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.
fnatic are the highest-rated team in attendance
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.
Read more 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:
Group A ENCE BIG Sprout GamerLegion HEET HAVU Group B fnatic Bad News Eagles Astralis Complexity SAW 500
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
BIG10:00 HEET
Match
16/11/2022
GamerLegion10:00 HAVU
Match
16/11/2022
ENCE11:55 HAVU
Match
16/11/2022
Sprout12:10 HEET
Match
16/11/2022
BIG13:55 Sprout
Match
16/11/2022
ENCE13:55 GamerLegion
Match
16/11/2022
BIG15:30 HAVU
Match
16/11/2022
GamerLegion15:30 HEET
Match
16/11/2022
BIG17:10 GamerLegion
Match
16/11/2022
ENCE17:10 Sprout
Match
16/11/2022
Sprout18:50 HAVU
Match
16/11/2022
ENCE18:50 HEET
Match
16/11/2022
Sprout20:45 GamerLegion
Match
16/11/2022
ENCE20:45 BIG
Match
16/11/2022
HEET23:05 HAVU
Match
Thursday, November 17
Date
Matches
Elisa Masters Espoo 2022
17/11/2022
Bad News Eagles10:00 SAW
Match
17/11/2022
Complexity10:00 500
Match
17/11/2022
Astralis11:30 SAW
Match
17/11/2022
fnatic11:40 500
Match
17/11/2022
Bad News Eagles13:20 Astralis
Match
17/11/2022
fnatic13:20 Complexity
Match
17/11/2022
Complexity14:30 SAW
Match
17/11/2022
Bad News Eagles15:10 500
Match
17/11/2022
fnatic16:05 Astralis
Match
17/11/2022
Bad News Eagles16:10 Complexity
Match
17/11/2022
Astralis18:00 500
Match
17/11/2022
fnatic18:20 SAW
Match
17/11/2022
Astralis20:25 Complexity
Match
17/11/2022
fnatic20:25 Bad News Eagles
Match
17/11/2022
SAW22:30 500
Match
Friday, November 18
Date
Matches
Elisa Masters Espoo 2022
18/11/2022
BIG15:40 500
Match
18/11/2022
ENCE19:15 Astralis
Match
Saturday, November 19
Date
Matches
Elisa Masters Espoo 2022
19/11/2022
Sprout15:50 BIG
Match
19/11/2022
fnatic20:25 Astralis
Match
Sunday, November 20
Date
Matches
Elisa Masters Espoo 2022
20/11/2022
BIG18:00 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
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.