PGL Major Stockholm 2021

GameCounter-Strike: Global Offensive

LocationStockholm, Sweden

DatesOctober 26–November 7, 2021

AdministratorValve
PGL

PGL Major 2021
Tournament information
2021
The PGL Major Stockholm 2021 Logo
Game	Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Location	Stockholm, Sweden
Dates	October 26–November 7, 2021
Administrator	Valve PGL
Tournament format(s)	Two 16-team swiss-system group stages 8-team single-elimination playoff
Venue	Avicii Arena
Teams	24 teams
Defending champions	Astralis
Purse	US$2,000,000
Final positions
Champions	Natus Vincere
1st runners-up	G2 Esports
2nd runners-up	Gambit Esports Heroic
MVP	Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev
← ~~Rio 2020~~ Berlin 2019 Antwerp 2022 →

The PGL Major Stockholm 2021, also known as PGL Major 2021 or Stockholm 2021, was the sixteenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Major Championship.^[1]^[2] It was held in Stockholm, Sweden at the Avicii Arena from October 26 to November 7, 2021. Twenty-four teams qualified via regional major rankings. It featured a US$2,000,000 prize pool, a rise from the $1,000,000 of previous Majors due to the absence of offline competition amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the second Major hosted by the Romanian organization PGL, after PGL Major: Kraków 2017. Stockholm 2021 was the first Major after a break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic following the StarLadder Major: Berlin 2019. The Major was won by Natus Vincere, who did not lose a single map throughout the tournament.^[3]

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Hidden Path Entertainment and Valve Corporation. It is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series. In professional CS:GO, the Valve-sponsored Majors are the most prestigious tournaments.^[4]^[5]

The Stockholm Major was the first Major in two years following an absence in offline play in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, the ESL One Rio Major 2020 was planned for May 2020,^[6] but was postponed to November,^[7] before later being canceled in September.^[8]

The defending champions were Astralis, who won their fourth Major at Berlin 2019. They were eliminated in the Legends stage after their loss to Team Vitality.^[9]^[10]

Format

Map Pool

Between the Berlin 2019 Major and the Stockholm 2021 Major, Valve replaced Train in the active duty map pool with Ancient.^[11]

Dust II
Mirage
Inferno
Nuke
Ancient
Overpass
Vertigo

Regional Major Ranking

On April 2, 2020, Valve revised the former major qualification system which featured direct qualifiers called minors, for a yearly circuit where teams had to earn Regional Major Ranking Points (RMR) in a series of tournaments. The system was revised in scope of the first postponement of the Rio Major.^[12] In early January 2021, Valve reached out to organizers for proposals of three RMR events per region–Asia, CIS, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania.^[13] Five days later, the corporation released the 2020 RMR Sticker capsule as an in-game item, including the team's logos as sticker who qualified for Rio. They furthermore reset all the points acquired and reset the leaderboard. As a compensation, teams who qualified as a Legend for the Rio Major were awarded with 600 points, Challengers with 300 and Contenders with 100.^[14] Through the rules laid out by Valve, teams were able to replace up to two members of their roster at a time for a penalty. Teams lost 20% of their points per player change. If three or more players were removed from the team, the points would be reset. At least two RMR events per region were required with an optional third one being possible.^[15] The only regions to have three RMR events were CIS and South America.

