PGL Major Stockholm 2021 Challengers StageVirtus.pro, Heroic go up 2-0 in Stockholm
Movistar Riders and MOUZ suffered their first losses of the Challengers stage and are left with 1-1 records heading into day two.
The first day of the PGL Stockholm Major Challenger Stage has come to a close following the conclusion of the final pair of best-of-one matches, in which Virtus.pro and HEROIC succeeded in picking up wins over Movistar Riders and MOUZ, respectively, to go up 2-0 in the Swiss group.
Movistar Riders' dream run, which started at IEM Fall and continued with an opening win in Stockholm against Renegades, seemed set to continue as they lay waste to Virtus.pro in the first half of Vertigo, running rampant over the CIS side's defenses for a 10-3 lead. It was only towards the end of their defensive effort that Virtus.pro were able to stabilize, adding two rounds, and it was an entirely different game once the sides swapped over.
After being on the back foot for the majority of the first fifteen rounds, Virtus.pro began to set the pace, helmed by a stellar half from Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis. Entry kills aplenty went the way of the Latvian rifler, and Movistar Riders were unable to put a halt to the momentum of VP as they fought back to take the lead, with Timur "buster" Tulepov closing out the match with a 1vs3 clutch in round 28.
 Movistar Riders |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 - 19 | +4 | 90.4 | 64.3% | 1.19 | |
| 17 - 20 | -3 | 64.4 | 67.9% | 0.94 | |
| 14 - 21 | -7 | 61.8 | 57.1% | 0.76 | |
| 14 - 20 | -6 | 59.5 | 42.9% | 0.75 | |
| 11 - 19 | -8 | 48.4 | 50.0% | 0.65 |
 Virtus.pro |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 - 23 | +2 | 105.4 | 71.4% | 1.62 | |
| 19 - 11 | +8 | 75.6 | 78.6% | 1.34 | |
| 18 - 15 | +3 | 73.2 | 75.0% | 1.18 | |
| 18 - 13 | +5 | 64.4 | 75.0% | 1.05 | |
| 18 - 19 | -1 | 63.6 | 75.0% | 0.96 |
On the B stream, it was a strong start on the CT side of Nuke that kicked off an early lead for HEROIC, who shut down MOUZ's early attempts to gain entry into bombsites with relative ease. It was the individual prowess of Robin "ropz" Kool that gave MOUZ their first opportunity to get into the map, with the 21-year-old preventing a retake with a triple kill before finding a key entry to grant his team their second round.
Still, consistency in opening up rounds was hard to come by for Christopher "dexter" Nong's side, who managed just three more rounds in the half — one from a key 1vs2 Deagle clutch from David "frozen" Čerňanský — before being left in the dust by HEROIC. Match point was soon to follow for the Danish crew following the side swap, and despite a brief comeback effort from MOUZ, HEROIC didn't cede complete control and closed things out, 16-11.
  HEROIC |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 - 17 | +5 | 97.4 | 77.8% | 1.35 | |
| 23 - 17 | +6 | 90.3 | 74.1% | 1.30 | |
| 17 - 14 | +3 | 66.1 | 77.8% | 1.17 | |
| 21 - 16 | +5 | 71.8 | 85.2% | 1.15 | |
| 16 - 16 | 0 | 62.0 | 74.1% | 0.96 |
 MOUZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 - 20 | -1 | 80.6 | 66.7% | 1.11 | |
| 20 - 21 | -1 | 76.4 | 66.7% | 0.99 | |
| 19 - 22 | -3 | 82.9 | 66.7% | 0.95 | |
| 12 - 17 | -5 | 42.6 | 63.0% | 0.75 | |
| 9 - 20 | -11 | 42.6 | 55.6% | 0.63 |
At the end of day one, the standings for the Challengers stage looks as follows:
Sanjar 'SANJI' Kuliev
Simon 'Sico' Williams
BEST_HLTV_USER_FROM_MALTA
TheJuan
m16^0r_bra71l
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Why_so_negative_mens
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USTILO_national_hero
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Biggest_gade_fan
r4v1x
TR_top_1
b1g0of
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_SaltY
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vargasss
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NotAtAllEvil
theghostfaceisreal
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Habalabachoochoo
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JameBestawpEU
Astralis_6_majors
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