I honestly didn\u2019t expect 1win to qualify directly for Stage 2, especially considering how recently this roster was assembled. Of course, having players like Ax1Le, nafany, and fame gives you a solid foundation, but building a competitive team takes time. What impressed me was their performance at ESL Pro League Season 24. After losing to Vitality, they managed to beat G2, Legacy, and Spirit, including a convincing 2-0 victory against Spirit.<\/p>\n
Those results showed that this roster was developing much faster than expected. They followed that up by winning the Moscow Cyber Games, defeating HOTU in the final and securing their Stage 2 invitation. I also think the previous relationship between Ax1Le, nafany, and coach groove has helped accelerate their development. I\u2019m curious to see how they\u2019ll perform against stronger opposition in Singapore, but qualifying directly for Stage 2 is already an impressive achievement.<\/p>\n Nemiga (Stage 2)<\/strong><\/p>\n If someone had told me a few months ago that Nemiga would qualify directly for Stage 2, I probably wouldn\u2019t have believed them. Their improvement has been impressive, especially considering the level of opposition they\u2019ve faced recently. They won WINLINE MPKBK CIS LAN Season 7, reached the final of Stake Ranked Episode 4 after defeating FaZe and Luminosity, and then had an incredible campaign at PGL Masters Bucharest.<\/p>\n At Bucharest, they defeated The MongolZ, FUT, and Vitality before eventually losing a close five-map grand final against FURIA. I really like what I\u2019ve seen from syph0 and KaiR0N-, and robo deserves credit for his leadership and individual performances. What makes Nemiga interesting to me is that their success hasn\u2019t come from just one tournament. They\u2019ve consistently performed well against different opponents. I think they\u2019re one of the most interesting teams to follow at this Major.<\/p>\n Eternal Fire (Stage 1)<\/strong><\/p>\n Eternal Fire probably had the craziest qualification story of all these teams. Just a week before the deadline, their chances of qualifying were reportedly below 5%. They needed almost everything to go their way, and somehow they managed to make it happen.<\/p>\n First, they won DraculaN Season 7, defeating SINNERS in the final. Then they made an incredible lower-bracket run at Stake Ranked Episode 5, beating teams like BIG, Astralis, and MIBR. But the most impressive part came in the grand final against fnatic. Eternal Fire were losing 0-2 in the best-of-five, including a terrible 13-2 defeat on Ancient, and still managed to reverse sweep the series.<\/p>\n Having coached professional teams for many years, I know how difficult it can be to recover mentally from a situation like that. The pressure must have been enormous, especially knowing that their Major qualification depended on those results. Massive credit to jottAA, Faber the Coach and the entire team. They absolutely earned this opportunity.<\/p>\n 100 Thieves (Stage 1)<\/strong><\/p>\n When 100 Thieves announced their return to Counter-Strike with device, rain, and gla1ve as a coach, I was interested to see how this project would develop. They have plenty of experience, but experience alone doesn\u2019t guarantee results. Their qualification campaign was actually quite difficult. They lost the Stake Pulse Beat II final against HEROIC after missing championship opportunities on Ancient, and their early elimination at ROG JOURNEY made things even more complicated. Eventually, they traveled to Buenos Aires for FiRe Last Chance, knowing it was their final opportunity.<\/p>\n They ended up winning all five matches without dropping a single map, defeating Wildcard in the final. I think device\u2019s experience was particularly valuable during that final, especially with Cache going into double overtime. Also credit to Gizmy for qualifying 2 different rosters to the Major in the same year. Impressive to say the least. This roster still needs time to improve, but qualifying for the Major is an important step.<\/p>\n BC.Game (Stage 1)<\/strong><\/p>\n BC.Game is probably the most unusual story on this list. With s1mple, Magisk, Senzu, mzinho, and asap, alongside TaZ as coach, they have an interesting combination of experience and individual talent. However, their qualification was also influenced by the VRS regional eligibility rules. By assembling a roster with three Asian players, they were able to compete for an Asian invitation, eventually receiving an exception from Valve following changes to the eligibility rules.<\/p>\n Personally, I still have some questions about their actual competitive level. They\u2019ve shown good moments, including a victory against FaZe, but their recent tournament performances have been inconsistent. I\u2019m interested in seeing how TaZ manages this roster because there are several strong personalities and different playing styles involved. Qualifying is obviously a success, but I think they still have a lot to prove against top-level opposition.<\/p>\n paiN<\/strong><\/p>\n For me, paiN missing the Major is one of the biggest disappointments, especially considering the organization\u2019s investment and the expectations surrounding this roster. They reached Stage 2 at the previous Major, but their performances throughout the second half of the season were extremely disappointing. After BLAST Open Porto, biguzera even admitted publicly that the players had lost trust in each other.<\/p>\n That\u2019s something I find particularly concerning because when players stop trusting their teammates, it becomes extremely difficult to perform consistently. The organization decided to make changes, bringing in Rkzinho and Tatu, but rebuilding a team during such an important period is never easy. They continued struggling, losing domestic finals against Imperial before their elimination at Gamers Club Masters VII ended their hopes. With players like biguzera, saffee, and snow, I honestly expected better results. I think paiN needs to seriously evaluate what went wrong internally before deciding their next steps.