Counter-Strike 2 developers released team and player stickers only on the fifth day of the first major in the history of the updated shooter. Such a delay sets an absolute record, as Valve added stickers only at the end of the first stage of PGL Major Copenhagen 2024. In this article, Bo3.gg will tell you about all the Easter eggs in the participants' autographs at the event.
Why did Valve delay the release of stickers?
The culprit is the tightening of sticker submission rules. Valve decided that player autographs on stickers should resemble those they sign in real life during autograph sessions. This is because esports players have increasingly been turning to designers for help in designing their stickers. Developers made some players redo their autographs by hand.
"One Piece" Anime
Who, if not Leonid "chopper" Vishnyakov, could remember "One Piece"? The Team Spirit captain's sticker resembles a character from this manga known as Tony Tony Chopper. Chopper adorned the autograph with a characteristic hat with a cross and placed it above the letter "o". This is not the first time he has associated himself with "One Piece": in 2019, Chopper already used a similar sticker, but at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, he slightly modified its design.
Floppy Disk
Complexity Gaming player Rikki "floppy" Kemeri didn't put much effort into his sticker and simply replaced the letter "o" with an image of a floppy disk. It's surprising that Valve let a signature with such a complex symbol pass, especially amidst the "fight for realism."
Battle with Twitter Administration
Heroic sniper Nico "nicoodoz" Tamjidi has used this autograph before, but not everyone knows its amusing story. It all started with the first major successes of the esports player on the professional stage. Back then, as part of Copenhagen Flames, he managed to reach the playoffs of PGL Major Antwerp 2022. The relatively unknown team suddenly gained a wide fan base, and thousands of users began to follow the players on social media.
After that, Nicoodoz tried to get his Twitter account verified, but he repeatedly received rejections from the administration. The absence of a "checkmark" for the player became a meme among his fans, and he decided to support it at IEM Rio Major 2022. Later on, Nicoodoz did get verified but eventually chose to opt-out.
s1mple
Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov decided to pay tribute to the CS:GO legend, who is missing PGL Major Copenhagen 2024. The G2 Esports sniper added a reference to Olexander "s1mple" Kostylev's sticker from six years ago to his autograph. Confirmation of this might be the fact that s1mple is somewhat of an idol for m0NESY.
The Biggest Loser
Valve repeatedly rejected sticker variants from Ali "Wicadia" Haydar. The Turkish player constantly sought help from designers, but all attempts were unsuccessful. Judging by the final version of the sticker, Wicadia is precisely the player whom the developers forced to write the autograph by hand. A sad story.
Watermelon or Seized?
Most likely, Lynn Vision Gaming player Niu "westmelon" Zhe's sticker has nothing to do with Denis "seized" Kostin, but one can stretch such a situation. The Chinese esports player creatively approached his autograph and depicted a watermelon. In turn, seized also wanted to depict this fruit on the sticker, but due to visa issues, his team missed the major, and he didn't get his sticker.
PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 matches take place from March 17 to 31 on LAN in Copenhagen, Denmark. 24 teams are competing for a prize pool of $1.25 million. You can check the match schedule and follow the event's interim results via the provided link.
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