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esports
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Faceit introduces new ECS format and branding

A new logo arrives with the news that 2019 will see a shakeup in the ECS structure, reducing the games to make each one more competitive.

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Esports tournament platform Faceit has revealed a brand new format for the Esports Championship Series, reducing the number of matches to "alleviate the strained placed on players", as well as revealing a brand new logo and colours for fans to get used to.

The infographic below gives a breakdown of the new format, which comes as a result of Faceit talking to teams and the community about how best to approach this year's competition. Each game will have higher stakes and best-of-three is coming in too.

Open Qualifiers are the first phase of each season now, with the Challenger Cup, Regular Season, and LAN Finals after that. Qualifiers are starting on February 16 for teams in Europe and North America competing in single elimination brackets that you can sign up for here, and eight teams from each region will move onto the Challenger Cup starting on March 5, appearing along eight invited teams. A best-of-three Swiss format will then decide the rankings for the Regular Season.

March 11 is the date you need to mark on your calendars, as it's the start of the Regular Season where five single elimination tournaments featuring eight teams will take place, each week offering a prize pool of $25,000 USD per region. Each tournament will feature the ECS Season 7 teams, with Challenger Cup teams also filling in the empty slots, and the first three weeks' winners will go straight to the Finals. The fourth spot for each region is filled by the team with the most overall prize money after all five cups.

"We have worked extremely hard to determine a format and match timings that suit the players, the community and that help the CS:GO ecosystem," said Faceit co-founder Michele Attisani. "It's vital that players can perform at their highest level without burning out and it's fantastic that as an industry we recognise the benefit in working together towards a long-term goal. At the same time we're excited about what the new format means for fans- every game will matter."

As for the Finals, this will return to London's SSE Arena between June 6 and 9, although it'll take place over four days instead of three for the first time ever. If you want to attend you can also get tickets right here, and for more on the format check the infographic below.

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Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Photo: Faceit

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