The first biggest CSGO tournament of the year, PGL Major Antwerp 2022, has finally concluded. And as a result of their incredible effort, FaZe Clan managed to reach the championship. Many teams participated in this competition throughout the tournament, and we left behind a tournament with a high level of viewing pleasure. After that, we have the IEM XVII Dallas tournament ahead of us. But before we get into all this, we need to look at the details of PGL Major Antwerp.
PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Tournament Review
Now that we know this year’s first Major champion, we need to dig deeper into the tournament first. We will examine in order the processes the teams went through until the final. While focusing on the Challengers and Legends stages, we will talk about failures as well as successes. Now, if you want, let’s start with the Challengers Stage first.
Challengers Stage
As you know, Challengers Stage witnessed the battles of 16 teams. In particular, G2 Esports, Team Vitality, ENCE, and Team Spirit were among the most notable teams of this stage. There was a fierce competition as only 8 of the 16 teams could participate in the Legends Stage. And the following teams have qualified for the Legends Stage.
- G2 Esports
- Team Vitality
- ENCE
- Team Spirit
- Outsiders
- Imperial Esports
- Bad News Eagles
- Team Liquid
There were only two teams that could achieve serious success, starting with the Challengers Stage. And they became Team Spirit and ENCE. These two teams could advance to the semi-finals by eliminating their opponents in the quarter-finals. However, these teams said goodbye to the tournament as FaZe and NaVi stopped them.
Legends Stage
There were 16 teams in total on the Legends Stage. Of these, eight were selected based on invitation and other criteria. The other eight were determined among successful ones in the Challengers Stage. An incredible challenge has begun as only 8 of these 16 teams can participate in the Champions Stage. Especially at this stage, more was expected from Cloud9 and Team Vitality. However, it was a complete disaster for both Esports fans and fans of these teams. They had to say goodbye to the tournament with their consecutive defeats. Additionally, we mentioned that only eight teams could advance to the Champions Stage. You can view those eight teams in the list below.
- Team Spirit
- Natus Vincere
- ENCE
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- FaZe Clan
- Copenhagen Flames
- Heroic
- FURIA
Champions Stage
As the dates show, May 19, the Major finals, which is considered the biggest tournament of CSGO, have started. The Champions Stage was organized with the single elimination bracket system, and all matches were Bo3. There was a serious competition in the starting matches of the tournament. Especially NaVi’s game against Heroic was really exciting. Heroic, who took a 1-0 lead in the series, lost the series 2-1 as they could not hold on against NaVi’s hard comebacks. Let’s take a closer look at Champions Stage matches.
Quarterfinals
- Team Spirit vs FURIA Esports: 2-0
- FaZe Clan vs Ninjas in Pyjamas: 2-1
- ENCE vs CPH Flames: 2-0
- Heroic vs Natus Vincere: 1-2
Semifinals
- Team Spirit vs FaZe Clan: 0-2
- ENCE vs Natus Vincere: 0-2
In the quarterfinals of the first stage of the Champions Stage, FaZe and NaVi struggled to win. In the semifinals that followed, both teams easily eliminated their opponents. Now if you’re ready, let’s take a look at the details of the Grand Final.
Grand Final: FaZe Clan vs NaVi
FaZe has not been able to achieve serious success in the CSGO Esports scene for a long time. Moreover, their Esports career did not hold a Major championship. However, today, on May 22, 2022, they managed to break this wheel. And they were able to win the PGL Major Antwerp 2022. As you know, NaVi has been dominating CSGO tournaments in recent years. They also made history by winning last year’s PGL Major Stockholm 2021, BLAST Premier 2021, and 2020 World finals. In short, there was no cup they had not won in the last two years.
Final Match Begins!
The Grand Final started first on the Inferno map. The first minutes of the match was like a disaster scenario for NaVi. Because FaZe had brought the score to 8-1 and NaVi could not recover. However, the team was still starting to win small rounds, and the score had reached 10-5. However, NaVi recovered well and managed to bring the score to almost 13-10. Here, the gameplay of FaZe Clan-Rain was enough to garner significant praise. He dominated the match, and in the opposite team, s1mple could not recover fully. FaZe never miss this chance and was determined to pull the plug before NaVi could resist them. However, they were not successful in this.
