ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier was the fourth season of ELEAGUE that started on September 1, 2017, and ended on October 13, 2017. It was broadcast on the American cable television network TBS. The season featured 16 teams from across the world competing in a season, which included a regular season and a playoffs. The broadcast were simultaneously available on the online streaming service Twitch and YouTube Gaming, but when on television, a limited broadcast would appear on Twitch and YouTube.
The season kicked off with FaZe Clan defeating Renegades in Group A and the first televised match of the season featured FaZe Clan defeating Natus Vincere. The season concluded with FaZe Clan defeating Astralis in the finals 2–0 as FaZe dropped zero games throughout the whole tournament.
Format The format reflected that of ELEAGUE Season 2. A total of 16 teams will compete in the tournament. 12 teams will be invited and a four teams, two from the Americas qualifier and two from the Europe qualifier, will have to qualify for the tournament.
The 12 teams will be invited based on their past performances from the previous ELEAGUE seasons. Each closed qualifier will be played online and will be held from August 26, 2017, to August 27, 2017. One team, OpTic Gaming, would later have its invite taken away due to violation of ELEAGUE rules after roster changes.
The group stage featured four groups, making four teams per group. Teams will play in a double elimination group stage. The highest seed in the group will play against the lowest seed and the other two teams will play against each other in best of one games. The two winners and two losers will then play against each other. The winners match was a best of one and the loser's match was a best of three. The winner of the winners match will move on to the Playoffs and the loser of the winners match will play a third match against the winner of the losers match. The loser of the losers match is eliminated from the tournament. The last two teams in the group will play in a best of three; the winner of the match will get a spot in the Playoffs and the loser will head home. The top two teams in each group will advance to the Playoffs.
The Playoffs will consist of the eight teams. Teams will play in a single elimination, best of three bracket and will keep playing until a winner is decided. Each group winner will face off against a group runner-up in the quarterfinals. In addition, each team will not face another team from the same group until the finals if it ever reaches that point.
Qualifiers A maximum of 512 teams each competed in the European and Americas qualifiers. Both qualifiers took place online and were completed within two days. Shown below are the top 16 teams of each qualifier, with two from the European qualifier and three from the Americas qualifier moving on. Teams played in a single elimination bracket.
European Qualifier
Americas Qualifier
Teams Competing Eleven invited teams from will be joined by five other teams, two from each closed qualifier with an additional one from the Americas qualifier.
Astralis (Invited) Cloud9 (Invited) FaZe Clan (Invited) Fnatic (Invited) G2 Esports (Invited) mousesports (Invited) Natus Vincere (Invited) Ninjas in Pyjamas (Invited) North (Invited) SK Gaming (Invited) Virtus.pro (Invited) Heroic (European Qualifier) Team EnVyUs (European Qualifier) Immortals (Americas Qualifier) Team Liquid (Americas Qualifier) Renegades (Americas Qualifier)1
The twelve teams were invited based on their past results during the two Counter-Strike ELEAGUE seasons. Past ELEAGUE Results Team EL S1 EL S2 Astralis 5th 2nd Cloud9 5th 9th FaZe Clan 9th 3rd Fnatic 2nd 9th G2 Esports 11th 9th Heroic DQ2 N/A3 Immortals N/A3 13th mousesports 3rd 5th Natus Vincere 3rd 9th Ninjas in Pyjamas 5th 5th North 15th 5th Renegades 9th N/A3 SK Gaming DQ2 3rd Team Liquid 17th N/A3 Cloud9 5th 9th Virtus.pro 1st 5th 1 – ELEAGUE Season 2 champion OpTic Gaming had its invite taken back by ELEAGUE after the team replaced the majority of its players. Oscar "mixwell" Cañellas and Keith "NAF" Markovic stayed with the team. Tarik "tarik" Celik and Will "RUSH" Wierzba transferred to Cloud9 to replace Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert and Michael "shroud" Grzesiek on its active roster. OpTic signed former longtime Ninjas in Pyjamas member Adam "friberg" Friberg, former FaZe Clan AWPer Aleksi "allu" Jalli, and former North star Emil "Magisk" Reif. OpTic's spot will be filled in by a third team from the Americas qualifier.
