Finland will be getting their first big esports event with the Arctic Invitational, which will be pitting some of the best CSGO talent against each other. It will be playing out at the Hartwell Arena in Helsinki, Finland. Also, this event is the results of a collaboration between Elisa Viihde, a Finnish telecommunications company, and Starsquad Event.
Arctic Invitational!
💰100 000€
🔫CS:GO
📨3 international teams
⚔️1 Finnish team
📌Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland
📅14.9.2019
More info coming up. https://t.co/qPO9qNXUnF#CSGO #esportsfi #arcticinvitational #5gliiga @ElisaOyj @starsquad_fi @HatchDotLive pic.twitter.com/perMG8OR52— Arctic Invitational (@ArcticInv) January 30, 2019
Four teams will be battling it out for the trophy this coming September. Additionally, three teams will be from invited from overseas, while one team will be from Finland. That Finnish team will be decided through a Finnish qualifier. Also, the qualifier will be in three parts, starting at established Finnish LANs like Lantrek in Tampere and Vectorama in Oulu. Afterward, the best three teams from those events will be heading to the Finnish finals, with one team attending with a direct invite.
The prize pool for this event will be 100,000 euros, or $115,000. The pool will be split four ways, with first place getting 60,000 euros. Meanwhile, second place will take home 20,000 euros and third and fourth will win 10,000 euros. The competition hasn’t been revealed yet, but the event says that they will announce the competitors very soon.
Possible Finnish teams?
Although we might not know the international teams that will be heading to Finland, we can look at the Finnish CSGO scene. For example, SuperJymy is one of the better teams in the country. Last year, they would place second at the Finnish eSports League Season Five Finals. They would also place third at the Assembly GameXpo. However, although this team is good, the country’s best team has to be ENCE Esports.
ENCE Esports has become the most well-known CSGO team from Finland. They won multiple international tournaments last year, like StarSeries & i-League Season Six and the Dreamhack Winter Open. In fact, they have recently won the Europe Minor Championship at Katowice, taking down teams like Valiance and North. They have gained many fans around the world, and have garnered a new tag, “EZ4ENCE”.
There’s a good chance that ENCE Esports will be the representative for Finland at this event. Their experiences against some of the best team in the world put them at a competitive advantage, and the Finnish qualifiers should be a breeze for them.
Final Thoughts
It is good that Finnish esports is getting a big event for themselves. Hopefully, this encourages more major events to be held in Finland, should the turn out be good for the future. Additionally, the three other teams are hopefully good enough to attract a good viewer base. That could help convince organizers to plan more events in the country. Also, could this be another stepping stone for ENCE Esports to win another premier event? They have been steadily improving themselves over the past year, and should be a team to watch for in 2019 and beyond!
What are your thoughts on the Arctic Invitational? Let us know what you think in the comments below! If you want more CSGO coverage, check us out here!
Published: Jan 30, 2019 04:07 pm