FACEIT to Start $25k College CS:GO Tournament
One of the biggest tournament organizers in the land, FACEIT, is finally coming to college. The brand announced three new brackets for CS:GO, Valorant, and League of Legends. Both the first two games will have “Premier Leagues” where the top schools will compete. And in the case of CS:GO, there’s a $25k prize pool on the line.
A Continuing Relationship
FACEIT already has a pedigree for CS:GO events. They have a litany of online amateur tournaments that it hosts for thousands of players. We talked to the Director of FACEIT about why it was important for them to bring their expertise in the game to college players.
“FACEIT has the world’s largest CSGO presence already and it just made sense — there are already around 600,000 college-aged CSGO players on the platform. With products like FPL and Flashpoint, we felt like it was only a natural extension of what we’re already doing to create a collegiate league for CSGO.”
Director of FACEIT, Duran Parsi.
FACE IT aims to begin the 10 Week bracket this fall with playoffs coming in Spring 2021. The Premier League for CS:GO has $10k of that $25k up for grabs in the Grand Finals alone, so we’ll be sure to see some of the top schools in the land involved. There is also a second division for CS:GO for college that functions as a Contenders League. However, that bracket will only have a $5k prize pool.
Valorant will function almost identically to the CS:GO bracket. Both run a 10 week, swiss bracket regular seasons with playoffs in the Spring. However, the Valorant tournament also has a scuffed prize pool. It’s offering only $10k in winnings.
How Much Is Too Much?
The final event coming from FACEIT is the League of Legends Invitational Series. This tournament plays out over three stages: Qualifier, Regional, and Finals. There are two qualifier tournaments per region (East, West, North, South), and the top performers from that go to regionals. The final four teams from each region go to the national finals. The LoL Invitational qualifiers go down on November 8th, 15th, and 22nd, then again on January 10th, 17th, 24th, and 31st. FACEIT expects finals to start sometime in April.
We asked Parsi about bloat in the space. With three new brackets coming from them, developer run events, and a litany of other organizers, schools have a lot to choose from.
“I think the biggest thing is that FACEIT is one of the most popular and extensive tournament and league platforms in the world, and in addition to simply hosting leagues, we have many other platform features (such as hubs, clans) that can provide a unique benefit to college esports clubs, varsity programs, and students themselves. Our main thing is to be additive to the space and try to fill in the gaps that exist.”
Director of FACEIT, Duran Parsi.
Hopefully, FACEIT can rise above the noise and put on a series of great events. Be sure to catch some of the action over on their official Twitch Channel. Sign-ups close on November 1st, so if you are part of a college program looking to play, get in ASAP!
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