【Randy Spears Archives】

The Randy Spears Archivesnext Counter-Strike: Global OffensiveMajor Championship is coming to the U.S. for the second time and being held by one of the newest names in the tournament-organizing game: ELeague.

The ELeague Major Championship will feature 16 of the best teams in CS:GOand run from Jan. 22-29 in Atlanta. The champions will receive the majority of the $1 million prize pool.

CS:GOMajor Championships are a step above any other CS:GOtournament, pitting the top eight teams called "Legends" from the previous Major against eight "Challengers" that make it through qualifiers. Majors are sponsored by developers Valve and are considered to be top-tier tournaments.

ELeague's Major Championship will be the 10th Major in CS:GOhistory and the first Major of 2017. The previous Major was ESL One Cologne in July, where SK Gaming took first place over Team Liquid.

The Legends at the ELeague Major will be SK Gaming, Team Liquid, Virtus.pro (ELeague Season 1 champions), Fnatic, Astralis, FlipSid3 Tactics, Natus Vincere and Gambit Gaming. The eight other teams from ESL One Cologne will compete against teams that have performed well in Regional Minor Championships for the eight remaining Challenger spots. The qualifiers take place in Atlanta Dec. 15-18.

All of the action will be streamed live on Twitch and the grand final will be broadcast live on TBS on Sunday, Jan. 29.

The start of the ELeague Major comes less than a year after ELeague's first season of CS:GO, which ran in June and July. ELeague is only the fourth tournament organizer to host a CS:GO Major, the others being ESL, DreamHack and MLG.

Tickets are on sale for the final three days of the ELeague Major, taking place at the Fox Theater in downtown Atlanta.

ELeague is owned by Turner Broadcasting, which also is an investor in Mashable.

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