Viewers Guide to the PGL Major Antwerp Major

Viewers+Guide+to+the+PGL+Major+Antwerp+Major

Spencer Smith, Writer

The 17th CS:GO Major, PGL Major Antwerp, will take place on May 9th-22nd in Belgium. In total, 24 teams will be competing across three stages of the event, with the winner set to take away the $500,000 first-place prize. The champion will secure much more than just the hefty sum, as winning a Major engraves your name in CS:GO history. Whichever team manages to clinch the trophy will sit alongside the likes of Astralis, SK, and NAVI as victors at the game’s de facto world championship, which is supported by developer Valve. Teams such as G2, Astralis, and Liquid that qualified from the RMR tournaments as Challengers and Contenders start the event on May 9 in the Challengers stage.

Out of 16 teams, the eight best will be found using a Swiss format, where three wins mean advancing to the next stage, and three losses mean elimination. The eight best Challenger Stage teams will join the likes of FaZe, Natus Vincere, and Cloud9 in the legends stage, where the same format will be used to find the eight playoff teams. Then, the action will move away from Swiss and out of a studio environment to a single-elimination bracket which will be played in the Antwerps Sportpaleis arena. The team list for the events is as follows: Legends: FaZe, Natus Vincere, Cloud9, Heroic, NiP, FURIA, BIG, and Copenhagen Flames. Challengers: G2, ENCE, Astralis, Vitality, MIBR forZe, Imperial, and Bad News Eagles. 

Contenders: Outsiders, Liquid, Complexity, 9z, Spirit, Eternal Fire, IHC, and Renegades. A 16-person on-air talent crew will be bringing the action on the English broadcast of the Major, with members ranging from casting duos such as Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill – Alex “Machine” Richardson and Mohan “launders” Govindasamy – Conner “Scrawny” Girvan, to Mathieu “Maniac” Quiquerez and Jonatan “Devilwalk” Lundberg on the analyst desk – which will be hosted by Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere and Freya “Freya” Spiers -, and James “BanKs” Banks on interview duty. The English broadcast talent is as follows: Stage host: Frankie “Frankie” Ward, Interviewer: James “BanKs” Banks, Desk Hosts: Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere and Freya “Freya” Spiers. Analysts: Jacob “Pimp” Winneche, Matthieu “Maniac” Quiquerez, Alex “Mauisnake” Ellenberg, and Jonatan “Devilwalk” Lundberg. Casters: Mohan “launders” Govindasamy, Conner “Scrawny” Girvan, Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill, Alex “Machine” Richardson, Harry “JustHarry” Russell, Hugo “Hugo” Byron, Vince “Vince” Hill, and Sudhen “Bleh” Wahengbam.