(Photo credit: Nick Oza/The Republic via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

Heroic and Cloud9 notched their places in the elimination stage of the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 event by earning sweeps Monday in Denmark.

In Round 3 High Matches of the opening stage, Heroic beat Eternal Fire 2-0 and Cloud9 beat SAW by the same score to finish the stage 3-0 and secure advancement.

Heroic beat Eternal Fire 16-14 in overtime on Vertigo and 13-7 on Mirage. Denmark's Rene "TeSeS" Madsen led Heroic with 40 kills and a plus-6 kills-to-deaths differential.

Cloud9 also needed extra time on their first map, beating SAW 19-17 in double overtime on Nuke before finishing them off 13-9 on Anubis. Russians Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov (45 kills) and Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy (43) each had plus-11 K-D differentials for Cloud9.

Also on Monday, AMKAL ESPORTS and KOI met their demise in the Round 3 Low Matches and were the first two teams eliminated from the stage. The MongolZ defeated AMKAL 2-1 and FURIA Esports beat KOI 2-0.

In the Round 3 Mid Matches, Imperial Esports beat Apeks 13-7 on Overpass, paiN Gaming routed ENCE 13-3 on Nuke, GamerLegion stomped Legacy 13-4 on Vertigo and ECSTATIC defeated Lynn Vision Gaming 13-8 on Overpass. The four winning teams advanced to the Round 4 High Matches (joining Eternal Fire and SAW) and the four losing teams will be in the do-or-die Round 4 Low Matches.

Twenty-four teams are participating in the Counter-Strike 2 tournament, 16 of which have to go through the opening stage. Eight will advance to the elimination stage to join another eight that have already qualified. For the opening stage, which runs up until Wednesday, play is conducted using the Swiss System format.

Matches in which elimination or advancement is on the line are best-of-three. All other matches are best-of-one. When moving on to the next round, teams don't play an opponent that they have already faced.

Elimination-stage action starts on Thursday and runs through Sunday using the same format as the opening stage, the Swiss System, with best-of-three elimination and advancement matches and best-of-one matches in any other scenario.

Playoffs are scheduled for March 28-31. Eight teams will battle in a single-elimination bracket, where all matches are best-of-three.

The opening stage continues Tuesday with six Round 4 matches:

--Eternal Fire vs. GamerLegion (High)

--SAW vs. paiN Gaming (High)

--ECSTATIC vs. Imperial (High)

--Lynn Vision Gaming vs. The MongolZ (Low)

--Legacy vs. Apeks (Low)

--ENCE vs. FURIA Esports (Low)

Opening-stage standings (match record, round differential):

1. Cloud9, 3-0, plus-12

2. HEROIC, 3-0, plus-18

3. Eternal Fire 2-1, plus-10

4. SAW, 2-1, plus-7

5. ECSTATIC, 2-1, plus-5

6. Imperial Esports, 2-1, plus-7

7. paiN Gaming, 2-1, plus-4

8. GamerLegion, 2-1, plus-10

9. Lynn Vision Gaming, 1-2, minus-9

10. Legacy, 1-2, minus-9

11. ENCE, 1-2, minus-9

12. Apeks, 1-2, minus-8

13. The MongolZ, 1-2, minus-1

14. FURIA Esports, 1-2, plus-4

15. AMKAL ESPORTS, 0-3, minus-17

16. KOI, 0-3, minus-24

PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 prize pool:

1. $500,000, 3,500 BLAST Premier points, qualification to BLAST Premier World Final, qualification to Esports World Cup 2024

2. $170,000, 2,750 BLAST Premier points

3-4. $80,000, 1,775 BLAST Premier points

5-8. $45,000, 1,050 BLAST Premier points

9-11. $20,000

12-14. $20,000

15-16. $20,000

17-19. $10,000

20-22. $10,000

23-24. $10,000