Review of PGL Major Krakow 2017
Ihor MatusThe second and the last Major tournament of the year has recently come to the end. The time has come to sum up the past championship.
[Organizing of the tournament]
First of all, it is worth to remind that the company PGL worked on the organizing of the tournament, it had been very responsible and had been preparing for it for months. Despite this, there were various of technical issues during the championship due to which lots of matches were delayed and one of them was not even shown to the audience (the second half of the match Cloud9 vs BIG). If we do not consider technical issues of the tournament, the organizing has been very good. PGL has worked a lot for viewers to be very excited watching the tournament, for players and their managers to feel comfortable in a hotel and to get to the venue and for a press to work comfortably in their places.
[Teams that have not satisfied expectations]
Surprisingly but PGL Major Krakow has become an intense tournament in terms of teams that have participated a lot worse than they had been expected by the public. Initially, there were three obvious favorites that had been predicted to win: FaZe Clan, SK Gaming, and Astralis.
FaZe proved everyone later that they had been placed a hope for nothing, having left the tournament with a score 0-3. They lost to such teams as BIG, mousesports and FlipSid3 Tactics. BIG was on the list of teams not as a favorite but not as an outsider. The situation with mousesports and FlipSid3 Tactics is the same. But no one expected such a result from FaZe Clan and the team can be considered as the greatest failure, according to the results of the tournament.
SK Gaming didn’t make us wait too long, they left in the quarterfinal. They had beaten PENTA, Astralis, and Immortals at the group stage and had come out to the playoff but they lost to Astralis in the final stage and left the tournament. Marcelo «coldzera» David said in an interview for our portal that SK had been in a good moral condition and had been sure in a victory. Probably, the reason for the loss became the underestimated opponent, however, Astralis was on the list of favorites of the tournament.
The Danish team Astralis showed themselves from the best side among these teams, viewers were sure about them until the end. They beat Immortals, Fnatic, G2 Esports at the group stage and came out to the playoff. The Danish team overcame SK Gaming at the final stage but Astralis didn’t become an exception and became the third favorite that had not got to the grand final, having lost to the future champions in the semifinal.
G2 Esports has disappointed their fans too. At the group stage, they lost to Gambit eSports, beat Cloud9 and received a defeat against Astralis and Fnatic. The French team could not get to the playoff, having finished its participation at the group stage with a score 1-3. In exclusively interview for our portal shox said that their team hadn't been in the shape.
Mousesports was not an exception in this list and, also, didn’t slightly satisfy the expectations of the audience. A lot of people expected from the European five to come out to the playoff, having reached the top 16 at PGL Major Krakow 2017, but this didn’t happen. Mousesports have finished their participation at the group stage with a score 1-3, having won only FaZe Clan and lost to such teams as Cloud9, North and Gambit eSports.
[Teams that have surprised]
Besides disappointing teams, there were participants that became a surprise for the audience. The German team BIG has become one of such participants.
As Gambit eSports did, BIG played with a score 3-0, having overcome two favorites of the tournament (SK Gaming and FaZe Clan) and Cloud9. Having come out to the playoff, BIG finished their participation in the quarterfinal, they lost to the future finalist, the team Immortals.
Virtus.pro can be partly referred to this category. Despite the Polish team was enough coordinated and a high-class team, their outcome to the playoff was a surprise for some viewers. After the victory at DreamHack Las Vegas 2017, Virtus.pro had a bad luck and could not win even a single tournament and, having lost at ESL Pro League 5 Relegation, the Poles got down to ESEA Season 25 Premier League EU. Besides this, Virtus.pro was beaten at the rematch ELEAGUE Clash For Cash. According to all above-mentioned reasons, the Virtus.pro’s outcome to the semifinal can be called an astonishment for the public, however, someone has expected more from them.
FlipSid3 Tactics, PENTA and Vega Squadron surprised viewers with their performance at the preliminary Minor tournaments and the closed qualifying stage. The fact that these teams have come out to the top 16 of PGL Major Krakow 2017 is a good achievement for them. However, a lot of participants, that had been better experienced and had prepared in a better way, have taken part in the tournament.
Yegor «markeloff» Markelov tell us why FlipSid3 Tactics lose to Immortals.
Kevin «HS» Tarn also tell about his team and why PENTA lose in group stage.
