Luminosity are the champions of the eighth major, first in North America and first to feature $1 million, following a 2-0 victory over their rivals Natus Vincere (de_mirage 19-17, de_overpass 16-2).

The MLG Columbus grand final started on Luminosity's pick, de_mirage, but they were up against a huge lead from Natus Vincere towards the start. Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev clutched a 1-on-2 in the pistol round on the CT side despite Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga's heroics in a 2-on-4, and his team simply started running away with the half.

The Russian scored a triple in a 2-on-4 in the first gunround, and in the second it was Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko who stepped up before flamie won another clutch for 6-0. All rounds seemed to have gone into clutch situations, as Lincoln "⁠fnx⁠" Lau and Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo were the stars that time around and gave Luminosity three rounds in a row with a save round thrown in.

Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev's 1-on-2 after 7-3 saved Natus Vincere from losing to a forcebuy, and yet another one of the low buys didn't work out in the following round. Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin's AWP triple towards the end of the half put his team in a solid 11-4 lead.

Zeus pulled off several clutches in the close encounter on Mirage

The tides started turning with Luminosity winning the pistol round, as well as the first couple of gunrounds, as they got it back to a one-round deficit, however flamie stepped up again to give his team their first round on their Terrorist round with a double in a 2-on-3.

Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo put up a triple to make it even at 12-12, and a couple of close forcebuys from Natus Vincere meant Luminosity would be in the driving seat at 14-12 in their favor. However, Zeus clutched another 1-on-1 situation for his team and was the key player in a big turnaround on the A bombsite.

That helped reset Luminosity's economy and Na`Vi picked up map point on Mirage. It wouldn't be a series between the two without an overtime though - LG clinched the last round in regulation before dropping the first in overtime to Zeus. Natus Vincere put up a 2-1 half as Edward clutched a 1-on-3 at the end, but it was FalleN' squad to clinch map one at 19-17 after a perfect T side.

godzera earned the MVP trophy for a monstrous tournament-wide performance

Na`Vi chose Overpass for their map, and this time the coin flipped in terms of the beginning of the match. Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David kicked things off with a triple in the pistol as CT and his team racked up huge economy in the following two anti-ecos. A successful B retake furthered their lead to 4-0, and the aforementioned player won a 1-on-1 for an eventual 7-0.

It wasn't until the eighth round where Edward's double entry finally got Na`Vi their first round, and a second consecutive as well, but TACO stopped them in their tracks with another 1-on-1 clutch. A triple by the same player and fallen's six kills towards the end of the half meant Na`Vi would have to mount a huge comeback to have a chance in the map, as they were down 2-13.

An all-important 1-on-1 in the pistol round went the Brazilians' way as well, and another in the very last round, as Luminosity emerged victorious at a convincing 16-2 map score to become the first major champions coming from outside of Europe.

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MLG Columbus 2016Best of 3 Natus VincereMatchpage 0 2 3rd April 2016 Luminosity 17Mirage 19 2Overpass 16

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MLG Columbus 2016 final standings:

1. Luminosity - $500,000

2. Natus Vincere - $150,000

3-4. Liquid - $70,000

3-4. Astralis - $70,000

5-8. Virtus.pro - $35,000

5-8. CLG - $35,000

5-8. fnatic - $35,000

5-8. Ninjas in Pyjamas - $35,000

9-12. G2 - $8,750

9-12. Gambit - $8,750

9-12. FaZe - $8,750

9-12. MOUZ - $8,750

13-16. Cloud9 - $8,750

13-16. Envy - $8,750

13-16. Splyce - $8,750

13-16. FlipSid3 - $8,750