PGL has announced its talent lineup for the upcoming Stockholm Major, beginning Oct. 26. The Major is the first in two years and marks a return to playing in front of a live arena crowd for CS:GO players.
The talent includes many of ESL’s go-to casters like Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill, Alex “Machine” Richardson, Anders “Anders” Blume and Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat, as well as analysts like Janko “YNk” Paunović and Mathieu “Maniac” Quiquerez. There will also be a return to the limelight for the hot-headed CS:GO personality Duncan “Thorin” Shields and journalist Richard Lewis, who will be fulfilling the role of host.
Super excited for this one!!! The best talent lineup we've had in years! LFG https://t.co/76JyToKzz3
— Janko Paunovic (@YNk) October 4, 2021
Some of Counter-Strike’s most iconic voices, like Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett, James Bardolph and Daniel “ddk” Kapadia — the latter of whom has been lending his voice to the VALORANT Champions Tour — will also be casting games. Although there’s been no mention yet of pairings, it’s likely that Bardolph will link up with his old partner, ddk, leaving Sadokist and moses together.
As of now, there are no women included in the talent lineup. Other notable omissions are Hugo Byron and Harry “JustHarry” Russell, the casting duo who were present at many of the large online events throughout the past couple of years.
The 2021 PGL Stockholm Major is set to run from Oct. 26 to Nov. 7. 24 teams will compete in the Avicii Arena to reach the Champions stage, where a winner will be crowned and receive the bulk of the $2 million USD prize pool. The last Major, Starladder Berlin in 2019, saw Astralis become the first ever team to win three consecutive CS:GO Majors.
The full PGL talent lineup is as follows:
Host
Richard Lewis
Analysts
Duncan “Thorin” Shields
Janko “YNk” Paunović
Mathieu “Maniac” Quiquerez
Sudhen “Bleh” Wahengbam
Commentators
Daniel “ddk” Kapadia
Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill
Alex “Machine” Richardson
James Bardolph
Anders Blume
Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat
Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett
Jason “moses” O’Toole
Sideline Interviewer
James Banks
Observers
Efren Chuong
Jake “Jak3y” Elton
Ryan “ItsRandall” Randall.
