With $3.5 million up for grabs in the first season of the Esports Championship Series (ECS), fans were keen to see their favorite top-tier teams involved—and they won’t be disappointed.
Every top team, including Fnatic, Natus Vincere, and Luminosity Gaming, will be taking part in the inaugural season.
The ten-team European and North American divisions will be among the most stacked in Counter-Strike history, with teams competing for the biggest prizepool the game has ever seen.
Astralis, EnVyUs, FaZe, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Virtus Pro, and Team Dignitas have also been invited for the European side. They will be joined by qualifiers mousesports and either G2 Esports or Gambit Gaming—those two sides will meet in the final qualifier later today.
MLG Columbus winners Luminosity will compete against the top teams in North America too. Cloud9, Counter Logic Gaming, CompLexity, NRG Esports, Optic Gaming, Team Liquid, and Team SoloMid have all been invited. Echo Fox have also secured their spot through the qualifiers, with Selfless Gaming and Without a Roof vying for the final spot this afternoon.
ECS is a joint partnership between Twitch and FACEIT, with the league announced on Wednesday. All of the teams involved in ECS will be given an ownership stake, something which is unique to the league.
Sides like Tempo Storm and Flipsid3 Tactics might be disappointed to miss out, but fans will be elated to see every major winner from recent history invited.
Today’s news answers perhaps the biggest question about ECS that Turner’s ELEAGUE has yet to answer. While Astralis are confirmed for ELEAGUE and Luminosity have previously been teased, the participation of Fnatic and Na`Vi is a big question mark for Turner’s venture.
