This past week marked the end of the preliminary bracket stage for our CS:GO Summer 2016 second qualifier. Eight teams moved on by defeating their opposition to join the eight teams that were invited due to their placing in the previous qualifier. From the invited teams, some well-known names include NRG eSports, who are one of the top North American teams, Splyce, a team that participated in the last major, and Winterfox, a veteran lineup with players who have lots of experience under their belts.
The full list of the eight invited teams are Team Kaliber, NRG eSports, Splyce, Broken Alliance, lost, Team Rival, Winterfox, and Team ProspectsGG. NRG were invited to replace TSM due to their high status in the North American Counterstrike scene and the other seven teams were invited because they placed in the top eight in Qualifier 1. TSM, who won Qualifier 1, directly secured their place in our main $15,000 event.
From the preliminary bracket, SpawnKilled, Les Piments, Guerrilla Warfare, and WinOutNET made it through the winner’s bracket with no losses to join the invited teams in the championship bracket. From the loser’s bracket, AgonyPro, Insomnia Prime, EZG eSports, and GameOn eSports made it through the gauntlet loser’s bracket to grab the remaining spots in the championship bracket.
For the format of our championship bracket, the teams will play their first match on Tuesday, June 21 and the quarterfinals matches on Thursday, June 23. The semifinals and grand finals will be held on Sunday, June 26 and will be streamed on our Twitch channel. The Sunday games will be played one after another so all of the games will be on Twitch. The winner, similar to Qualifier 1, will be given the nod for our main event in a month. In addition for the chance to play for the largest share of $15,000, the winning team will be awarded $1,250 while the other finalist and semifinalists will receive some prize money also.