80 players to choose from in PGL Major Challengers stage Fantasy

The first Fantasy game for the upcoming PGL Major Stockholm is now live, and here's an exemplar lineup you can use for inspiration.

The first Major to take place in over two years, the PGL Major in Stockholm, is kicking off in a week with the first stage, and with it comes the first of three Fantasy games HLTV.org will run for the $2 million event.

A total of 80 players are on offer in the Challengers stage game, hailing from the teams who managed to clinch either a Challenger or Contender status in the Regional Major Ranking, starting with fifth-ranked HEROIC and ending with 64th-ranked TYLOO, who will be making their first appearance outside of Asia in over a year and a half.

There are plenty of ways you can approach this game given the vast variety of players to choose from, but one way that might just be the most sensible is prioritizing experience and going with at least most of the players you know won't crumble under the pressure of the biggest tournament in over two years.

Of course, as always it's also a good idea to pick from the teams you believe will do well, and in light of that we have picked out an exemplar lineup that you can use for inspiration for your PGL Major Stockholm Challengers stage Fantasy team:

Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard (HS Machine)
Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif (Leader)
Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth (Support)
Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz (Multi Fragger)
Olek "⁠hades⁠" Miskiewicz (Main AWP)

Not many players on the list are more experienced than rain, Magisk, and Xyp9x, who will return to Stockholm on the back of inspired performances at IEM Fall (the Norwegian especially) but still remain relatively cheap compared to some of the younger, more risky picks.

tabseN is simply a solid choice from BIG as a team that should have a good chance to qualify for the next stage, while hades, albeit more on the risky side, could be the X factor that will elevate your team if he finds that little bit of consistency he has been missing to become a top-tier AWPer.

Of course, that is just a suggestion and a rough outline you can use as a starting point. You can do whatever you like in your own Fantasy team and find the combination you think could bring you to the top and earn you one of the glove skins on offer in the official HLTV x BitSkins league:

1. Driver Gloves | Rezan the Red (Field-Tested)
2. Broken Fang Gloves | Needle Point (Field-Tested)
3. Specialist Gloves | Buckshot (Field-Tested)

Don't forget that there are also seasonal points to play for for anyone who gets at least a top-70% finish in the official league, counting towards the Fall Season, which will award the top player a whopping $10,000 grand prize at the end of December.