed last January. Written off at every stage, Singularity played calmly and collectively from the underdog position throughout the tournament. They did so as a team rather than having a phenomenal star on their roster.
Peter “Inzta” Kragelund handles both AWPs and rifles equally well. Part of the team since September last year, he made the difference in crucial moments for Singularity. His play was great versus eFuture in the opening game, as well as in Game One in the Finals versus Dreamchasers. A triple kill against Dreamchasers was perhaps the most memorable play from him.
If there is a player who can be singled out for Singularity, it would be Allan “AnJ” Jensen. Often topping the scoreboards, there was hardly a game where AnJ was not among the players who had had the most impact. He was the main man for Singularity in a number of games, including against eFuture and iGame.com, and he even performed well when his team lost versus Tricked. He was also one of the best players in the Finals, especially in the first game when he performed a 1v2 clutch and added two quad kills to his stellar performance to solidify himself as the tournament MVP.
Thomas “Ryxxo” Nielsen is one of the players who arrived in January and it has not taken him long to adapt to the team. Able to cause havoc in the enemy ranks with the AWP, he had a great game versus Fnatic Academy in the opening match. His impact was also quite significant against BIG in the semifinals. Although he did not put up his best game in the Finals, he did have his moments, such as the double opening frag on Nuke.
Lucas “Lukki” Pilheden is one of the youngest talents on the CS:GO scene and at the age of 17, he will now surely be on the radars of some of the bigger teams. Despite his young age, Lukki would step up whenever his teammates were struggling to carry the team through hard times. Alongside AnJ, Lukki’s performance was the one to remember from the match against eFuture.
Mads “Console” Skovby was also one of the most prolific players for his team and his performance was particularly impressive against iGame.com in the quarterfinals of the tournament. This was also the case in the Finals against Dreamchasers, where he made an ace, being the only one from the team with the achievement. In the Finals, his triple kills in the last round ended the series and gave his team the title.
Final words
Winning a trophy in front of a home crowd is always a special moment for any team, but even more so for this one. Singularity were written off at all stages, but they never let the lack of belief from the sceptics slow their momentum. On paper, they are a team that was inferior in terms of skill, but through teamwork and strategical acumen (and in some cases individual outplaying) Singularity operated as a deadly efficient well-oiled machine and deservedly took the crown.
