ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 preview

Eight of the top Counter-Strike teams will compete over three days for the US$100,000 prize pool in the ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023, which began today at DreamHack Melbourne.

The ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 kicked off today with exciting matchups between the eight of the finest CS:GO teams. The competition will take place over the course of the weekend, with the playoffs scheduled on Sunday. As a part of the DreamHack Melbourne Festival, the event will be contested over LAN at the renowned Margaret Court Arena in Olympic Parks, a multi-purpose stadium situated in Melbourne, Australia. The winner of the ESL Challenger Melbourne will also receive a direct entrance to the ESL Pro League Conference Season 18 in addition to a huge chunk of the $100,000 USD total prize pool.

ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 Format

Group Stage

• There are two groups of four teams each made up of the eight competing teams.
• Both groups will compete in a GSL-style format similar to ESL challenger Melbourne 2022. 
• Opening and group stage matchups are best-of-one affairs, whereas elimination and decider matchups are best-of-three affairs.
• Each group’s top two teams advance to the playoff round.

Playoffs

• Four teams from the group stage will compete in the playoff round.
• Every game will be a best-of-three series and will follow a single-elimination format.
• The winner of the grand final, which is scheduled for Sunday, will take home the bulk of the prize money and a direct entry spot in the EPL Conference S18.

Participating teams

Eight teams will compete in the ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023, with three receiving direct invites based on their ESL Global Rankings and four qualifying through regional qualifiers. The last participating team in the event, Grayhound Gaming, received a Local Hero Invite. Furthermore, Movistar Riders had been given TheMongolz’s spot after the Mongolian CS:GO squad withdrew from the competition.

• Grayhound
• Complexity Gaming
• ECSTATIC
• Evil Geniuses Black 
• Movistar Riders
• Bad News Eagles
• Rare Atom
• VERTEX Esports Club 

Favorites for the ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023

While all the competing team has both the potential and fire to become the champions, there are a few teams that wage stronger than the other given their past performances. The Group A favorites going into the competition are probably Complexity and Grayhound. Movistar Rider is the clear favorite for Group B despite some concern following the significant team shuffle that took place before the new season. Nonetheless, considering the skill of the competing teams, the tournament will definitely be going at a furious pace with surprises and chills hiding around every corner.

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