Tournament organiser ESL FACEIT Group and technology company Intel have announced the Intel Grand Slam will continue in Counter-Strike 2.
The new Intel Grand Slam — now in its fifth edition — will start with IEM Rio 2023 and will include events in both CS: GO and CS 2. This means that a team can win the Grand Slam with victories across both games.
The Intel Grand Slam is a cash reward to the first team that wins four consecutive large-scale events organised by ESL during a window of 10 consecutive events. The wins must also include either IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne, or a CS:GO Major operated by ESL.
The Grand Slam awards a $1m (~£810,000) prize to the team that manages to complete the feat and also awards $100,000 (~£80,000) to a team that denies another team their final victory towards the Intel Grand Slam by defeating them in a grand final. This, however, has not yet been awarded in the history of the award.
The money is also not awarded to the organisation, with the $1m going directly to the team’s players that achieved the feat. The first four Intel Grand Slams were won by Astralis, Team Liquid, Natus Vincere and FaZe Clan, with FaZe being the latest to win it in late March 2023.
What makes this edition more interesting is the fact that it will be the first time the award will include Counter-Strike 2 tournaments.
Judging by the fact that CS2 is set to release in the summer of 2023, and the fact that the Grand Slam seasons tend to last long, the new winners of the Grand Slam may need to win in CS:GO and CS2 events to get their hands on the cash prize.
