PGL Major Krakow preview: The Mid-tier (2/3)

It has been six months since the ELEAGUE Major, and now it is that time again as we are approaching PGL's first Major, which is taking place at Krakow's Tauron Arena from July 16-23, with the popular Swiss format in use for the group stage during the first four days.

Eight Legends, who earned their spot by placing in the top eight at the ELEAGUE Major, and eight Challengers, who came from the Main Qualifier at the beginning of July, are now ready play at the prestigious event. 

We separated the 16 teams into three groups as usual, based on their recent results and, incidentally, our ranking: the Underdogs, the Mid-tier, and the Favorites. Here's what those three groups look like:

Underdogs	Mid-tier	Favorites
BIG	G2	SK
PENTA	Cloud9	FaZe
FlipSid3	Natus Vincere	Astralis
Vega Squadron	North
	Immortals
	fnatic
	MOUZ
	Virtus.pro
	Gambit

As a comparison, here's what EGB.com's, the Major's partner, betting odds look like as of July 14:

Team	Rate	Ratio
SK	2.710	33.21%
Astralis	4.061	22.16%
FaZe	7.538	11.94%
G2	10.740	8.38%
Cloud9	18.072	4.98%
Natus Vincere	20.930	4.30%
fnatic	26.012	3.46%
North	27.982	3.25%
MOUZ	33.088	2.72%
Other teams	16.043	5.61%

We've already released our first part of the series of previews ahead of the Major surrounding the four Underdogs.

Today, we delve into the Mid-tier, where we have nine teams that we think have a good chance of making the playoffs, but, at the end of the day, some of them will inevitably miss out.

G2 (#4)	Age	Rating 2.0	Highest placing at Majors
Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub	22	1.20	Winner (Cluj '15)
Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt	23	1.06	Winner (2x)
Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro	20	1.06	Group stage (2x)
Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire	24	1.05	Winner (Cluj '15)
Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon	25	1.03	Winner (DHW '14)
Edouard "⁠SmithZz⁠" Dubourdeaux (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
5th-8th	ESL One Cologne
1st-2nd	PGL Major Krakow Main Qualifier
5th-6th	ECS Season 3 Finals
1st	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals
1st	DreamHack Open Tours
3rd-4th	DreamHack Open Austin

G2's individuals are some of the most decorated players when it comes to the Majors, with NBK- being one of only 13 players holding multiple trophies, one from DreamHack Winter 2014 with shox as LDLC, the othern from DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 alongside apEX and kennyS, under EnVyUs.

Only bodyy is relatively new to Majors, having only played at the previous two editions with G2's previous lineup, while NBK- and shox are veterans attending their 11th Major in Krakow, and the remaining two players have only missed one.

Given how successful French lineups have historically been, it may come as a surprise that the last time any one of these five players made the Major playoffs was in late 2015, in Cluj-Napoca.

It has been two years and four months since shox made the Major playoffs

G2 are now heading to Krakow with a task to break that streak. Had they done better at ESL One Cologne, the Frenchmen could have even been considered one of the Favorites, but their narrow loss to Na`Vi in the German event's quarter-finals put them at the top of the Mid-tier group.

On paper, we're looking at a potential semi-finalist, but things may turn out differently depending on match-ups in the group stage, which can be treacherous given a few upsets here and there, as we saw at the ELEAGUE Major, where the former G2 lineup exited the tournament in the groups following losses to Virtus.pro, Astralis, and North. However, for this lineup, even a route similar to that should still end up with G2 advancing to playoffs.

Why follow G2 at the Major: G2 are looking to break their individual players' poor streak at Majors as the outliers of the Mid-tier.

