The Elisa Invitational Winter 2023 tournament is in full force, as teams are continuing the harsh battle to be crowned champion. The event started in November 2023 and will conclude on March 5th this year. It features several stages and different qualifiers, and for fans who cannot follow the scene 24/7 it can be quite difficult to keep track of how the event proceeds. That is why we have put together all the necessary info to update you on everything related to this big event.
General Overview
Let’s start with some general knowledge. The Elisa Invitational Winter 2023 is a league organized by Elisa Esports, a Finnish organization involved in the CSGO scene and in esports in general. The tournament features three Qualifiers, an Online Stage and a final stage of the top 8 teams remaining. Those who make it to top 4 will receive a part of the $100,000 USD total prize pool. The final battles will take place in the Tampere Exhibition and Sports Center in Tampere, Finland, and will run from March 3rd to March 5th. Games started way before, however, with the November Qualifiers of which we will talk about in the next paragraph.
Qualifiers and Online Stage
As mentioned above, the Elisa Invitational Winter 2023 CSGO featured three different Qualifiers: Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian. The former two were quite similar in style: eight teams, double-elimination format (GSL) Groups and then Single-Elimination bracket, top 2 proceed to the Online Stage. The Norwegian Qualifier only featured four teams, who fought in a Double-Elimination bracket with only one team emerging victorious. The five teams qualified were:
- Kappa Bar (zeak, pupcake, AlekS, Karma, veniuz)
- X-Gamer (melonhead, nomiss, flaw, susp, Dottie; C: Hawk)
- hREDS (eDi, xartE, oopee, Sm1llee, LYNXi)
- KOVA Esports (uli, Twixie, spargo, airax, zks)
- Apeks Rebels (SLY, sense, Trax, H0land, shyyne; C: zEVES)
These five joined the eleven invited teams in the Online Stage, which is structured in three main parts.
- Regional Swiss Stage. From November 15th until December 9th. All matches are Bo3. Top 8 teams proceed to the next stage. The teams who made it were: 777 Esports, Savage, Fnatic Rising, Lynn Vision Gaming, Team Finest, AGF Esport, ENTERPRISE esports and GORILLAZ.
- Main Swiss Stage. From January 17th until February 10th. The 8 teams just mentioned will play against 8, high-seed-invited teams, still to be announced. All matches are Bo3. Top 8 teams proceed to Playoffs.
- Playoffs. From February 12th to 13th. Single-Elimination bracket. All matches Bo3. The top 4 teams qualify for the LAN Finals.
Current Standings
The Main Swiss Stage round has ended, and everything is ready for the next stage. Let’s see how teams did and how they are currently standing in the bracket.
| # | Team | Matches | Rounds | Round Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 777 Esports | 3 – 0 | 80 – 56 | +24 |
| 1 | Savage | 3 – 0 | 126 – 96 | +30 |
| 3 | Fnatic Rising | 3 – 1 | 160 – 125 | +35 |
| 3 | Lynn Vision Gaming | 3 – 1 | 139 – 121 | +18 |
| 3 | Team Finest | 3 – 1 | 162 – 126 | +36 |
| 6 | AGF Esport | 3 – 2 | 180 – 195 | -15 |
| 6 | ENTERPRISE esports | 3 – 2 | 132 – 140 | -8 |
| 6 | GORILLAZ | 3 – 2 | 162 – 129 | +33 |
| 9 | Apeks Rebels | 2 – 3 | 140 – 162 | -22 |
| 9 | KOVA Esports | 2 – 3 | 179 – 181 | -2 |
| 9 | Nexus Gaming | 2 – 3 | 157 – 187 | -30 |
| 12 | hREDS | 1 – 3 | 130 – 147 | -17 |
| 12 | INDE IRAE | 1 – 3 | 121 – 136 | -15 |
| 12 | Young NInjas | 1 – 3 | 97 – 122 | -25 |
| 15 | Kappa Bar | 0 – 3 | 104 – 119 | -15 |
| 15 | X-Gamer | 0 – 3 | 87 – 114 | -27 |
Therefore, 777 Esports, Savage, Fnatic Rising, Lynn Vision Gaming, Team Finest, AGF Esport, ENTERPRISE esports and GORILLAZ are the eight teams who are going to compete in the next stage, alongside the (for the moment unknown) eight high seed invites.
Finals
Once the Online Stage will be completely over, the Final Stage will begin. First, the top eight teams will be put into two groups of four teams each in a Double-Elimination format (GSL). Opening and Winners’ matches are Bo1, whereas Elimination and Decider matches are Bo3. The top two teams from each group advance to the Playoffs. Playoffs are organized in a Single-Elimination bracket, with all matches being Bo3. The winner of the Grand Final is crowned champion! Finals will take place at a public venue in Finland, the Tampere Exhibition and Sports Center, from March 3rd to March 5th 2023.
Broadcast, Talent, Where to Watch
The competition is broadcasted entirely on Twitch, even though some fans or CSGO enthusiasts might decide to stream the games on their own platforms, therefore it could be possible to follow the games also on Youtube or Facebook.
The Swedish and Norwegian Qualifiers did not have an official broadcast channel, whereas the Finnish one were casted on official Elisa Finnish channel, ElisaViihdeSport. For the Online Stage, three are the channels available.
- For the English audience, at https://www.twitch.tv/elisaesports, the official ElisaEsports Twitch channel.
- In Finnish, on the channel we mentioned above: https://www.twitch.tv/elisaviihdesport.
- For the Norwegian community, EldoradoEsport is covering the games https://www.twitch.tv/eldoradoesport.
The main talent who worked, and will work in the next stages of the tournament, to provide you with the play-by-play commentary and the live analysis of the games are:
- ReTr00 (Ryan Bernard)
- Skriv (Harvey Rodgers)
- Dweg (Joshua Nathan)
- TheEternalJay (Jamie Martin)
- Tedd (Teodor Borisov)
- Zerpherr (Jack Kelly)
Talent for the very Finals is still to be announced, and probably these gentlemen will be accompanied by many other important international and local personalities from the world of CSGO.
Conclusion
Elisa Invitational Winter is waiting for you for the last, and probably most exciting stages of the tournament! Join one of the three official Twitch broadcasts from January 17th and cheer for your favorite team. The road is still long, so there is a chance for everyone to come on top and succeed.
