The complete viewer’s guide for CS Summit 5

CS Summit 5 is approaching quickly and there’s a lot to look forward to for Counter-Strike fans.

Hosted by Beyond the Summit, CS Summit is a spinoff of BTS’s popular set of Dota 2 tournaments. It’s unlike any other tournament in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive circuit. Talent and players mingle and eat lunch in the background while games are casted by players from a comfortable couch.

The relaxed atmosphere is a big draw for fans. It’s common for top pro players to grab a drink out of the fridge in the background and decide to sit in on a cast or two. CS Summit’s loose atmosphere gives fans a look behind the scenes and into the past before esports became such serious business.

The competition, however, is still as real as it gets.

CS Summit 5 date and format

CS Summit 5 kicks off on December 12 and runs through December 15. It features six teams including MIBR, FURIA eSports, G2 Esports, mousesports, and Virtus.Pro. The recently revealed OG CSGO team will also attend.

BTS toyed with its traditional format at CS Summit 4 after keeping the same one for its first three tournaments. The changes worked well at the last summit event, so it’s likely that CS Summit 5’s format will look similar.

Fans should expect a best-of-one, double round robin group format. Each of the six teams play each other twice, and the top four teams advance to the playoffs.

If BTS sticks with the CS Summit 4 format, CS Summit 5’s playoff format will be as simple as it gets. All games are best-of-three, single-elimination matches. If a team loses, they’re out. 

•  Group Stage Double round robin
• Each match is a best-of-three
• Each team plays one another twice
• Top four teams advance
• Single elimination playoff bracket
• Every game is a best-of-three
• A team is eliminated if they lose one match
• CS Summit 5’s grand final is expected to be a best-of-three

Previous CS Summits used a best-of-five grand final and gave the upper bracket winner an automatic map advantage. In other words, the team with the best record would start the grand final with 1-0 lead over their opponents. CS Summit 4 ditched that format, and it’s unlikely that fans will see it here.

As for the schedule, fans should expect it as soon as BTS announces the unknown sixth team.

MIBR and mousesports are top dogs at CS Summit 5

MIBR and mousesports are the front runners to take home a win at CS Summit 5, especially considering their opposition. Both have performed above expectations recently, with MIBR making a good effort against Fnatic at the ECS Season 8 Finals and mousesports winning the CSGO Asia Championships.

Mousesports has finally started to settle after adding in-game leader Finn “karrigan” Andersen in March. Their play style looks tight and controlled, and karrigan has adjusted his own style to meet his players in the middle. With their recent finishes and karrigan’s strong leadership, mousesports come into CS Summit 5 as early favorites.

MIBR looked strong at the ECS Season 8 Finals, but they couldn’t overcome Fnatic in an unlucky double draw. That said, Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and company swept Sharks Esports, a team that took Astralis to overtime on Nuke at ECS.  It’s possible that FalleN’s ECS decision to take over AWPing duties has revitalized the team’s play. That’s a good sign for a team that hasn’t made a grand finals in almost a year.

FURIA Esports is still the second-best team from Brazil, but the past few months haven’t been kind to them. They consistently take home top spots at smaller tournaments, but struggle under the spotlight.

They did finish third at StarSeries & i-League Season 8, so there’s still potential for success. In a relaxed tournament setting, Furia could thrive.

The new G2 team performed well immediately after ditching its all-French lineup by adding two players from CR4ZY, but the team has cooled off thoroughly since then. Most of its losses have come from top competition, which leaves the team’s ceiling open for debate.

The Virtus.pro team its fans knew is now dead. Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski is the only remaining member of the formerly great team, and the results show it. The team has struggled to qualify for top-level tournaments and its only first-place finish in recent years has been the regional Polska Liga Esportowa S5 Grupa Mistrzowska.

As for the sixth team, BTS and CS Summit is being coy about their identity, but there is an interesting theory.

CS Summit 5 could be OG Esports’ CSGO debut

When BTS announced the teams for CS Summit 5, the tournament organizer announced five of the six teams and left the last team a secret. Since then, the CS Summit Twitter account has posted cryptic tweets about the unannounced sixth spot.

“We have exactly 2 weeks until all the shenanigans unfold at the CS Summit 5! What team are you guys excited to see and who do you think the mystery team will be,” CS Summit said on Twitter.

The tweet indicates that the reveal won’t be just an everyday team. With that in mind, there’s an unannounced organization expected to enter CSGO very soon. That organization is OG. CS Summit would be the perfect event for OG to unveil the worst kept CSGO secret this fall.

It’s looking clear that OG will announce the team soon. On November 5, “OG CSGO” appeared as a registered trademark in Denmark under the OG brand. Additionally, several high profile free agents like Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and Nathan “NBK” Schmit have seemingly come off of the free agent pool.

CS Summit 5 is the perfect event to unveil an OG CSGO squad rumored to be stacked with talent. All the top teams will either be in Bahrain for the BLAST Global Finals or preparing for the following week’s EPICENTER Moscow. The quality of competition and the low key atmosphere is the perfect way to introduce a team that is rumored to have a loaded roster. If it’s OG, there’s a chance they could actually win the tournament.

CS Summit 5 couch talent features HenryG, Machine, SPUNJ

As a fan, watching a BTS Summit tournament for the first time can be an interesting experience. Casters, hosts, and players all mingle on a giant couch, often shoeless and rarely talking about the match going on in front of them.

In fact, it’s more like watching a game with friends than watching an actual tournament, but that’s what makes the Summit series unique.

BTS has chosen a range of talent for their fifth summit ranging from long-time hosts to ex-pros. Here’s the full list of talent at CS Summit 5.

• Henry “HenryG” Greer
• Alex “Machine” Richardson
• Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill
• Tres “stunna”  Saranthus
• Sean “seang@res”  Gares
• Halvor “vENdetta” Gulestøl

That’s a packed lineup. Not only has Summit picked some fantastic talent, they also have two of the best observers in the world in David “prius” Kuntz and Heather “SapphiRe” Garozzo to catch all of the action.

With only eleven days to go until CS Summit 5, the event is already shaping up as another fantastic edition of Beyond the Summit’s CSGO series.