CS:GO, LoL and Dota2: who will grab massive prizes?

LoL, Dota2 and CS:GO are absolute esports favorites. As we near the end of 2022, the pro teams have been hard at work, finessing their skills to a point that would leave any potential contender to dust. The start of November brings us the season finals and it’s about time to review which teams have their eyes on the prize.

Still on top: League of Legends

League of Legends, more commonly known as LoL, remains the most popular esports game of all time that has a tournament history of more than 12 years. Throughout the season, two tournaments stand out from the rest: MSI and the Worlds. The latter is the conclusion of the 2022 LoL esports season and will reach the Grand Finals on Nov 5th, played out live in San Francisco, unlike CS:GO, where many competitions are played from the comfort of one’s own home.

A whopping prize pool of $2,200,000

As the season concludes, the LoL World Championships also fittingly bring about the biggest prize pool and the bragging rights as the best team in the world.  

At this stage, the Asian teams are dominating the line-up. T1, from South Korea, is currently considered the best team in the world. The team’s performance has been nearly flawless this season.

In the upcoming Semi-Finals, T1 will go against JD Gaming and the other match-up sees Gen.G taking on DRX. OlyBet experts see Gen.G and T1 to be the favorites, who are likely to advance to the Finals. 

To qualify for the Worlds in the first place, you have to conquer your domestic league. In Europe the LEC, in South Korea the LCK and in North America the LCS, respectively. Whereas the North American league is a bit behind the others as far as skill is concerned, they make up for it with massive sponsorships and big crowds.

Wait, what is LoL?

League of Legends is a 5v5 game, where your team’s main task is to conquer the opposition’s base. While CS:GO is more focused on aiming, shooting and quick reaction time, then LoL places more importance on having a solid strategy. An especially important phase of the game is the pick and ban, where you select and eliminate champions. 

The teams play a best of 5 in one Worlds’ match, meaning they need 3 wins to get the W. Each match-up is played on the same map, yet the champions differ. The Champions are distributed in 5 lanes: top lane, mid lane, bottom lane (2) and the jungle. The latter supports others and spends most of their time in the jungle. You can pick any of the 159 champions for your lane, yet it’s wise to choose from a certain selection if you wish to win.

CS:GO and the BLAST Premier final

CS:GO or Counter Strike Global Offensive is loved by many and the BLAST is a “must watch” tournament. As November rolls around, we are heading towards the BLAST Fall Final, where 8 teams gather in Copenhagen and after that, the World Final awaits, in December, in Abu Dhabi. 

We don’t know all the teams that will qualify for Abu Dhabi, but the Copenhagen line-up is set: FaZe, Liquid, Natus Vincere, G2, Ninjas in Pyjamas, OG, Heroic and Fluxo. The winning team will bag $200,000, the runner-up $85,000, and of course, guaranteed spots in the World Finals.

BLAST Premier World final – $1,000,000 prize pool 

The Blast Premier season will reach a conclusion just before Christmas, between the 14th and 18th of December, where 8 teams will play for a $1,000,000 prize pool. Three are already confirmed: Vitality, FaZe and Natus Vincere. The 5 remaining spots are still up for grabs.

IEM Rio Major

Whereas the BLAST series has separate qualifiers for Europe and the States, in IEM teams across the world go head-to-head right from the get-go. 

IEM Rio Major Challenger results are already in and 8 teams advance to the finals. The line-up consists of 16 teams: Vitality, Cloud9, Outsiders, FURIA, MOUZ, OG, BIG, fnatic, Imperial, Evil Geniuses, Bad News Eagles, 00NATION, 9z, GamerLegion, Greyhound and IHC.

It’s vital for teams to perform well, as the first 8 teams get a chance to participate in the IEM Rio Major 2022 Legends, for a prize pool of $1,200,000. The remaining teams will each receive $10,000 for their efforts.

The tournament series will culminate in the first weeks of November, when 16 teams will travel to Brazil, for the IEM Rio Major 2022. Again, we can enjoy the likes of Faze, Liquid, Natus Vincere, Heroic, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Spirit, ENCE and Sprout displaying their skills and prowess. Who can handle the nerves in front of a live stadium crowd? We’ll find out soon enough.

These tournaments are all about excitement and high stakes as they are played in a BO1 (Best of 1) format, meaning the first team to get a win, advances. This means upsets are very likely and even the potentially weaker teams have a chance of winning.

Wait again, what is CS:GO?

CS:GO is the world’s most popular first-person shooter game, where two teams go head to head: terrorists against counter-terrorists. Teams tackle different maps and the overall goal for the terrorists is to detonate their explosives in one of two locations. The counter-terrorists aim to prevent the terrorists from achieving that goal by disarming the bomb. Both teams will also win if they eliminate all opposing players. 

Dota 2: The International & $1,600,000

The third highly popular game, Dota 2, is quite similar to LoL, whereas of course the maps and characters differ.

For Dota 2 fans, the season is slowly moving towards the final in Singapore, with The International 2022 just before it. Currently, we are in the phase of playing brackets, with teams such as EG, TA, Secret, PSG, Hokori, BC, Tspirit, BOOM, Fnatic, GG, RNG, Entity, Tundra, OG, Liquid and Aster going after the $1,600,000 prize pool. The tournament is played in BO3 (Best of 3) format. 

These are the most important esports event of the autumn that’ll also bring the 2022 season to a close. After all is said and done, the teams will gather to revise their strategies and already start preparing for the next season. Keep an eye on the results and see the favorites at the OlyBet sportsbook.