The Finnish championship of Counter-Strike will be decided in a league format for the first time. In the playoffs to be played in January, the eight best teams of the regular season will fight for the championship.
The Finnish champions of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive video game 2022 will exceptionally be resolved only in January 2023. will broadcast the CS:GO eSM league semifinals and the final match live on Areena and Twitch.
At the beginning of January, eight teams that have cleared their way to the eSM league playoffs based on the regular season will be on the hunt for the championship. In the semifinals, the winner of the regular season Conquer Gaming and RoundsGG, EXEN Esports and TMVG RCTIC, Heimo Esports and Limppari, as well as KUUSAMO.gg and glaani will face each other. The winners of the semi-final matches will advance to the semi-finals, which will be played on Saturday 14 January. The Finnish champion will be decided in the final match on Sunday, January 15.
Based on the results of the double regular season, Conquer Gaming enters the playoffs as the biggest advance favorite. The quintet, who performed cheerfully even on international courts, won 18 maps in the regular season and lost four times. The only team that knocked down Conquer twice was Heimo Esports, who took third place in the regular season.
The league season will be played to the end despite the storms
The Finnish Electronic Sports Association, which administers the eSports Finnish Championship, or eSM, launched the first league-style eSports SM series for the CS:GO game at the end of last year. SEUL justified the cooperation agreement with TBZ Esports Oy, which operated the series, with the need to create an open series system in Finland that would enable anyone to pursue the eSM title.
The decision aroused a lot of criticism among sports people, as TBZ Esports had previously run its own, competitive SM series without the eSM value granted by the federation. The competing league’s teams also got a direct spot for the eSM league’s spring season, which angered HAVU Gaming, who had won the previous two Finnish championships, among others. As a result of the decision, HAVU Gaming resigned from the association’s membership and the organization’s team did not participate in the eSM league this year.
Cooperation agreement between the association and TBZ Esports Oy was dismantled at the beginning of November (you will switch to another service) ahead of time at the initiative of the union. SEOUL justified the decision with TBZ Esports’ announcement that it is unable to meet its financial obligations under the cooperation agreement regarding the compensation paid to the teams playing in the league. After canceling the cooperation agreement, SEUL took the responsibility of organizing the series on its own shoulders.
2016: ENCE (allu, suNny, xartE, Juhob, naSu)
2017: HAVU Gaming (xartE, REFLEX, KHRN, Aleksib, sergej)
2018: ENCE (allu, Aerial, xseveN, Aleksib, sergej)
2019: SJ Gaming (arvid, SADDYX, KHRN, xartE, Jamppi)
2020: HAVU Gaming (sLowi, ZOREE, sAw, doto, xseveN)
2021: HAVU Gaming (sLowi, ZOREE, xseveN, Aerial, jemi)