Cover Image Courtesy: OMEN Gaming

HP has recently announced the return of its OMEN Challenger Series. For the Second Season of the tournament we will witness PUBG being replaced by CS:GO as the preferred esport title. The event will entertain teams from the APAC region, who will be competing for a grand prize of $50,000 USD along with an all-paid expense to a global esports tournament in Europe.



The tournament is open to the following countries belonging to the APAC region. India, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Australia & New Zealand.

These 12 countries will be hosting their own regional qualifiers, the registration for which will commence from 1st August with the open qualifiers following soon after, starting 31st August.



Interested teams and participants can register themselves by Clicking Here.



Image Credit: OMEN Gaming

Regional Qualifiers



Each of the above-mentioned countries will have their own qualifier, the winner of which will advance to the LAN Finals being held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

These regional qualifiers will be divided into two stages. The first comprising of an Open Qualifier with a limit of up to 100 participants, while the second being a Closed Qualifier which will consist of two direct invites along with the top six teams from the open qualifiers fighting it out for a chance to make it to the LAN Finals.

Regional Qualifier Format

The Open Qualifiers will be following a single-game format up until the semifinals after which a best-of-three series will take place for the remaining matches.

As for the Closed Qualifier, the eight teams will face each other in a swiss format group stage. The teams that make it through will then proceed to play in a best-of-three single-elimination playoff.

LAN Finals



Every regional qualifier will conclude with the winning team qualifying ahead onto the LAN Finals. A total of 12 teams representing their own country will fight it out in Jakarta, witnessing the clash of the best APAC teams there are.



Image Credit: OMEN Gaming

LAN Finals Format

The final twelve teams will be split into two groups of six teams each following a league system where each team will go up against every other team in its group. The top two teams according to the points table form each group will make it through to the playoffs.

These final four teams will be placed in a single-elimination bracket where every match will be a three-game series.



The event is on par with the eXTREMESLAND CS:GO Asia Open 2019. Both the events are good news for the Asian Counter-Strike scene with eXTREMESLAND having more regional qualifiers, more participants for the event and a bigger prize pool, but OMEN Challengers Series brings in some international teams from Oceania region to even out the playing field.

It will be interesting to see India having a dedicated qualifier after losing one in ZOWIE eXTREMESLAND 2019. Let’s see which teams from the various regions make it through to fight it out in Jakarta.