Tournaments

List of RMR tournaments
Region	Events	RMR	Dates	Ref.
Asia	Perfect World League Season 1 (2021/1)	5800	April 20 – May 3, 2021	^[16]
Asia	IEM Fall 2021 Asia (2021/2)	9063	October 5–10, 2021	^[17]
CIS	EPIC League CIS 2021 (2021/1)	10000	May 12 – June 1, 2021	^[18]
	StarLadder CIS RMR 2021 (2021/2)	8750	June 27 – July 4, 2021	^[19]
	IEM Fall 2021 CIS (2021/3)	10938	September 29 – October 3, 2021	^[20]
Europe	Flashpoint Season 3 (2021/1)	13600	May 10–30, 2021	^[21]
Europe	IEM Fall 2021 Europe (2021/2)	18908	September 29 – October 10, 2021	^[22]
North America	cs_summit 8 (2021/1)	10000	May 20–30, 2021	^[23]
North America	IEM Fall 2021 North America (2021/2)	10938	October 5–10, 2021	^[24]
Oceania	EPIC League Oceania 2021 (2021/1)	5800	May 24–30, 2021	^[25]
Oceania	IEM Fall 2021 South America (2021/2)	9063	September 29 – October 3, 2021	^[26]
South America	CBCS Elite League Season 1 (2021/1)	10000	April 22 – May 16, 2021	^[27]
	CBCS Elite League Season 2 (2021/2)	6900	July 21 – August 8, 2021	^[28]
	IEM Fall 2021 South America (2021/3)	9063	September 29 – October 3, 2021	^[29]

RMR standings

Asia
Teams	2020	2021/1	2021/2	Total	Seed
Tyloo	100	1500	2500	4100	Contenders
ViCi	—	1600	2344	3944	Did not qualify
Team NKT	—	—	2188	2188
Checkmate	—	—	2031	2031
Invictus	—	1400^[A]	—	1120
Wings Up	—	1300^[B]	—	1040

Oceania
Teams	2020	2021/1	2021/2	Total	Seed
Renegades	100^[C]	1600	2500	4180	Contenders
ORDER	—	1500	2188	3688	Did not qualify
LookingForOrg	—	1300^[D]	2344	3384
VERTEX	—	—	2031	2031
Rooster	—	1400	—	895

CIS
Teams	2020	2021/1	2021/2	2021/3	Total	Seed
Natus Vincere	600^[E]	1200	2000	2344	6024	Legends
Gambit Esports	—	1600	1875	2500	5975	Legends
Team Spirit	600^[F]	1300	1750	1875	5405	Challengers
Virtus.pro	100	1500	—	2031	3631	Contenders
Entropiq	—	1100	—	2188	3288	Contenders
K23	—	950	1625	—	2575	Did not qualify
forZe	—	950	1500	—	2450
Akuma	—	—	1400	—	1400
Nemiga	300^[G]	—	—^[H]	—	192
Espada	100^[I]	—	—	—	60

North America
Teams	2020	2021/1	2021/2	Total	Seed
FURIA	600^[J]	1500^[K]	2500	4084	Legends
Team Liquid	300^[L]	1600	2188	4028
Evil Geniuses	600^[M]	950	1875	3185
paiN Gaming	—	1100	2031	3031	Challenger
Godsent	—	—	2344	2344	Contender
Extremum	600^[N]	1400	—	1880	Did not qualify
00Nation	—	1300	—	1300
Extra Salt	—	1200	—	1200
Bad News Bears	—	950^[O]	—	570
Gen.G	100^[P]	—	—	80

South America
Teams	2020	2021/1	2021/2	2021/3	Total	Seed
Sharks Esports	—	1500	1875	2344	5719	Contenders
MIBR	100^[Q]	1600	1750	2188	5618	Did not qualify
Bravos Gaming	—	1300^[R]	2000^[S]	2500	4932
Paquetá Gaming	—	1400	1625	—	3025
Imperial Esports	—	—	—	2031	2031
Havan Liberty	—	1050^[T]	—	—	840
INTZ	—	1050^[U]	—	—	630
Santos e-Sports	—	1050^[V]	—	—	0
Meta Gaming	—	1050^[W]	—	—	0

