ESL have finally announced their Spring Season for 2016.
Counter-Strike is the last of the trifecta to be officially announced by ESL regarding their spring season, leaving many people wondering what’s in store for the scene and they’ve certainly made some changes for this year.
A brand new format has been announced alongside an upgraded prize-pool compared to previous seasons, bringing it up to a total of £10,500 across the entire tournament.
ESL’s new format for this season involves an open qualifier stage being played over March, with signups opening on the 4th. The qualifiers will work using a new points-based system; with points accumulating throughout each qualifier based upon a team’s finishing position in each stage.
Kicking off in April the 4 teams with the most points accumulated from the qualifier stage will progress to face off against the 4 teams relegated from last year’s Summer Season in the ESL UK Premiership Promotions.
The four teams relegated last year were:
- Fish123
- Team CeX
- Good Looking Gamers
- fm-eSports
Obviously due to the number of post-LAN shuffles between last summer and the upcoming spring season, line-ups have changed dramatically and ESL will likely select teams based on the players who were involved last season.
The Spring Season’s brand new prize pool is split across the group & playoff stages; the winner of each group stage game will receive a £179 bounty while the playoff stage will include travel & hotel expenses alongside a £5,500 prize-pool just raring to be fought over by the top teams in a single elimination finale.
ESL’s announced schedule is as follows:
- Friday 4th March – Signups open for the ESL UK Premiership Qualifiers
- Monday 14th March – Qualifiers commence
- Monday 28th March – Qualifiers complete
- Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th April– ESL UK Premiership Promotions Weekend
- Monday 18th April – ESL UK Premiership Group Stages commence
- Monday 30th May – ESL UK Premiership Group Stages conclude
- To be announced – ESL UK Premiership Playoffs Weekend
The updated ruleset for Season 3 can be found here.
Check back here at UKCSGO.com or over at @ESLUKÂ for the latest updates on the ESL Spring Season.
