PGL updated the schedule for the first round of the Stockholm Major after Virtus Pro added the former forZe rifler Evgeny “FL1T” Lebedev to replace Sanjar “SANJI” Kuliev and lost 20 percent of their Regional Major Ranking (RMR) points.
As a result of the change, VP have dropped below Entropiq in PGL Stockholm Major’s seeding, causing the two teams to trade opening matchups in the Challengers Stage. Entropiq will now face BIG, while VP will play against paiN Gaming in the first round of the $2 million Valve-sponsored tournament.
Even though Entropiq has gained a position in the tournament seeding, it doesn’t necessarily mean a good thing—BIG is arguably a tougher matchup than paiN. The German squad has way more experience since they play against the best teams in the world all the time, while paiN spent the majority of the year playing just North American teams.
The Challengers Stage will run from Oct. 26 to 29 and just eight of the 16 teams will proceed to the Legends Stage, where teams like Natus Vincere, Gambit, and Ninjas in Pyjamas await. Both stages will use a Swiss system format with best-of-three matches for elimination and advancement games, and best-of-one series for the rest of the matches.
Here are the PGL Stockholm Major initial matchups.
- 3am CT: Astralis vs. Copenhagen Flames
- 3am CT: FaZe vs. Team Spirit
- 4:15am CT: ENCE vs. GoDSENT
- 4:15am CT: VP vs. paiN
- 5:30am CT: BIG vs. Entropiq
- 5:30am CT: Movistar Riders vs. Renegades
- 6:45am CT: Heroic vs. TYLOO
- 6:45am CT: MOUZ vs. Sharks
