INTRODUCING THE GFINITY COUNTER-STRIKE: GLOBAL OFFENSIVE WINTER SERIES 2018

INTRODUCING THE GFINITY COUNTER-STRIKE: GLOBAL OFFENSIVE WINTER SERIES 2018

Gfinity and CEVO announce new CS:GO tournament with $50,000 prize pot

Today we are excited to announce the first new tournament following our partnership with CEVO - the GfinityCounter-Strike: Global Offensive Winter Series 2018, with a Champion to be crowned for Europe and North America.  

With over $50,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs, the GfinityCounter-Strike: Global Offensive Winter Series 2018 is now open for registrations to teams of all skill levels across Europe and North America, with the tournament hosted by CEVO. The new tournament continues our commitment to grassroots esports, with the prize pot shared across amateur, intermediate and the (top) main skill divisions.

We want this tournament to help the thousands of amateur CS:GO players and the passionate fans who have helped grow the game to its cult status, to really thrive and prove it worthy of a spin-off tournament all of its own.

All participating teams will compete in CEVO’s signature eight-week Swiss style regular season format in an attempt to qualify for the Online Playoffs, and the chance to climb the ladder of ranked skill divisions. Team registrations are now open here at discounted early bird prices. Key dates include:

• Early Bird Team Registration Opens – Friday, December 8th, 2017
• Preseason Begins – Thursday, December 28th, 2017
• Preseason Ends – Thursday, January 11th, 2018
• Early Bird Team Registration Ends (League fees increase) –  Thursday, January 11th, 2018
• Regular Season Begins– Monday, January 15th, 2018
• Regular Season Ends and Rosters Lock – Thursday, March 15th, 2018
• Playoffs Begin - Sunday, March 18th, 2018

For more information, head to cevo.com/gfinitycsgo.

FACT SHEET

Gfinity CS:GO Winter Series 2018 Features:

• Cash prizes in all skill divisions ($50,000 USD in total)
• All matches played on high-quality 128-tickrate CEVO game servers across 15+ geographic locations protected by CEVO's proprietary anti-cheat technology
• Unlimited access to our automated scrim system to practice with your team
• Advanced personal and team statistics for every match and individual ranking on our Event Leaderboards
• Pick/Ban maps just like the Pros with our automated in-client veto system
• Public GOTV relays and automatic recording and storage of GOTV demos for every match
• In-game coaching enabled for all matches
• Automatic weekly matches scheduled and easy to use match scheduling thread with SMS alerts
• Real-time updated standings and team rankings
• Helpful league officials available for live VoIP support Sunday through Thursday
• All games played using CEVO's CS:GO match automation game server plugin

Recent Improvements to the Gfinity CS:GO Winter Series 2018:

• Cash Prize Pool Increased from $33,000 USD to $50,000 USD Who doesn’t like more money?!?! We’re increasing this season’s cash prize pool by $17K USD.
• Improvements to Map Veto Process We’re updating our map veto process for both best-of-one (bo1) and best-of-three (bo3) map series to fall in line with the most recent CS:GO Major Championship rules. Of course, we’ll still be using Valve's Active Duty map pool for all matches.
• New Default Match Days for Amateur and Intermediate Divisions We've made some changes to the default match days in our Amateur and Intermediate divisions to avoid conflicts with other leagues and tournaments. This season, teams in our Amateur division will play their weekly matches on Tuesday evenings, while the Intermediate division will play their games on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. As always, teams may use the match communication tool for each game to propose alternate match days/times.
• Public GOTV Relays Want to watch a friend’s match? How about taking a shot at casting one of your favourite team's games? Now you can, as Public GOTV Relays will be available for all matches inside the CEVO Desktop Client
• SMS Scheduling Alerts Can't check your email at work or school, but still want to keep up to date on your team's match schedule? You can now opt-in to SMS Scheduling Alerts so that you’ll never miss a match.
• Match Awards and Detailed Weapon Statistics Want to know who the Master Baiter on your team is? You can now check player performance at a glance with our new Match Awards for players at the bottom of each match page. Have some time on your hands? Drill down deep with our advanced Detailed Weapon Statistics to see which guns you were the best within any given match

Format and Schedule:Participating teams will compete in CEVO’s signature eight-week Swiss style regular season format in an attempt to qualify for the Online Playoffs, and the chance to climb the ladder of ranked skill divisions. Here are the most Important dates for the Gfinity CS:GO Winter Series 2018.

