The Gjirafa50 Masters League Season 2 is an offline Albanian tournament organized by Gjirafa50. It is classed as a B-Tier tournament and the finals take place from October 9th-10th. The entire league has had quite an unusual format compared to what we are used to seeing in Counter-Strike.
Before the finals stage that we are covering in this guide, there was an online stage and four unique sets of open qualifiers. This guide will give some content to the qualification process to reach finals, as well as providing you with everything you need to know about the upcoming finals.
Gjirafa50 Masters League Season 2 Breakdown
As mentioned, there was a fairly unique format used for this season and we wanted to break that down for you. The Open Qualifier format was the same for all four stages, with eight teams competing during each. The top four teams from each qualifier, qualified for the Online Stage. The Open Qualifiers took place on July 24th, July 25th, July 31st, and August 1st.
The Online Stage was the real grind for teams, and it used a format that CS:GO players and viewers will be incredibly familiar with.
Season 2 Online Stage Format
Group Stage:
- Six single round-robin format Groups
- Each group has 4 teams
- All matches are Bo3
- Winner from each group advance to the Swiss Stage
- The four best runner-ups advance to the Swiss Stage
Swiss Stage:
- 16 Team Swiss System Format
- All matches are Bo3
- Top 8 teams proceed to Playoffs
- Click here for a detailed explanation of the Swiss System format
Playoffs:
- Four Single-Elimination matches
- All matches are Bo3
- Top 4 teams qualify for the LAN Finals
This is where the four teams competing at the Gjirafa50 Masters League Season 2 Finals were confirmed. The 1st-4th place teams that qualified for finals were: Team BLINK, Trasko Esports, AVE, and forZe.
Season 2 LAN Finals Format
This segment is where the event format seems quite unusual compared to other CS:GO events, as it’s not common to have just four teams battling it out over the final weekend. The format as you may expect is relatively simple for this stage of the league:
Playoffs:
- Double-Elimination bracket
- All matches (excl. Grand Final) are Bo3
- Grand Final is Bo5
Teams Competing At Gjirafa50 Masters League Season 2 Finals
We’ve mentioned the four teams that managed to qualify for the finals, but we think it’s worth taking a look at the full rosters to help you get familiar with the players.
| Team | Roster | Coach |
| Team BLINK | SENER1, gxx-, juanflatroo, sinnopsyy, rigoN | stikle- |
| Trasko Esports | 7oX1C, w0nderful, D0NEKO, Templ, fostar | Nevar |
| AVE | svyat, Raijin, waterfaLLZ, Porya, sugaR | starix |
| forZe | Jerry, almazer, FL1T, KENSI, zorte | liTTle |
With events on this level, it’s unlikely to see the names of the superstar players, but that can sometimes be a good thing. Events like this can often offer some of the most insane gameplay, as teams are willing to try out new things to grab attention and catch opponents off guard.
There’s also the chance that these teams, or at least some of the players, will end up qualifying for major events in the future, so watching events like Gjirafa Masters League Season 2 Finals can be beneficial if you want to gain further insight into different teams.
Gjirafa50 Masters League Season 2 Prize Pool
| Place | Prize Amount (€ EUR) |
| 1st | €34,500 |
| 2nd | €13,000 |
| 3rd | €8,000 |
| 4th | €5,500 |
Now, this may not look as appealing as the crazy hundreds of thousands we see at the major events throughout the year, but a €60,000 prize pool for these teams is something all of them will be eager to capitalize on.
What To Expect
While this event should offer some interesting and great gameplay, it seems that most are leaning towards a forZe victory, and there is a good reason for that. Out of the four teams competing, forZe seems to have the most experience at a higher level. Whilst they’re not pushing the big teams at majors yet, there have had their foot in the door a couple of times and can pull from that experience. I would expect to see the grand final be forZe against Team BLINK.
Gjirafa50 Masters League Season 2 Finals Conclusion
If you’re a lover of CS:GO and want to gain some extra knowledge and insight, then this is most definitely an event you should be tuning into, if you have the time. Even if you can’t watch it live, being able to watch the highlights when they’re available would be good. In order to continue to help sustain the esports ecosystem, it’s important to also have support for events like this.
