The winners of CS:GO MLG Columbus 2016

Luminosity are the winners of MLG Columbus, the first CS:GO Major to feature $1 million prize pool, by achieving a 2-0 victory over their rivals Natus Vincere.

En route to the grand final Luminosity went through both mousesports and NiP in group A, and then defeated Virtus.pro and Liquid in two exciting best-of-three series. Na`Vi took down Cloud9 and Virtus.pro in the group stage, then went on to defeat Ninjas in Pyjamas and Astralis in best-of-three series in the playoffs and booked themselves a spot in the final.

Coming into the series these two teams have already faced each other this year on multiple occasions. Luminosity scored a 2-0 victory at SL i-League StarSeries XIV Finals's group stage, then Na`Vi secured their first title of the year at DreamHack Open Leipzig by winning two maps in overtime against the Brazilian side. Since last November, across the 11 maps these two teams had played each other on, both had won an identical number of rounds - 166 each.

The grand final began on Mirage, Luminosity's pick for the series. Na`Vi led the opening map in rounds 5-0, but eventually teams headed into overtime. In a tense finish it was Luminosity who managed to take the advantage. In retrospect, it looks like it may have been that overtime victory that damaged the mental game of Na`Vi. Map two was never a competition for Luminosity, as they secured an easy 16-2 win. Marcelo “Coldzera” David was awarded MVP for the entire tournament. He finished with a +84 KD ratio over the nine maps played.

Luminosity takes home $500,000 for their victory, but it’s not all doom and gloom for Na`Vi as they claim $150,000 for second place, and an automatic qualification for the next Valve Major, which will be held on July 5 – 10 in Cologne.