The qualifiers, which started across several esports games in April, have finally come to an end. As a result, all teams that will be participating in the regional finals have been declared.

The 2022 edition of GWB is promising a prize pool of $10 million that will be shared across several online tournaments in different regions. At this stage of the event, every winning will go to charity.

Although the event is for charity, teams will have an opportunity to secure a spot in the global finals scheduled to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The main event, called Gamers8, will be the only offline event and will give the participants an opportunity to win themselves some money. Players will assemble from several parts of the world to compete for the $2 million prize pool.

Of the eight duos that will be participating in Gamers8, four will represent each of the regions – Europe, North America, South America, and Saudi eLeague. However, the remaining four teams will be invited by the organization.

Speaking of the invited teams, Heroic and Rogue will be the two invited teams participating in the Europe showdown. However, WYLDE and Victus are the two teams that sealed their spots through the open qualifiers.

In North America, Leftovers and Gaimin Gladiators proved themselves through the open qualifiers. Leftovers went through ATK in the Round of 16 but were bumped straight to the semifinals due to Soniqs forfeiture. Parabellum was the team standing in the way of Leftovers’ qualification but were beaten 2-1 in the best-of-3 series.

Gaimin went through Elyssar, TEMPR Esports, and XSET to clinch a regional finals spot. The remaining two teams that will be competing in the NA regional finals are Oxygen Esports and Spacetation Gaming.

South America’s Escolinha do bubu and Furious Gaming are the lucky two to secure SA regional finals berths through the open qualifier. Both teams swept their opponents in the semifinals.

FaZe Clan and MIBR are the two invited teams who will be competing in the regional finals.

In each of these regions, whoever finishes on top will get a direct slot to the global finals and $250,000 from the US$500,000 prize pool. Participants will also be allowed to choose the charity they will be playing for.

GWB is known to attract some of the biggest names in history. At the time of writing, none of the players who will be participating in the global finals (scheduled to run from August 4-7) have been revealed.

While fans will be hoping to see some of China’s best at the event, there is a chance that any Chinese team who gets an invite might be unable to make it to the LAN event. The COVID-19 travel restriction is still active, but perhaps a chance might come before the offline event goes underway.

Meanwhile, participating remotely is an option, as was implemented successfully in the just-concluded League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational.

The LPL’s representatives, Royal Never Give Up, were allowed to participate remotely, and although there were ping issues that led to the cancellation of their first three games, they ended up winning the tournament.

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2022 GWB will feature tournaments across several esports games, including Dota 2, CS: GO, Rocket League, Fortnite, and more. The event, which kicked off proceedings with qualifiers in different regions for Fortnite and Dota 2 on April 28, will continue through May.

Some of the regions participating in the event are Europe, China South Africa, CIS, Saudi Arabia, etc. Although the majority of this event is for charity, some will double as qualifiers for Gamers8 scheduled to start in July.

Gamers8 will serve as the main event, where players will compete for a piece of the $15 million prize pool. While the focus is on charity events right now, players have a unique opportunity to seal their spots in the main tournament.

Winners in the charity event are now allowed to choose which charity they will be donating their winnings to. In 2021, BIG won the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament, winning $600,000 of the $1.5 million prize fund. Their winning prize was donated to the International Medical Corps, while second place FURIA Esports’ $300,000 prize was given to UNICEF.

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that every team who participated won something for charities. The seventh and eighth-placed teams each won $50,000, which was handed to UNICEF and Gavi, respectively.

The format for the 2022 edition is simple, as four teams in each region will play a double-elimination best-of-3 series. Only the winners in each region will participate in the offline event scheduled to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Making it that far is already an achievement, but the going will get tougher as these teams will compete for a piece of the $3.2 million prize pool.

However, the prize pool for the summer event stands at $2 million, and only duos from the EU, NA, and MENA/SA regions will be represented. Each region will produce five duos, with MENA producing 2 and Saudi Arabia 3, bringing the total number of participants to 15. Winnings in this event will be given directly to participants.

So far, a few teams have already sealed their spots in the LAN event through the qualifiers. Tundra Esports, EHOME, Nigma Galaxy Seam, and Gaimin Gladiators are the only teams whose participation have been confirmed at the time of writing.

GWB has in the past shown that it can attract some of the biggest teams in the scene to participate. With that in mind, there is a chance we will see teams like Team OG and Liquid from the EU.

SEA’s T1 and Fnatic are also likely to make an appearance at the summer game. Some of China’s best to keep an eye out for are Team Aster, Royal Never Give Up, Xtreme Gaming, and PSG.LGD.

Meanwhile, it is worth considering that some of the participants from China might be unable to make it to the LAN event due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions. However, a lot could change from now till July 21.

League of Legends (LoL) Mid-Season Invitational took the initiative to allow its LPL representative, Royal Never Give Up, to participate remotely. Perhaps we could see that system implemented here as a worst-case scenario.

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?FaZe Clan and BIG are viewed as top-tier CS:GO teams, but you could hardly tell from the way they’ve been playing of late. Although BIG (no.9) are still ranked much higher than FaZe (no.29), their showings this month have been mediocre at most.

The Germans are 7-4 on the month, albeit they haven’t beaten anyone of note outside of their win over G2 Esports at BLAST Premier Spring Finals 2021. FaZe’s results have been just as unconvincing; they are on a seven-game losing streak, with only two official matches on their record in June.

If this was a proper tournament, a bet on FaZe would be the play, but since this is a charity event, we can expect a more laid-back approach from both teams. Take the overs on the map line.

FURIA are clearly the better team, but that doesn’t mean much in an exhibition tournament like this one. Favourites rarely deliver at these events, as seen last year when FaZe Clan and OG caused an upset in the first round of play. That point was hammered home on Tuesday when ENCE and MiBR both performed admirably well against stronger opposition.

The trend of underdogs outperforming the favourites makes Dignitas an appealing bet, but on form it’s hard to make a strong case for the Scandinavian lineup. Furthermore, Dignitas haven’t faced a proper top-10 team since BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2021 in April.

Regardless, Dignitas should at least be competitive on Thursday and steal one map from the inconsistent Brazilians. At $1.60, the map handicap on the outsiders is a solid pick.