We’re finally here! The PGL Major is officially upon us, and we’ve had a laid of games yesterday to set up the BO3s (and a few BO1s) coming up today. So, how did the teams do? Are your Pick’Ems ruined? Find out here!

0-0 Bracket

Match 1: Na’vi vs TheMongolz

TheMongolz snuck their way through the Opening Stage only to face off against one of the strongest teams in all of Counter-Strike. The map pick left over Mirage, a map that has produced many upsets over the years, and after the first half, everything was looking possible, as Na’Vi only barely managed to pull away on their CT-Side. However, in the end, TheMongolz just couldn’t hit the shots when it mattered (especially Usukhbayar ‘910’ Banzragch, whose AWP was whiffing a lot), sending the Underdogs from Ulaanbaatar to familiar, 0-1 territory with a 13:10 loss.

Match 2: Mouz vs ECSTATIC

After a hard fought Opening stage, the Danish team must’ve been… well, ecstatic to still be in Copenhagen. However, facing off one of the strongest CS teams out there wasn’t going to be easy as the match headed to Overpass. Similarly to TheMongolz, ECSTATIC started off with a strong 6:6 first half. The game would come down to the wire, with the Danes reaching a 11-9 scoreline before Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin and co. took over, winning 4 rounds in a row to become the second 1-0.

Match 3: Virtus.Pro vs Imperial

The slow plow faces off against their first (spoiler alert!) Brazilian team of the day and their battleground would be Inferno. Despite an even 5:7 first half, Dzhami “Jame” Ali’s slow style couldn’t match the chaotic Brazilian playcalling and Imperial ended up winning 13:6 after a near-sweep in the second half and thus achieving the first upset of the tournament.

Match 4: Vitality vs Eternal Fire

The sensational Turkish team faced off against the defending champs. With high expectations for Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and his team, the game headed to Inferno. Unfortunately for Vitality, it ZywOo was the only one who fully showed up, and despite two even halves of Counter-Strike, the Turkish firepower was just too much for the champs to handle, resulting in a massive 13:10 upset win.

Match 5: Complexity vs paiN

Hello, hello (hola), this one went to a place called Vertigo. The battle of the Americas, one could say, with the surprise of the opening stage facing off against the only North American team in the tournament. While the game was pretty even throughout, in the end it was Complexity that ended up taking the 13:9 win, courtesy of a consistent performance from the entire team with Michael ‘Grim’ Wince leading the way.

Match 6: FaZe vs Heroic

A battle of the Danes, as Finn “karrigan” Andersen faced off against the three-Dane lineup of Heroic took place on Ancient. As with many games so far this major, this was a close map with a 5:7 first half setting up a close finish, as Heroic managed to pull away with a streaky finish for a 13:10 win and the second big upset of the tournament, sending FaZe down to the 0-1 bracket.

Match 7: G2 vs Furia

After all these even matches, we were due a stomp and Nikola “NiKo” Kovač and Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov delivered absolutely destroying FURIA on Inferno. The Brazilians only managed to win 3 rounds on their T-Side before being locked out in the second half, leaving them battered and bruised as they head into their next match.

Match 8: Team Spirit vs Cloud9

This match was going to be the first big test for the heavily favored Team Spirit and superstar Major debutant Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets. As their game against Opening Stage 3-0 winners Cloud 9 headed to Ancient, after a pretty even start on Spirit’s CT-side, Spirit absolutely took over when attacking and won the game with a handy-dandy 13-7 scoreline, saving at least some of our Pick’ems.

0-1 Bracket

Match 1: Vitality vs TheMongolz

Vitality was looking to avoid humiliation against a fan favorite bunch of underdogs, and to do so they headed to Nuke, a map that definitely favors the more experienced team. Surprisingly enough, however, Mongolz not only stayed competitive but actually eeked out a first half lead before absolutely floundering on the CT-Side, losing 13:9, which we guess can be attributed to the follies of youth, and the lack of a consistent AWPing presence as Usukhbayar ‘910’ Banzragch once again didn’t show up when it mattered.

Match 2: Virtus.Pro vs paiN

We did spoil it for you. Jame time faces Brazil again, and the arena is Inferno again, as the CIS squad was looking for redemption, and redemption they received. Despite an even game, the team managed to win both halves on their way to an easy, 13:9 victory, sending paiN to the 0-2 bracket.

Match 3: Cloud9 vs ECSTATIC

The Danes didn’t have the luck of the draw, facing off against a Cloud9 team that realistically could’ve been seeded from the start. As the match headed to Overpass, the hometown team got absolutely stomped in a 13:3 massacre that ended with 11 consecutive rounds being won by the CIS side.

Match 4: FaZe vs FURIA

Speaking of an unlucky draw, Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo must’ve been having flashbacks to years gone by as he faced off against the heavily favored FaZe Clan on Ancient. After a first half tie, it was looking like FaZe might be reliving their worst nightmare from the Krakow Major, but a 7:1 blitz on their T-Side turned a hard fought battle into an easy game for karrigan and co.

1-0 Bracket

Match 1: MOUZ vs Eternal Fire

The Turks were looking for another upset, while MOUZ was looking to show that their recent run of form wasn’t just fluky and continue to a 2-0 record. The showdown took place on Vertigo, and once again, MOUZ found themselves in an even match, with a 6:6 first half highlighted by aggressive plays from Dorian ‘xertioN’ Berman taking risky duels to bring the team back in it from a 5:1 deficit. The second half was the reverse in many ways as Mouz took control, before getting stuck on 12 rounds, as the match ended in the 24th round with the EU team finally breaking through Eternal Fire’s defenses.

Match 2: Complexity vs Heroic

This one was a really interesting one as the NA superstars faced off against the second majority-hometown team. The match took us to Vertigo… and boy this was a back-and-forth battle. Two even halves couldn’t reveal a winner, so we heade to one overtime. One overtime couldn’t reveal a winner either, so we headed to second overtime, where eventually Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski’s throwback effort (while wearing throwback jerseys no less) finally turned the game on its head enough to give CoL the win.

Match 3: Na’Vi vs G2

We head to Nuke for this one as Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen faces off against his former team… which tradition would suggest is a bad omen for G2. It didn’t look too bad in the first half, as G2 narrowly took the lead, but the Finninsh IGL’s T-Side was just a bit stronger, as Na’Vi came back from an 11:8 deficit by winning 5 consecutive rounds to win a narrow 13:11 game, and keep Aleksi’s revenge tour going.

Match 4: Spirit vs Imperial

Upset aler… JUST KIDDING! We’re not going to spend too much time on this one, as the players didn’t spend too much time on the server either. As the game headed to Mirage, donk absolutely took over on the PUG map in an absolute stomp that saw Imperial only win 2 rounds on their way to a 1-1 record.

What’s next?

We’ve got a set of matches coming up, with the first quarter-finalists and first eliminations being revealed in BO3 games after a set of 1-1 BO1 games. The matchups today are:

As you can see, some fan favorites may be going home tonight, while some Pick’ems may be saved or ruined depending on the results of the 2-0 games. Additionally, we’re getting four maps of very competitive and interesting matchups. Who’ll win? We’ll find out very soon!