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ELEAGUE Major Boston reveals opening stage details, broadcast talent

By Brittany Frederick

ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 29: A view of the trophy during the ELEAGUE: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship finals at Fox Theater on January 29, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 29: A view of the trophy during the ELEAGUE: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship finals at Fox Theater on January 29, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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The ELEAGUE Major Boston will start with The New Challengers stage and features a stacked lineup of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive broadcast talent.

With the ELEAGUE Major Boston right around the corner on Jan. 12, Turner and IMG have now announced who will be playing who in the opening round, and which casters will be calling the first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major of 2018.

The Major’s opening stage is referred to as The New Challengers, and is named as such because it features the bottom eight finishers from the last Major, plus Minor champions and runners-up.

The 16 teams have been split into four pools, with the initial order pairing teams from Pool 1 with Teams from Pool 4, and teams from Pool 2 versus teams from Pool 3. All of the opening matches have been decided by a random draw.

The ELEAGUE Major Boston is operating under a Swiss system, in which teams play an opening best of one (BO1) match, and then are reassigned based on record. Teams either win three BO1’s and advance, or lose three BO1’s and are eliminated.

The New Challengers include ELEAGUE Premier winners FaZe Clan, North American fan favorites Cloud9, and Australian team Renegades. Below are their opening round matchups:

ELEAGUE Major Boston
The New Challengers lineup for ELEAGUE Major Boston. Photo Credit: Courtesy of ELEAGUE. /

With the matchups set, the other big question for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans is who will be casting the ELEAGUE Major Boston. Turner and IMG are taking the same approach that they did with the Premier.

Casters will not have set pairs; instead they’ll rotate to create different combinations throughout the tournament, and those not casting will step in on the desk to provide analysis.

The lineup will once again be led by the voice of ELEAGUE and one of the top names in the sport, Richard Lewis, who returns as desk host.

ELEAGUE stalwarts Anders Blume, Daniel “DDK” Kapadia, James Bardolph, Jason “Moses” O’Toole and Sue “Smix” Lee are all back as well. (Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat has moved on to cast in the Overwatch League.)

Perhaps the best news, though, is that Boston mark the ELEAGUE debut for Henry “HenryG” Greer and Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett. The two are known as one of the best casting duos in the CS:GO scene, but this is the first time that they’ll be casting for the ELEAGUE brand.

And when you add in the return of Janko “YNk” Paunovic, who joined the team at the Premier, this is a collection of the most elite talent in the Counter-Strike scene, calling the first massive tourney of the year. So how can you watch them? Keep reading for tune-in details.

ELEAGUE Major Boston
The broadcast talent lineup for ELEAGUE Major Boston. Photo Credit: Courtesy of ELEAGUE. /

The ELEAGUE Major Boston will have a different broadcast plan than usual for the brand. The New Challengers stage will only be available streaming on Twitch, starting at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT from the ELEAGUE Arena in Atlanta.

That means there are no TBS broadcasts and no YouTube Gaming streams for this portion of the tournament, but you’ll still be able to stream every single game online through the official Twitch link above.

However, TBS will still air a Major documentary series Fridays starting Feb. 9. The five-part show will take audiences behind the scenes as the teams prepare for and compete in the Major, so be sure that you don’t miss it — just know that to see the actual tournament, you’ll have to head to Twitch.

The New Challengers stage of the ELEAGUE Major Boston runs from Jan. 12 to Jan. 15, before the Major moves into The New Legends stage beginning Jan. 19. For complete coverage of the Major, stay tuned to FanSided.

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