Elisa Invitational Winter 2023 announced

Elisa has announced the format for the Elisa Invitational Winter 2023 and opened signups for the Open Qualifier.

The Elisa Invitational Winter 2023 is a four-stage event that will begin its Open Qualifiers, for Europe and the Nordics, on January 10. The following stages will then run from January 16 to March 11.

Four teams from the two Open Qualifiers will secure a spot in the Contenders stage whereby they will compete alongside 12 invited teams for the eight spots in the Main Swiss stage. A further eight teams will then be invited to the Main Swiss and they will all compete for a spot in the playoffs.

In the playoffs, four extra teams will be invited so that 12 teams will compete in a single elimination bracket with four rounds of play. The winners of the tournament will net themselves $12,500 and a spot in a LAN event that has yet to be announced.

The most recent Elisa Invitational, which took place from August through to October, was won by SAW. By winning the event, SAW, and runners-up GamerLegion, were invited to Elisa Masters Espoo. The subsequent LAN was won by fnatic, who received $100,000 and a spot in the IEM Katowice Play-In.

The $25,000 prize pool will be split as follows:

1. $12,500 + spot to unannounced LAN event
2. $3,500
3-4. $1,500
5-8. $1,000
9-12: $500