We might be nearing the end of the year but CS:GO has an abundance of exciting tournaments yet to be played...
With the announcement of the ELEAGUE major we finally know what the current season of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will look like in terms of tournaments.
Between now and the major, which is set to run between January 22nd and 29th 2017, there are more than a few premier LAN events to get through and more than a few teams looking to establish themselves before heading out to Atlanta next year.
This all means that the current season of CS:GO action could be one of the best we have ever seen.
Many of the top teams have recently made roster changes and with most teams only having a few shots at multiple LAN appearances before the major they will be looking to get as much offline practise in as possible.
When you add in the fact that many of the upcoming tournaments have more money on offer than the majors did last year, it becomes clear that the stakes have never been higher in CS:GO.
So just what can we expect during the next few months of CS:GO action?
EPICENTER
With half a million dollars on the line over a single week EPICENTER is set to be one of the most lucrative time investments for teams ever.
Most of the tournaments that offer more than $500,000 require weeks of online play or a lengthy group stage for all the teams involved.
EPICENTER however will only involve a week’s worth of play – for the six teams that got invited at least – with the winners taking home $250,000, meaning it could be one of the most profitable events outside of a major.
EPICENTER is also well known in the Dota world for its excellent production and staging, so expectations are high in that department.
The field is pretty stacked, featuring many of the teams who recently competed at ESL One New York and StarLadder, so it certainly won’t be easy for any of the teams out in Moscow.
NaVi proved that they should be considered one of the favourites after winning in New York – a victory that finally saw the team click with Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev.
SK Gaming should never be counted out and Virtus Pro have once again established themselves as a top team.
What will be interesting is how the lower-seeded teams perform. Dignitas come in off the back of a win at WESG, while G2 had a disastrous time in New York.
With many teams that are still looking shaky in the new season – and a ton of cash up for grabs – EPICENTER should be one of the best events of the year.
ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals
A premier CS:GO event has never taken place in Brazil, despite current world champions SK Gaming all hailing from the South American country.
In fact the last international premier Counter-Strike event to take place in Brazil was back in 2005 with the CPL World Season 2005: Brazil offering up a $20,000 prize pool, which was massive back then.
The Pro League Finals on the other hand are offering $600,000 to the twelve teams that make it through the online league portion of the competition.
With this being the first major CS:GO event in the country, the crowd and atmosphere should be incredible.
Brazilian fans have always been known to be some of the loudest and most passionate in the world and with both SK Gaming and Immortals looking like they will qualify the fans will have more than enough home-grown talent to cheer on.
This really shows how far Brazilian CS has come. Not only do they have a team of multiple world champions, but they also have another team considered to be one of the best in the American region. Many of the biggest European countries can’t even claim that.
On the European side of the league it looks like our very own Ninjas in Pyjamas have done enough to qualify, especially with their +77 round record, while other top teams such as the in-form Dignitas look like they should also be on a plane to Brazil.
ELEAGUE Season 2
Of course, before we can focus on ELEAGUE’s major we have to get its second season out of the way first.
After the controversial removal of SK/Luminosity last season, FalleN and co have been reinstated in the league.
They are in a tough group with NaVi, Astralis and newcomers ALTERNATE aTTaX, who unfortunately don’t really stand that much of a chance.
The Brazilians will be looking to take the crown many feel they were cheated out of first time around, and have a very good shot at it.
While no group at ELEAGUE looks that easy to predict, it is Group A that poses the most questions.
Cloud9, mousesports, FaZe Clan and Immortals all feature in the first group and all have a good chance of making it to the next round if they perform to their full potential.
ELEAGUE feels like it could be one of the most interesting events of the year, mostly because we should see teams that may not be considered to be top contenders make it out of the groups thanks to the favourable draws.
Once you get into the bracket stage anything can happen, and with a prize pool of more than a million dollars and a weekly TV broadcast in the States, ELEAGUE is the perfect stage for an up and coming team to establish themselves as a top dog.
The rest
Of course there is even more than those three events to look forward to.
The second season of ECS promises to be as good as the first, while ESWC will give some of the lower-tier teams a chance to prove they can stand with the big boys.
Across all of the events we should also see more than a few interesting stories, like if SK can regain the form they once had after their poor time without fer playing, or if NaVi can finally become the best in the world with s1mple on the team.
There is also a good chance that one or two teams will break into the top tier for the first time.
Dignitas have been looking strong in recent weeks, so they should be considered a bit of a dark horse for any event they play in, while both Cloud9 and OpTic Gaming have looked incredibly strong in the US events.
The next few months is certainly a busy time for CS:GO fans, but no one can complain when the action will probably be some of the best we have ever seen
