EPICENTER confirmed for December 2019 with $500k prize pool

Epic Esports Events recently announced details for the 2019 edition of EPICENTER, which will kick off in Moscow on Tuesday, December 17 with US $500,000 up for grabs.

Organisers made the confirmation via Twitter on Tuesday, October 22, unveiling the date, prize pool and four teams that received a direct invite for the winter CS:GO esports tournament.

Did you miss us? #EPICENTER CS:GO is returning to Moscow!

💰 $500,000
📅 December 17–22
🔥 First direct invites go to @natusvincere, @EvilGeniuses,@avangarkz and @TeamVitality

Tickets are available NOW! Find them and also more information on https://t.co/DGiSBvguIa#epicgg pic.twitter.com/b7nn7nxGnm

— EPICENTER (@epicentergg) October 22, 2019

The $500k prize pool is the largest to date and marks a $10k increase compared to the 2016 and 2017 events. Last year’s event, which was won by FaZe Clan, had a relatively humble pool of $295k, with $150k reserved for the champions.

The tournament will once again feature eight teams, with Evil Geniuses, Team Vitality, 2018 runners-up Natus Vincere and 2018 semi-finalists AVANGAR already confirmed. This will be Vitality’s and EG’s first-ever appearance at EPICENTER.

The remaining slots will be filled by qualifiers from Europe, CIS and China. Two-stage European qualifiers will be held from October 28-31 and CIS qualifiers will take centre stage almost a month later from November 21-24, while the dates for Chinese qualifiers are yet to be announced.

The EPICENTER 2019 group stage will run from December 17-19, with the playoffs commencing on Tuesday, December 21 at Crocus Expo Hall and concluding a day later with the grand finals.

While the format is yet to be confirmed, we can expect EPICENTER 2019 to use a similar system to the GSL groups and best-of-three (Bo3) series in last year’s edition.

What is #EPICENTER? It's the most thrilling esports event in Russia! This summer Moscow hosted the second Dota 2 Major. Let's take a look back and remember how it was!#epicgg #dota2 pic.twitter.com/vNnv8PT92W

— EPICENTER (@epicentergg) October 22, 2019

The 2019 EPICENTER tournament will mark the second major esports event of the year organised by Epic Esports Events, following the Dota2 EPICENTER Major in June.