Thunderpick has announced the opening matchups for its upcoming World Championship, slated to run from October 14-18 with $1,000,000 on offer.
The organizer also announced that Ninjas in Pyjamas would replace Virtus.pro after the latter team withdrew from the event due to visa issues for Aleksandr "AquaRS" Kovalev and health reasons affecting Dias "F0R3VER" Kutubay, which has caused him to temporarily step back from the active lineup.
Virtus.pro had secured a spot at the event through the Closed Qualifier, and according to the organizer's rulebook, any withdrawal results in the replacement team coming from the next eligible team in the VRS to accept an invite. However, as the withdrawal is within 20 days of the event's start, the replacement team comes from the next eligible team in the event's host region — in this case, Europe.
The Maltese tournament will utilize two best-of-three GSL groups to send four teams through to a single-elimination playoffs bracket, which will culminate with a best-of-five grand final after a third-place decider.
Falcons, as the highest-seeded team, will take on Ninjas in Pyjamas in their opener, with their group also featuring 9z and Aurora.
Group B will see Legacy face off against PARIVISION, with Andrei "arT" Piovezan back in the lineup after he missed ESL Pro League due to health reasons. FURIA's grueling schedule will also continue as they begin their run against BETBOOM.
The schedule for the opening matchups can be found below:
BETBOOM
Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov
Aleksandr 'zorte' Zagodyrenko
Pavel 'S1ren' Ogloblin
Daniil 'd1Ledez' Kustov
Kirill 'Magnojez' Rodnov
Artem 'Fierce' Ivanov
Aurora
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Özgür 'woxic' Eker
Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski
Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın
Ashley 'ash' Battye
Legacy
Andrei 'arT' Piovezan
Eduardo 'dumau' Wolkmer
Bruno 'latto' Rebelatto
Vinicius 'n1ssim' Pereira
Santino 'try' Rigal
Alan 'adrrr' Riveros
Virtus.pro
Nikolay 'mir' Bityukov
Vladimir 'b1st' Krasikov
Dias 'F0R3VER' Kutubay
Aleksandr 'AquaRS' Kovalev
Vadim 'tO0RO' Arkov
Dmitriy 'ProbLeM' Martinov
Dias 'F0R3VER' KutubayPast 3 months
9z
Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez
Franco 'dgt' Garcia
Ignacio 'meyern' Meyer
Luciano 'luchov' Herrera
Matias 'HUASOPEEK' Ibañez Hernandez
Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda Lima
PARIVISION
Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov
Evgenii 'FL1T' Lebedev
Dzhami 'Jame' Ali
Vladislav 'xiELO' Lysov
Ivan 'zweih' Gogin
Dastan 'dastan' Akbayev
Aleksandr 'AquaRS' KovalevPast 3 months
Andrei 'arT' PiovezanPast 3 months
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Martin 'stavn' Lund
Rasmus 'sjuush' Beck
Karim 'Krimbo' Moussa
Adam 'adamb' Ångström
Kacper 'xKacpersky' Gabara
Richard 'Xizt' Landström
Falcons
Finn 'karrigan' Andersen
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
René 'TeSeS' Madsen
Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov
Maksim 'kyousuke' Lukin
Danny 'zonic' Sørensen
FURIA
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo
Yuri 'yuurih' Santos
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Sid 'sidde' Macedo