Photo Credit: HLTV.org
The 2018 ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier, one of the biggest events in competitive CS:GO, is finally starting this weekend — and once again, all the action will be centered in North America.
This year’s event stars 8 high-caliber teams, a change from last year’s 16 competing teams. Though this means there will be a lesser amount of games, the intensity of the competition will be higher than ever, especially with a massive $1,000,000 prize pool up for grabs. Even more noticeable is that this year’s event will not be spread out over four weeks, causing all the action to be centered around a shorter period of time.
Schedule
Group Stage: to be held from July 21 to July 25
Playoff Stage: to be held from July 28 to July 29
Formats for group stage will remain in typical GSL-style, meaning there’s double elimination in groups of four teams. After four teams fight their way out of the opening stage, they’ll move on to the bracketed single-elimination playoffs during the weekend.
Groups of Competing Teams
Group A
- Astralis vs Cloud9 (July 21, 1 pm CT)
- Team Liquid vs MIBR (July 21, 4pm CT)
- Winners’ Match (July 23, 1pm CT)
- Elimination Match (July 24, 1pm CT)
- Deciding Match (July 25, 1pm CT)
Group B
- Natus Vincere vs Fnatic (July 22, 1pm CT)
- FaZe Clan vs Mousesports (July 22, 4pm CT)
- Winners’ Match (July 23, 4pm CT)
- Elimination Match (July 24, 4pm CT)
- Deciding Match (July 25, 4pm CT)
Playoff Schedule
- Semifinal One (July 28, 1pm CT)
- Semifinal Two (July 28, 4pm CT)
- Grand Final (July 29, 1pm CT)
Favorites to win the Premier include defending champions FaZe Clan, Astralis, and Na’Vi, but with such talented teams in the mix, teams Mouz, Fnatic, Liquid, and MIBR could pull off upsets, especially given the recent roster changes in the last couple weeks. Cloud9 in particular should be a team to watch for, as all eyes are on how their newly added players can perform. Overall, there’s plenty of talent to go around, and we’ll just have to watch to see how takes home the championship.
You can watch the 2018 ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier through Twitch, along with ELEAGUE’s Live Game Command.