The elusive “B Site” league has officially been announced as FLASHPOINT, a new, team-owned CS:GO tournament circuit produced by FACEIT. The league takes on a unique format, with ten teams buying-in as founding members. FLASHPOINT will offer over $2 million in prize money across two seasons in 2020, with the inaugural season set to begin in March.
Cloud9, MIBR, Dignitas, Gen.G, c0ntact, and MAD Lions are the six teams confirmed to join FLASHPOINT as founding members, with four more partnered teams yet to be revealed. Each of the founding partners were required to pay a $2 million buy-in to join the league, and will be included in the league's revenue share model. The two additional teams will join FLASHPOINT through an open qualifier circuit. The qualified teams will not be required to pay an entry free, and will also not receive revenue share.
The FLASHPOINT league will not follow a typical league format, instead utilizing a tournament-like circuit. The participating teams will be seeded from 1-12, with the top three teams being randomly placed into Groups A, B, and C. Group A’s top seed will then choose one team from the remaining pool to join their group, with that process continuing through each group. The most recently chosen team from each group will choose the next team to join until no teams remain.
The three teams chosen last will be allowed to propose a team swap, either swapping any two teams between groups, or switching the seeding of any two teams within a group and changing the first-round match-ups. Swaps between teams may be vetoed by the three highest-seeded teams, while swaps within groups are not subject to veto. This group selection process will be done on a live broadcast, allowing for “banter” between teams.
Each group will then compete in a GSL double-elimination group stage, with each match being a best-of-three. This entire process is repeated after Phase 1, making for two Phases of group stage play each season. Teams will be awarded “play-off points” based on their group stage performances, with first place earning 75 points, second earning 50, third earning 30, and fourth earning 15. The top eight teams at the end of the regular season will advance to the play-offs, while the bottom four are eliminated. The eight play-off teams will compete in a best-of-three double-elimination bracket to find the season champion.
The league's on-air talent was revealed last month, and includes a number of well-known CS:GO figures. James Bardolph, Daniel "ddk" Kapadia, and Anders Blume will be featured on broadcast, among others. Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat makes his official CS:GO return, while former Overwatch commentator Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles makes his first venture into the game. FLASHPOINT Creative Director Duncan "Thorin" Shields will also be featured on-air.
FLASHPOINT reportedly takes inspiration from the UFC and WWE, and aims to become an esports league “for adults.” The league will compete over two seasons in 2020, offering over $2 million in prizes. FLASHPOINT’s open qualifiers begin on February 6th, and will culminate in a global LAN qualifier beginning on March 3rd.