PGL Antwerp Major, the first Valve-sponsored Counter-Strike tournament of the year, will run from May 9 to 22. A total of 24 CS:GO teams from all over the world will be there fighting for their share of the $1 million prize pool.
The competition will begin with the 16 Challengers and Contenders teams playing in the Challengers Stage, with the top eight moving to the Legends Stage where eight teams with Legend status will be awaiting. Finally, the best eight teams will clash in the Champions Stage, the tournament’s playoffs, which will be played in front of a live crowd at the Antwerps Sportpaleis arena.
Here is everything you need to know about PGL Antwerp Major.
Stream
The PGL Stockholm Major will be broadcast on PGL’s Twitch and YouTube channel. There will be an official secondary stream for simultaneous matches. Any person is free to broadcast the CS:GO Majors as long as they follow the guidelines established by Valve and the tournament organizer in charge, so the competition should be broadcast in several different languages by a vast number of content creators.
Format
PGL Antwerp Major will use a 16-team Swiss system for both the Challengers and the Legends Stage. In the Swiss stage, teams who win three matches progress, and teams who lost three are eliminated from the tournament. The elimination and advancement matches will be played as best-of-threes, while the other matches are all best-of-ones. PGL will also use the Bucholz system to seed matches throughout these Swiss system stages.
The Challengers Stage will be played from May 9 to 12 and only half of the 16 teams will progress to the Legends Stage to face the remaining eight teams of the tournament. The Legends Stage will run from May 14 to 17 and the top eight will advance to the Champions Stage, which is a single-elimination playoff bracket.
The Champions Stage will be played in front of a live audience at Antwerps Sportpaleis from May 19 to 22. The winner of PGL Antwerp Major will take home $500,000, while the runners-up will grab $150,00.
Teams
Challengers Stage
- ENCE
- G2
- Outsiders (Virtus Pro’s players)
- Astralis
- Vitality
- Team Liquid
- Complexity
- forZe
- MIBR
- Bad News Eagles
- Team Spirit
- Eternal Fire
- 9z
- Imperial
- Renegades
- IHC
Legends Stage
- FaZe
- Natus Vincere
- Cloud9
- Heroic
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- FURIA
- Copenhagen Flames
- BIG
- TBD
- TBD
- TBD
- TBD
- TBD
- TBD
- TBD
- TBD
Schedule
Monday, May 9 (Start of Challengers Stage)
All times are CT and susceptible to delays.
- 5am: Vitality vs. Complexity
- 5am: Bad News Eagles vs. Eternal Fire
- 6:15am: G2 vs. Liquid
- 6:15am: forZe vs. Renegades
- 7:30am: Astralis vs. IHC
- 7:30am: Spirit vs. Imperial
- 8:45am: Outsiders vs. MIBR
- 8:45am: ENCE vs. 9z
- 10am: First 1-0 match
- 10am: First 0-1 match
- 11:15am: Second 1-0 match
- 11:15am: Second 0-1 match
- 12:30pm: Third 1-0 match
- 12:30pm: Third 0-1 match
- 1:45pm: Fourth 1-0 match
- 1:45pm: Fourth 0-1 match
Tuesday, May 10
- 5am: First 1-1 match
- 5am: Second 1-1 match
- 6:15am: Third 1-1 match
- 6:15am: Fourth 1-1 match
- 7:30am: First 2-0 match
- 7:30am: First 0-2 match
- 11:15am: Second 2-0 match
- 11:15am: Second 0-2 match
Wednesday, May 11
- 5am: First 2-1 match
- 5am: First 1-2 match
- 8:45am: Second 2-1 match
- 8:45am: Second 1-2 match
- 12:30pm: Third 2-1 match
- 12:30pm: Third 1-2 match
Thursday, May 12 (Last day of Challengers Stage)
- 5am: First 2-2 match
- 8:45am: Second 2-2 match
- 10:30am: Third 2-2 match
Saturday, May 14 (Start of Legends Stage)
- 5am: TBD vs. TBD
- 5am: TBD vs. TBD
- 6:15am: TBD vs. TBD
- 6:15am: TBD vs. TBD
- 7:30am: TBD vs. TBD
- 7:30am: TBD vs. TBD
- 8:45am: TBD vs. TBD
- 8:45am: TBD vs. TBD
- 10am: First 1-0 match
- 10am: First 0-1 match
- 11:15am: Second 1-0 match
- 11:15am: Second 0-1 match
- 12:30pm: Third 1-0 match
- 12:30pm: Third 0-1 match
- 1:45pm: Fourth 1-0 match
- 1:45pm: Fourth 0-1 match
Sunday, May 15
- 5am: First 1-1 match
- 5am: Second 1-1 match
- 6:15am: Third 1-1 match
- 6:15am: Fourth 1-1 match
- 7:30am: First 2-0 match
- 7:30am: First 0-2 match
- 11:15am: Second 2-0 match
- 11:15am: Second 0-2 match
Monday, May 16
- 5am: First 2-1 match
- 5am: First 1-2 match
- 8:45am: Second 2-1 match
- 8:45am: Second 1-2 match
- 12:30pm: Third 2-1 match
- 12:30pm: Third 1-2 match
Tuesday, May 17 (Last day of Legends Stage)
- 5am: First 2-2 match
- 8:45am: Second 2-2 match
- 10:30am: Third 2-2 match
Thursday, May 19 (Start of Champions Stage)
- 9:30am: First quarterfinal
- 1pm: Second quarterfinal
Friday, May 20
- 9:30am: Third quarterfinal
- 1pm: Fourth quarterfinal
Saturday, May 21
- 9:30am: First semifinal
- 1pm: Second semifinal
Sunday, May 22 (Last day of Champions Stage)
- 11am: Showmatch
- 1pm: Grand finals
