Featuring Hubert “szejn” ?wiat?y, Leo “Svedjehed” Svedjehed, Sebastian “Basso” Aagaard, Nicolaj “mupzG” Djurhus, and in-game leader Victor “vigg0” Bisgaard, the Copenhagen Wolves formed a new English-speaking roster that will fight under one of the most recognisable names from the earlier days of Counter-Strike.
Szejn is the most notable name on the new roster, having made a name for himself by winning four WePlay Academy League titles with MOUZ NXT in 2021–22. Since then, the 21-year-old has served as a stand-in at Illuminar and was most recently seen competing with Project G.
He is surrounded by players from various backgrounds, including a Danish trio of mupzG, vigg0, basso, and ex-AGO and EYEBALLERS rifler Svedjehed.
Copenhagen’s revival started on December 20, when 23-year-old American entrepreneur Jared “Outback” Habib acquired the organisation. Along with a new owner came a different direction for assembling the roster, turning away from the Danish heritage.
Since Copenhagen Wolves’ inception in 2009, the team has fielded only Danish players. Some of the most notable ex-members include Counter-Strike superstars Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, Casped “cadiaN” M?ller, Finn “karrigan” Andersen, and Nicolai “device” Reedtz.
While the new signings don’t carry as much prestige as the Copenhagen Wolves’ former members, the new international lineup holds some potential.
Vigg0 joins the Copenhagen Wolves after successful stints with Astralis Talent and Sashi Esports, while Basso made a name for himself during his stay at the Copenhagen Flames in 2019 and 2020. They will link up with MupzG, who found himself under the spotlight in September 2023 when he helped Victory Zigzag win Pelaajat.com Nordic Masters Fall 2023 and qualify for BLAST Premier: Fall European Showdown 2023.
Unfortunately, the team never made it to the $67,000 tournament after Victory Zigzag got disqualified for their members being banned. Despite never winning a big event, MupzG is a highly experienced player, having been involved in the Counter-Strike scene since 2014.
The Copenhagen Flames have no official games on the schedule and have yet to announce a head coach.
]]>Adding the CCT Central Europe Series 4 victory to the Flames’ win in the CCT South Europe Series 1, CCT Central Europe Series 3 and the European Development Championship 6.
Congratulations to @CPHFlames for winning the #CCT Central Europe Online Series #4 by @REPUBLEAGUE!
Kudos to the champions!
@RAALZCS
@cubecsgo pic.twitter.com/ZPoVWuTQdT
— Champion of Champions Tour CS:GO (@cctour_gg) December 18, 2022
During November and December, Copenhagen Flames finished with a combined series record of 14 win and one loss, with their only defeat coming at the of ECLOT.
The grand final between the two Danish esports outfits was a very tight series, with Copenhagen Flames winning their map pick (Inferno) 16-14, and the decisive third map (Nuke) 16-14.
However, Astralis took their map pick (Dust2) in quick fashion 16-6, but it wasn’t too be for the ex-world number one.
For Astralis, this tournament loss could sting more than any other loss, as they could be knocked out of IEM Katowice Play-In contention, due to their world ranking dropping decaying, with the Danes Roobet Cup and IEM Cologne finishes dropping out of consideration before the Katowice spots are locked in.
Not qualifying for the IEM Katowice Play-In would be another huge blow to the Danish esports outfit, as their fall from grace continues, after dropping from the no.1 ranked CS:GO team in March 2021, to now sit at 16th in the world rankings.
With the offseason and player break upon us, both Copenhagen Flames and Astralis enter the break in much different positions, with the Flames looking to continue their rise up the rankings, while Astralis will be working out a way to stop their rankings skid.
]]>Team Spirit and Natus Vincere had perfect outings in the Legends stage to secure the first two spots in the playoffs. ENCE, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and FaZe Clan finished third, fourth, and fifth, respectively, leaving three available slots among six teams at the end of Round 4 matches.
Heroic booked their passage with a win against European counterparts Team Vitality. It was a closely contested affair, as Vitality evened the series 1-1 after a hard-fought match on Overpass.
Heroic, who were the slight favorites on several esports betting sites, got the job done on Inferno.
Vitality attempted an incredible comeback despite going down 14-5 in the map. They won the next seven rounds to bring the score to 14-12, but Heroic managed to stop the bleeding early enough to avoid losing the series.
Although it is not the result Vitality hoped for, especially with the big-name signings at the beginning of the year, they fought hard in the tournament.
The second team to clinch one of the remaining three spots available was FURIA. They are the only non-European team remaining in the competition.
