Elisa Masters Espoo 2026: Everything You Need To Know

Tournament format and match ups

Elisa Masters Espoo 2024 will follow your standard format. The eight teams competing will be split into two groups of four, A and B, where a GSL-style bracket will play out over the group stage. For those unaware, this means that the opening matches will be a simple best-of-one while the rest will be a best-of-three. Here, the top two seeds of each group will proceed to the playoffs.

The four teams will be split into pairs for best-of-three semi-finals, with the top seed of Group A playing against the top seed of Group B and the second seed of Group A playing against the second seed of Group B. The two teams that will come out on top will go for the trophy in an epic best-of-five grand final. We currently have the following matches for the group stages tomorrow:

The Group A Teams & Matchups:

The MongolZ vs. JANO

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. B8

Group B Teams & Matchups:

HEROIC vs. Rebels

9z vs. ENCE

Prize pool and talent

Elisa Masters Espoo 2024 has a prize pool of $200,000 where half will go to the tournament’s winner while the remaining half will be divided amongst the remaining seven teams. Specifically, the runner-ups will receive $40,000 while the remaining sem-finalists will receive $15,000. The third seed from each group who were unable to make it to playoffs will receive $10,000 while the two teams that lost all their matches will receive $5000.

The event is set to be a blast on the broadcast side with amazing talent taking the reigns. Richard "⁠Richard Lewis⁠" Lewis will be hosting the desk featuring famous analysts Duncan "⁠Thorin⁠" Shields and Alex "⁠Mauisnake⁠" Ellenberg. On the A stream, the duo of Anders "⁠Anders⁠" Blume and Neo "Ne0kai" Caine will keep us entertained while on the B stream, Vince "⁠Vince⁠" Hill and Jack "⁠Jacky⁠" Peters won’t disappoint. Finally, we’ll have none other than James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks on stage conducting interviews between matches.

Predictions of the event

While the local Finish favourites, JANO are competing at the event, the overall favourites win are still The MongolZ, the highest-ranked team in the tournament. However, The MongolZ have struggled against top-tier teams so their key to winning the tournament would be effectively dealing with HEROIC and 9z who are close to the global top 20.

Next up we have HEROIC, who, despite having what it takes to win the tournament, have been quite unpredictable this year. On the one hand, they placed seventh-eighth at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 and ninth-twelveth at ESL Pro League Season 20 while on the other hand, they made it to playoffs in IEM Rio 2024. If we go off of recency alone, HEROIC do seem to be in their best form at the moment, so they could just win it all if they somehow best The MongolZ.

Finally, we have 9z, a team that no one should be ignoring. While they did make a quiet exit from IEM Rio 2024 in the first round of the group stage, one could argue that they were dealt a bad hand with a matchup against Team Vitality, a literal powerhouse. Apart from that, let’s not forget that the Latin American team has been in the top 30 since June when they made the semifinals at IEM Dallas 2024 and won FiReLEAGUE Global Final 2023.