The Esports Championship Series (“ECS”) returns to the SSE Wembley Arena between the 23rd and 25th June and, as expected, the talent lineup is as impressive as ever.
The press release confirms Rachel “Seltzer” Quirico as Stage Host, with Alex “Machine” Richardson heading up the analyst desk. James “JZFB” Bardolph and Daniel “ddk” Kapadia will be joined by Henry “HenryG” Greer and Anders “Anders” Blume as the two casting duos for the event.
The expert analysis on the desk will be provided by none other than Duncan “Thorin” Shields, Janko “YNk” Paunovic, Tomi “Lurppis” Kovanen and Sam “DaZeD” Marine.
As per the recent broadcasting deal, the finals with be livestreamed on FACEIT’s YouTube channel. The total prize money up for grabs is a whopping $660,000, with the winners taking home $250,000 between them. There’s four European representatives and four North American, meaning the world’s best will lock horns for some more phenomenal Counter-Strike action across a busy weekend.
The European side particularly looks impressively competitive. The four teams representing Europe contain: the most recent ELEAGUE Major winners Astralis; recent StarLadder iLeague Starseries Season 3 champions FaZe and Fnatic. Whilst currently unconfirmed, it looks likely that G2 Esports will be the fourth team to make it to the finals and after their win at the ESL Pro League in Dallas, it would take a brave man to bet against the Frenchmen making it to Wembley.
Meanwhile in North America, SK Gaming, Cloud9 and OpTic Gaming have all confirmed their attendance with Immortals or Team Liquid likely to be final team heading to Wembley to compete for their share of the mammoth prize pool.
Esports Insider says: A great talent lineup for what’s shaping up to be a great event. Whilst G2 played some exemplary CS:GO out in Dallas to take the title, it’ll be great to see the big boys Astralis and FaZe back in action. Add to that SK who will be looking to notch another championship and the UK should be treated to a fantastic weekend of Counter-Strike.