Europe
Teams	2020	2021/1	2021/2	Total	Seed
Ninjas In Pyjamas	600^[X]	1500^[Y]	2500	3988	Legends
Team Vitality	600^[Z]	1000	2188	3668
G2 Esports	300^[AA]	1400	1719	3359
Astralis	300				Challengers
ENCE	—	—	2344	2344
BIG	300	1200	1094	2294
Movistar Riders	—	—	1875	1875
Heroic	600	1300	—	1660
mousesports	—	1600	—	1600
Copenhagen Flames	—	—	1563	1563	Contenders
FaZe Clan	100	250	1250	1498	Contenders
Team Fiend	—	—	1406	1406	Did not qualify
OG	300^[AB]	250	938	1368
FunPlus Phoenix	300^[AC]	800	—	1040
DBL Poney	—	900^[AD]	—	720
Sprout	—	600^[AE]	—	480
Complexity Gaming	—	700	—	420
Anonymo	—	500	—	300
fnatic	300	250	—	294
HYENAS	100^[AF]	250^[AG]	—	0

Teams competing

Legends

Challengers

Astralis
BIG
ENCE
Heroic
MOUZ
Movistar Riders
paiN Gaming
Team Spirit

Contenders

Copenhagen Flames
Entropiq
FaZe Clan
GODSENT
Renegades
Sharks Esports
TYLOO
Virtus.pro

New Challengers Stage

The New Challengers stage took place from October 26 to October 29, 2021, at the Avicii Arena. The Challengers stage, also known as the Preliminary stage and formerly known as the offline qualifier, is a sixteen team swiss tournament. Initial seeding was determined using RMR srandings, from the 3rd round forward the Buchholz system was used.

Pos	Team	RW	RL	RD	BH	W	L	Qualification
1	FaZe Clan	64	43	+21	3	3	0	Qualification to Legends Stage
2	Copenhagen Flames	75	52	+23	1	3	0
3	ENCE	86	71	+15	0	3	1
4	Entropiq	87	68	+19	0	3	1
5	Virtus.pro	99	96	+3	−1	3	1
6	Heroic	133	129	+4	3	3	2
7	Astralis	111	90	+21	−1	3	2
8	MOUZ	126	110	+16	−3	3	2
9	BIG	117	122	−5	6	2	3	Eliminated
10	Team Spirit	101	110	−9	1	2	3
11	Movistar Riders	103	123	−20	1	2	3
12	paiN Gaming	106	110	−4	−2	1	3
13	Renegades	70	92	−22	−3	1	3
14	TYLOO	77	88	−11	−4	1	3
15	GODSENT	36	64	−28	2	0	3
16	Sharks Esports	63	86	−23	−3	0	3

Updated to match(es) played on 29 October 2021. Source: HLTV

Round 1 scores

Round 1 matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Heroic	16	Inferno	L	L
MOUZ	16	Inferno	L	L
Movistar Riders	16	Nuke	L	L
BIG	16	Nuke	L	L
L	L	Inferno	16	Virtus.pro
ENCE	16	Nuke	L	L
L	L	Overpass	16	FaZe Clan
L	L	Overpass	16	Copenhagen Flames

Round 2 scores

Round 2 matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
High division
L	L	Dust 2	16	FaZe Clan
L	L	Nuke	16	Copenhagen Flames
L	L	Vetrigo	16	Virtus.pro
Heroic	16	Nuke	11	MOUZ
Low division
N/a

