The PGL Stockholm Major officially ended yesterday after Natus Vincere and Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev won their first CS:GO Major following a 2-0 victory over G2 Esports.
PGL Stockholm was the first CS:GO Major since September 2019. It was also the first premier Counter-Strike event to be played in front of a live audience since the coronavirus pandemic started.
During the nearly two-week span of action, the PGL Stockholm Major delivered heartbreaking and joyful moments. But, most importantly, it had several top-notch plays made by all kinds of competitors, including those who were unknown for the most part by the viewers, the underdogs, and the best players in the world.
Take a trip down memory lane with us and relive some of the best plays from the PGL Stockholm Major.
11) Hardzao’s one-vs-four against Virtus Pro
PaiN Gaming didn’t win this match against VP, but one of its players, rifler Wesley “hardzao” Lopes, arguably won one of the most beautiful clutches of the whole event. He was trapped inside Infeno’s B bombsite during the after-plant scenario but still managed to get rid of all the VP players who were alive, tying the game for paiN.
10) Frozen’s ace against BIG
MOUZ had lost the first map to BIG in their elimination match during the PGL Stockholm Major Challengers Stage and had their backs against the wall on Inferno, the second map of the series. The game was open to anyone when MOUZ’s young superstar David “frozen” Čerňanský got an ace in round 25, setting his team on map point and giving his teammates a confidence boost.
9) Lucky’s one-vs-three clutch to save Astralis
The name of this round would have been hardzao if it wasn’t for Philip “Lucky” Ewald’s efforts. Hardzao defended the A bombsite of Ancient the best he could and got four kills, leaving just Lucky in a one-vs-three clutch post-plant situation. Had Lucky not made this play, Astralis would have had to play a third map against paiN Gaming. But instead, they took the game to overtime and closed out the series on Ancient.
8) EliGE wins one-vs-four to complete his ace against FaZe
Sometimes there’s nothing like a great pistol round play. Team Liquid’s Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski killed Finn “karrigan” Andersen in Inferno’s Construction and repositioned himself to the top of Orange Boxes. He was quick on the trigger to beat all of the four remaining FaZe players after all of his teammates died.
7) Nicoodoz’s AWP ace
Copenhagen Flames’ sniper Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi repeatedly proved himself against top-tier opponents at the PGL Stockholm Major. His team didn’t make it into the playoffs, but he was the most dominant player against Heroic in the Legends Stage, even though Copenhagen Flames lost the match. This AWP ace on Overpass showcases his mechanical abilities with the Big Green.
6) S1mple takes down four G2 players with his AWP
This is probably the best play from the Major MVP in the grand finals. G2 were up 7-5 on Ancient when the Ukrainian AWPer shut them down with four kills to help Na’Vi win the round and steal any momentum G2 had in the first map of the finals.
5) NiKo single-handedly wins a round for G2
Talk about Nikola “NiKo” Kovač’s precision and boldness in this round. The Bosnian superstar went down Mirage’s Catwalk all by himself, creating space for G2 and killing four of the Heroic players who crossed his path.
4) ZywOo’s AWP ace against Entropiq
It took a while for Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut to step up in the PGL Stockholm Major Legends Stage, but he eventually took over and became Vitality’s best player. His most memorable play was a masterful AWP ace against Entropiq in a match where both sides were trying to secure one of the last spots in the playoffs.
3) ApEX one-vs-three ace clutch to prevent Entropiq from getting to map point
This was one of the most important clutches at the PGL Stockholm Major. Vitality’s in-game leader Dan “apEX” Madesclaire had to do it all himself on Mirage to keep Entropiq off map point, which would have definitely given the CIS side the edge to take the map and potentially the series. The veteran killed two in the A bombsite execute and fought tooth and nail to defend the bomb.
2) Refrezh’s one-vs-three clean Desert Eagle clutch
We didn’t witness a lot of highlight plays with the Desert Eagle at the PGL Stockholm Major since the gun’s body shot damage was recently nerfed. The change pretty much forces players to hit a headshot. Otherwise, they’ll likely be dead. Heroic’s star Ismail “refrezh” Ali undoubtedly made the best play with the hand-cannon pistol throughout the Major when he nailed three clinical shots to steal one round for Copenhagen Flames against Heroic in the Legends Stage.
1) Jame’s one-vs-five against MOUZ
VP’s Dzhami “Jame” Ali is known for saving his weapon, especially the AWP, when he’s left in clutch situations. But there was no room for “Jame time” in this round against MOUZ since they won a force buy to take control of the game’s economy. Jame planted the bomb and proceeded to eliminate all five MOUZ players after they fought him one by one in Inferno’s A bombsite. The Russian in-game leader seemed trapped in there after the plant, but he was the one who trapped his adversaries.
