The first round of matches in each group of the Thunderpick WC 2024 is finally complete. We’ve had four days of online Counter-Strike action, culminating in Group D’s conclusion today. On paper, this was perhaps the most competitive group of all, with BIG, M80, BESTIA, and Aurora all competing for the chance to head to November’s LAN final. Let’s see how things went down.
BIG emerge as Group D winners
Credit: Luc Bouchon | © ESL
BIG completed a flawless run to the Thunderpick WC 2024 Play-In, with two 2:0 wins over Aurora and BESTIA, respectively. They come into this CS2 tournament as one of the teams you’d have down as winning the event, and this was certainly the right start. Their CS wasn’t perfect, but wins are wins, regardless.
Every BIG player contributed to their win here, but it was JDC and tabseN who found the most impact. They’ll be wanting a little more from their AWPer syrsoN if they’re to win the entire event, but that seems to be the story of BIG lately.
M80 survive scare to stay alive in Thunderpick WC 2024
After a car crash series in which they won just six rounds across two maps against BESTIA, M80 were able to bounce back versus Aurora to keep their hopes alive in the Thunderpick WC 2024. We had M80 down as slight favorites in Group D given their recent form, but they’re lucky to find themselves in the competition still. It was an impressive mental reset for the second series of the day, picking up 13:9 and 13:6 victories on Mirage and Anubis respectively.
It always seems with M80 that if youngster Lake performs, they win. He struggled massively against BESTIA, but posted 43 kills across two maps against Aurora. Lake is the focal point for M80, and if he can just manage to maintain some consistency, he’ll be a real star in the Thunderpick WC 2024 and beyond.
With the groups now concluded, both M80 and BESTIA head to the Group D decider match. This will determine who makes it to the play-in alongside BIG, 3DMAX, The MongolZ, and Heroic – the group winners so far.