PGL Major Krakow 2017 preview

The main CS:GO tournament of summer 2017 is going to start today. The analysis of the event and other interesting information you can find in this article.

[General information]

PGL Major Krakow 2017 is the main event of this summer in CS:GO discipline. The main stage of Valve Major-tournament will take place on July 16 – 23. On July 16 – 20, the group stage in Swiss system will be played, and on July 21 – 23, the group stage in Single Elimination bracket will be played. The winner of PGL Major Krakow 2017 will get the main reward of $500,000. Vice champion will be rewarded with $150,000, the team that will take the third place will get $70,000. 16 teams, that overcame a huge number of challenges, will share the prize pool of $1,000,000. In this event, the teams with extensive experience on Major-tournaments will participate (like SK Gaming, Astralis, Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere, North, Gambit eSports and others), as well as the teams that have never played on such events (Vega Squadron, Team BIG, PENTA Sports).

[Rookies on Major-arena and tournament underdogs]

There will be many new players in different professional teams in PGL Major Krakow 2017. Here is the list of esportsmen who have never participated in Major events:

Particular attention should be given to Robin «ropz» Koo, who is the younger player in Major-tournament.

Robin Koo became one of the first Estonian esportsmen who will join Major-tournament as a player. 17 years old Estonian started his esports career last year. Robin played in AWTR together with one of pro100 players, Igor «crush» Shevchenko. Robin played in FPL league on FaceIt platform and recommended himself a promising young player. Some time later, different esports organizations got interested in this player, and on April 12 ropz signed a contract with mousesports. Being in the roster of European mix for 3 months, he managed to get into PGL Major Krakow 2017 and earned about $15,000 in total.

Except for ropz, we would like to mention all Vega Squadron players: Leonid «chopper» Vishnyakov, Nikolay «mir» Bityukov, Pavel «hutji» Lashkov, Sergey «keshandr» Nikishin and Dmitriy «jR» Chervak. Vega Squadron signed them on November 17. For several months, the players did not mention to achieve some significant results, but CIS Minor 2017 — Krakow became their real chance to move to another level. By winning CIS minor, players got $30,000 and quote in closed qualifiers to PGL Major Krakow 2017. In the closed qualifiers, Vega Squadron proved that their win on CIS Minor 2017 — Krakow was not an accident but the result of thorough preparation. The team won the slot on PGL Major Krakow 2017 to go to Poland and share with other participants the prize pool of $1,000,000. Their participation in PGL Major Krakow 2017 is a great chance to get priceless experience and the opportunity to reach new level in esports.

Team BIG and PENTA Sports also did a great job. CS:GO roster of Team BIG was created on January 2, 32017. Since then, the team managed to become a vice champion of DreamHack Leipzig 2017, ESEA Season 24 Global Challenge and Farmskins Championship #1, and also win such events as iGame Winter Invitational, ESL Meisterschaft: Spring 2017. On Europe Minor Championship 2017 — Krakow, Team BIG beat such teams as Team EnVyUs, Team Dignitas, PENTA and became the winners of European Minor tournament. Along with the money reward, they got an opportunity to participate in the competition for quotes in PGL Major Krakow 2017. gob b and his team did not miss this chance and took 5th place in closed qualifiers to Major-championship and got a place on LAN-final.

The same situation is with PENTA Sports. The European mix was gathered in March this year. For 5 months, PENTA won ESEA Season 24 Global Challenge and Farmskins Championship #1, and also took the second place on European Minor-tournament. Due to the great performance on Europe Minor Championship 2017 — Krakow, PENTA got the right to participate in closed qualifiers of PGL Major Krakow 2017. They used this chance as well. By taking the third position in the tournament table of PGL Major Krakow 2017 Closed Qualifiers, PENTA ensured a place in LAN-final of the main CS:GO tournament of this summer. All the participants who are new to this Major event can be categorized as the underdogs of the tournament as they do not have enough experience.