The American team secured direct seeding to the Legends stage after finishing atop the standings in the American Regional Major Rankings. But they struggled to assert their dominance in the early rounds in Antwerp, going 2-2 in the Legends stage, with their fate decided by a Round 5 matchup.
Despite a bright start to the series, winning Vertigo 16-12, FURIA were facing elimination after losing Inferno to G2 Esports.
On the final map, Ancient, G2 had a good lead after the first half with a 10-5 record. Led by Andrei “arT” Piovezan, FURIA executed an inspired comeback, finishing the map 16-11.
Unfortunately for G2, who made it to the 2021 Stockholm Major, their journey in Antwerp came to an end with that loss.
Copenhagen Flames claimed the last spot in the playoffs after a convincing series sweep over Imperial Esports. The first game was played on Imperial’s map pick, Inferno, with Copenhagen claiming a dominant 16-2 win.
Things got a lot closer on Vertigo, as Imperial were not looking to go out easily. The game finished 15-15 in the regular period, but the Flames saw out the game in overtime.
Proceedings in the tournament will resume on May 19 with quarterfinal matchups. Top-seeded Team Spirit will play the eighth-placed FURIA in a best-of-three single-elimination match. Whoever wins will advance to the semifinals and will square off against the winner of the FaZe-NiP matchup.
In the remaining quarterfinals, ENCE will take on the Flames and Heroic will square up against the Stockholm champions, Natus Vincere.
One of the eight teams left will walk away with $500,000 of the US$1 million prize pool and direct qualification to the 2022 BLAST Premier World Final. The second to eighth-placed teams will also receive points for the global leaderboard.
]]>
ENCE vs Copenhagen Flames CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | ENCE $1.66 at GG Bet | CF $2.10 at GG Bet |
| When: | April 27, 2022 | 16:30 CEST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/blastpremier) |
ENCE will kick off their BLAST Premier Spring Showdown against Copenhagen Flames. ENCE enter the event as the fifth ranked team in the ESL world rankings, which is the first time the organisation has been inside the top five in the world since August of 2019. ENCE surprised a lot of CS:GO analysts, and fans, when they made their most recent run to the ESL Pro League 15 grand-final, finishing second after losing 3-1 to FaZe in a best-of-five series.
Copenhagen Flames will enter the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown as the 15th ranked team in the ESL world rankings, making them the third-lowest ranked team at this event. The Danish roster have been floating between 10 and 20 in the world rankings for the last six months, a direct result of their ultra-consistent results and not being able to win an S-Tier event. The last two events that the Danes participated in ended with the Flames winning the PGL Major Antwerp Europe RMR B and a 1st-2nd place finish at their IEM Dallas Europe Open Qualifier.
Given the recent results for both ENCE and Copenhagen Flames we could be in for a really good series to kick off this event. We believe that this series will be going to three maps, therefore we suggest taking over 2.5 maps in the total maps market, currently $1.83 with GG Bet.
Over 2.5 Maps
Heroic vs NKT CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | Heroic $1.03 at GG Bet | NKT $10.50 at GG Bet |
| When: | April 27, 2022 | 19:30 CEST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/blastpremier) |
Heroic kick off their BLAST Premier Spring Showdown against the lowest ranked team participating in this event, NKT. The boys from Denmark are the favourites to take out this event, currently at $2.75 with GG Bet, being the highest ranked team with a current ranking of fourth in the ESL world rankings. Heroic are coming off a very good performance at the IEM Katowice where they secured a 3rd-4th place finish, however, they then dropped the ball massively when they could only achieve a 9th-12th place finish in the ESL Pro League 15. This event gives the Danes another chance to get into form before the PGL Antwerp Major rolls around in mid-May.
NKT enter the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown as the lowest ranked team, with a ranking of 99 in the ESL world rankings. There isn’t much hope surrounding the Asia-based team due to the fact that they sit 74 places in the rankings behind the second lowest tanked team, Bad News Eagles. NKT will hope to steal a map of the Danish powerhouse to take something from this event, but even that is highly unlikely.
We at www.fridaynightmadness.com see this series being a quick and comprehensive win for Heroic. We will be taking the favourites at the rounds line handicap of -13.5, currently $1.83 with the top esport betting sites.
Heroic -13.5
After selling their entire CS:GO roster to x6tence in late June, the Flames had to start building a new team from scratch and have now, almost two months later, announced their return with a new all-Danish roster.
