Fans will be treated to a stacked slate of live Counter-Strike action when ELEAGUE hosts four of the world’s best CS:GO teams – Astralis, Natus Vincere, Team Liquid & mousesports – competing for a one-million-dollar purse in the final weekend of its CS:GO Premier 2018 from ELEAGUE Arena in Atlanta. The event’s best-of-three, single-elimination playoffs will start when Astralis faces mousesports, Saturday, July 28, at 2 p.m. ET, with live coverage continuing throughout the day via the ELEAGUETV Twitch channel and B/R Live, Turner’s premium live sports steaming service.
The CS:GO Premier 2018 will culminate Sunday, July 29, at 2 p.m. with a single best-of-three match between the two teams to advance from the semifinals. The winning team will be crowned ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 Champion and receive the $500,000 first prize.
Live coverage of this weekend’s playoffs will also be provided through ELEAGUE’s award-winning Game Commandmosaic video player, which gives viewers access to thousands of in-game viewing angles. A multi-part feature series revisiting the tournament’s best moments will be televised beginning Friday, Aug. 24, on TBS.
Playoffs Bracket
Tournament Storylines
- Era for the Taking
Denmark’s Astralis has enjoyed a long run atop the world rankings alongside a cluster of notable tournament finishes. After a recent high-profile loss to Natus Vincere in the ESL One Cologne semifinals, the burden is once again theirs to prove they are still the best on the planet. An ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 title would help cement the past year as the “Astralis Era” of Counter-Strike. - “S1mply” Born to Win
Natus Vincere – whose team name translates to “born to win” – will look to 20-year-old Ukrainian prodigy Oleksandr “S1mple” Kostyliev to ensure the storied team can stay relevant against the world’s best competition at ELEAGUE. Per RightEye, S1mple boasts an in-game reaction time of 299 milliseconds – more than 20 milliseconds faster than the average person. - Liquid Horsepower
Team Liquid and Cloud9 have traditionally traded the top spot in North American Counter-Strike. Cloud9 capped off an historic run with the ELEAGUE Major: Boston title in January, but has since entered a rebuilding phase – clearing the path for Team Liquid to become “best in the West” by collecting its first-ever ELEAGUE trophy at the 2018 Premier.
