EPICENTER 2019 CS:GO
The half a million dollars tournament, which will take place in Moscow.
Match schedule
Bracket
Group play
Map pool
The general information
EPICENTER 2019 will take place in Moscow on December 17-22. Crocus Expo Hall will be a venue and the overall prize pool will amount $500,000. Eight teams will take part in the distribution of gabs. Half of the participants have become the owners of direct invites. Matches of the group stage will be carried out on December 17-19, December 20 will be a day-off and the playoff matches will be hosted on the scene on December 21-22.
The distribution of prizes
The teams, which will not be able to win a match and place 7th-8th, will earn $10,000. The teams to hold the 5th-6th place in the standings will earn $15,000. The participants to enter the top four but not to proceed to the final will become the owners of more solid prizes in the sum of $40,000. The vice-champion will earn $120,000 and the winner of the tournament will grab 50% of the prize pool — $250,000.
The format
EPICENTER 2019 will start with the group stage. Eight teams will be divided into two groups with four participants in each one. Teams will be playing in a double-elimination bracket in groups. Unlike the majority of tournaments, only two teams will leave EPICENTER 2019 after the end of the group stage of the competition but not four. Rosters to hold the last places in groups will place 7th-8th in the standings. Rosters to place 2nd-3rd in groups will proceed to the playoffs and start their way from a quarterfinal and group leaders will start from semi-finals.
All matches will be played in a bo3 format in the playoffs just like in the group stage.
Participants
AVANGAR, Evil Geniuses, Natus Vincere, Team Vitality, and Fnatic have become the owners of direct invites. Heroic, forZe, and EHOME have passed qualifiers in Europe, CIS, and China. Fnatic announced that they want to take a break and pulled out of the tournament due to this. The organizers made a decision to bring their slot to the team mousesports, which had placed 2nd in the European qualifiers.