Copenhagen had a large list of candidates who were considered as potential members of their new CS:GO team, only 12 of whom were interviewed before the organisation decided on the five names that will represent their banner.
“We’ve been through the process of scouting new players many times, but this time it was a bit different since we needed to acquire an entirely new roster,” said Daniel “vorborg” Vorborg, Director of Esports at Copenhagen Flames.
“We haven’t done that since back in October 2018, where I didn’t really have the same insights into competitive CS:GO as I do now.”
The new Copenhagen Flames CS:GO team is headlined by Daniel “?mertz?” Mertz, who began his esports career in November 2011 and has since played for 12 teams, most notably for North and Heroic. Most recently mertz? was seen competing for Team Singularity, where he spent almost six months before he was benched at the start of July.
Joining the 21-year-old AWPer will be his former teammate Jakob “?Jabbi?” Nygaard, as well as the ex-Lyngby Vikings duo Jakob “?Daffu?” Schildt and Marcus “?maNkz?” Kjeldsen.
MaNkz?, while still a relative unknown in the CS:GO scene, helped Lyngby hoist two C-Tier trophies in the mithR Challenge and Fragleague Season 4 before parting ways with the team at the start of August.
Daffu? had spent his entire career with the Vikings, who he joined in March 2018. He has since been played as a stand-in for AGF Esport, helping the Danish squad win Elgiganten Ligaen – S?son 14 in June.
Rounding up Copenhagen Flames’ roster is Sebastian “?Basso?” Aagaard, who returns after leaving the organisation in December last year. In May 2020, Basso? started a new international roster, Adaptation, which attended a few C-Tier competitions but disbanded only two months into their existence.
Copenhagen Flames’ new CS:GO roster is set to make their debut appearance at Nine to Five 3 Dawn, where they will face Wisla Krakow, SKADE and BIG Academy in Group D. Their opening match is set to be played on Thursday, August 13 against BIG Academy.
]]>The Norwegian strategist takes over from the team’s co-owner and esports director, Daniel “vorborg” Vorborg, who stepped into the coaching role in February 2019 after the departure of Niels “rizc” Topp.
In the announcement on Copenhagen’s official website, Vorborg said they had “been looking for the right person for the position for quite a while” and that he believes zEVES is the right person to help their young squad grow and develop.
“Morten has been helping our team the past two and a half weeks and has been part of our teams performance in Road to Rio,” said Vorborg.
“We have for a long time looked for a person to add strategic value to our team. Morten will be a big part of making sure our overall strategic plans make sense, and keep the players to higher standards in-game.
“I will still be very much involved with the team but instead of being there for every single practice, I’ll step back a bit and spend more time with our other titles and the business side of things in Copenhagen Flames.”
For zEVES, this is an opportunity to get back on top following a difficult period in his CS:GO esports career.
“I’m beyond excited to get this opportunity. For me this is a breath of fresh air and a chance to redeem myself because the past years has been rough,” he said.
“It makes me proud to get to work with such a hard-working organization and talented players.”
This is zEVES’s second stint as a CS:GO coach. The 29-year-old Norwegian took over the Team Dignitas roster in May 2017 and remained there for eight months. Dignitas failed to see much success in that time, which led to the disbandment of the team and the departure of zEVES in early 2018.
The move into coaching came after three years as a CS:GO player, during which he played for zX9, oFF Balance Gaming, clutchlT.org, London Conspiracy, LGB eSports, Copenhagen Wolves, Deadweight and Norse. After leaving Dignitas, zEVES went on to play for NOREG, Nordavind and, most recently, Riddle Esports.
Copenhagen Flames’ first test with their new coach is scheduled for Friday, May 8, when they will tackle FaZe Clan at ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe. Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen and co. have sit fourth in Group B with a 3-2 record and nine points next to their name.
]]>COPENHAGEN FLAMES vs C0NTACT GAMING CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
COPENHAGEN FLAMES vs C0NTACT GAMING ESL ONE: ROAD TO RIO – EUROPE BETTING PREVIEW
The second day of Week 1 matches at ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe will see Copenhagen Flames take on c0ntact Gaming in their second meeting since March.
Currently 46th in the CS:GO esports world rankings, Copenhagen Flames have climbed 15 spots since mid-April. That resurgence comes after they plummeted out of the top 30 in the first quarter of the year due to their poor record at ESEA Season 33: Advanced Division – Europe: Regular Season, where they had to forfeit all their matches in order to prepare for FLASHPOINT Season 1.
