Registration has closed for the open qualifier to the Esports World Cup's Counter-Strike tournament, and 64 teams have signed up, HLTV reports. The three-day LAN qualifier puts four places at the $2 million main event on the line, and play begins on August 7.
Liquid, BC.Game, HEROIC, 100 Thieves, NRG and DENDELE are among the teams entered. The qualifier is open, so those organisations will be competing against a field several times larger than the main event they are trying to reach.
How the qualifier is played
The 64 entrants are divided into 16 groups of four. Each group is played as a double-elimination bracket in a best-of-one format, and the top two teams from every group advance. Those 32 survivors move into a single-elimination playoff stage, where the format changes: every playoff match is a best-of-three.
That structure means a team can lose a single map early and still qualify, but a loss once the playoffs begin ends its run. Four teams emerge from the process with main-event places.
A full main-event field
Separately from the qualifier, all 28 teams eligible for the main event through the Valve Regional Standings accepted their invitations. HLTV attributes the complete acceptance rate to the standing the Esports World Cup has built internationally, and to the money on offer across both the Counter-Strike tournament and the Club Championship, the cross-title standings that run alongside the individual events in Riyadh.
A field with no declined invitations is unusual for an event outside the Major cycle, and it means the four teams that come through the open qualifier will join a main event that is already at full strength.
The open qualifier starts on August 7 and runs across three days, after which the main event field is complete at 32 teams. HLTV has published a partial list of the organisations that will take part.
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