Copenhagen Flames, the third-best CS:GO team in Denmark, outplayed Astralis, the Danish powerhouse and winner of four Major championships, in the opening round of the PGL Stockholm Major today.
This kind of result is one that certainly will ruin many fans’ Pick’ Ems. Astralis were one of the favorites to breeze past the Challengers Stage with a 3-0 record, but they met a fierce adversary in Copenhagen Flames. The underdogs won the first half by 9-6 and went on to put up a masterclass on the Terrorist side of Overpass, winning seven rounds in a row to take down the defending champions.
Astralis showed glimpses of their prime form in the first half, especially in clutch situations. But Copenhagen Flames’ stars Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjid and Fredrik “roeJ” Jørgensen kept them honest and made Astralis work with lots of force buys across the series. The latter topped the scoreboard with 24 kills and just 13 deaths, while nicoodoz finished with a 21-10 K/D record.
It’s the first upset of the PGL Stockholm Major and it happened in the very first round of the competition. It goes to show that nothing is granted in these best-of-one encounters and that a less-experienced team such as Copenhagen Flames can beat a giant like Astralis, if they come up with a good plan.
There’s not too much time for Astralis to analyze what went wrong or for Copenhagen Flames to rest on their laurels. The second round of the PGL Stockholm Major will be played later today, once the first round is finished. The Challengers Stage uses a Swiss system format with best-of-three matches for elimination or advancement games, but the rest of the matches are all best-of-one series.
You can keep up to date with the PGL Stockholm Major results here.
Published: Oct 26, 2021 04:44 am