2 – During ELEAGUE Season 1, Luminosity Gaming (now with SK Gaming) and SK Gaming (now with Heroic) were in a contract dispute. The Brazilians had agreed to sign with SK Gaming first when it was still under the organization Keyd Stars, but signed with Luminosity first during that time. In the middle of ELEAGUE Season 1 and some time prior to ESL One Cologne 2016, SK Gaming brought up the contract. After the two organizations came to an agreement, in which the Danes were released from SK Gaming and the Brazilians transferred to SK Gaming, ELEAGUE commissioner Min-Sik Ko stated that the transfer did "not comply with" ELEAGUE rules, thus resulting in the disqualification of the two teams.
3 – "N/A" indicates the team was not in the ELEAGUE season for any reason. Heroic was not invited to any open qualifier for ELEAGUE Season 2. Immortals was not invited to ELEAGUE Season 1 when it was signed with Tempo Storm. After Tempo Storm owner Andrey "Reynad" Yanyuk said that a person associated with ELEAGUE and he had an argument, thus ELEAGUE not wanting Tempo Storm in the tournament despite being ranked higher than many of the teams. reynad later sold the team to Immortals to give the team a better chance at more tournaments and Immortals later qualified for Season 2. Team Liquid was upset by Echo Fox in the ELEAGUE Season 2 Americas qualifiers. Renegades was defeated by OpTic Gaming in the Americas qualifier for Season 2.
Broadcast Talent Host Richard Lewis Interviewer Sue "Smix" Lee Commentators James Bardolph Anders Blume Daniel "ddk" Kapadia Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat Jason "moses" O'Toole Producer Jason "Alchemist" Baker
Group stage
Group A Seed Team Record RF-RA RD Points 1 FaZe Clan 2–0 32–15 +17 6 2 G2 Esports 2–1 74–53 +21 6 3 Natus Vincere 1–2 48–58 −10 3 4 Renegades 0–2 20–48 −28 0
Group A Results FaZe Clan 1 0 Renegades G2 Esports 0 1 Natus Vincere FaZe Clan 1 0 Natus Vincere G2 Esports 2 0 Renegades Natus Vincere 0 2 G2 Esports
Group A Scores Team Score Map Score Team FaZe Clan 16 Mirage 9 Renegades G2 Esports 10 Inferno 16 Natus Vincere FaZe Clan 16 Inferno† 6 Natus Vincere G2 Esports 16 Mirage 9 Renegades G2 Esports 16 Nuke 2 Renegades G2 Esports Cobblestone Renegades Natus Vincere 12 Cobblestone 16 G2 Esports Natus Vincere 14 Inferno 16 G2 Esports Natus Vincere Overpass G2 Esports
Group B Seed Team Record RF-RA RD Points 1 North 2–0 38–34 +4 6 2 Fnatic 2–1 91–74 +17 6 3 Immortals 1–2 60–62 −2 3 4 mousesports 0–2 42–61 −19 0
Group B Results mousesports 0 1 Immortals North 1 0 Fnatic North 1 0 Immortals mousesports 1 2 Fnatic Immortals 0 2 Fnatic
Group B Scores Team Score Map Score Team mousesports 8 Cobblestone 16 Immortals North 16 Mirage 14 Fnatic North 22 Cobblestone† 20 Immortals mousesports 5 Train 16 Fnatic mousesports 16 Mirage 13 Fnatic mousesports 13 Cobblestone 16 Fnatic Immortals 10 Train 16 Fnatic Immortals 14 Inferno 16 Fnatic Immortals Cache Fnatic
Group C Seed Team Record RF-RA RD Points 1 Cloud9 2–0 32–8 +24 6 2 Team EnVyUs 2–1 59–53 +6 6 3 Ninjas in Pyjamas 1–2 69–70 −1 3 4 Virtus.pro 0–2 19–48 −29 0
