ESL Impact Season 4 LAN Finals viewer guide

ESL Impact Season 4 LAN Finals start tomorrow in Valencia. After the most competitive regional season yet, North America has already suffered a blow even before the games began. Nonetheless, the Americas teams, alongside the Asian team of HSG fe, will be fighting for more than just the trophy. Just a week ago, ESL Impact announced changes to the slot distribution for the 2024 schedule, with the Americas losing spots, and Asia and Oceania losing everything by the end of the year.

Dates and Format

The ESL Impact Season 4 LAN Finals start tomorrow, at 05:00AM, with Nigma Galaxy taking on HSG fe in a Bo1. The event will run throughout the weekend, ending Sunday, December 10th. The event is divided into two stages: the group stage features two groups with four teams each and follows the GSL format, where the opening and winners' matches are Bo1 and the elimination and decider matches are Bo3; the playoffs are a single-elimination bracket where the top two teams from each group will meet.

The Groups

The Stories

In a more general picture, coming into the finals, the Americas and Asia come with a chip on their shoulders after seeing spots being taken away from them to give more chances to European teams. The Europeans have to prove their favoritism and have just one of them failing to qualify for playoffs would show that ESL's decision is not the correct one.

Particularly, FlyQuest RED have a golden opportunity to take the crown from Nigma Galaxy after the change from CS:GO to CS2. The North American team has had a comfortable season, both in terms of level of play and organizational, well, organization.

For Shimmer, though, things turned a bit bleak after night fell in Valencia. The team went to Spain with hopes of shocking their opponents, but a last-minute injury has thrown a wrench in the works of the only team to reach these LAN Finals twice without organizational support. Abigail "abby" Deters has fractured her wrist in Valencia and the team is actively looking for an emergency substitute. This definitely brings down the team's morale.

The Prizepool

Alongside the prestige of winning the first Impact LAN in CS2, teams will be competing for the following prizes:

• 1st - $50,000

• 2nd - $25,000

• 3rd/4th - $13,000

• 5th/6th - $7,000

• 7th/8th - $3,000