G2 and Natus Vincere (NAVI) each emerged as 2-0 winners on Sunday in Round 3 competition at the Legends Stage of the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, assuring each squad of a spot in Round 5.
The losers of those games, Entropiq and Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP), will compete in Round 4 High Matches, along with four winners from the third round’s Mid Matches grouping: Copenhagen Flames (CPHF), Gambit, FURIA and Heroic.
G2 defeated Entropiq 16-14 on Mirage and 16-8 on Dust II. Nikola “NiKo” Kovac paced the winners with a 48-29 kills-to-deaths differential (plus-19).
The Bosnia and Herzegovina native finished plus-8 in the first game and plus-11 in the second. His teammate Francois “AmaNEk” Delaunay of France posted a plus-10 on Dust II and a plus-15 overall.
Natus Vincere swept away Ninjas in Pyjamas 16-9 on Nuke and 16-9 on Overpass.
Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev of Ukraine was the star in Game 1, notching 23 kills against 12 deaths (plus-11). Countryman Valeriy “B1T” Vakhovskiy was the pace-setter in Game 2, finishing with 26 kills and a plus-16. B1T finished plus-24 for the two games combined.
In the best-of-one Mid Matches, CPHF defeated FaZe 16-6 on Ancient, Gambit edged past Virtus.pro (VP) 16-14 on Vertigo, FURIA dumped Liquid 16-9 on Inferno and Heroic blasted Astralis 16-7 on Ancient.
The all-Danish Flames had four players finish positive, with Fredrik “roeJ” Jorgensen leading the way at plus-12.
Gambit was led by Abay “Hobbit” Khasenov of Kazakhstan, who had an eye-popping 39 kills (plus-18).
Brazil’s Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato paced FURIA with a K-D ratio of 26-13 (plus-13).
Four players notched at least 15 kills for Heroic, with Martin “stavn” Lund of Denmark grabbing 26 (plus-15).
In the Low Matches, Vitality eliminated Evil Geniuses despite losing the first game 16-13 on Inferno. Vitality rallied to win 16-5 on Vertigo and 16-12 on Dust II. MOUZ swept away ENCE, 16-6 on Mirage and 16-10 on Vertigo.
The PGL Major Stockholm 2021 is a CS:GO major championship with a total prize pool of $2 million. The winner nets $1 million plus 4,000 Blast Premier points and an automatic bid to the World Final 2021 in December.
Sixteen teams in all will compete in the Legends Stage, which runs through Nov. 2.
Elimination and advancement matches are best of three, while all other matches are best of one. The top eight teams will proceed to the New Champions Stage, which is a single-elimination bracket (best of three), set for Nov. 4-7.
The Legends Stage continues with six matches on Monday:
Entropiq vs. FURIA (High)
NIP vs. Gambit (High)
Heroic vs. CPHF (High)
FaZe vs. Liquid (Low)
Astralis vs. Vitality (Low)
VP vs. MOUZ (Low)
PGL Major Stockholm prize pool:
1. $1 million — TBD
2. $300,000 — TBD
3-4. $140,000 — TBD
5-8. $70,000 — TBD
9-14. $17,500 — TBD
15-16. $17,500 — Evil Geniuses, ENCE
17-19. No prize money — Movistar Riders, BIG, Team Spirit
20-22. No prize money — TYLOO, paiN Gaming, Renegades
23-24. No prize money — Godsent, Sharks Esports
–Field Level Media