Cloud9 (#5)	Age	Rating 2.0	Highest placing at Majors
Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip	19	1.13	Group stage (Columbus '16)
Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta	20	1.12	Rookie
Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham	23	1.03	Group stage (7x)
Mike "⁠shroud⁠" Grzesiek	23	0.97	Quarter-finals (Cologne '14)
Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert	26	0.94	Semi-finals (DHW '13)
Soham "⁠valens⁠" Chowdhury (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
2nd	ESL One Cologne
3rd-5th	PGL Major Krakow Main Qualifier
3rd-4th	ECS Season 3 Finals
7th-8th	DreamHack Open Summer
1st	Americas Minor - PGL Major Krakow
11th-12th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals
5th-6th	DreamHack Open Austin
4th	cs_summit (4/5 of the current lineup)

Cloud9 are back on the Major map after missing  two in a row, having failed to qualify from the fifth round of the qualifiers ahead of ESL One Cologne 2016 and the ELEAGUE Major.

Three of their players — the core of n0thing, Skadoodle, and shroud — have each attended at least six, while for Stewie2K, Krakow will be his second, and autimatic comes in as one of the 16 rookies.

It's been almost three years since Cloud9 last made the playoffs at a Major (ESL One Cologne 2014), but this time they may have a great chance to do so. After struggling for months, their uprise in the form of three great events in a row, most notably the runner-up finish at last week's ESL One Cologne, came at the best time possible, just before the Major.

shroud's resurgence came at the best time possible

It's impressive that the North American squad hasn't stopped for three months straight, with PGL Major Krakow being their ninth event during that period, and still managed to crawl out of the hole they were in. The combination of Stewie2K and autimatic has continued to do work, but it is shroud who has given Cloud9 the extra push in important matches, as shown by his numerous clutches against Na`Vi in Cologne's semi-final.

They seem to have also revised their playstyle a bit and thrown in last-second strategies more often, which is still risky but can throw their opponents off-balance if they expect the usual, fairly aggressive style Cloud9 normally play.

Considering their competition, Stewie2K's squad are by no means favored to make the playoffs, but their latest results give America's only hope a chance, if Cloud9 manage to avoid at least most of the hardest match-ups.

Why follow Cloud9 at the Major: Even a month ago, we would have counted Cloud9 out of contention for a playoff finish without a shadow of a doubt, but now could be the time for Skadoodle to reach his first Legends status in his eighth attempt.

Natus Vincere (#6)	Age	Rating 2.0	Highest placing at Majors
Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev	19	1.16	Runner-up (Cologne '16)
Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev	20	1.12	Runner-up (2x)
Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács	26	1.03	Runner-up (2x)
Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev	29	0.97	Runner-up (2x)
Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin	22	0.92	Runner-up (2x)
Andrey "⁠Andi⁠" Prokhorov (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
3rd-4th	ESL One Cologne
2nd	Adrenaline Cyber League
9th-10th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals
5th-6th	DreamHack Open Tours

Alongside Virtus.pro, fnatic, G2, and Astralis, Natus Vincere belong to the group of the most Major-experienced teams out there, with eight Majors on average per player. From the main core, seized has been to all of them, while Edward and GuardiaN only missed the very first one by one map in the BYOC qualifier.

The aforementioned trio have made the playoffs eight times in a row, keeping Na`Vi's Legends status alive for three years running. Even if this lineup isn't nearly as consistent as the old version that featured Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko, seized and company should continue that streak at  PGL Major Krakow.

After group stage exits at DreamHack Open Tours, where Natus Vincere uncharacteristically lost to the new Misfits, and at the ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals, the CIS-based squad redeemed themselves at ESL One Cologne with a semi-final finish.

GuardiaN was in tip-top shape at ESL One Cologne

GuardiaN looked great again in the German tournament, posting a 1.24 rating (third best), which should give him and the team a confidence boost Na`Vi sorely needed following the two early exits.

To finally realize their true potential and reach the level they showed at ESL One New York, their last triumph, Natus Vincere need to find consistency. Despite the good showing in Cologne, there were more than a few moments, especially in the Cloud9 semi-final series, where Na`Vi threw away rounds they would never have lost in their prime due to being overzealous in clutch scenarios and afterplants.

That doesn't seem like such a hard fix, but this has been the case for a while now. Whether it speaks to seized's leadership or the mentality of the team as a whole is uncertain, but it is one of the glaring issues that keeps them from becoming an elite team again.

Why follow Na`Vi at the Major: When on fire, the trio of s1mple, flamie, and GuardiaN are one of the deadliest combos in the world.

North (#7)	Age	Rating 2.0	Highest placing at Majors
Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke	20	1.16	Quarter-finals (ELEAGUE '17)
Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup	21	1.03	Semi-finals (Cologne '14)
Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif	19	1.02	Quarter-finals (ELEAGUE '17)
René "⁠cajunb⁠" Borg	27	0.97	Semi-finals (3x)
Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen	22	0.94	Quarter-finals (ELEAGUE '17)
Casper "⁠ruggah⁠" Due (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
9th-11th	ESL One Cologne
2nd	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals
6th-7th	IEM Sydney

The majority of North are no strangers to the biggest events in CS:GO, with six to ten Majors attended among MSL, aizy, and cajunb, who is a Major veteran. Their two youngest players, k0nfig and Magisk, are still newcomers, having played just two and one, respectively.

Historically, MSL's teams have never done particularly well at Majors, as he has only made the playoffs once, at the previous ELEAGUE Major, in six attempts with various lineups under his tutelage.

Since their triumph at EPICENTER last year, they barely have any good results to speak of, save for the second place at ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals, where North had a conspicuously favorable route to the final.

The first (and last) time Magisk played at a Major, he broke a record

Compared to the late 2016 period, the powerful k0nfig-Magisk concoction is missing. Rarely do they both go off at the same time, and there is no one else to pick up the slack and provide the same explosiveness when needed. aizy seemed to wake up around the ESL Pro League Finals, but he dropped back to negative numbers by ESL One Cologne.

Based on what we saw in Germany, North are up against the odds. Due to how few teams are willing to play Nuke at all or at least in the groups, the Danes only have two more maps to rely on, Mirage and Overpass, with Inferno as a solid third, so their fate may depend on the match-ups and how their map pool and that of their opponents compare.

Why follow North at the Major: Magisk seems to ignore pressure, as we saw in his record-breaking half against Virtus.pro at the ELEAGUE Major, where he was a rookie; watch him, for he can explode at any point.

Immortals (#10)	Age	Rating 2.0	Highest placing at Majors
Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles	22	1.15	Rookie
Ricardo "⁠boltz⁠" Prass	20	1.13	Quarter-finals (3x)
Lucas "⁠LUCAS1⁠" Teles	22	1.09	Rookie
Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes	23	1.03	Quarter-finals (3x)
Vito "⁠kNgV-⁠" Giuseppe	22	1.01	Rookie
Rafael "⁠zakk⁠" Fernandes (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
12th-14th	ESL One Cologne
6th-8th	PGL Major Krakow Main Qualifier
3rd-4th	DreamHack Open Summer
2nd	Americas Minor - PGL Major Krakow
9th-10th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals
1st	Esports Arena Showdown Championship
2nd	DreamHack Open Austin

Most of Immortals' lineup are Major rookies, as they finally broke their Main Qualifier curse in their fourth attempt earlier this month in Bucharest. steel and boltz, however, were part of Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo's squad that made the quarter-finals three times in a row in 2015, before the two were cut and the then-Luminosity went on to reach new heights.

Had it not been for last week's ESL One Cologne, where the Brazilian side only defeated a poor-looking Virtus.pro and proceeded to lose to Liquid, G2, and Cloud9, Immortals would look a lot better going into their first Major attendance.

Immortals broke their Main Qualifier curse in their fourth attempt

That is not the case, though. Only HEN1 and kNgV- were present on all four maps the team played in Cologne, while boltz disappeared in two matches, especially in the overtime battle versus Liquid. Given how well he normally performs, we can cut boltz some slack, assume this was only a hiccup and expect him to come back in time for the Major.

Whether that will be enough for a playoffs finish, that is another question. According to zakk, the team's inconsistency comes down to their inability to control emotions, and he doesn't expect to calm the team down by the Major. Nevertheless, when they're in form, Immortals have the firepower to bring down nearly anyone on one map.

Why follow Immortals at the Major: Immortals are a force to be reckoned with when HEN1 explodes. When he and kNgV- are on fire at the same time, the duo make for a scary double AWP setup.

fnatic (#11)	Age	Rating 2.0	Highest placing at Majors
Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell	22	1.09	Winner (3x)
Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman	26	1.04	Semi-finals (4x)
Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer	25	1.01	Winner (2x)
Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson	23	1.00	Winner (2x)
Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist	23	0.95	Winner (3x)
Jimmy "⁠Jumpy⁠" Berndtsson (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
9th-11th	ESL One Cologne
7th-8th	ECS Season 3 Finals
2nd	DreamHack Open Summer
7th-8th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals

When it comes to the Majors, there's no one more decorated than fnatic, who field three-time Major winners JW and flusha, and two-time champions olofmeister and KRIMZ. These four are also Major veterans who will play their 11th Major from Sunday on, while dennis has missed three and has yet to reach a final after four semi-final finishes.

Three Majors ago, we wouldn't have even entertained the notion of fnatic not making the playoffs, but now that is a possibility as we set our sights on Poland. There's no indication that dennis will surpass his record, or that JW and flusha will become the only two players to have won four Majors.

Since the old Swedish lineup got back together after a rough divorce almost precisely a year ago, fnatic haven't been able to even come close to the level of chemistry and individual play they had when they dominated the scene in 2015 and 2016.

KRIMZ took over some of the leadership duties in fnatic

When it comes to the individuals, the biggest difference now is flusha, who has been average at best with this new-old team, perhaps because now the pressure is on him as fnatic struggle to make their simple playstyle work. However, he has been known to step up for the Majors — he still belongs in the god-tier in that regard — and some of the in-game leading duties have been transferred to KRIMZ, which should free him up to focus more on himself again.

What's more, clearly the old fnatic confidence that allowed each of them to make incredible plays just isn't there any longer, and understandably so considering some of their results and hiccups in favorable match-ups (such as against CLG at DreamHack Summer).

All that being said, fnatic can make the playoffs in Krakow. On paper, they're somewhere around the middle, so they simply can't afford to lose the match-ups they're favored in again. Then it will come down to the 50-50s against the likes of MOUZ, Gambit, and Immortals.

Why follow fnatic at the Major: The Swedes have some of the best Major players in the business. We might see a very different fnatic in Krakow.

MOUZ (#12)	Age	Rating 2.0	Highest placing at Majors
Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný	26	1.20	Rookie
Christian "⁠loWel⁠" Garcia Antoran	20	1.04	Group stage (ELEAGUE '17)
Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool	17	1.04	Rookie
Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong	27	0.94	Group stage (6x)
Denis "⁠denis⁠" Howell	22	0.92	Quarter-finals (2x)
Sergey "⁠lmbt⁠" Bezhanov (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
9th-11th	ESL One Cologne
1st-2nd	PGL Major Krakow Main Qualifier
5th-6th	DreamHack Open Summer
5th-6th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals
3rd-4th	DreamHack Open Tours

MOUZ are one of two Mid-tier teams to field more than one rookie in Krakow. oskar and ropz are about to play their first Major, as the former failed to qualify twice in a row under HellRaisers before cruising through his third Main Qualifier with three straight victories.

Besides that, chrisJ and denis are looking to break their streak of group stage exits (six and five in a row, respectively), while loWel attended his first Major only early this year, in Atlanta.

It may be a little too soon for ropz, who will be the youngest player in Krakow, to make his first Major attendance, but it looks like he deals well with pressure for someone of his age, so that factor may not even come into play. His performance in MOUZ's 16-14 win over PENTA at the Main Qualifier is what put his team through to the Major, after all, although he was quite up and down at ESL One Cologne.

ropz and oskar are two of 16 Major rookies

The $250,000 event probably hurt MOUZ' confidence, seeing as they started 2-0 following solid wins over fnatic and, surprisingly, FaZe, but they lost three times in a row afterwards, two of them to teams they may face at the Major: Natus Vincere and Cloud9. If anything, it should help MOUZ understand that they can't get ahead of themselves when they get off to good starts.

Similarly to fnatic, MOUZ find themselves on a razor's edge, and their chances of advancing to playoffs are as close to 50-50 as it gets, with several favorable match-ups but just as many tough ones.

