FISSURE Playground #1 is an A-tier CS2 tournament scheduled to take place in Belgrade, Serbia between July 16 – 20. The event features 16 teams and offers $450.000 in prize money.
The world’s top 5 teams will not compete in the tournament but numerous other teams from the top 20 will. This situation makes it possible for the likes of FURIA, Virtus.pro, paiN Gaming, and Astralis to obtain a great result and gain confidence ahead of the upcoming S-tier events, such as IEM Cologne and Esports World Cup.
Format
FISSURE Playground #1 uses a very inclusive format. Quite often, CS2 events throw eight strong teams in one group and give just three of them the possibility to advance to the playoffs.
But here, there are four groups of four teams, and half of the participants from each group advance to the playoffs. The double-elimination format combined with best-of-three matches makes it easier for the strongest teams to qualify.
In the playoffs, the single-elimination format will be used. Every match is best-of-three apart from the Grand Final.
Competitors and Favorites
Here are the 16 teams that will compete in FISSURE Playground #1:
Group A
- GamerLegion
- SAW
- FURIA
- Wildcard
The favorites in this group are FURIA and Wildcard. Both teams played in the Austin Major. FURIA finished 5th – 8th while Wildcard finished 25th – 27th.
Group B
- 3DMAX
- PaiN Gaming
- Rare Atom
- Lynn Vision Gaming
For paiN Gaming and 3DMAX, this group should be easy. Both of these teams are much stronger than the other two competitors. At the Austin Major, they finished 3rd – 4th at 12th – 14th respectively.
Group C
- Virtus.pro
- Astralis
- MIBR
- TYLOO
VP and Astralis are the two big favorites in group C. MIBR could easily cause an upset here but they will need to play their A-game.
Group D
- Complexity
- HEROIC
- BIG
- BetBoom Team
This is the most uncertain group of the four. HEROIC and BetBoom seem to be the favorites but their playoff spots are not guaranteed.
