CS:GO – Potential Dark Horses at the PGL Major

The PGL Major is about to begin and its 24 teams will compete for a total of $2 million, which is a huge prize pool for CS:GO. Of course, everyone is interested in the favorites, but there are at least 3 teams that might cause big upsets and steal their spot.

G2 Esports

Surely, you must be asking: but isn’t G2 Esports one of the favorites? And the answer is no, it’s not. After the Grand Final defeat from IEM Cologne, which took place back in July, G2’s performance plummeted. This was one of the most shocking transformations we’ve seen in recent years. Immediately after that tournament, the French crew finished 21^st – 24^th at EPL S14, where they somehow lost 5 matches in a row.

G2’s next event was BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2021, where again, it only managed to beat MIBR. At IEM Fall: Europe, G2 did much better in the Group Stage, beating teams like MOUZ and BIG. But in the Playoffs Stage, it lost against ENCE and Movistar Riders, finishing 6^th.

BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown was the most recent tournament attended by G2. And there too, the French lost quite shockingly against MAD Lions.

All of these results indicate that something is wrong within this team. Of course, we cannot know what happened in the last 4 months but something certainly happened in the lives of the players. Otherwise, it’s hard to explain the performance drop.

The members of G2 probably know that if they don’t deliver at PGL Major Stockholm, at least one or two of them will be replaced. This is one of those critical moments when a world-class team gathers its forces and focuses 100% on just one task. And because of that, there’s a real chance that G2 might just come well-prepared to this tournament and surprise everyone.

Team Liquid

Team Liquid is another great team that has been flirting with success over the last few months. Just like NiP, Liquid is struggling to get results that would justify the signing of a top AWP player (in this case FalleN), but is yet to find the winning formula. At the recent BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown, Stewie2K and his crew finished 1^st – 2^nd and secured a spot at BLAST Premier: Fall Finals. However, their victory came against a modest opponent, MAD Lions.

Just a few years ago, Liquid was the best CS:GO team on the planet. Now, with only a slightly different roster, can’t seem to find a way to win against the top competitors. But this is exactly the type of situation in which Liquid’s players thrive. The reason why they won so many trophies is that they’ve always known how to focus under stress and play better than expected.

Liquid is currently ranked 10^th globally, but the potential for greatness is undeniably there. Going into the PGL Major, this team should not be underestimated. We might not see them in the Grand Final, but they could easily finish 3^rd – 4^th.

FaZe Clan

FaZe Clan is currently ranked 8^th and its most recent performances clearly indicate that it should not be considered one of the favorites to win the tournament. However, its roster is formidable and certainly has the capacity to do well. At least 4 of the 5 players know what it means to be at the top or very near to it, and it’s just a matter of figuring out a great strategy for success, something that karrigan is famous for.

On paper, FaZe has few chances of qualifying for the Playoffs. But given the fact that this is a LAN event where experience often trumps current form, it’s quite likely that we’ll see this crew surpass all expectations.

 

Photo credit: IEM|Stephanie-Lieske