Earlier this week, the schedule for the StarLadder CIS ranked tournament was announced, and the group lineup was released. The competition will run from June 27 through July 4. Ten teams will start their journey to the finals, which will be divided into two groups. They will compete for the playoffs in a round-robin format, playing to two wins. In the next stage, the leaders of each group will compete to get to the grand finals, and those who take the third place in both groups will fight for the fifth place.
Interestingly, Natus Vincere and Gambit, two teams that are currently at the top of the world rankings and recently made it to the BLAST Premier Spring Final, found themselves in the same group. The match against each other will be played on the last day of the group stage – before that both teams will meet Akuma, forZe and Nemiga. The leader of Group B can be called Virtus.pro. Spirit and Entropiq will try to compete with them, as well as two lesser-known teams from Kazakhstan – K23 and 100PG.
The group stage will take place from June 27 to July 1, followed by playoff matches, and the grand final will take place on July 4. The first place team will receive $40,000 and 2,000 ranking points. Those in places up to fifth will also be able to count on a cash prize and ranking points, while the rest will receive only relatively small payments.