BC.Game Rebrands to GOSH, apEX Listed as a Sub, and 8 Round 1 Matchups Set: PGL Locks Full Rosters for the Counter-Strike 2 Singapore Major
Coinciding with Valve's final Tournament Item Submission deadline for team stickers and player autographs on Monday, November 9, 2026, tournament organizer PGL has officially locked in the opening Round 1 matchups and full 32-team roster sheets for the PGL CS2 Major Singapore 2026. Running from November 24 to December 13, 2026 with a $1,250,000 prize pool on the line, the final Counter-Strike 2 Major of the year features an action-packed Stage 1 slate alongside mandatory brand changes for four organizations and several notable lineup quirks.
All 8 Stage 1 Opening Matchups: Team Liquid Faces Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev's Rebranded Squad in Round 1
The tournament kicks off on Tuesday, November 24, 2026 with the opening Swiss-system round of Stage 1 (running through November 27). Seeded according to the final November Valve Regional Standings (VRS) update, all sixteen Stage 1 contenders will clash in a high-stakes Best-of-1 (BO1) opening round before advancement and elimination matches transition to Best-of-3 series.
Here is the complete Round 1 schedule for Stage 1 confirmed by PGL:
- Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) vs. M80
- PVISION (PARIVISION) vs. DENDELE
- HEROIC vs. Imperial Esports
- FaZe Clan vs. Wildcard
- Eternal Fire vs. FlyQuest
- 100 Thieves vs. Chinggis Warriors
- Team Liquid vs. GOSH (BC.Game)
- 9z Globant vs. Lynn Vision Gaming
Headlining the opening wave is a heavyweight clash between Team Liquid and the star-studded roster of Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev and Emil "Magisk" Reif, which will compete in Singapore under the GOSH banner. Meanwhile, 100 Thieves (who clinched the 32nd and final Major spot behind veteran duo Nicolai "device" Reedtz and Håvard "rain" Nygaard) will open their campaign against Mongolian side Chinggis Warriors, while FaZe Clan (frozen, Twistzz, Neityu, jcobbb, and JBOEN) takes on North American contender Wildcard.
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Singapore Gambling Regulations: Why BC.Game, 1win, BetBoom, and PARIVISION Changed Names and Logos
While unveiling the official Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 3 team graphics on its official X account, PGL confirmed that four qualified clubs have been required to alter their team names and visual branding for the duration of the tournament. The mandate stems from Singapore's strict local legislation (specifically the Gambling Control Act 2022), which prohibits the advertising or promotion of unlicensed betting and gambling operators within the country.
To ensure full compliance across broadcast overlays, jerseys, and in-game sticker capsules ahead of the Singapore Indoor Stadium playoffs and Best-of-5 Grand Final, the four affected organizations will compete under the following identities:
- BC.Game becomes GOSH (Stage 1): The organization adopts the name and custom wordmark logo of live-streaming platform GOSH through an event partnership.
- 1win becomes THE ONE (Stage 2): The roster featuring Abay "HObbit" Khassenov, Timur "buster" Tulepov, and Artem "ArtFr0st" Kharitonov drops its betting reference and debuts a stylized number-one crest.
- BetBoom Team becomes BB Team (Stage 3): Seeded directly into the third Swiss stage, the Russian squad retains its standard monogram logo while shortening its official display name to BB Team.
- PARIVISION becomes PVISION (Stage 1): Led by Dzhami "Jame" Ali and coach Dastan "dastan" Akbayev, the team removes the betting prefix to compete as PVISION while keeping its existing emblem.
Official 32-Team Rosters: Dan "apEX" Madesclaire's Administrative Substitute Slot at Vitality and BnTeT's Surprise Entry
Beyond the rebrandings, PGL's complete 32-team roster disclosure highlights how strict Valve Regional Standings (VRS) lock rules shape starting lineups and six-man substitute registrations. The most eye-catching technicality involves Stage 3 powerhouse Team Vitality.
Because Lithuanian rifler Justinas "jL" Lekavicius stood in for Dan "apEX" Madesclaire (who was on paternity leave) at PGL Masters Bucharest right before the VRS invite cut-off, Valve's automated tracking system locked the Bucharest five-man unit as Vitality's invited core. On PGL's official roster sheet, jL is therefore listed in the primary five alongside Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, Robin "ropz" Kool, Shahar "flameZ" Shushan, and William "mezii" Merriman (coached by Rémy "XTQZZZ" Quoniam), while captain apEX is registered in the substitute column. In practice, this is purely a paperwork formality: tournament rules allow teams to swap in their registered substitute without penalty, meaning apEX will lead Vitality on the server as usual when Stage 3 begins on December 3.
Over in Stage 1, GOSH (BC.Game) delivered one of the biggest surprises on the submission sheet by registering Indonesian veteran Hansel "BnTeT" Ferdinand as its official sixth-man substitute behind the starting lineup of s1mple, Magisk, Azbayar "Senzu" Munkhbold, Ayush "mzinho" Batbold, and Tyson "asap" Paterson (coached by Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas).
Finally, four other teams will kick off their Major campaigns with their registered substitutes already slotted into the active starting five. Following Astralis's emergency loan registration of Anton "Anlelele" Huynh to cover for Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard's medical leave and Artem "cmtry"'s VRS eligibility block, FUT Esports (Stage 2) will field Spanish AWPer Álvaro "SunPayus" García in place of cmtry. Additionally, Brazilian squad Legacy (Stage 3) will start Italo "ksloks" Meinberg in place of Vinicius "n1ssim" Pereira, while 9z Globant (Stage 1) will deploy Allan "history" Lawrenz instead of Ignacio "meyern" Meyer. Most remaining organizations opted to list their head coaches or veteran bench players in the sixth spot, including Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander at 100 Thieves, Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer at HEROIC, and Richard "Xizt" Landström at Ninjas in Pyjamas.
The Strategist's Take
This Best-of-1 opening round in Stage 1 under the MR12 format is a tactical minefield for every top seed. Pitting Team Liquid straight against GOSH's explosive five-man lineup of s1mple, Magisk, and Mongolian duo Senzu and mzinho guarantees high-pressure map vetoes right out of the gate, where a single lost pistol round can send a heavyweight down into the 0-1 pool on Tuesday morning. I am also keeping a close eye on how the VRS roster lock rules play out on the server: while seeing apEX listed as a substitute on paper for Team Vitality is nothing more than a bureaucratic quirk, squads like Astralis, FUT Esports, and 9z that have to integrate a starting stand-in just two weeks before kickoff will have their playbook depth tested immediately in Singapore.
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Born and based in Montreal's Mile End district, Maëlle "Kaelen" became close friends with Chaya during their university software engineering years, bonding over late-night coding labs, campus LANs, and World of Warcraft raids alongside Grimtag and Heimdall. A game systems balancing consultant and lifelong theorycrafter, she cut her teeth in the early 2010s writing boss walkthroughs, frame-data breakdowns, and competitive meta guides for specialized French-language MMORPG and esports portals, including Mondes Persistants, as well as North American strategy collections. On Pro-Gamer, she leads in-depth walkthroughs, build optimization, and tactical esports coverage.