Early Bird Team Registration Opens – Friday, December 8th, 2017 Preseason Begins – Thursday, December 28th, 2017 Preseason Ends – Thursday, January 11th, 2018 Early Bird Team Registration Ends (League fees increase) –  Thursday, January 11th, 2018Regular Season Begins– Monday, January 15th, 2018Regular Season Ends and Rosters Lock – Thursday, March 15th, 2018Playoffs Begin - Sunday, March 18th, 2018

Skill Divisions and Prizes: Main Division:Main Division (NA/EU Invitation/Application Only) - $20.00 USD (Early Bird) / $25.00 USD per player - $15,000.00 USD prize pool (per region)

CEVO-M is the invite-only skill division consisting of 48 very highly skilled and experienced teams (per region) looking for serious, near-professional competition. Teams can qualify to play in this division through their performance in the previous season, and sometimes through our off-season MVP tournaments.

CEVO-M teams will play two matches per week on Monday and Thursday evenings in both North America and Europe across one national conference (per region) and compete for our largest cash prizes.

1st - $8,000.00 USD 2nd - $5,000.00 USD 3rd - $2,000.00 USD 4th-6th – 5x free entry into next season’s Main skill division

If you think that your team has what it takes to compete in our Main division, register your team in the Intermediate division and send us an email at placement@cevo.com with a link to your CEVO team roster and recent CS:GO accomplishments.

Move-ups to the Main division will only be considered for fully-paid teams, registered in the Intermediate division at the time of application.

Intermediate Division:Intermediate Division (NA/EU Open entry skill division) - $12.50 USD (Early Bird) / $15.00 USD per player - $7,500.00 USD prize pool (per region)

CEVO-IM is the intermediary skill division open to all teams in both Europe and North America. It's designed for experienced teams seeking serious competitive play.

CEVO-IM teams will play two matches per week on Sunday and Wednesday evenings in both North America and Europe across one national conference (per region) for cash prizes and the chance to move up to the CEVO-M skill division based on their performance.

1st - $4,000.00 USD + automatic move up to next season’s Main skill division 2nd - $2,500.00 USD + automatic move up to next season’s Main skill division 3rd - $1,000.00 USD + automatic move up to next season’s Main skill division 4th-6th - 5x FREE Entry into next season’s Main skill division

NOTE: All other Intermediate division teams that qualify for the Playoffs will receive an automatic move up to next season’s Main skill division

Amateur Division:Amateur Division (NA/EU Open entry skill division) - $7.50 USD (Early Bird) / $10.00 USD per player - $2,500.00 USD prize pool (per region)

CEVO-A is the entry-level skill division open to all teams in both North America and Europe. It's designed for new and experienced teams seeking casual competitive play.

Teams in this division will play one match per week on Tuesday evenings in both North America and Europe across one national conference (per region), competing for cash prizes and the chance to move up to the CEVO-IM/M skill divisions based on their performance.

1st - $1,500.00 USD + automatic move up to next season’s Main skill division 2nd - $750.00 USD + automatic move up to next season’s Main skill division 3rd - $250.00 USD + automatic move up to next season’s Main skill division 4th-6th - 5x FREE Entry into next season’s Intermediate skill division

NOTE: All other Amateur division teams that qualify for the Playoffs will receive an automatic move up to next season’s Intermediate skill division

Map Pool and Veto Process:Each of our skill divisions will play their regular season matches as a best-of-one (bo1) map series using Valve's Active Duty map pool of de_inferno, de_nuke, de_train, de_mirage, de_cobblestone, de_cache, and de_overpass. Teams will Pick/Ban maps just like the Pros with our automated in-client veto system before each match.

Regular Season (bo1) Map Veto Process:1) The home team will act as Team A 2) Team A bans one map 3) Team A bans one map 4) Team B bans one map 5) Team B bans one map 6) Team B bans one map 7) Team A picks the map out of the two that remain (side choice to Team B)Online Playoffs (bo3) Map Veto Process:1) The home team will act as Team A2) Team A bans one map 3) Team B bans one map 4) Team A picks map #1 (side choice to Team B) 5) Team B picks map #2 (side choice to Team A) 6) Team B bans one map 7) Team A picks map #3 out of the two that remain (side choice to Team B)

For information about Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, please visit http://blog.counter-strike.net.

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