Round 3 scores

Round 3 matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
N/a

Round 4 scores

Round 4 matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
N/a

Round 5 scores

Round 5 matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
N/a

New Legends Stage

Top 8 Teams proceed to New Champions Stage
Bottom 8 Teams are eliminated

Place	Team	Record	RD	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5
1–2	Natus Vincere	3–0	+31	Heroic 16–11 Ancient	High match Virtus.pro 16–4 Overpass	High match Ninjas in Pyjamas 2–0	New Champions stage	New Champions stage
1–2	G2 Esports	3–0	+24	Copenhagen Flames 16–11 Ancient	High match FaZe Clan 16–7 Mirage	High match Entropiq 2–0	New Champions stage	New Champions stage
3–5	Heroic	3–1	+22	L	Low match Team Vitality 16–12 Overpass	Mid match Astralis 16–7 Ancient	High match Copenhagen Flames 2–1	New Champions stage
	Gambit Esports	3–1	+17	ENCE 16–7 Overpass	L	Mid match Virtus.pro 16–14 Vertigo	High match Ninjas in Pyjamas 2–0	New Champions stage
	FURIA Esports	3–1	+3	L	High match MOUZ 16–9 Inferno	Mid match Team Liquid 16–9 Inferno	High match Entropiq 2–1	New Champions stage
6–8	Team Vitality	3–2	+23	L	L	Low match Evil Geniuses 2–1	Low match Astralis 2–1	Entropiq 2–1
	Virtus.pro	3–2	+2	Team Vitality 16–14 Inferno	L	L	Low match MOUZ 2–1	FaZe Clan 2–1
	Ninjas in Pyjamas	3–2	−9	MOUZ 16–12 Inferno	High match Astralis 16–1 Inferno	L	L	Copenhagen Flames 2–1
9–11	Copenhagen Flames	2–3	6	L	Low match Evil Geniuses 16–2 Nuke	Mid match FaZe Clan 16–6 Ancient	L	L
	FaZe Clan	2–3	−2	Evil Geniuses 16–6 Dust II	L	L	High match Team Liquid 2–0	L
	Entropiq	2–3	−12	Team Liquid 16–9 Vertigo	High match Gambit Esports 16–9 Vertigo	L	L	L
12–14	MOUZ	1–3	−5	L	L	Low match ENCE 2–0	L	L
	Team Liquid	1–3	−17	L	Low match ENCE 16–8 Dust II	L	L	L
	Astralis	1–3	−25	FURIA Esports 16–10 Inferno	L	L	L	L
15–16	ENCE	0–3	−33	L	L	L	L	L
15–16	Evil Geniuses	0–3	−36	L	L	L	L	L

Round 1 scores

Round 1 matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
N/a

Round 2 scores

Round 2 matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
High division
N/a
Low division
N/a

Round 3 scores

Round 3 matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
N/a

Round 4 scores

Round 4 matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
N/a

Round 5 scores

Round 5 matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
N/a

New Champions Stage

With eight teams remaining, the final stage of the Major is a single-elimination bracket, with all matches played as best-of-3 maps.

Bracket

Quarterfinals						Semifinals						Finals

1	Natus Vincere	16	16	–	2

8	Team Vitality	11	13	–	0
						1	Natus Vincere	16	16	–	2

						4	Gambit Esports	8	3	–	0
5	FURIA Esports	17	10	–	0

4	Gambit Esports	19	16	–	2
												1	Natus Vincere	16	22	–	2

												2	G2 Esports	11	19	–	0
3	Heroic	16	13	16	2

6	Virtus.pro	10	16	12	1
						3	Heroic	16	10	15	1

						2	G2 Esports	12	16	19	2
2	G2 Esports	16	16	–	2

7	Ninjas in Pyjamas	11	11	–	0

Quarterfinals

Heroic vs. Virtus.pro

Casters: Semmler & moses

Virtus.pro vs. Heroic scores
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
L	L	Mirage	16	Heroic
Virtus.pro	16	Ancient	L	L
L	L	Inferno	16	Heroic

G2 Esports vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas

Casters: Semmler & Anders

G2 Esports vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas scores
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
G2 Esports	16	Inferno	L	L
G2 Esports	16	Mirage	L	L
G2 Esports	–	Ancient	–	Ninjas in Pyjamas

FURIA Esports vs. Gambit Esports

Casters: James Bardolph & ddk

FURIA Esports vs. Gambit Esports scores
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
L	L	Inferno	19	Gambit Esports
L	L	Overpass	16	Gambit Esports
FURIA Esports	–	Mirage	–	Gambit Esports

Natus Vincere vs. Team Vitality