Credit: Funspark

The return of top-tier CS:GO – Funspark ULTI preview

Key storylines, ones to watch players, and much more! - Here is everything you need to know about the $250.000 event.

2022-01-18 | @PleyTB

When Funspark ULTI Finals commences this Tuesday in January 2022, it marks the return from the winter break for some of the teams in the CS:GO elite. The $250.000 event has managed to attract big names like Astralis, Fnatic, BIG and the CIS heavy hitters from Gambit to their relatively new tournament structure.

The opening round is set to kick off today at 12.00 CET. However, before the action goes live, we have gathered all the necessary information about the event in this preview including some of the most exciting storylines.

Find it down below.

Dates

18th January – 24th January

Prize pool

$250.000

Attending teams

Gambit (#2) | Hobbit – Ax1Le – interz – sh1ro – nafany

Astralis (#8) | k0nfig – gla1ve – Lucky – blameF – Xyp9x

Entropiq (#9) | NickelBack – Krad – Forester – El1an – Lack1

Fnatic (#12) | mezii – smooya – KRIMZ – ALEX – Brollan

BIG (#15) | tabseN – tiziaN – faveN – syrsoN – k1to

ECSTATIC (#20) | FASHR – Daffu – maNkz – WolfY – birdfromsky

K23 (#22) | fame – X5G7V – neaLaN – n0b3r7 – xsepower

Extra Salt (#28) | floppy – JT – FaNg – Grim - Junior

Tournament format

Double elimination bracket – All Bo3 matches.

Three key storylines to follow

1. Astralis’ AWP situation

Before BLAST Premier Fall Final in late November last year, Astralis stunned the CS:GO community with the decision of moving their newly acquired AWPer Phillip “Lucky” Ewald to the rifle position, as the IGL Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander took on the big green himself. An aspect, the Danes struggled heavily with in the last couple of tournaments of the year and something which has created a lot of talk and rumours surrounding their roster – especially about Lucky and the youngster’s spot on the lineup.

It will for sure be interesting to see what Astralis has decided to do with their AWP situation going into the new season – whether it will be gla1ve, Lucky or a completely third.

Funspark ULTI will most likely give some good answers on exactly that, before the start of the prominent IEM Katowice next month.

Do gla1ve and Astralis have some new tricks up their sleeve for the new season?

2. Will Gambit kick off the calendar year as strong as they did in 2021?

The Russian youngsters from Gambit had a phenomenal year in 2021, with the strong CIS team winning no more than eight titles and being arguably the only real competition to Natus Vincere throughout the year. Especially the first part of 2021 was particularly good for Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov and his troops.

After emerging out on the big stage of CS:GO in late 2020, Gambit managed to take their biggest scalp yet with the massive $400.000 1st prize at IEM Katowice 2021 in February.

Gambit went on winter break with a 2nd place at BLAST Premier World Final losing to NAVI and s1mple in the Grand Final – Something they did three times last year. We spoke to the experienced Abay “Hobbit” Hasenov right before the tournament break to hear about his thoughts about the 2022 year.

Hobbit: We will do everything in our power to dethrone NAVI next year

3. Is Fnatic’s new British-Swedish project legit?

In October 2021, Fnatic brought in the profiled but also controversial Owen “Smooya” Butterfield on trial. The addition of the powerful AWPer finalized their roster, which also saw the iconic Swedish team turn into a fully international lineup fielding three Brits and two Swedes.

Under the guidance of Alex “ALEX” McMeekin and with strong weapons like Brollan, Smooya, and mezii, Fnatic strived from the very beginning, displaying promising levels together. The strong form resulted in two impressive titles at DreamHack Open November and REPUBLEAGUE Season 2 against BIG and Eternal Fire respectively.

It will be super interesting to see whether Fnatic can maintain the promising display, especially when they will square up against tier-1 competition in Gambit and Astralis.