[Mid-level participants]

In the category of mid-level participants, we introduce the teams that are not the favorites, but still have chances both to join the play-off and Grand-final if they demonstrate sufficient results. In the list of candidates to join play-off, the following teams are: G2 Esports, Natus Vincere, Cloud9, Immortals, North, mousesports, Fnatic, Gambit eSports and Virtus.pro.

G2 Esports

For the past 2 months, a French team have proved positive. Two consecutive wins on DreamHack Tours 2017 and ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals conveyed that G2 are on the peak of their condition. However, taking into consideration the latest results of the team, something went wrong. 5-6 place on Esports Championship Series Season 3 and 5-8 place on ESL Cologne 2017 are not the results of the team that wants to be a candidate to win the main tournament of this summer. Perhaps, G2 could pull themselves together and find enough motives to win the event.

Natus Vincere

It’s hard to reason possible results of CIS team now. After the triumph on ESL One New York 2016, the team could win no trophy. They were close to win on Adrenalyne Cyber League 2017, but lost the Grand-final match against Virtus.pro. Maybe, understanding that Na’Vi got an invitation to the tournament with $1,000,000 prize pool, will give them strengths and they will show great results and will get into the play-off, and maybe even Grand-final match.

Cloud9

Stewie2k and his team have been demonstrating average results during past 3 months. We cannot deny the fact that they played perfectly on Minor-tournament, which was their only chance to join closed qualifiers to PGL Major Krakow 2017. After the winning of Americas Minor Championship 2017 — Krakow, the American team took 7-8 place on DreamHack Summer 2017, 3-4 place on Esports Championship Series Season 3 Finals, 4 place on PGL Major 2017 — Krakow Closed Qualifiers and 2 place on ESL One Cologne 2017. The team should get into play-off, but it has too low chances to join the Grand-final, as there are many strong opponents in the tournament.

Immortals

Several Immortals players have never played on Major-events, but that does not mean that cannot get into play-off. A Brazilian team has been demonstrating not very good results. After taking the second place on Americas Minor Championship 2017 — Krakow, they took 3-4 place on DreamHack Summer 2017, and took 6-8 and 12-14 place on PGL Krakow 2017 — Closed Qualifier and ESL One Cologne 2017 correspondingly. Despite that, there will be many teams in this Major that are weaker than Immortals, so they have a chance to show their best.

North

Lately, North became to team to surprise everyone (except for ESL One Cologne 2017). In European division of ESL Pro League Season 5, the Danish players took the first place surpassing the results of FaZe Clan, Virtus.pro and others. On the main stage of ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals, North surprised everyone again by demonstrating the best results in the group stage among all 12 participants and by defeating Team Liquid in semifinal and joining the Grand-final. Unfortunately, North did not manage to win their first trophy as they lost the match against G2 Esports with 1-3 score. Later on, North participated in ESL One Cologne 2017 and took 9-11 place. However, with well-prepared strategies and great individual skills, North will be able to surprise us on PGL Major Krakow 2017.

mousesports

A European mix got the place in closed qualifiers to PGL Major Krakow 2017 by taking 9-16 place on The ELEAGUE Major 2017. Although the team did not pass the preliminary qualifiers, mousesports were the best in closed qualifiers and took the first place. Robin «ropz» Koo, signed by mousesports, was a great decision for the European mix. By all these circumstances, we can expect that this team will get into play-off.

Fnatic

A new roster, that has been gathered on February this year, have not shown some prominent results yet. Their best achievement is the second place on DreamHack Summer 2017. In the European division of ESL Pro League Season 5, Fnatic took the 4th place, and on ESL One Cologne 2017, Swedish players took 9-11 place. Fnatic are obviously not the favorites of the events, but they are not the outsiders also.

Gambit eSports

As for Gambit eSports, it’s difficult to tell something about their current condition. They almost did not participate in latest tournaments and events. Zeus and his team did not appear on ESL One Cologne 2017 and ESL Pro League Season 5. That’s why, it’s difficult to tell something of their condition or the upcoming results. However, there is speculation that the team has been preparing to the main tournament of this summer. On The ELEAGUE Major 2017, Gambit eSports took 5-8 place after been defeated by Fnatic with 2-1 score. Now, Gambit can show the results that will surpass the previous achievements, if they have prepared well for the tournament.

