These last few PGL events have shown why the CS scene DESPERATELY needs some tier 1m5 tournaments to give lower ranked tier 1 teams a chance to shine. Getting to see teams like Furia, NIP, Astralis, Complexity and other teams that would otherwise have no chances in a top tier event actually making deep runs is extremely entertaining.
Now I am aware that these PGL events are missing a lot of the top teams because of the whole revenue share bs, and maybe even because of some alleged boycotting.
HOWEVER, this doesn't change the fact that I have enjoyed these tournaments a lot BECAUSE the are lacking some of the best competition. Unfortunately CS, like any other sport, is insanely top heavy, and just by looking at any past S tier tournaments, you'll realize that it's usually only 4-5 teams ever winning events. It also doesn't help that Vitality has gone undefeated for the past 5 events
What makes these 1.5 events so good is because they have enough good teams to not be considered a tier 2 tournament, at least in my eyes. We still have teams like Spirit, MOUZ, MongolZ, Aurora, Falcon, Faze. But generally not all at once.
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really enjoying this tournament, but spirit wins probably, donk too strong
I’ve really enjoyed the PGL tournaments this year precisely because there’s less of the top teams in attendance. You never know who could make a deep run (outside of the big names like Spirit and Mouz when they’re there) and there’s usually some interesting matchups. Props to PGL for hosting these tournaments!
I think the balance is pretty good right now actually. Plus the schedule is packed as it is. There’s also always lower tier events running at the same time as blast/esl if you do want to watch some lower ranked teams.
PGL right now is sort of serving as a “breakout” tournament for lower teams. Prize money is good, and some higher ranked teams attend, so there’s a good amount of VRS points available. However if more of these events were run, there wouldn’t be as many good teams attending all of them, and the prize money would probably have to be lowered.
we had betboom dachas and y’all shitted on it and spirit for attending it lulz
Gotta say it’s really weird to see tier 1 teams like Spirit and NaVi pick this tournament over IEM Dallas, considering that the major is right up after Dallas and they are both in the U.S.
Spirit has been dodging real tier 1 tournaments in favor of mickey mouse tournaments and taking long breaks for a while now, I can’t really conaider them a top 5 team with how shaky their form has been. They should be winning this tournament, but I have a gut feeling NaVi is going to take it. The Mongolz could also be a dark horse here, hope they can pull through and win too.
Nah, I can watch the best teams go at it for the whole year without caring if ‘Astralis’ or ‘FURIA’ make it to the finals or not.