Copenhagen Games 2018 will be starting this Friday. While the event hasn’t the same prestige it had years ago, it will be one of the most important events for North and the Danish scene.

Why is that, you may ask and the answer is simple:

It’s the last opportunity for MSL and North to start their recovery for the top.

The Background

We all know the sad story behind North’s roster. A team capable, often ranked in the top 5 in the world last year, that never was able to win any premier tournament. During the last Major, North hit rock bottom as the team was eliminated without a single victory.

After which, ‘k0nfig’, the previous star of that team and ‘cajunB’ who was the AWPer for the roster were removed. In their places, entered ‘Kjaerbye’ from Astralis and ‘mertz’ from North Academy to make up their roster:

MSL, with a 0.92 rating. He is a seasoned in-game leader but it’s pretty clear that he needs to work on his strategies.

Aizy, with a rating of 0.92. His performances of early 2015 are nowhere to be seen. He is pretty underwhelming and while MSL has tried to work with him, it’s clear that he can’t put the numbers on the scoreboard anymore.

Kjaerbye with a 1.03 rating. He is currently filling roles that k0nfig and aizy use to occupy. He’s versatile but can’t win the games single handed for North.

Valde with a 1.09 rating. Valde performances often lead his team to the victory or at least guarantee them some rounds. He is pretty much the only one who will be remaining after the entire team falls.

Mertz with a 1.01 rating. The young AWPer has an insane skill-set that is often limited by his inexperience. His setup in-game also doesn’t help and we see him missing shots in important battles mid-round.

Why Copenhagen Games will be so important?

The Copenhagen Games will be North’s next challenge. The management team have made it clear they have a team built to win big trophies. Quoting the CEO of the organization himself:

“I want to make it completely clear that North is an organization that needs to win titles. We believe that mertz will help us reach that eventually, but we are also aware that the team is currently in a build up phase.”

If the team lead by MSL can’t achieve something here, the future looks very dark for them.

North will be looking for prove something here. Being one of the favorites will help boost confiendence and explore options as weaker opponents allow them to try new strategies and innovate.

One example was G2 last year. The unperforming French team decided to go at DreamHack Open Tours 2017.

DH Open Tours was a small event compared to the likes of what you expect from a team in tier of North and G2 to be in. Smaller prize pool, lesser competition and a more relaxed atmosphere, however it still is an offline event. G2 won that event after months of disappointment and you could see that after it they were looking brand new. In fact, just after that event they ended winning ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals almost one month later.

It was a small tournament, just like Copenhagen Games is but it allowed G2 to rebuild their mindset. Their confidence was restored and chemistry was right once again. Those kinds of events are needed for big teams so they can learn and grow from it.

Now it’s North chance to do it. However, one misstep will be all they need to fall in ruins.

It’s do or die time – North needs to win this event

If North wins Copenhagen Games 2018, all will be right and they have almost seven weeks to use what they learned and rebuilding the team and image.

However, what if North fails do achieve the trophy there?

Then everything goes south. Their confidence will be lost, chemistry problems probably are going to rise and teamwork will fall. One could say that North would be in the same situation that they were back in January: destroyed.

Roster changes will follow and this time not even their leader, MSL, will be safe. The favorites to go are certainly MSL and Aizy, the duo that is usually fragging in most matches.

Who will be challenging North?

Copenhagen Games still don’t have the complete list of paticipants as the qualifiers are going on right now. However, from the invited teams, North biggest challenge will be Heroic, their home country rivals.

So far Heroic and North are competing head-to-head, with North having a slightly upper hand since they won their last encounter in an offline match.

North however has an advantage coming against Heroic as ‘JUGi’, their main star still isn’t confirmed to be playing due to health issues.

Other than Heroic, North should be aware of Kinguin too. The poles who now feature the veteran ‘TaZ’ in their roster are doing quite well in online leagues, beating BIG and GODSENT lately.

Can North Cope?

From North’s last two grand final last year, we have learned that MSL isn’t the best to reassure his team under pressure.

Knowing how important this event will be, the team can fail especially if they end up relying in ‘mertz’ clutching ability like they had for their last online matches.

Mertz is a newcomer and it’s his first time playing in a team like North. During Katowice we saw that he is vulnerable under pressure and often misses shots in decisive situations. His lack of experience been on display before.

We know that Kjaerbye and valde are used to the competitions of this standard and have the experience. If mertz also feels inspired this trio will be dominating most of the games.

MSL will also be looking to rebuild the non-existing chemistry. Putting new strategies in place and finding new ways to best use his players will be very important here.

The Aftermath

FaceIT Major will take place in September which gives North a few months to test out new things.

If North can’t achieve the necessary this weekend, the team will be surely looking to replace players. The problem is, should they do it before or after the major?

Yet they decide to change someone now, they will instantly lose their spot at the New Challenger Stage and will have to qualify for FaceIT Major at the Europe Minor.

But will they be able to hold their Major spot with this roster?

Arguably no.

This time, the Major New Challenger Stage will be packed. Astralis, Virtus.Pro, Liquid, EnVyUs and Space Soldiers will be all fighting for a spot to advance for the next stage. Not only them but you also have teams like Ninjas in Pyjamas and NRG looking to qualify from the Minor events.

It’s hard to see North beating three of those teams as they stand now. Basically, they have two options:

Do a roster swap right now and go to the FaceIT Europe Minor event to try qualify from there

Delay the roster changes. The losers of the New Challengers Stage will have to qualify from the online Minors to have a chance at the first Major of 2019

One Last Chance

As we said above, it’s do or die time.

North needs to win here. It’s their time to shine and build confidence to find a place on the main stage.

We will certainly be looking forward to seeing North’s results at Copenhagen. Can they come up stronger than ever?

What about you? Do you think that this will be the last straw or the start for their golden age? Tell us! We will be following Copenhagen Games with predictions and analysis.