[Teams that have not surprised the audience]
Almost all other teams can be referred to this list: Fnatic, North, Cloud9, Natus Vincere. Cloud9, North and Natus Vincere have not come out to the playoff and Fnatic has stopped at the quarterfinal. Considering the shape of these teams and that there were stronger opponents, their results unlikely could surprise someone.
[Teams-sensations]
Of course, Gambit eSports and Immortals could make a real show at the tournament and prepared a lot of enjoyable surprises for their fans and the rest of viewers.
Gambit eSports showed a high-class game during the tournament. At first, they held the first place at the group stage with a score 3-0, having overcome mousesports, G2 Esports and Virtus.pro and then, they won Fnatic at the quarterfinal, Astralis at the semifinal and Immortals. You can find out in our interview with Rustem «mou» Telepov what has led Gambit to the victory. The team has made the closest preparation to the tournament, having played about 700 hours, while other teams have played about 450 or less. Besides this, Gambit had prepared greatly for the maps, on which they played against their opponents and, also, had a good morale, especially after the match against Astralis, in which they were close to the loss. As many casters of the tournament noticed, absolutely all players of Gambit showed themselves during PGL Major Krakow: Dosia showed one of the greatest moments of the tournament, having fought back weapons from two opponents in the desperate situation on de_inferno, mou punished his opponents with AWP in his own style, Hobbit took clutches that seemed to be impossible to be taken, Zeus did a great job as a captain and Adren became MVP of the tournament.
We asked mou tell us about secret of winning and he accepted give an interview for us.
Immortals could become the sensation of the tournament too. Being one of the underestimated opponents, the Brazilians were «the destroyers of the CIS teams» at the group stage, having beaten FlipSid3 Tactics, Natus Vincere and Vega Squadron. After the successful pass to the playoff, Immortals won BIG and Virtus.pro but they could not overcome the last CIS team. Despite this, Immortals showed the game that was much better than they had been expected by viewers.
[Interesting facts]
- Danylo «Zeus» Teslenko became the eldest champion of the Major tournament. He is 29 at the moment. The previous record was made by a player of Virtus.pro, Wiktor «TaZ» Wojta, who was 27 at the moment of triumph at ESL Katowice 2014.
- In fact, Gambit eSports has become the first international team to win the Major tournament. Only representatives of one country have won previous ten tournaments. Gambit consists of three Kazakhs, one Russian and one Ukrainian.
- PGL Major Krakow 2017 was the most profitable tournament for Immortals. The Brazilians have earned $150,000 for their achievements. The previous record was set at DreamHack Summer 2016 when Immortals won the tournament and earned $50,000. The last earned money prize became three times bigger than the team had been able to earn at one tournament.
- Two Estonians: ropz and HS took part in PGL Major Krakow 2017 for the first time. Both players are young talents: Kevin «HS» Tarn is 20 and Robin «ropz» Kool is 17. Both players are members of the European mixes: PENTA Sports and mousesports.
[Statistics]
- de_inferno and de_train are the most playable maps of the tournament, they were picked 12 times. Mirage was picked 8 times, Overpass — 7 times, Cobblestone — 5 times, Nuke and Cache were both picked 3 times.
- The CT win rate was much bigger on all maps than the T side win rate. de_nuke had the biggest win rate — teams to play as CT won 58,1% of rounds.
- AK47 is the most used weapon of the tournament. It was bought in 36,34% of rounds during the tournament. Desert Eagle and Tec9 are the least used weapons of the tournament. Both pistols were bought in 2,53% of played rounds.
- Oleksandr «s1mple» Kostyliev has the largest rate among players. He earned 1,43 points of the rate for four matches. The MVP of the tournament, Adren, has earned 1,26 points of the rate, having played 11 maps.
- Six aces were done during the tournament, two of them were done by the champions, Gambit players, mou and HObbit.
[Results of the tournament]
According to the results of the tournament, the following teams have received a status of «Legend»:
Gambit eSportsImmortalsVirtus.proAstralisSK GamingFnaticBIGNorth
Direct invitations to a closed qualifying round will have to be received by the following teams:
Cloud9FlipSid3 TacticsG2 EsportsmousesportsNatus VincerePENTA SportsVega SquadronFaZe Clan
The next Major tournament will be run at the end of January or in the beginning of February 2018.
PGL prepared interesting video from tournament with highlights: