NAVI win PGL Major Stockholm!

NAVI have become the champions of the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 without dropping a single map at the event! Nobody else in the history of Counter-Strike have managed to do the same.

The Russian-Ukrainian side took down G2 in the Grand final on Ancient (16-11) and Nuke (22-19) to claim the trophy and take home the $1.000.000 first prize.

Heading into the series, NiKo and company from G2 knew they had a mountain to climb as NAVI have been the favorites to take the Major title from the start of the event, but the map veto definitely increased G2’s chances.

The action of the Grand final began on G2’s surprise pick of Ancient, where s1mple and company got off to a flying start, taking control with a 3-0 CT side lead. As soon as the French-Balkan roster had enough money to upgrade their gear, they started to control the space in the map and exploited some holes in NAVI’s defense to go up 5-4 on the scoreboard. G2 extended their lead to 7-5 and it started to look like the French-Balkan roster would finish off the first half with a big lead, but suddenly NAVI’s Ukrainian beast stepped up and delivered an insane 4k right when his team needed it the most.

The 4k from s1mple helped NAVI pull ahead at the break with a 7-8 lead, with s1mple himself leading the server with a 20-9 K-D. A pistol win and subsequent conversions allowed the French-Balkan roster to take the lead early on in the second half, but after that, NAVI stormed to 10-14 lead by stringing together 5 rounds in a row. NiKo and company managed to grab a single round before NAVI closed out the map with a 11-16 scoreline, stealing the map away from G2 to go up 1-0 in the series. The Ukrainian beast, s1mple, ended the map with an impressive 32-17 K-D and 110 ADR.

Going into the second map of the series, Nuke, NAVI sat on a 17-game winning streak on the map and looked to take it in historic fashion by extending their undefeated streak to 18 in a Major Grand final. However, things didn’t go as easy as they had hoped for.

G2 opened up Nuke on the right foot as they picked up the first two rounds to take an early lead. But NAVI were quick to answer back by stringing together three of their own right after. However, from there on, G2 took control of the map and went on to establish a strong lead at the end of their CT side, 5-10. The French-Balkan roster built on their solid lead by taking the T side pistol, but the Russian-Ukrainian side broke out the Deagles and managed to steal one back the very next round. The Kovac’s stepped up huge and helped their team extend the lead to 14-7, but NAVI fought their way back to tie the score, capitalizing on a disastrous Deagle miss from NiKo who could have pushed the decider.

Instead, NAVI sent the game into overtime where they wrapped up the series 2-0 by closing out things 22-19 to extend their Nuke winning streak to 18 and claim the Major trophy.

NAVI vs. G2 2-0 | PGL Major Stockholm 2021 Grand Final

Ancient (16-11) | s1mple – 1.68 Rating / 32-17 K-D / 107.9 ADR
Nuke (22-19) | s1mple – 1.41 Rating / 40-24 K-D / 86.8 ADR

MVP: Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev – 1.51 Rating / 72-41 K-D / 95.2 ADR / 77.9% KAST