Counterstrike fans will be flocking to their screens this weekend to catch the Qi Banja Luka event unfold from the city in Bosnia. There are four teams in total that hail from both Europe and Asia and who have earnt their place in the event that is scheduled to take place this weekend.
Now in its second year, the tournament has already proven to be highly anticipated CS:GO tournament, full of the highest quality players. Due to this, we for one can’t wait to see who comes out and claims the $35,000 prize pool that is up for grabs for the winners.
We took a look at an overview of the tournament, why it is such an exciting tournament and how you can watch it for yourself, the tournament live from the comfort of your own home without the need to travel to Bosnia.
How to qualify for the main event
Qualification for the main event has already concluded with the four finalists selected and ready to go. These have been narrowed down a whole lot since the tournament first began with its open qualifier early this year.
However, this was split between two separate qualifying rounds – one for Europe and one for Asia. In the case of the former, there were 2 open qualification rounds, made up of 79 and 80 participants each. While for the former, there was just one of these rounds, which consisted of just shy of 50 participants. Aside from this, you then have the closed qualifier which consisted of 20 teams in Europe, and 12 teams from Asia.
In the case of the qualifier, the winners of the open qualifier, earnt eligibility for the closed qualifier. Then, the winner of the closed qualifier joined 3 other teams who had been invited to the tournament already. With there original being a total of 4 teams in total from both of the two continents. However, this has since changed.
Unfortunately, for the Asian team, August who had battled it out during the qualifiers, due to visa issues, they were then unable to attend and so as it transpired, all 4 Asian teams were invited in the end. With the only actual invited team being Arcy who are made predominantly up of Polish players.
Tournament format
The two-day tournament from the 14-15th December, so it will be this weekend. During the course of this time-space, the teams will be playing Counter-Strike: Global Offense. On which the tournament will take place across four of the game’s maps, Dust II, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, Train, and Vertigo. Players of CS:GO will no doubt be familiar with these.
- The competition itself though will take the format of a Double-Elimination bracket, whereby all matches will be the Bo3.
- The tournament will take place over three rounds which will begin with a semi-final plus a lower bracket round 1, followed by the upper bracket final plus a lower bracket final, and then culminate in the Grand Final.
- The winner of which will then take home both the glory and the lion’s share of that $35,000 prize pools.
Teams participating
Qi Banja Luka 2019
Streaming platforms
Those looking to stream to the CS:GO Qi Banja Luka, should have no trouble in doing that with this being the biggest esport event of next weekend and one that will be offered online in abundance. Of course, until the events kick-offs, it can be slightly hard to tell exactly who and where the events will be shown. However, one sure-fire bet is that CS:GO page at Twitch.tv will likely be the first place to start as they frequently offer streams to the top events in the esports Calendar and this event will be one that will definitely be looking to show.
Alongside this, a second option would be to go to online sports betting sites that offer esports as these too will often show the action and are a great asset to those of you out there who are also looking to bet on the action unfold also. Other than this, there are plenty of specialized esports streaming sites out there that would definitely be showing the action, as well like Youtube Gaming. With all of this considered, as long as you have an internet connect, streaming the CS:GO Qi Banja Luka should be no problem at the weekend.
Watch the Qi Banja Luka 2019 on esportsguide.com
One of the best sites for watching the game. The perfect guide for users that are new or already into esports. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
Predictions
With just four teams involved in this tournament than there is no doubt that this is going to be one of a tough one to call. Plus with a couple of last-minute changes to the originals line-ups, with Asia now being not represented and European teams now making up the full line-ups it is safe to say that all bets are off at this point.
It would be a real heroes finish for the Polish-fueled, Arcy team to do well here in regards to this, as these were the only team involved who in fact, qualified for the tournament without an invitation As such, it would make it a real story to see them go through the grueling process they have and take home the title, but will they?
It won’t be easy to call this with the quality available in all the other teams, with the original invitees, Pro and Ex-BLUEJAY International always looking promising and likely to come out well. While late comer Copenhagen Flames also have plenty of experience in tournaments that could prove indispensable here Could they swoop in and steal it?
The only way to find out is to watch the action from the CS:GO Qi Banja Luka this weekend!
