Elisa Masters Espoo viewer's guide

HLTV.org has created a comprehensive viewer's guide ahead of the start of the $200,000 Finnish LAN event.

Elisa Masters Espoo, one of the first events following the conclusion of the IEM Rio Major, begins on Wednesday. The Finnish LAN will be live from November 16-20 and play host to 12 teams, all fighting for a chance to take home the lion's share of the $200,000 prize pool as well as a spot at the IEM Katowice 2023 Play-In.

The tournament will split the 12 squads into two groups of six, where they will do battle in a best-of-one, round-robin group stage. From there, the top three teams from each group will proceed to the single-elimination, best-of-three playoff stage, starting from either the quarter-finals or semi-finals depending on their group-stage placements.

Headlining the event are fnatic, who make the journey to Finland fresh off their appearance at the IEM Rio Major. The team around William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman are the highest-ranked team at the tournament, and surpassed all expectations at the Major in Brazil.

They finished their run in 5-8th place after making it all the way to the playoffs, where they were finally stopped by the eventual winners, Outsiders. Elisa Masters Espoo offers the European combine a perfect chance to end the year on a high, as the Finnish event is currently scheduled to be fnatic's final competition of 2022.

Joining fnatic in Espoo are a handful of other teams who also attended the Major in Brazil, namely ENCE, BIG — who will be playing with Josef "⁠faveN⁠" Baumann in lieu of Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische — Bad News Eagles, Sprout, and GamerLegion.

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faveN to step in for syrsoN at Elisa Masters Espoo

Astralis will make their last tournament appearance of the season at Elisa Masters Espoo. The four-time Major-winning organisation will be looking to end 2022 on a high note after a year that has been nothing short of disappointing, reaching its apex when Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander's troops failed to qualify for the IEM Rio Major — the organisation's first ever absence from a Valve-sponsored event.

What's more, the Danish roster will also be competing in the Finnish event without Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz on the team sheet, with academy player Kristoffer "⁠Kristou⁠" Aamand standing in for the 27-year-old sniper.

The team list for Elisa Masters Espoo is as follows:

The 12-team LAN competition will commence on November 16, spanning five days with the grand final being held on Sunday, November 20. The first two days will be held in a closed studio environment, with the playoffs taking place on stage at the Espoo Metro Arena.

The schedule for the event is as follows:

Wednesday, November 16

Date	Matches
Elisa Masters Espoo 2022
16/11/2022	BIG 10:00 HEET	Match
16/11/2022	GamerLegion 10:00 HAVU	Match
16/11/2022	ENCE 11:55 HAVU	Match
16/11/2022	Sprout 12:10 HEET	Match
16/11/2022	BIG 13:55 Sprout	Match
16/11/2022	ENCE 13:55 GamerLegion	Match
16/11/2022	BIG 15:30 HAVU	Match
16/11/2022	GamerLegion 15:30 HEET	Match
16/11/2022	BIG 17:10 GamerLegion	Match
16/11/2022	ENCE 17:10 Sprout	Match
16/11/2022	Sprout 18:50 HAVU	Match
16/11/2022	ENCE 18:50 HEET	Match
16/11/2022	Sprout 20:45 GamerLegion	Match
16/11/2022	ENCE 20:45 BIG	Match
16/11/2022	HEET 23:05 HAVU	Match

Thursday, November 17

Date	Matches
Elisa Masters Espoo 2022
17/11/2022	Bad News Eagles 10:00 SAW	Match
17/11/2022	Complexity 10:00 500	Match
17/11/2022	Astralis 11:30 SAW	Match
17/11/2022	fnatic 11:40 500	Match
17/11/2022	Bad News Eagles 13:20 Astralis	Match
17/11/2022	fnatic 13:20 Complexity	Match
17/11/2022	Complexity 14:30 SAW	Match
17/11/2022	Bad News Eagles 15:10 500	Match
17/11/2022	fnatic 16:05 Astralis	Match
17/11/2022	Bad News Eagles 16:10 Complexity	Match
17/11/2022	Astralis 18:00 500	Match
17/11/2022	fnatic 18:20 SAW	Match
17/11/2022	Astralis 20:25 Complexity	Match
17/11/2022	fnatic 20:25 Bad News Eagles	Match
17/11/2022	SAW 22:30 500	Match

Friday, November 18

Date	Matches
Elisa Masters Espoo 2022
18/11/2022	BIG 15:40 500	Match
18/11/2022	ENCE 19:15 Astralis	Match

Saturday, November 19

Date	Matches
Elisa Masters Espoo 2022
19/11/2022	Sprout 15:50 BIG	Match
19/11/2022	fnatic 20:25 Astralis	Match

Sunday, November 20

Date	Matches
Elisa Masters Espoo 2022
20/11/2022	BIG 18:00 fnatic	Match

Broadcast talent

A total of 13 talent members will guide viewers through the action, split between the arena phase, which will be played behind closed doors, and the playoffs. Pala "⁠Pala⁠" Gilroy Sen will head up the stage, whilst Anastasija "⁠Heccu⁠" Tolmačeva will be dishing out the questions to the teams and players in attendance.

The full broadcast lineup is as follows:

Group stage

Ryan "ReTr00" Bernard - Caster
Teodor "Tedd" Borisov - Caster
Jack "Zerpherr" Kelly - Caster
Travis "TravCS" Landaw Mott - Caster
William "⁠AnThran⁠" Chafee - Caster
Cole "xner" McHenry - Caster

Playoffs

Pala "⁠Pala⁠" Gilroy Sen - Stage host
James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks - Desk host
Anastasija "⁠Heccu⁠" Tolmačeva - Interviewer
Jonatan "⁠Devilwalk⁠" Lundberg - Analyst
Halvor "⁠vENdetta⁠" Gulestøl - Analyst
Joshua "⁠Dweg⁠" Nathan - Caster
Jamie "⁠EternalJay⁠" Martin - Caster

Elisa Masters Espoo will have a $200,000 prize pool up for the taking, which will be spread out across all 12 teams. In addition to the cash prize, the winner of the event will earn themselves a spot at the IEM Katowice 2023 Play-In, the prelude to the flagship event in Poland.

The prize breakdown is as follows:

1. $100,000 + IEM Katowice 2023 Play-In
2. $28,000
3-4. $14,000
5-6. $10,000
7-8. $4,000
9-10. $4,000
11-12. $4,000