After eight weeks of its league's beginning, eight teams from the first ESL Impact League have qualified to the $123,000 LAN finals at Dallas. The finals will be played from June 3rd to June 5th 2022.
The league included three divisions: Europe, North America, and South America, with Oceania and South Africa having two additional qualifiers for the finals.
The circuit is part of ESL's #GGFORALL initiative, with the goal of providing support and stability to the women CS:GO community.
The amount of women playing competitive Counter-Strike dropped significantly when Riot Games established VALORANT in 2020 and VCT Game Changers, a circuit for underrepresented genders, in 2021.
So ESL Gaming has dedicated itself to the #GGFORALL project, which is based on the idea that "it's not GG (Good Game) until it's GG for all." The tournament organisers took a step further, establishing a women players council as well as a talent development programme to increase their presence as well as broadcasting skills.
Following the conclusion of the inaugural season of the ESL Impact league, the organisers will assess the format with the player council, making any required revisions based on the discussions and input.
Format & Prize Pool & Date
Format of the tournament will be:
- Group Stage:
- Two double-elimination format (GSL) Groups
- Each group has 4 teams
- Opening & Winners' matches are Bo1
- Elimination & Decider matches are Bo3
- Top two teams from each group advance to the Playoffs
- Playoffs:
- Single-Elimination bracket
- All matches are Bo3
ESL Impact also comes with a hefty total prize pool of $500,000, in which the last $123,000 will be awarded after the finals. The winner will get a $50,000 prize.
| Also Read | Everything About IEM Dallas |
How good are the Women CS:GO teams?
Let’s take a look at the participating teams for the league final in Dallas, and how they got here:
Galaxy Racer fe dominated their group in the Europe division, losing only one map in the process. They handily defeated GODSENT fe in their playoff match to advance for the LAN finals, claiming victory in two maps.
Inching closer to winning the second European slot, equipa encountered several difficulties, losing many series, some of which were to Galaxy Racer fe.
They played the freshly signed NAVI Javelins in the playoffs and edged out the Polish club in three maps to secure their position.
CLG Red were a powerful contender from the start to finish in the North American competition, winning Group A in perfect form before qualifying with a win against Slay.
Please Send Help, the other team from Group A, secured the second finals slot by defeating Group B's top seed in a three-map series.
There were open qualifications held for South Africa and Oceania to give a berth in the finals to one team from each zone.
Mindfreak won the Oceania qualification, which included only two teams and was led by Vivienne "BiBiAhn" Quach.
ATK fe won a very tight grand final in the significantly larger and tougher South African qualification, winning two maps in overtime and thus managing to qualify after a very close game.
Here is the team list for the CS:GO's Women league finals in Dallas:
- Europe - Nigma Galaxy
- Brazil - FURIA fe
- United States - CLG Red
- South Africa - ATK fe
- Portugal - equipa
- Brazil - Black Dragons fe
- United States - Please Send Help
- Australia - Mindfreak
For a detailed break down of who are these new women's teams and their coaches, you can visit this link to the ESL Impact's official site.
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