Indeed, heading into 2023, Malta continues to advertise itself as a promising esports hub – both as an event and bootcamp venue. Specifically, competitive CS:GO has been attracted to the island. Bearing this in mind, we have the CCT Central Europe Malta Finals event kicking off tomorrow – read on for a concise event preview below!
Event Background
Organized by GRID and Eden Esports, the CCT series of events is short for ‘Champion of Champions Tour’. Launched back in 2022, the Champions of Champions Tour is an international tournament franchise which runs across multiple small regions in Europe and both North and South America.
Specifically, within Europe, there are five regions: West, North, South, East and Central.
Accordingly, the CCT Central Europe Malta Finals is the last stage of the competition for this particular region.
Taking place offline at the InterContinental Malta in St.Julian’s, from 16th February to 19th February, the competition is on our doorstep.
Overall, 8 of the top CS:GO teams in Europe will be competing for the $100,000 prize pool – find them listed below:
Invited:
- Bad News Eagles
- ENCE
- Eternal Fire
- Movistar Riders
- Sprout
- Team Spirit
Points Ranking
- forZe
- HONORIS
Beyond the prize pool, these teams will also be competing for a potential, highly coveted, seed to the CCT Global Finals which only the winner has the honor of walking away with.
Format
With regards to the format, we have two stages of competition to consider – quite typical for CS:GO.
First, we have the Group Stage. Here, the 8 teams have been randomly seeded into two groups of 4 as listed:
- Group A: Bad News Eagles, Eternal Fire, Team Spirit, HONORIS
- Group B: ENCE, Movistar Riders, Sprout, forZe
Within each group, a double-elimination format (GSL) will take place. With BO1 opening matches, all other matches will be BO3. For those uanware, GSL involves the competition taking place in rounds, where teams are matched against one another based on their prior performance. In short, two losses will send you home.
Bearing this in mind, only the top two teams from each group advance to the Playoffs. Once in the Playoffs, a double-elimination bracket will take place, with BO3 matches. Teams in the upper bracket can afford one loss to be demoted to the lower bracket, but a loss in the lower bracket means elimination.
In conclusion, on 19th February, we’ll have a new CCT Central Europe champion!
Schedule and Stream – CCT Central Europe Malta Finals
Considering the format at hand, the only matches we can preview are the opening matches, as listed below:
Group A:
- Team Spirit vs HONORIS
- Eternal Fire vs Bad News Eagles
Group B:
- Movistar Riders vs ENCE
- forZe vs Sprout
To stay tuned into the updated schedule, we recommend both the Champion of Champions and Eden Esports Twitter pages.
In addition, feel free to watch the action live through the CCT Twitch stream.
Predictions
There a number of approaches when it comes to predicting such a competition, especially considering that the majority of teams were invited rather than having to qualify. Bearing this in mind, we’ll use some global rankings. Out of the many available, we’ll be consulting the CS:GO World Ranking by ESL and how these teams stack up in according to ESL’s criteria:
- Team Spirit (#10)
- ENCE (#16)
- Bad News Eagles (#23)
- Sprour (#24)
- forZe (#36)
- Eternal Fire (#46)
- Movistar Riders (#62)
- HONORIS (#106)
As you can see, Team Spirit are the clear favourites, especially with ENCE having carried out a recent roster change. Otherwise, the tournament is up in the air, and we can’t wait to see whether any surprises take place.
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