Despite that sacrifice, Copenhagen’s venture into FLASHPOINT failed to bear any fruits. They lost all four matches played, while their only map win of the series came in a 1-2 defeat to the eventual champions, MAD Lions.
Shortly after their appearance at FLASHPOINT, Copenhagen Flames lost their star player in René “TeSeS” Madsen. His move to Heroic left a huge void in the Flames roster, which they filled with rookie player Jonas “Queenix” Dideriksen.
Copenhagen have won three matches and lost two since that change. At #HomeSweetHome: Week 2, they picked up a 16-6 win against Gambit Youngsters, lost to Endpoint (0-2), defeated SKADE (2-0) and Team Spirit (2-1), then fell flat against eventual champions BIG (0-2) in the semi-finals.
The new-look c0ntact Gaming’s only competitive appearance since buying the ex-CR4ZY roster came at FLASHPOINT. There, the European mix defeated Copenhagen Flames (2-0) and lost to both HAVU (1-2) and MAD Lions (0-2) to finish the first phase in third place in Group A.
In the second phase of the tournament, c0ntact bounced back with a win against FunPlus Phoenix (2-1) but dropped the ball against MAD Lions (0-2) and later suffered a 1-2 loss to FunPlus Phoenix. Thus, they ended their FLASHPOINT venture in ninth place, five points short of reaching the playoffs.
COPENHAGEN FLAMES vs C0NTACT GAMING ESL ONE: ROAD TO RIO – EUROPE BETTING PREDICTIONS
The betting odds suggest c0ntact should have this one in the bag. However, their form of late is none too inspiring.
In their most recent clash with MAD Lions, four of c0ntact’s members played well. The exception was Luka “emi” Vukovi?, who ended the series with a 0.78 rating. That is not an isolated case, as emi is averaging a disastrous 0.83 rating, 0.7 DPR and only 0.51 KPR across his last 15 maps played.
No matter which way you slice it, emi is holding his team back. He might still be a solid in-game leader, but he needs to do more with a gun in his hands if c0ntact are to achieve anything of note.
Although the odds favour c0ntact, it is hard to trust them. The online format tends to suit the underdogs, so there could be real value in backing Copenhagen to avenge their recent defeat at FLASHPOINT.
Copenhagen Flames to win
MAD LIONS VS COPENHAGEN FLAMES CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
MAD LIONS VS COPENHAGEN FLAMES FLASHPOINT SEASON 1 BETTING PREVIEW
The lower bracket fixture of Group A at FLASHPOINT will feature an exciting clash between two Danish rosters in MAD Lions and Copenhagen Flames, who will compete for a spot in the lower bracket finals and a guaranteed 30 playoffs points.
MAD Lions entered the inaugural season of FLASHPOINT with a lot to prove after their disappointing ninth-12th finish at the Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship. A top finish at IEM Katowice Open Qualifiers, a third-place finish at closed qualifiers and two top-four placements at DreamHack Open Leipzig 2020 and ICE Challenge allowed to 12th in the the global CS:GO esports standings, but internal struggles have hampered their progress of late.
Earlier this month, MAD Lions benched in-game leader Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen amid some disagreements with the squad and replaced him with Asger “AchilioN” Grunnet Larsen, who was previously an inactive member of CPH Flames. The 23-year-old Danish pro, however, failed to lead his new team to success in the opening fixture of FLASHPOINT, where MAD Lions suffered a shock defeat against HAVU.
While it is up to debate whether MAD Lions are weaker without HUDEN or their poor performance against HAVU had something to do with the fact it was AcilioN’s debut, one thing is for sure – MAD Lions looked very iffy.
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Copenhagen Flames lost their opener at FLASHPOINT against c0ntact Gaming, which was an expected result. The Danes showed some quality on Nuke, where they pushed their adversaries into overtime (16-19), but that good work was undone with a 5-16 defeat on the second map.
Their best-performing player was Rene “TeSeS” Madsen with a 0.89 rating across the series, while the team averaged only 0.848. It’s also worth noting that TeSeS averaged 1.17 on Nuke and 0.44 on Mirage, so it’s hard to count on him to carry his team to victory against MAD Lions.
CPH Flames are one of the underdogs at FLASHPOINT, which is nothing shocking as they were lucky to gain a place in the tournament to begin with. TeSeS and company finished the LAN qualifiers, in fifth-sixth place but were gifted an invite because BIG withdrew from FLASHPOINT at the last minute and decided to compete at ESL Pro League Season 11 instead.
