The challenger teams for the next Valve Major in Krakow, Poland will be determined this week at the international PGL Major Offline Qualifier in Bucharest, Romania. The action begins on June 29 and will end on July 2, when the final teams clinch their slots at the Major.
Bucharest’s Offline Qualifier will consist of a Swiss Format throughout the four days of competition. Seedings are decided from the last Major and recent regional Minors tournaments for initial matches. After the initial matches take place, teams with the same record, such as 1-0 or 0-1, will face off against each other in best-of-one matches until they reach either three wins or three losses. Teams who reach three wins advance to the Krakow Major and teams who receive three losses are eliminated from Major contention.
The schedule for the initial matches are listed below in Bucharest local time (UTC +2). Teams are also listed with their respective seedings.
Thursday, June 29
10:00am (3am ET) – G2 Esports vs Immortals (Americas #2)
11:30am (4.30am ET) – OpTic Gaming vs Penta Sports (Europe #2)
1:00pm (6am ET) – Team Liquid vs TyLoo (Asia #2)
2:30pm (7.30am ET) – GODSENT vs Team Dignitas (Europe #3)
4:00pm (9am ET) – Mousesports vs Tengri (CIS #2)
5:30pm (10.30am ET) – HellRaisers vs Vega Squadron (CIS #1)
7:00pm (12pm ET) – FlipSid3 Tactics vs Renegades (Asia #1)
8:30pm (1.30pm ET) – BIG (Europe #1) vs Cloud9 (Americas #1)
Notably, there’s a third European Minor seed because Team EnVyUs had their spot revoked as a result of a French roster shuffle earlier this year. This caused the organization to lose their qualifier spot, as only two of the five players from the previous Major remained on the team. For each team to retain their Major status, they must have three of the same players from the last Major.
The eight teams that qualify for the Major will have “Challenger” status, and will compete against teams with “Legend” status in the group stage of the Major. They’ll also have their own in-game cosmetic weapon stickers–both team and player autographs–available in sticker capsules sold by Valve. The players and the organization receive 50 percent of the proceeds from sticker sales.
A lot is on the line for these 16 teams, as their dreams of being immortalized into Counter-Strike’s history rest on their performance in the coming week.
