Stake Ranked Episode 3 Starts in Barcelona

Stake Ranked Episode 3 in Counter-Strike 2 starts on July 15 in Barcelona, Spain. Eight teams will take part in the tournament, competing for a $100,000 prize pool.

The event will be played in a double-elimination format. All matches before the grand final will be best-of-three, while the title-deciding series will be played as a best-of-five.

One of the main storylines of the tournament will be the debut of HEROIC’s updated roster. The team will play for the first time with Antonio “MartinezSa” Martinez and Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin. In their opening match, HEROIC will face 3DMAX.

The participant list also includes paiN, Gentle Mates, Wildcard, K27, Phantom, and Ninjas in Pyjamas. NIP will enter the tournament as the reigning Stake Ranked champion. For the team, this will be its second LAN with academy player Roman “n0te” Hamze after an early exit at XSE Pro League Guangzhou.

Gentle Mates will compete with Joey “CRUC1AL” Steusel as a stand-in following MartinezSa’s move to HEROIC. The organization is also reportedly in talks to sell the roster and potentially exit Counter-Strike, so a strong result at the tournament could help the team improve its position in the VRS ranking.

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Stake Ranked Episode 3 Opening Matches:

• Ninjas in Pyjamas vs K27

• 3DMAX vs HEROIC

• Wildcard vs Gentle Mates

• paiN vs Phantom