EN DE CN BR ES RU
Image
Icon

PGL Major New Legends Stage Preview and Favorites

Because of the schedule, PGL Major Stockholm will not take a break between the New Challengers Stage and the... Radu M. | 30. October 2021

Because of the schedule, PGL Major Stockholm will not take a break between the New Challengers Stage and the New Legends Stage. This second stage starts today and lasts for 4 days. The best 16 teams in the world will compete in it and only 8 of them will survive the Swiss System Format.

PGL Major – New Legends Stage Participants

The 16 teams that will participate in the New Legends Stage of PGL Major are the following:

  • Evil Geniuses
  • FaZe Clan
  • G2 Esports
  • Copenhagen Flames
  • Gambit Esports
  • ENCE
  • Team Liquid
  • Entropiq
  • Team Vitality
  • pro
  • Natus Vincere
  • Heroic
  • NiP
  • MOUZ
  • FURIA Esports
  • Astralis

Based on how the previous stage looked, the 8 teams that are most likely to qualify are these:

  • Natus Vincere
  • Vitality
  • Gambit
  • FaZe Clan
  • G2 Esports
  • NiP
  • Team Liquid
  • Copenhagen Flames

However, several other teams are not that far behind them: Astralis, Heroic, Entropiq, and ENCE. There’s hardly a clear underdog among the top 16, with the exception of MOUZ, EG, and FURIA. Everyone else has at least a minimal chance of securing a top 8 position.

Top Favorites

Of course, when it comes to picking the best of the best, you definitely need to go with Na’Vi, Vitality, and Gambit. All 3 of them have looked impressive in recent months and should easily qualify for the New Champions Stage of PGL Stockholm.

In particular, Natus Vincere is currently the world’s best team and has two of the world’s best players: s1mple and electronic. The entire line-up is made up of spectacular individuals who could carry Na’Vi to a victory on any given day. But it’s sufficient for s1mple to play his brand of Counter-Strike and victory is assured.

Initial Matches

The first round of matches for this stage of PGL Major Stockholm looks like this:

  • EG – FaZe
  • G2 – Copenhagen Flames
  • Gambit – ENCE
  • Liquid – Entropiq
  • Vitality – Virtus.pro
  • Na’Vi – Heroic
  • NiP – MOUZ
  • FURIA – Astralis

The Bo1 nature of these matches makes the results a lot more unpredictable than usual. In a worst-case scenario, even Na’Vi could lose because Heroic is a strong team. Playing a Bo1 usually means that you’re competing on your 2nd best or even your 3rd best map. Each team has 3 bans and obviously, they’re going to ban not just their weak map, but also their opponent’s best maps. This gives a big advantage to the teams that are versatile enough to have 4 or 5 strong maps instead of just 2 – 3.

 

Photo credit: IEM|Helena-Kristiansson