PGL Major Stockholm: Day 5 ends with some expected and unexpected results

Names expected to win did not, and names expected not to win did.

Day 5 saw the first two rounds of the New Legends stage being played where 8 teams from the Challengers stage met the 8 seeded teams. Names like Na’Vi, Gambit and NiP met with the winners from the previous stage like FaZe, Copenhagen Flames and Entropiq to see who will move on to the Champions stage after 5 rounds are over.

There were heartbreaks aplenty in the first and second round, with many of the teams trying hard to keep themselves in the Majors. In the end, only eight teams will emerge from the scrum and head on to the Champions playoffs next week.

Round 1 Recap

Evil Geniuses vs FaZe Clan

The first match of the round saw FaZe overpowering Evil Geniuses quite easily. The latter dominated the first half as CT and replicated the domination in the second half as Terrorists. It was all over in 22 rounds as FaZe won 16-6 vs EG.

G2 Esports vs Copenhagen Flames

The fairy tale story of Copenhagen Flames hit a snag in their first Legends match when they met G2 Esports. While the team from Denmark did give a mighty opposition to the German team, they can't overcome the strength of the seeded team, thus G2 won 16-11.

Gambit Esports vs ENCE

As one of the top teams in the world, Gambit had a lot of expectations being put upon them by the community and the fans. Thus their match with ENCE was one to look out for – and they delivered their fan’s expectations. ENCE did give some resistance, but Gambit was stronger and won the rounds 16-7.

Team Liquid vs Entropiq

This is one of the surprise matches, where one of the legends meets with the upstart from the Contenders list. Entropiq have been making good progress throughout the Challengers stage, and they were bringing the momentum to the Legends stage too. That momentum managed to bring the win 16-9 against Team Liquid.

Team Vitalityvs Outsiders

Virtus.pro showed that they are the team to look out for, or at least the team in the top 5 to notice at this Major. Their match against Team Vitality is a good indicator of how the performance may be like throughout the rest of the tournament. Their win of 16-14 versus the seeded Vitality proved that they are a team to be noticed.

Natus Vincere vs Heroic

The tournament favourite Na’Vi went against one of the bigger names from Challengers, Heroic, and proved to the tournament and the community why they are the favourites of most of the fanbase. While Heroic gave a good fighting challenge for them, it was not enough to stop Na’Vi from winning 16-11.

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs MOUZ

The Ninjas went into the match against MOUZ with guns blazing, as they dominated the first half of the match. MOUZ did try to catch up in the second half, but the points difference was too great and Ninjas in Pyjamas won 16-12.

FURIA Esports vs Astralis

Astralis’ awakening continues with their match against FURIA. The champion from South America faced the reigning champion and unfortunately lost in their match-up. Astralis won 16-10.

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Round 2 Recap

High Matches

G2 Esports vs FaZe Clan

G2 pulled a surprise against FaZe as they flexed their muscles in preparation for the Champions stage. The German team surprised the other team by winning the match 16-7, punctuated with almost back-to-back domination of the entire first half.

Gambit Esports vs Entropiq

Entropiq continued their show as one of the best performing teams in the Major thus far, and they proved that they can be an upstart team in the playoffs by beating Gambit – who is one of the top-tiered teams in the world – 16-9.  

Natus Vincere vs Outsiders

Na’Vi can’t be stopped, even by one of the best teams in the CIS. In this CIS derby, Virtus.pro did not manage to be the opposition that they think they can be – and thus lost to Na’Vi with the fourth-lowest single-round score in the tournament so far, 16-4.

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs Astralis

The lowest score thus far is officially owned by Astralis, in their match against Ninjas in Pyjamas. In 17 rounds, they managed to only score a single point, thus giving NIP the win of 16-1, a record so far in the competition.

Low Matches

Evil Geniuses vs Copenhagen Flames

Copenhagen treated their loss to G2 as a wake-up call for them to get back into gear – and into gear they did. The 18 round match saw them only concede two points to Evil Geniuses, this giving them a win 16-2.

Team Liquid  vs ENCE

Liquid was another team that woke up from their previous loss and now are back at it again as they won their match against ENCE. They dominated the match from the start, winning most of the points in the two halves, thus giving them the win 16-8.

Team Vitality vs Heroic

Heroic, buoyed by their match versus Na’Vi, went to their match with Vitality looking for a winning point in their favour. Vitality gave them a challenge, but not a challenge enough and Heroic won the match 16-2.

FURIA Esportsvs MOUZ

The team from South America was looking for a comeback, and unfortunately, MOUZ was their victim this time around. FURIA dominated most of the match, in both halves and the match ended at around 25, with FURIA winning the match 16-9.