The Belgrade LAN event 1win Private Club was supposed to keep the theoretical PGL Major hopes of SINNERS alive. In the end, the Czech roster bowed out in fourth place – and with that, their name disappears from the Major calculations altogether.
A strong start, then a 0:13 wake-up call
SINNERS opened the Serbian event in style by taking down top seed Alliance. The follow-up against Ninjas in Pyjamas went in the opposite direction: the decider ended 0:13, one of those scorelines you simply want to forget. We covered the first part of their Belgrade run in detail in our report on the win over Alliance.
To their credit, the team shook it off immediately. One online match served as a reset, and the Lower Bracket run at the 1win Private Club started with a clean 2:0 against K27.
A packed Sunday with three matches
The schedule did not get any easier. SINNERS also had a play-off match in the online NODWIN Clutch Series 12, which they handled comfortably. A third win on the same day, however, was out of reach.
The Lower Bracket clash with GamerLegion decided who would move on to the final day in Belgrade, and both maps went down to the wire: 11:13 and then 17:19 in overtime. The second map stings the most – SINNERS were sitting on a 12:6 lead and still let it slip. Fans of the team have seen a similar script before, most recently when they threw away a 10:2 lead.
Their online run in Belgrade ended the same day as well: after a string of wins in the NODWIN Clutch Series 12, they lost the semifinal to BET-M.
What it means for the Major
Going out in fourth place puts SINNERS outside the PGL Major calculations. Two more LAN events are on their October schedule, but even winning both would require something close to a miracle in the ranking math.
Meanwhile, Ninjas in Pyjamas and GamerLegion finally found form in Belgrade, and the event was essentially their last realistic shot at the European Major race.
What’s next
The next stop for SINNERS is Sweden. ROG Journey Autumn is just a few days away, and the team heads there without any Major pressure hanging over them.
If you want to keep up with the rest of the scene, our Counter-Strike 2 news hub collects everything, and we also wrote about the Czech success at the Tipsport Open Cup #2.
FAQ
They finished in fourth place after losing their Lower Bracket match against GamerLegion.
SINNERS lost both maps by narrow margins, 11:13 and 17:19. On the second map they held a 12:6 lead and failed to close it out.
Realistically no. The fourth-place finish put them outside the Major calculations, and even two titles at their October LAN events would not be enough on their own.
SINNERS won their play-off match but then lost the semifinal to BET-M, so they picked up no further ranking points there.
They travel to Sweden for ROG Journey Autumn, which starts in a few days.