On the 5th of February, FLASHPOINT announced their CS:GO league which had been in rumors for quite some time. It has created a lot of debates and arguments of whether it is better than ESL Pro League. The main point of criticism that FLASHPOINT has received is the quality of the teams that will be playing in their league. ESL has announced their team list for ESL Pro League, and out of 24 teams, they have 22 teams that are in the top 30 HLTV rankings whereas csgo flashpoint league will only have 4 teams that are in the top 30 HLTV rankings. In total, FLASHPOINT will have 12 teams competing in its inaugural season. Ten teams will be founding partners while the other two will earn their spot through Open Qualifiers.
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The teams that have been announced to be participating in FLASHPOINT are as follows:
- Cloud9
- MiBR
- c0ntact
- Gen.G
- Dignitas
- MAD Lions
FLASHPOINT are hosting their global qualifier that will take place between 3-5 March. The top 2 at the qualifier will get a spot at FLASHPOINT Season 1. These are the teams participating:
Invited:
- BIG
- Copenhagen Flames
- EU Qualified:
- AVEZ
- SKADE
- SA Qualified:
- DETONA
- RedemptionPOA
- NA Qualified:
- ChaosEC
- We Are Orgless
The remaining 4 teams are still a mystery as of yet, but we are to get more information very soon.
What makes this FLASHPOINT different from other leagues?
The league itself is not like any other normal league. This is because FLASHPOINT focuses on being a team-owned league, where its main focus are the players and the teams. In a video that FLASHPOINT uploaded that describes their format they say the following: “We wanted to create a format that will complement our overall focus on banter and showcasing our player’s personalities while still providing intense competition”. FLASHPOINT sets up a very interesting league as all the teams are invested and working for a similar goal. The league will be played in an offline environment and the prizepool for the league will be among the highest ever in CS:GO history amounting to over $2,000,000. The goal for csgo flashpoint league is to create an experience that is authentic and personality-driven, while also showing great Counter Strike.
Talent
Another goal that FLASHPOINT is trying to achieve is a better broadcasting experience for the fans. They will be attempting to accomplish this by signing the best talent in esports, some being: Duncan “Thorin” Shields, also known as the esports historian will take the role as the main Creative Director. The newly returned Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat is set to be a part of the on-air talent, alongside Christopher ‘MonteCristo’ Mykles which will be making his first ever CS:GO casting debut. The FLASHPOINT talent lineup also consists of some other familiar names such as: James Bardolph, Dan ‘DDK’ Kapadia and Freya Spiers. FLASHPOINT being a product of FACEIT only makes it natural that talent that worked with FACEIT in the past will return for csgo flashpoint league. To finalize the talent lineup, Jason “moses” O’Toole, Anders Blume, and Sean Gares will also be on the desk.
FLASHPOINT Predictions and expectations
From what we can predict so far is that FLASHPOINT will have a team-run league and stronger broadcast as their main priority. In reality, it is very hard to compare both leagues, as they both have different goals to accomplish. With their Pro League, ESL would like to achieve better Counter Strike and hence, better competition, and they think that that is the best way forward for CS:GO, whereas FLASHPOINT would like to focus on the player personality side and better talent for their league. In the end we’ll have to see how both leagues fare and hope that both leagues succeed in achieving their goals.
Watch the CS:GO Flashpoint League Season 1 stream on esportsguide.com
One of the best sites for watching the tournament. 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.
