Team Envy revealed as 7th founding member of Flashpoint, 3 more remain

Team Envy has announced that it is a part of North American franchised Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league Flashpoint.

Team Envy joins Cloud9, MiBR, Gen.G, MAD Lions, Dignitas, and c0ntact Gaming as founding members of Flashpoint. As with these teams, Envy is a partial owner of the league and is a part of its revenue-sharing program. The league’s debut season is slated to kick off in May.

“We’re excited about the future of competitive Counter-Strike. Team Envy has been a fixture in the game for five years. With a new roster and a new home for our team in FLASHPOINT to start 2020, we expect to write the next chapter in our Counter-Strike legacy for Envy fans everywhere,” said Envy Owner and CEO Mike Rufail.

Flashpoint’s founding member designation comes with a $2 million buy-in alongside a bevy of rules and restrictions similar to those of its main competitor, ESL Pro League. EPL also announced that its participating teams had negotiated an ownership stake in ESL’s main league offering in February.

ESL and Flashpoint square off as May start dates near

The two rival tournament organizers have engaged in a war of words following weeks of posturing in an attempt to sway fans to their side. Despite Valve’s ruling on exclusivity inside the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament circuit, both leagues have made moves to undermine the other, using scheduling to prevent member teams and talent from participating in both leagues simultaneously.

At the moment, ESL Pro League holds a clear advantage when it comes to participating teams, while Flashpoint has said that it will offer fans a production the likes of which they have never seen before.

Earlier this week, Flashpoint representative Christopher “MonteCristo” Kjell Mykles guest-starred on an episode of esports journalist Richard Lewis’ podcast to talk about what Flashpoint will offer fans.

“We have to be unusual and surprising in good ways that make it so [Flashpoint is] ‘can’t miss TV’… we’ll have an atmosphere that is more attractive to the hardcore esports fans,” said MonteChristo.

Both Flashpoint and ESL Pro League are set to start in May. It will be a tough choice for fans of competitive Counter-Strike, but MonteCristo seemed resolved when speaking to this point during the podcast with Lewis.

“I’m not saying, ‘Don’t watch EPL,’ they’re going to have some great games by all means. But come to BLAST and Flashpoint with an open mind,” he said.

There are only three spots left for potential teams to join Flashpoint.