Group C Results Virtus.pro 0 1 Team EnVyUs Ninjas in Pyjamas 0 1 Cloud9 Cloud9 1 0 Team EnVyUs Virtus.pro 0 2 Ninjas in Pyjamas Team EnVyUs 2 1 Ninjas in Pyjamas
Group C Scores Team Score Map Score Team Virtus.pro 6 Cobblestone 16 Team EnVyUs Ninjas in Pyjamas 6 Mirage 16 Cloud9 Cloud9 16 Train† 2 Team EnVyUs Virtus.pro 8 Overpass 16 Ninjas in Pyjamas Virtus.pro 5 Train 16 Ninjas in Pyjamas Virtus.pro Mirage Ninjas in Pyjamas Team EnVyUs 9 Cobblestone 16 Ninjas in Pyjamas Team EnVyUs 16 Cache 9 Ninjas in Pyjamas Team EnVyUs 16 Nuke 6 Ninjas in Pyjamas
Group D Seed Team Record RF-RA RD Points 1 Astralis 2–0 32–13 +19 6 2 Heroic 2–1 58–50 +8 6 3 SK Gaming 1–2 75–97 −22 3 4 Team Liquid 0–2 52–59 −7 0
Group D Results Astralis 1 0 Team LiquidSK Gaming 0 1 Heroic Astralis 1 0 Heroic SK Gaming 2 1 Team Liquid Heroic 2 1 SK Gaming
Group D Scores Team Score Map Score Team Astralis 16 Overpass 11 Team Liquid SK Gaming 5 Train 16 Heroic Astralis 16 Train† 2 Heroic SK Gaming 8 Inferno 16 Team Liquid SK Gaming 16 Overpass 8 Team Liquid SK Gaming 19 Mirage 17 Team Liquid Heroic 8 Overpass 16 SK Gaming Heroic 16 Inferno 5 SK Gaming Heroic 16 Mirage 8 SK Gaming
†Game was broadcast on TBS.
Playoffs
Quarterfinals Team Score Map Score Team Cloud9 16 Cobblestone 12 G2 Esports Cloud9 16 Inferno 8 G2 Esports Cloud9 Cache G2 Esports Astralis 16 Train 5 Fnatic Astralis 16 Overpass 12 Fnatic Astralis Mirage Fnatic FaZe Clan 16 Nuke 12 Team EnVyUs FaZe Clan 16 Overpass 3 Team EnVyUs FaZe Clan Inferno Team EnVyUs North 16 Overpass 7 Heroic North 16 Mirage 7 Heroic North Inferno Heroic
Semifinals Team Score Map Score Team Cloud9 16 Mirage 12 Astralis Cloud9 14 Overpass 16 Astralis Cloud9 4 Inferno 16 Astralis FaZe Clan 16 Mirage 12 North FaZe Clan 16 Inferno 10 North FaZe Clan Train North
Finals Team Score Map Score Team Astralis 14 Cache 16 FaZe Clan Astralis 7 Overpass 16 FaZe Clan Astralis Inferno FaZe Clan
Final standings The final standings, prize money distribution, and teams' rosters and coaches are shown below. Each team's in-game leader is shown first. Final Standings Place Prize Money Team Roster Coach 1st 500,000 FaZe Clan karrigan, GuardiaN, NiKo, olofmeister, RobbaN 2nd 150,000 Astralis , , dupreeh, Kjaerbye, Xyp9x 3rd 4th 70,000 Cloud9 , , RUSH, Skadoodle, Stewie2K North MSL, , , , 5th 8th 35,000 Fnatic Golden, , JW, KRiMZ, Lekr0 Jumpy G2 Esports , , , kennyS, NBK- SmithZz Heroic Snappi, , JUGi, , MODDII FeTiSh Team EnVyUs Happy, Rpk, SIXER, , ScreaM 9th 12th 8,750 Immortals , , , HEN1, LUCAS1 Natus Vincere Zeus, Edward, , , Ninjas in Pyjamas Xizt, , f0rest, GeT RiGhT, REZ THREAT SK Gaming FalleN, , , , TACO 13th 16th 8,750 mousesports chrisJ, , , STYKO, Renegades Nifty, AZR, , USTILO, NAF Team Liquid , ELiGE, , , Twistzz Virtus.pro NEO, , , Snax, TaZ
1 Immortals signed Vito "kNgV-" Giuseppe for the PGL Major 2017 after benching Lincoln "fnx" Lau. However, after placing second at DreamHack Montreal 2017, kNgV- went back to Brazil to clear visa issues. Counter-Strike 1.6 legend Raphael "cogu" Camargo took his place at ELEAGUE.
References