ESL reveals future of Intel Grand Slam V

After FaZe Clan lifted the champion’s trophy in ESL Pro League S17 and claimed the Intel Grand Slam S4, many in the community began to wonder what the future of the prize would be in its fifth season. In addition, the arrival of CS2 also opened the door for many questions that had undoubtedly not yet been adequately answered.

However, in the last few hours, ESL revealed the future of Intel Grand Slam V through an official statement on its blog. Remember that this will be season 5 of this prize, awarded to the team that manages to win three EPL Masters and an event that is part of the ESL Pro Tour Championship.

ESL unveils the future of Intel Grand Slam S5

Intel Grand Slam Season 5 is underway and officially starts with IEM Rio 2023. From now on, the team that manages to win the four events described above in 10 tournaments will win the juicy $1,000,000 prize, just as FaZe Clan did several weeks ago.

ESL, in charge of organizing and delivering this prize, has announced that CS:GO achievements from IEM Rio 2023 onwards will be moved towards CS2 when official tournaments start to be organized.

ESL’s official press release highlights that, from the moment CS2 launches and the EPT circuit begins to be implemented, all victories in the current CS:GO will be part of the Intel Grand Slam Season 5. In addition, it is highlighted that teams can complete the prize with wins in CS:GO and CS2.

Undoubtedly, the Intel Grand Slam is the prize that every professional CS:GO player wants to win at least once in their career. In addition to the $1M prize, it rewards a team’s consistency and performance over ten tournaments, i.e. the best team in the world in a given period.

FaZe Clan claimed this award after winning the ESL Pro League S15 and S17, IEM Katowice, and IEM Cologne.

In addition to the above, the ESL publishes some guidelines for Intel Grand Slam Season 5:

• Season 4 results do not count for Season 5.
• Teams must maintain a core of three players to be eligible to win the Intel Grand Slam.
• If a player is moved to another team and his former team wins the Intel Grand Slam, he will not receive prize money
• If a team is close to completing the Intel Grand Slam and defeated in a grand final, the opposing team will take home $100,000 for the “giant killer bonus” prize.

The Intel Grand Slam is here to stay

The ESL implemented this award starting in 2017, and, of course, the most successful team in the CS:GO era, Astralis, was the first to win it in 2018. But, then, Team Liquid was on top for less than four months and, in that time, won all four tournaments necessary to win the award in the second season.

Finally, in the third season, NaVi took the prize after winning IEM Cologne, DreamHack Masters Spring 2021, ESL Pro League S14, and IEM XIV – World Championship.

There is no concrete information about when ESL will transition to CS2. We are left to enjoy our beloved CS:GO until the end of the competitive scene.

Header: ESL