The second leg of the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 will be the Legends Stage! The teams that made it out of the Challengers will meet the top 8 teams in the world according to RMRs to compete for spots in the Champions Stage. Let’s take a look at the teams that skipped the Challengers Stage and secured a spot.
Of the North American, CIS and European RMRs, eight teams have qualified directly for this phase. Three of them are from Europe, three more from NA and the last two from CIS. Unlike Challengers teams, who've mostly struggled in 2021, Legends are the teams that have triumphed all year. You can probably guess who they are.
PGL Major Stockholm 2021 Legends teams
Europe sent Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Vitality and G2 Esports as representatives after the European Major Rankings. NIP recently won IEM Fall and performed well in all RMR tournaments. Most recently, they made it out of BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2021.
Team Vitality with ZywOo also had a good performance at BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2021, but they did not win anything other than that in 2021. They are the runners-up in ESL Pro League Season 14, where they could not stop NAVI from winning the Intel Grand Slam. G2 Esports shared a similar fate, but their good performances in RMR tournaments secured them a good spot here.
North America sends Brazilian esports organisation FURIA Esports, Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses. 2021 was certainly not the perfect year for these teams. FURIA's best performance was ESL Pro League Season 13, where they finished 3rd-4th. However, the team won IEM Fall, which helped them secure first place.
Team Liquid finished 3rd at IEM Fall and won cs_summit 8 this year. They also finished IEM XV - World Championship and DreamHack Open March 2021: North America 3rd-4th. Evil Geniuses' form has also dipped. After winning BLAST Premier Spring 2020 American Finals, ESL One Cologne 2020 North America and RMR Rio Major 2020 North America, the team had a bad 2021. They'll try to change that streak here.
Success of CIS
CIS is built different: Natus Vincere and Gambit Esports are actually good in 2021. Especially NAVI. NAVI won BLAST Premier Global Final 2020, Spring Groups 2021 and Fall Groups 2021, DreamHack Masters Spring 2021, StarLadder CIS RMR 2021, IEM Cologne and ESL Pro League Season 14, besides a second place at BLAST Premier Spring Finals 2021. They're definitely the favourites at this major.
Gambit Esports, on the other hand, has IEM XV World Championship, Pinnacle Cup I, IEM XVI Summer, BLAST Premier Spring Finals 2021 and IEM Fall in their trophy cabinet for 2021. If anyone can say they've had as successful a year as NAVI, it's Gambit. It'll be interesting to see them after IEM Fall where Gambit defeated NAVI 2-0 in the final.
After the end of the Challengers Stage, top 8 from there joined the Legends stage to complete the action. 3-0 kings of Challengers, FaZe and Copenhagen Flames, followed by ENCE, VP, Entropiq, Heroic, MOUZ and Astralis will participate in the next phase of PGL Major.
The schedule and format
The first round at PGL Major Stockholm 2021 Legends stage will be as following:
You can check the odds and bet for those games on the tournament page.
PGL Major Stockholm 2021 will be a feast for all our eyes. It's the classic CS:GO Major with long Swiss eliminations. If you missed the big boys, keep an eye on the Legends Stage, because the Challengers are just the beginning.
After the start of the Major with Challengers Stage deciding which teams will participate in Legends Stage, the top 8 from there joined the teams above. 16 assembled teams will now take part in another Swiss system, with the top 8 advancing to the Champions Stage, a knockout stage for the trophy. The Legends Stage will be played between 30 October and 2 November.
PGL Major Stockholm 2021 is the first CS:GO Major in years, and the Legends Stage looks as tough as any Major, even before the teams reach the Champions Stage. Make sure you don't miss the incredible action because we certainly won't.
