PGL Major Stockholm opening round betting picks and analysis

Create your own prize pool for the Stockholm Major with smart picks on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s best teams.

PGL Major Stockholm is a triumphant return to LAN majors for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The 24 best squads in the world are on their way to Sweden where they’ll battle for $2 million in prizes. And they don’t have to be the only ones winning cash from the event. With every top team competing on LAN again, the CSGO Stockholm Major is the best betting opportunity of the year.

This is our Stockholm Major betting analysis for the best Challengers stage matches to bet on. All odds in this article were accurate at the time of writing. For the best odds on the Stockholm Major and every CSGO tournament, go to Winners.bet.

Astralis vs Copenhagen Flames Stockholm Major betting analysis

It’s important to remember that the challenger stage is the least-balanced leg of the Stockholm Major. That means that there are many safer bets that may still have decent payouts. Copenhagen Flames vs Astralis is one of those matches. Astralis has the wide map pool and experience that almost guarantees this best-of-one against Copenhagen Flames. Winners.bet will pay out a surprisingly high 1.48 return for an Astralis win.

Astralis moved Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen to the bench for this event in order to assemble the trio of Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander, Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth, and Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen. That core has won the past three majors, and the opening day best-of-ones are not enough to stop them. Astralis sports very consistent win rates on three maps in 2021, so a best-of-one gives them plenty of options to choose from.

Copenhagen Flames is actually a decent pick to advance to the New Legends phase with a 2-1 record. The Danish team even landed an impressive seventh place at IEM Fall. But measured against Astralis, the squad is a far cry from a favorite. If you want to take your chances, $20 on Copenhagen Flames could pay out $49 on Winners.bet.

Sharks Esports vs MOUZ Stockholm Major betting analysis

The community is still getting accustomed to the new MOUZ logo, but the team’s top-level potential is already established. Every few tournaments, the pan-European team manages to claw an unexpected victory away from the favorites. We saw it at Snow Sweet Snow, we saw it at Flashpoint Season 3, and we could see it again at the Stockholm Major. While MOUZ is an unlikely pick for the championships, it’s hard to see the team losing this match.

Sharks Esports qualified for the Stockholm Major by acing the South American Regional Major Rankings. Most of the stronger Brazilian teams were already competing in Europe, making Sharks’ achievement less impressive than it might sound. This is Sharks’ first offline tournament in nearly two years and it’s very first appearance at the top level.

The odds for this match are low, but its a safe bet to pad up your account for the playoffs. A $30 dollar bet for MOUZ to win pays out $36.90 on Winners.bet. That’s a respectable payout for such a lopsided match.

Team Spirit vs FaZe Clan Stockholm Major betting analysis

FaZe Clan being the absolute last seed at PGL Major Stockholm is a joke. The squad is likely to finish in the top 12, if not higher. FaZe’s explosive roster of rifles is practically meant to win best-of-ones. Anyone between Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, Håvard “rain” Nygaard, and Helvijs “broky” Saukants can completely take over a match.

Team Spirit staked their 2021 season on the ability to dominate half the map pool. Spirit might also be one of the best teams in the world on Dust 2. The team’s wild rotations and aggressive CT style makes Spirit incredibly fun to watch, but it doesn’t help it much against top-class competition.

This Stockholm Major Challengers match is one of the most even, which leads to a good payout for either squad. While Spirit is fun to watch, the Eastern European’s lacking map pool should give FaZe a big advantage. Assuming FaZe bans Dust 2 and Nuke, every remaining map favors the international all-stars. A likely FaZe victory sees 1.56 returns on Winners.bet.