MAD LIONS VS COPENHAGEN FLAMES FLASHPOINT SEASON 1 BETTING PREDICTIONS
MAD Lions are priced as heavy favourites by esports bookmakers and it’s hard to argue against that. Not only do they have better individual quality, but they also field AchilioN, who was previously CPH Flames’ IGL, meaning MAD Lions will know exactly how to defeat their compatriots.
Although AchilioN and his team are a stronger team on paper, we have a difficult time trusting a team that just recently replaced their IGL. In their clash with HAVU, MAD Lions looked very disorganised and it seemed like they had no idea how to approach the game, which points to a problem with their leadership.
MAD Lions should still come out ahead; however, due to their iffy display in game one of the tournament, we don’t believe they’re capable of a clean sweep. The favourites are the safest bet here, but it’s hard to ignore the $2.04 offered on over 2.5 maps.
Over 2.5 maps
MAD Lions to win
SPROUT VS COPENHAGEN FLAMES CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
SPROUT VS COPENHAGEN FLAMES UNITED MASTERS LEAGUE BETTING PREVIEW
Everything is set for the grand finals of the United Masters League, where we will see Copenhagen Flames take on Sprout in what promises to be a thrilling bout between two sides who have met only once before.
Sprout enter the series as the team to beat, having shown they are one of the best B-Tier teams with their strong run throughout the UM. While they have had their ups and downs, they have delivered when it mattered.
The Germans started UM League Season 2 strong by pocketing a forfeit from Team Ancient and a commanding 2-0 win over Illuminar Gaming but then hit a wall with losses to forZe and ARCY. Nonetheless, Timo “Spiidi” Richter and co. rallied in game five and reverse swept Giants Gaming to punch their ticket for the playoffs.
In the playoffs of UM, Sprout romped to a 2-0 win over their compatriots BI and earned a hard-fought victory against HAVU in a three-game series which ended in overtime.
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Sprout have played two competitive matches since their clash with HAVU. Both took place at DreamHack Open Leipzig 2020, where they ran out of steam and got handed two humiliating defeats against North (4-16) and Heroic (0-2) to finish the qualifiers in seventh-eighth place.
Copenhagen Flames ended the United Masters League regular season as the fifth seed. They defeated YaLLa Esports and ARCY in the opening two fixtures, lost 0-2 loss to BIG in game three and won 2-0 against GamerLegion in game four.
In the quarter-finals, the Danes defeated ARCY for the second time this season and booked a meeting with the tournament favourites, forZe. The semi-final bout went to the wire, but Asger “AcilioN” Larsen and his squad came out on top after winning the third map of the series 22-20.
After their win against forZe, Copenhagen Flames participated in a Danish CS:GO event, Coolshop Geeks Gone Wild #25, where they defeated AGF Esport twice to pocket the title and cement themselves as the fifth-best Danish CS:GO esports team. While all the CPH Flames players performed well in the grand finals, Magnus “Nodios” Olsen and Asger “farlig” Jensen stood out with 1.66 and 1.55 rating averages respectively.
Neither team has made any changes since their last UM League fixtures, with the latest changes being the arrival of Tomá? “oskar” ??astny and Pawe? “dycha” Dycha to Sprout earlier this month. Copenhagen Flames made their last roster change in November 2019, when they signed René “TeSeS” Madsen. CPH also let go of their strategic coach, Philip “tekziNz” Karsb?l, earlier this month.
SPROUT VS COPENHAGEN FLAMES UNITED MASTERS LEAGUE GRAND FINAL PREDICTIONS
The two sides have not met since July 2019, when Copenhagen Flames swept Sprout at the Games Clash Masters 2019 – European Qualifier. That result can’t be taken into consideration when predicting this match, however, because the teams are fielding completely different rosters this time out.
Sprout will enter this match with a 2-3 record in their last five, while Copenhagen Flames are 3-2 in the same span of matches. However, it’s worth noting Sprout played stronger teams, meaning we can assume neither side holds a significant form advantage over the other. Both teams are averaging a 1.11 player rating across the tournament, so there is nothing to separate them in that aspect either.
Even the map pools and map win rates look fairly similar. Copenhagen Flames hold a slight edge with their four-map winning streak on Train (75%), where Sprout have won 57% of their matches. Sprout’s best maps are Overpass (62%) and Mirage (64%), where Copenhagen Flames hold onto a 56% and 44% win rate respectively.
We believe this match will be closer than what the esports bookmakers would have us believe. While we can agree Sprout are the favourites, Copenhagen Flames should win at least one map, meaning we can expect the series to go the distance.
Prediction: