CCT Studio Finals to be played online after all

As per the recent announcement, the Champion of Champions Tour will convert the 10 remaining $100,000 studio finals into five $200,000 online events.

Esports data platform GRID has announced major adjustments to the ongoing Champion of Champions Tour. Among the changes to the series, the biggest is that the remaining 10 Studio Finals events will be replaced by five Online Finals, each with prize money increased to $200,000. The total prize pool of $1 million remains.

More teams to participate

Organizers have explained that the changes were made in response to teams’ “busy travel and event schedules” and to “allow more teams to compete in the high-stakes events.”

A consequence of the change is that the upcoming CCT South America Studio Final, which was scheduled to take place in the first quarter of 2023, will instead be merged with the next online final.

The first and only CCT Studio Final was held in Malta in February, featuring eight CS:GO teams in a $100,000 LAN event. The title went to Eternal Fire, who defeated Bad News Eagles in the Grand Final on three maps.

The Turkish squad have complained about a busy schedule during their time in Malta, having to compete in both the CCT Central Europe Finals and the BLAST.tv Paris Major Europe RMR Closed Qualifiers.

16 teams at the online final

GRID has also announced changes in the composition of the Online Finals, which now consist of 16 teams. Two regions can qualify for the $200,000 tournament, with each region sending the three teams that finished on the podium in their respective online cups. These teams will be joined by another 10 teams that have received a direct invitation to the tournament.

The first date for the first online tournament has already been announced — it will run from May 23-30, while the dates for the other four events will be announced in due coursehigh.

Eternal Fire — the only CCT LAN winners

As the only CCT LAN winners, Eternal Fire have claimed the inaugural CCT Central Europe Malta Finals back in February. They narrowly defeated against Bad News Eagles 2-1 (16:12 Overpass, 9:16 Mirage, 19:16 Vertigo) in the Grand Final. The Turkish team first lost to the Kosovians in the Upper Bracket Final and had to prevail against ENCE in the decisive match in order to claim their Grand Final spot along with a chance for revenge.