It’s a little bit of time since the end of ESEA Season 26, but thanks to ESL’s announcement we now know the teams who have managed to qualify to the ESL Premiership – the highest possible (now that Gfinity Elite Series has dropped CS:GO) and longest running (7 seasons) league within the UK. After a very long and tiring season for many teams, over 89 teams competed in the season with 32 teams making the playoffs to find the four teams who would join the other four teams in ESL Premiership.
A number of changes have been made to the upcoming season of ESL Premiership. This will be the first time since the EPS days where there will be 10 teams competing in the ESL Premiership. Of course the continuation of the Mountain Dew League spot is also up for grabs for the eventual winners. There will also be three stages of the ESL Premiership, this will consist of two groups of five battling it out in a Best-Of-One format, which will then lead to the playoffs, this is where it gets interesting, third placed will then face fourth placed in the group, the winners will then face second placed from the opposite group, and then whoever wins that match will end up going to the Live Finals held at Haymarket Theatre in Leicester and join the first placed teams of each group. All of which will be Best-Of-Three matches.
The trophy that all teams seek.
ESL Premiership has also changed days, adding Wednesdays to the usual Monday nights it had previously been on. In ESEA, Vexed Gaming were the eventual champions of the second tier to ESL Premiership, they managed to navigate through the bracket by beating teams such as ElFish, Honestly Ridiculous, LuminaryGG, Nuclear Storm Gaming without even dropping a map until they went the distance in the final against Pats Money Crew, where they had to overcome adversity with a 22:19, 9:16, 16:4 scoreline over them on mirage, inferno & cbble. Meanwhile, the prize pool has seen a small bump from £10,500 in previous seasons to a whopping £12,000 as a result.
Here are the teams that made it after the grueling ESEA Season 26 and previous ESL Premiership season.
| GROUP A | GROUP B |
| Team Endpoint | Radix Esports |
| fish123 | Stifmeister Gaming |
| Pat’s Money Crew | Vexed Gaming |
| Luminary Esports | Enclave Gaming |
| Epiphany Bolt | Nuclear Storm Gaming |
Team Lineups
All information around the rosters for each team has been kindly provided by ESL, and any roster submission forms teams have had to send in. All rosters include any substitutions registered to the roster.
- Team Endpoint – MiGHTYMAX, Puls3, FASHR, xfpP, weber, AaronH, Luzuh
- Radix Esports – kpiz, neph, b0denmaster, ec1s, rdiis, angry
- Stifmeister – Astroo, Kray, DANCEYZ, Frei, L1NK
- Fish123 – Sliggy, tsack, robiin, batham, smooya, keita, Jenko, Surreal, Cosmeen
- Enclave Gaming – SHEEKEY, SDK, Trials, wh1sk, mrhui
- Vexed Gaming – ozzy, quix, VANITY, pickles, truth, downie, hallzerk, conor
- Nuclear Storm Gaming – Ducky, Immi, Jak3y, xacty, Peggyyyyy, Fiction, Pommey
- Pats Money Crew – Crit, fzaN, LOLz, naet, HarryC
- Luminary Esports – archer, Tesquo, adam9130, mase, lambi
- Epiphany Bolt – WolfY, Thomas, dOMM, elo, SHANEY
This is the official press release from ESL around ESL Premiership.
ESL, the world’s largest esports company, today announce the 7th season of the Counter Strike: Global Offensive ESL Premiership powered by Intel and Gaming from Currys PC World will begin on Monday 19 February, making it the longest running CS:GO tournament in UK history. Following the success of the 2017 Autumn season won by Team Endpoint, the 2018 Spring season has been expanded from eight to ten teams competing across two groups of five.
Playoffs have also been added to the tournament with 3rd and 4th placed teams playing across groups before facing off against a 2nd place team for a spot in the LAN finals. Teams will be competing for an increased prize pool of £12,000 this season and, as part of ESL’s Path to Pro program, the 2018 champions will move on to compete at a European level with a spot in the Mountain Dew League.
“We are super excited to bring back the CS:GO ESL Premiership powered by Intel and Gaming from Currys PC World for another season,” commented James Dean, UK managing director, ESL. “By increasing the prize pool and including more teams at the group stage, we are working hard to provide more opportunities for UK esports players to compete at the highest level and solidify the ESL Premiership as the UK’s premium national esports league.”
The group stage will run for a five-week period with matches broadcast on Monday and Wednesday evenings each week. A full schedule will be issued next week with the live finals to be played in late April. For more information on the Counter Strike: Global Offensive ESL Premiership powered by Intel and Gaming from Currys PC World visit the Pro ESL website.
ESL Premiership officially kicks off Monday 19th February and will be every week for 5 weeks. The full schedule, including times and where the finals will be taking place, are to be announced in the coming weeks, but the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester is one of many options.
We will be having more coverage, interviews, reactions and many other things over the coming weeks with a variety of teams, so make sure you keep in touch with UKCSGO in the run up and during ESL Premiership through our Facebook & Twitter pages.