FlipSid3 Tactics

Many analysts and spectators consider this team to be too weak to be added to mid-level teams. The same was on the closed qualifiers to PGL Major Krakow 2017, however FlipSid3 Tactics surprised us with their performance. B1ad3 and his team proved that they did not waste time, but developed strategies and prepared for the event. It’s likely that FlipSid3 Tactics will surprise everyone several more times.

Virtus.pro

Vice-champions of the previous major regressed after their winning of DreamHack Masters Las Vegas 2017. Previously taking the first position in the list of the best teams according to HLTV.org, Virtus.pro moved to 14 place for the past 5 months. Also, it’s worth recalling that after an epic comeback of Astralis in the final of The ELEAGUE Major 2017, for the first time in esports history a revenge match was organized. It was also a show match with the prize pool that exceeded the reward of many big tournaments. Recently, Virtus.pro managed to get only one trophy by winning Adrenalyne Cyber League 2017. It’s hard to call them outsiders, but they are definitely not the favorites. Despite 15-16 place on ESL One Cologne 2017, Virtus.pro have enough chances to get into play-off as: — The team is one of the most experienced and solid teams among all participants of the Major— Virtus.pro will play at home, in Poland. That will give them enough positive vibes and motives to demonstrate better results.

[Favourites]

Everything’s easy with the favorites. Astralis, the champions of the previous major, FaZe Clan, ECS Season 3 Finals vice-champions, and the main favorite of PGL Major Krakow 2017, SK Gaming, are among them.

Astralis

After winning Intel Extreme Masters XI — World Championship, Astralis won nothing till the biggest show match in the history of esports, The ELEAGUE Clash For Cash: The Rematch. Despite that, the Danish team worked on increasing their total win by participation on different tournaments and leagues getting rather good results. Astralis took the second place on StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3 and ECS Season 3 Europe, 3-4 place on Intel Extreme Masters XII — Sydney и ECS Season 3 Finals, and also 8 place on ESL Pro League Season 5 Europe. It’s hard to tell something about their current condition, as they have not participated in the events for more than 2 weeks. Despite that fact and taking into consideration stable results of gla1ve and his team, Astralis is one of the three favorites of PGL Krakow Major 2017.

FaZe Clan

FaZe Clan are in the same situation as Astralis. A European mix have won none tournament trophies during past few months, but that did not prevent them from winning money by taking prize places on the events. After the triumph on StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3, FaZe Clan took the second place on such event as как Intel Extreme Masters XII — Sydney и ECS Season 3 Finals, an also were the first in the European division of ECS Season 3 and took 3-4 place on ESL One Cologne 2017. Recently, Faze have been demonstrating rather good results and are in the list of favorites by the right. There’s no doubting they will get into play-off, but they main question is how far they will be able to get?

SK Gaming

The main favorite of PGL Krakow Major 2017 is SK Gaming. A Brazilian team is now on the peak of their condition. After winning ESL Cologne 2016 last year, SK Gaming could not restore themselves and to show what FalleN and his four teammates are capable of. They received invite of cs_summit from organizers and as their opponents were quite weak, SK Gaming started a new series of winnings. In the result, SK got two consecutive wins on cs_summit and Intel Extreme Masters XII — Sydney. After taking the second place on insignificant Subaru Invitational 2017 tournament and 3-4 place on ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals, SK started their winning strake again. They won three trophies in a row by taking the first place on DreamHack Summer 2017, Esports Championship Series Season 3 Finals and ESL One Cologne 2017. It should be mention that SK are the first in the list of the best CS:GO rosters according to HLTV.org having 1000 points, while their closest opponent, FaZe have only 623 points and take the second position on the pedestal of esports Olympus. In conclusion, we share the statistics, provided by one of Major-tournament partners, EGB.com betting website. Here, you can find out who can be the winner of the tournament according to spectators: