The ESL Challenger League Season 46: Europe has kicked off, marking the first respectable-level tournament held in Counter-Strike 2. It features some well-known and renowned teams.

Among them, you can spot the semifinalists of ESL Pro League Season 18, Monte, and the semifinalists of BLAST.tv Major Paris 2023, Apeks. Both teams played their initial matches in the updated version of the game and secured convincing victories. Monte defeated PARIVISION on the maps Mirage and Anubis, while Apeks triumphed over The Prodigies on Anubis and Ancient.

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Additionally, the Ukrainian team B8 made their tournament debut and narrowly lost to FORZE in a close match. The first two maps, Ancient and Mirage, went into overtime, with scores of 19:17 and 16:14. The decider on Anubis ended 13:10 in favor of FORZE.

ESL Challenger League Season 46: Europe runs from October 5th to December 10th, with a prize pool of $100,000. Besides the cash prize, the tournament finalists also earn slots in ESL Pro League Season 19. You can keep up with updates on this event through the provided link.

Header image: ESL Copyright | Helena Kristiansson