<\/p>\n NRG<\/strong><\/p>\n NRG is another team that should be disappointed with their campaign. They have an experienced roster, with players like nitr0, Grim, and hallzerk, and even managed to defeat MOUZ at StarLadder StarSeries Fall. That result showed they were capable of competing against strong international teams. Unfortunately, they couldn\u2019t maintain that level consistently.<\/p>\n They repeatedly struggled against Wildcard, losing important matches at iBUYPOWER Masters FML, FRAG University, and finally FiRe Last Chance. That last defeat was particularly painful, with Wildcard winning the deciding Cache 16-14. I find it frustrating when a team can defeat MOUZ but repeatedly fails against direct regional competitors. For me, that points to a consistency problem, something NRG will need to address if they want to compete internationally on a regular basis.<\/p>\n BIG<\/strong><\/p>\n BIG missing Singapore is disappointing, although I can\u2019t say I\u2019m completely surprised based on their recent performances. They have experienced players like tabseN and blameF, but their results simply haven\u2019t been good enough. At Stake Ranked Episode 5, they lost against fnatic after throwing away a 9-3 halftime advantage on Inferno. They followed that up with another 0-2 defeat against Eternal Fire, severely damaging their qualification chances.<\/p>\n From what I\u2019ve watched, I still feel BIG haven\u2019t found the right balance between their tactical structure and individual players. Obviously, it\u2019s difficult to know exactly what\u2019s happening inside a team without working with them. But considering the experience and individual quality available, they should be achieving better results. Missing the Major should raise serious questions about the direction of this project.<\/p>\n fnatic<\/strong><\/p>\n I actually feel bad for fnatic because they were extremely close to qualifying. Their Ukrainian roster had been improving recently, and their campaign at Stake Ranked Episode 5 was encouraging. They defeated BIG and reached the grand final against Eternal Fire, where they took a 2-0 lead. After winning Ancient 13-2, they were just one map away from a result that could have completely changed their season.<\/p>\n Instead, they lost three consecutive maps and the championship. Having experienced similar situations during my coaching career, I know how difficult it can be to recover when the momentum suddenly shifts against you. For fnatic, that defeat was incredibly expensive. They eventually missed out on qualification, with 100 Thieves securing the final European invitation. I still think this roster has potential, but losing such an important final after being two maps ahead will be difficult to forget.<\/p>\n TYLOO<\/strong><\/p>\n TYLOO is probably one of the most frustrating cases because I believe their situation could have been handled differently. They previously showed their potential by winning FISSURE Playground 1 in 2025, but their recent results haven\u2019t been impressive. At PGL Masters Bucharest, they struggled against FUT and Spirit, and things became even more complicated when Jee was ruled out with chickenpox. Their coach zhokiNg had to stand in, and although they managed to beat 9z, their campaign eventually ended against FURIA.<\/p>\n However, what really surprised me was their decision to withdraw from HyperX Retake Season 13 because of a scheduling conflict with IEM Beijing. According to HLTV\u2019s simulations, their qualification chances dropped from 68% to 17% following that withdrawal. I understand that organizations sometimes have difficult scheduling decisions to make, but considering how close they were to qualifying, I think this was a very costly gamble. Their results weren\u2019t good enough, and their tournament planning certainly didn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n Looking at these ten teams, I think this qualification race shows how much Counter-Strike has changed with the VRS system. Having good players and a respected organization is no longer enough. Teams need to perform consistently, choose their tournaments carefully, and deliver results when qualification is on the line.<\/p>\n I\u2019m particularly impressed by Nemiga and 1win, while Eternal Fire deserves recognition for their incredible comeback. On the other side, I expected considerably more from paiN, NRG, BIG, fnatic, and TYLOO.<\/p>\n Every one of those organizations had opportunities to qualify, and I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll look back at certain matches and decisions with regret. It will be interesting to see how they respond next season, especially considering the pressure that comes with missing a Major.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 32 teams for the PGL Singapore Major have finally been confirmed, and looking at the list, I have to admit there are quite a few surprises. I\u2019ve been involved in professional Counter-Strike for over 15 years, and one thing I\u2019ve learned is that having a talented roster doesn\u2019t necessarily mean you\u2019re going to succeed. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":441590,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[4918],"class_list":["post-441583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-pickem-singapore-2026"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/community.skin.club\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/image-1-2.jpg\")
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The biggest disappointments<\/h3>\n
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Final thoughts<\/h3>\n