At PGL Major Stockholm, the final lineup for the Champions Stage has been determined. In the coming days, eight teams will play playoff matches at «Avicii Arena», marking the first major cybersports event in front of spectators since the start of the pandemic.
The Champions Stage will begin with a match between Heroic and Virtus.pro on Thursday. The second game of the day will be a clash between G2 and NIP, the last team to qualify for the playoffs. Many fans of the game are looking forward to Friday's matches, which will feature two more CIS teams. Gambit will fight to reach the semifinals against Brazilian FURIA, while Natus Vincere – against French Vitality. Thus, none of the three CIS championship contenders will have to play against each other in the first matches of the playoffs, which means that the probability that one of them will rise to the final stage increases.
It is interesting that the teams that previously showed themselves mainly in online tournaments during the pandemic, such as Gambit and Heroic, made it to the final part of the major. Thus, the repeated speculation that they would not be as successful in the LAN format proved unfounded.