Why follow mousesports at the Major: ropz is looking to make his story even crazier as the 17-year-old attempts to become a Major Legend within three months from joining his first relevant team.

Virtus.pro (#14)	Age	Rating 2.0	Highest placing at Majors
Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski	24	1.11	Winner (Katowice '14)
Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski	29	1.07	Winner (Katowice '14)
Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński	23	1.00	Winner (Katowice '14)
Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski	30	0.94	Winner (Katowice '14)
Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas	31	0.82	Winner (Katowice '14)
Jakub "⁠kuben⁠" Gurczynski (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
15th-16th	ESL One Cologne
1st	Adrenaline Cyber League
2nd	ELEAGUE Clash for Cash

Famously, Virtus.pro are the only team to stick to the same lineup for nearly four years running now, and subsequently, they attended all 10 Majors with the exact same five. What's more, they have made the playoffs nine times out of ten, with the only group stage exit being at the very first Major, DreamHack Winter 2013.

With that comes the most important question — can they keep that streak alive despite going through their worst-ever period for the last four to five months? Since their triumph at DreamHack Masters Las Vegas in February, the Poles have bombed out of three big events in a row: IEM Katowice, StarSeries Season 3 Finals, and, most recently, ESL One Cologne 2017.

That already defeats the cliché that fans like to bring up whenever there's talk of VP being in poor form, that they always show up at the big events. Have we limited that statement to just "Virtus.pro always show up at Majors" now?

Can Virtus.pro find their switch?

We'll have to wait and see if that is the case, but things aren't looking good. There isn't the slightest indication of that happening, seeing as TaZ's men have only had a few days to reflect on ESL One Cologne, where they finished dead last following losses to Immortals, SK, and Heroic.

The one thing going for Virtus.pro at PGL Major Krakow, aside from the overrated home team advantage, is that they have the easiest first match-up in the form of the highly inexperienced Vega Squadron to warm up. At the same time, if Virtus.pro manage to lose that, they're likely to get overrun further on once again.

Why follow Virtus.pro at the Major: Virtus.pro's playoffs streak at Majors is in real danger — it's time to find out if there is a switch the Poles can hit and turn their luck around.

Gambit (#15)	Age	Rating 2.0	Highest placing at Majors
Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov	23	1.15	Quarter-finals (ELEAGUE '17)
Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev	27	1.13	Quarter-finals (4x)
Rustem "⁠mou⁠" Telepov	25	1.11	Quarter-finals (2x)
Mihail "⁠Dosia⁠" Stolyarov	29	1.07	Quarter-finals (5x)
Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko	29	0.96	Runner-up (2x)
Mikhaylo "⁠Kane⁠" Blagin (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
5th-6th	DreamHack Open Summer
1st	DreamHack Open Austin
2nd	cs_summit

Gambit's three most experienced players, AdreN, Dosia, and Zeus, each have at least seven Majors to their name, with the in-game leader sitting at the top as a Major veteran with two runners-up finishes, at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca and MLG Columbus, in his resumé.

Meanwhile, mou has played at the last three Majors under Gambit's banner, and the newest addition, HObbit, came into the picture just in time for his first one in Atlanta, in January.

Gambit have had plenty of time to prepare for the Major

The last Mid-tier team is perhaps the biggest question mark of them all, mainly because Gambit have been fairly quiet in the last two-and-a-half months. Their only event in that time was DreamHack Open Summer, where the CIS-based squad finished 5th-6th with losses to CLG and fnatic, beating Cloud9 in between.

That time will have allowed Zeus to prepare his team as well as he could, but seeing as they don't compete in any of the big leagues and only face lower-tier opposition in ESEA Premier, Gambit have had few opportunities to find out whether what they're doing is working. On the other side of the coin, there is little information on their tendencies and map preferences, so there's space for Zeus to catch his opponents unawares if he has some new things up his sleeves.

Why follow Gambit at the Major: Since Zeus came into the roster, Gambit has closed the gap between them and elite-level teams, also thanks to a clear go-to map in Cobblestone, on which they held a nine-win streak.