Natus Vincere captain Aleksib "Aleksib" Virolainen shared how his teammate Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovsky and coach Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy reacted to the victory at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 in CS2. In an interview during the ESL Pro League Season 19 broadcast, he noted that this success evoked different emotions from his teammates.
"As b1t explained to me after the victory [at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024], he didn't feel the same excitement as the first time. He said, 'I know what you're feeling, but the second win [didn't bring me the same emotions].' I don't think there was any sense of complacency in his words. This victory was still very important to him; he just had already experienced that moment in the past. <...>
"B1t told me all this when we were celebrating the victory, but he spoke positively. He approached me with a smile on his face as if preparing me for his third championship title at the major."
According to Aleksib, the second victory at the major surprised B1ad3 much more, who decided to move away from the Russian-speaking roster in favor of an international one.
"It seems that B1ad3 was more surprised than anyone else. As I imagine his situation: when he called me and presented the project of an international lineup, it was somewhat of a leap of faith for him. At that time, he could have easily formed a completely Ukrainian roster or something similar. But B1ad3 chose to work with an international team and try his luck with us, and we suddenly won the major much earlier than he expected. So he was very surprised and probably very proud of himself."
The international lineup of Natus Vincere became the champion of PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 nine months after its formation. In the grand final, the team defeated FaZe Clan with a score of 2:1. For b1t and B1ad3, this was their second victory at a Valve tournament — previously, they took first place at PGL Major Stockholm 2021.