CS:GO – Na’Vi and G2 Qualify for the Playoffs of PGL Major

It seems that G2 Esports is determined to win this Major. After several months of setbacks and disappointing results, NiKo and his crew are back to peak form and seem to be the only real competitor that can stop the CIS juggernaut.

G2’s Run at PGL Major

G2 had to face 3 strong teams during the New Legends Stage of PGL Major Stockholm. The first was Copenhagen Flames, the second one was FaZe Clan, and the third was Entropiq. With the exception of Entropiq, which posed some problems on Mirage (16 – 14), nobody was able to stand against the French squad. It’s quite obvious that its preparation for the event was thorough and very effective.

With 4 or 5 days left until its next match, G2 can easily prepare for the Quarterfinals. If they play as well as they did during the New Legends Stage, it will be hard for them to miss the Grand Final. No doubt, many CS:GO fans would love to see a rematch between G2 and Na’Vi.

In the Grand Final of IEM Cologne, which took place at the start of July, G2 looked very strong against Na’Vi and came close to winning on 2 of the 3 maps that were played there. The final score was 3 – 0 in favor of s1mple’s team, but the individual scores of the 3 maps clearly tell a much more dramatic story: 16 – 11 on Dust II, 16 – 14 on Mirage, and 16 – 13 on Nuke. Some of these maps could have easily gone in G2’s favor.

Na’Vi’s Run at PGL Major

For Natus Vincere, 2021 has been the best year of their entire CS:GO history. The team went from title to title, and even won the Intel Grand Slam. At PGL Major Stockholm, the CIS crew had to play against Heroic, Virtus.pro, and NiP. By far, the strongest of these 3 was supposed to be NiP, which is currently ranked 2^nd globally. But Na’Vi won the match with ease: 16 – 9 on Nuke and 16 – 9 on Overpass.

Normally, after a victory like this, you’d expect s1mple to have some record-breaking stats. But he was only the 3^rd best member of his team. His rating 2.0 was 1.29 and his KD score was +14. Meanwhile, electronic had 1.49 / +15 and B1T had 1.55 / +24! We don’t know how Na’Vi has managed to find such formidable players but one thing’s for certain: whoever does the scouting for the club has an eye for talent.

In the other 2 matches, Na’Vi defeated Heroic with a score of 16 – 11 and Virtus.pro with a score of 16 – 4. S1mple shined both times, but he was the MVP of his team only against VP. The scores he got in that match were pretty fabulous: 1.95 / +14.

Other Results

Apart from the teams that managed to get 3 consecutive losses, the New Legends Stage of PGL Major still has 3 other categories:

2 W – 1 L

In the 2 W – 1 L category, we have the following teams:

• Entropiq
• NiP
• Heroic
• Copenhagen Flames
• FURIA Esports
• Gambit Esports

It’s difficult to predict who the winners will be. However, given the Bo3 format, Entropiq, NiP, and Heroic have a slight edge and should be victorious. The problem here is that it’s hard to be confident in Gambit’s chances given that the team only managed to beat ENCE and Virtus.pro, two competitors that got obliterated by the other strong teams. And against Entropiq, a squad from their own region, whom they should know well, Gambit lost decisively: 9 – 16.

Another red flag here is that NiP played against Gambit at the start of September, when NiP was still frail. But the Swedes led by device still crushed Gambit with a score of 2 – 0.

1 W – 2 L

In the 1 W – 2 L category, 6 teams will play today to avoid elimination:

• pro
• Astralis
• FaZe Clan
• Team Liquid
• MOUZ
• Team Vitality

The two most exciting matches in this category are FaZe – Liquid and Vitality – Astralis. It’s hard to make predictions here but in principle, Astralis should defeat this version of Vitality while Liquid should win against FaZe. The reason why Astralis is the favorite has to do with Vitality’s lack of form. Although to be fair, the Danes aren’t shining either: 7 – 16 against Heroic and 1 – 16 against NiP are abysmal results.

0 W – 3 L

After the first 2 days of the New Legends Stage of PGL Major, in the 0 W – 3 L category we have Evil Geniuses and ENCE. Both teams were eliminated from the tournament at the end of a really poor run.

In EG’s case, these results were expected. And that’s because the team would have not even qualified under normal circumstances. It was only due to the poor RMR system, which got criticized by the entire community, that EG managed to secure a spot at the event. And not just any spot either, they were among the Legends! This guaranteed that EG was going to go from very easy regional matches to very hard international matches instantly.

As for ENCE, this disappointment was not entirely expected. In fact, the team was ranked 10^th ahead of the tournament and looked capable of winning at least a few matches in the New Legends Stage. In the New Challengers Stage, it had gotten 3 wins and 1 loss, so there was no reason to expect a 0 W – 3 L disaster.

 

Photo credit: IEM|Helena-Kristiansson