Prediction for PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025. Swiss system, but not at a Major – at a $1,250,000 tournament.
From February 14 to 23, Romania will host PGL’s first tournament in 2025. The tournament operator has previously organized multiple Counter-Strike Majors and has decided to hold several tournaments without this status while maintaining the familiar format with the Swiss system in the group stage and a single-elimination playoff bracket. The organizers have also decided to introduce a third-place match, which has never been done before and should make the final day more interesting in their opinion. Another innovation will be the BO3 format in the group stage, which should reduce the number of random results. We’ll see how everything works in a few days, but for now, let’s try to identify 8 teams that should secure 3 wins and make it to the stage in Cluj-Napoca.
3:0. Who will finish the group without losses?
The MongolZ
The bronze medalists of IEM Katowice 2025 are obvious contenders for playoff qualification and even tournament victory. After missing the first tier-1 event due to injury, the Mongols came to Katowice and showed they haven’t lost their form from last year. Their loss to Vitality was primarily due to strange map veto decisions, where they chose Mirage as their map against such experienced players. They have a very confident Anubis, where they became the world’s best team after defeating Eternal Fire. The team can also outshoot any opponent and thus can count on winning on any map, and the BO3 format will definitely play to their advantage. Recall that The MongolZ’s only trophy is YaLLa Compass 2024, and this tournament, like PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, was skipped by most top teams. They won’t face pressure from big names and famous tags at this event, which should allow them to show their best CS.
Eternal Fire
After silver at BLAST Bounty Season 1, the Turkish team is unlikely to be satisfied with their quarterfinal exit at IEM Katowice 2025. The Turks should have learned their lessons and should handle teams below them in the world rankings without problems. There’s no doubt about their group stage qualification, but a tight tournament schedule might cause fatigue, and it’s possible that Eternal Fire might stumble and lose one game. However, all things being equal, they look more confident and stable than other teams, and should only progress from tournament to tournament. The guys really want to win their country’s first trophy, and considering that NAVI, Team Spirit, Vitality, and G2 won’t be coming to Romania – this goal becomes more realistic. Therefore, we expect the Turks to want to resolve the playoff qualification as quickly as possible and get more days to prepare for the decisive matches.
3:1. Should make it to playoffs.
3DMAX
Looking at the guys’ recent results, faith in the once-legendary French Counter-Strike is returning. The famous tag further strengthens these feelings, and such tournaments are the best opportunity to make a statement and regain fan interest. 3DMAX gave Vitality an excellent fight at IEM Katowice, but after a fairly successful tournament, they still decided to make a replacement, switching Djoko for bodyy. Both players are quite experienced, and apparently, the organization realizes the importance of having an experienced player among young shooters. The guys play with incredible energy and are probably currently the “loudest” team on LAN. The recent replacement might give additional impulse, and the “honeymoon period” of the updated roster should happen right in Cluj-Napoca.
Virtus.pro
Another team that made a loud statement at the recent tier-1 event. They predictably lost in the playoffs as they were playing with a stand-in, but there should be no visa issues at this tournament. FL4MUS is a very important link in the team both in gaming and moral terms, so VP should be happy to return to playing with their full roster. This tournament will show whether the results in Katowice were random or if the guys are ready to fully return to the world top. Players should approach PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 with maximum focus and try to snatch victory in every confrontation. It’s also important for less experienced newcomers to reach playoff stages as often as possible to get used to the stage and games in large arenas.
FaZe Clan
Despite their failure in Katowice, FaZe looked quite good and offered serious resistance to the future champions. Looking at other top teams, their participation in PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 looks a bit unexpected, but this means the new lineup wants to develop chemistry with ELiGE as soon as possible. Many claim that karrigan and rain are finding it difficult to seek motivation and are close to retiring, but as we see, the guys aren’t even thinking about skipping events. This instills faith in this team, and considering their experienced roster, they are one of the tournament favorites who will naturally find themselves in the top 8.
3:2. Looks preferable to others
Falcons
The dramatic elimination by G2 is unlikely to leave a trace on NiKo’s mental state, but winning games alone for Falcons is still difficult for him. Recently, the guys managed to lose a map to a team not even in the top 100 during IEM Dallas 2025 qualifications. Faith in zonic’s genius is also fading with each day, but still, a roster consisting of such players should make the playoffs, considering the names of future opponents. Obviously, the guys are under some pressure due to huge community expectations, but they need to gradually get rid of it and focus on results. Like for other teams – this tournament should be a great opportunity to play as many matches as possible and test in practice everything that’s being worked on during practice sessions.
BIG
A rather risky choice without absolute confidence, just like in the game of the German organization’s representatives. The experienced tabsen added a couple of young guys who managed to surprise at IEM Katowice 2025. The newly appointed sniper – hyped even became the best player of the Play-In stage with a 1.43 rating across 6 maps played. As a team, the guys also looked quite good and in head-to-head matches can certainly emerge victorious and crawl into playoffs.
MOUZ
Despite the complete failure in Katowice, we should still acknowledge that the team played with a stand-in from the academy roster. There isn’t strong faith in this lineup without their captain, but individually, the players should show results capable of bringing them three victories in the group stage. If the guys don’t pull themselves together, their confident run at tier-1 might end much faster than they expected. The tournament in Romania is a chance that this five must grab with all their might.
Conclusions
The fight in the lower part of the table will be extremely serious, and 4 more teams will contend for a playoff spot. Astralis, paiN, MIBR, and Wildcard will definitely get their chance, but lately they’ve been looking extremely unstable, which is why they didn’t make our top 8.
- 3:0 – The MongolZ, Eternal Fire
- 3:1 – 3DMAX, Virtus.pro, FaZe Clan
- 3:2 – Falcons, BIG, MOUZ
