PGL Masters Bucharest Kicks Off: 16 Teams, $1.25 Million Prize Pool

PGL Masters Bucharest, to be held in Romania, will be the last top-tier LAN tournament before the final cutoff date set for Singapore Major invitations. The event will feature 16 teams, and the total prize pool is $1,250,000.

12 of the top 13 teams in the July 6 VRS rankings accepted the invitation. They include Spirit, Vitality, FURIA, the Thunderpick World Championship winner, and Aurora, the most recent champion. Falcons, however, declined to take part. The team lost the chance to earn new VRS points before the Major invitation cutoff on November 2. The regional qualifiers were won by Nemiga in Europe, Liquid in North America, DENDELE in South America and TYLOO in Asia.

The tournament will feature a Swiss-system group stage played in best-of-three series. The teams that finish in the top eight will advance to a single-elimination playoff. The final will be played as a best-of-five series, and a third-place match will be held before it. Eight series will be played on each of the first three days. There is no rest day between the Swiss stage and the playoffs.

There are also roster changes. FUT will play their first official match with SunPayus, who replaced AWP player cmtry. Vitality brought in the substitute player jL to replace apEX.

A 15-person team will work on the broadcast. Richard Lewis will host the desk. Among the analysts is Professeur from HLTV. BanKs will conduct the interviews. The duo of Scrawny and launders will be one of the four caster pairs.