CS:GO is set to begin Season 8 of the Esports Championship Series. Organized by FACEIT, the Open Qualifiers are set for August 12 to 25. This is then followed by the Pinnacle Cup, which is scheduled from September 10 to 15. The regular season follows the next day on September 16, and ends on October 31. The regular season ends with eight teams who will head to North America for the Finals.
Season 8 of the ECS is going to be the second season of the new and improved ECS format. This was developed alongside the players and teams in order to tackle oversaturation in the CS:GO calendar while still giving the best opportunity for open qualification at the highest level.
As mentioned, the Open Qualifiers start on August 12 and players can sign up here to compete. Beginning September 10, sixteen teams are going to compete in the Pinnacle Cup to determine the seeding for open slots in the regular season brackets, which are going to have five eight-team single elimination tournaments each week starting on September 16. The regular season offers a prize pool of $25,000 per region to maintain a consistently high level of competition.
As a change from Season 7, the first two teams to qualify for the ECS Season 8 Finals are going to be those who have earned the most prize money for each region in the first two weeks of the Regular Season. The final six slots are going to be filled by the winner of each remaining weeks’ competition in the last three regular season brackets.
Each winner then heads straight to the ECS Season 8 Finals. The Finals are going to see ECS return to North America, with the venue and dates to be revealed soon. The ECS Season 7 Finals took place in June in London and culminated in an exhilarating Grand Final that saw French trailblazers Vitality take the win in an electrifying match against Brazilian underdogs FURIA, dethroning back-to-back ECS Champion Astralis. Both finalists last season came through the Pinnacle Cup open qualifying, so it will be exciting to see who makes the step up this season.
FACEIT Co-Founder and CBO Michele Attisani said that they are excited for Season 8 especially since this is the second season to have the "new format and we’re pleased to build on the huge success we saw earlier this year with Season 7 and to continue working with fans and players to refine the competition.” He went on to say that as "ECS continues to evolve and grow we’re developing some immensely engaging storylines and rivalries and we can’t wait to see Season 8 unfold, and to bring the finals back to North America in November."
