Get in the mood for the BLAST.tv Paris Major playoffs by taking a look at a photo montage of the cut-throat Legends Stage.

The BLAST.tv Paris Major is finally in the home straight, with just eight teams left in the running after successfully traversing the Legends Stage for a chance to play on stage in front of the Accor Arena.

What better way to prepare for the final phase of play than to look back at the nail-biting and notoriously upset-filled Legends Stage, as seen through the camera lenses of HLTV's Josip "brcho" Brtan and Radosław "MAKKU" Makuch on the ground in Paris.

Heroic made the journey to Paris as one of the tournament favorites While the two French representatives sought to secure an appearance in front of the home crowd BNE were all smiles on media day after earning a Legends Stage berth at the Europe RMR in Denmark FURIA were confident of a strong showing in Paris... "The story starts in 2013..." began cadiaN's tearful team huddle speech as Heroic got their Major going Vitality ended day one with a 2-0 record following hard-fought wins over ENCE and G2... ...but not without making zonic sweat a little bit first Liquid soon followed suit with a flawless day one despite a laborious run through the Challengers Stage BNE mounted a stellar comeback versus G2 to cast the European titans down to elimination territory... FaZe were another big team to go down to the 0-2 pool early ...while fnatic settled for a 1-1 record of their own after an overtime defeat to Monte FURIA went home with a whimper, unable to post a single win on the board while in France apeX and company ensured they'd play in front of the French crowd after a flawless Legends Stage... ...with Heroic joining them shortly after, much to the delight of the ever-emotional cadiaN ITB picked up their second upset of the tournament with a surprise win over ENCE GamerLegion joined the 2-1 pool to be a best-of-three away from the Accor Arena... ...which they easily won over Apeks, bringing tears to iM's eyes in the process "I did not deserve to win a Major in CS:GO," said NiKo after G2 were eliminated by day three HooXi also couldn't believe it Empty thoughts for gxx- after BNE were sent home by FaZe in the 1-2 pool sdy defeated his former NAVI teammates to help Monte become Legends s1mple recorded a lackluster 0.62 rating versus Monte... ...in a game which brought a Twitter-borne spat to the server ENCE were another heavyweight to be eliminated prematurely s1mple was full of energy in NAVI's must-win game versus FaZe... ...but it wasn't enough to stop FaZe recovering to eke out victory in double overtime of the third map A Dutchman powered the UK to their first-ever Major playoffs... ...at the expense of KRIMZ and his fnatic teammates Apeks surpassed all expectations and reached the Major playoffs in France headtr1ck couldn't believe NIP faltered... ...while it was a head-in-your-hands moment for REZ... ...and a time for reflection for k0nfig

Check out the full galleries below:

Media day
Day one
Day two
Day three
Day four
HLTV Confirmed