ESL Pro League Season 17 to feature Counter-Strike 2 showmatch

The LAN tournament will host a Counter-Strike 2 showmatch just before the start of the best-of-five grand final.

ESL has announced the staging of a Counter-Strike 2 showmatch, which will play out on LAN on Sunday at 14:25 , just before the ESL Pro League Season 17 grand final begins.

Cloud9 secured their grand final appearance earlier on Saturday, taking down ENCE in a three-map series to guarantee their spot. FaZe and Natus Vincere are currently locking horns for the final spot up for grabs.

The lineups for the matchup, which will be the first showmatch of the new shooter in an offline setting, are yet to be announced, but will likely feature players from teams who have already been eliminated from ESL Pro League Season 17. The showmatch will also likely be played out on Dust2, the only map currently available for those able to play the new installment.

Counter-Strike 2 was unveiled by Valve on Wednesday, with the game developer teasing new smoke mechanics, updated maps, and a plethora of new features.

Read more

Valve announce Counter-Strike 2

The new game is slated to be fully released by the summer, with a live test currently available for selected players. Valve also revealed that the upcoming BLAST.tv Paris Major will be the last Valve-sponsored CS:GO event, with Counter-Strike 2's first Major coming in March 2024.