The weekend of Friday 10^th, Saturday 11^th and Sunday 12^th of July will hold the Ballistix CS:GO challenge fought between eight teams. The games will be broadcast live on the new and exciting NiP TV!

The competition format sees two groups of four battle it out for the chance to eventually win a share of the $5000 prize pool and qualification for a Bo3 show match against the Ninjas in Pyjamas! The teams competing in the tournament, the groups generated and full prize pool breakdown are shown below.

The groups will be a close run affair

1^st – $2500
2^nd – $1000
3^rd – $500
4^th – $500

The team who finish 1^st qualify for a BO3 showmatch versus Ninjas in Pyjamas for a prize pool of $500.

The three days allow for each group to have a day dedicated to its completion, with Group A being played out on Friday, Group B on the Saturday and the finals being held on the Sunday. The group stages are a GSL style format, win two games and you’re through, lose two games and you’re out. All matches are to be Bo3 ensuring the most consistent play is rewarded. With such a busy schedule, the first games of the groups are scheduled to start at 10am BST and run into the night offering the viewers the chance to watch as much CSGO as they can handle!

What use would a tournament be if you couldn’t watch it? Well, NiP TV have you covered with this one. The debut for the channel and the staff running it is an exciting time, I asked Karam ’KYAN1TE’ Kabbara, Matt ’Chewwy’ Smith and Liam ’Logan’ Durrant  some questions about the project.

Chewwy, part of the NiP TV crew, in action at Gfinity

I understand it has been some time since the decision to create the platform, are you confident now that everything is ready to run smoothly?

 – I think it’s been just over 220 days (yes, I’ve been keeping count… roughly) since Ninjas in Pyjamas first approached me to become a Ninja and revive the platform! There have been delays, no doubt, most of which were out of our hands but what’s important is that we’re finally alive and kicking. I’d like to think that everything is ready to run smoothly, just about! – KYAN1TE

This tournament is an interesting way to kick things off and definitely shows intent for great future content, can we expect more of the same to come?

– Definitely. We have plenty more ideas up our sleeves both with the intention of providing awesome content to the community but also helping out the CS:GO competitive scene. This tournament still remains an amazing opportunity for all the teams participating and it’s a great opportunity for lower tier teams to compete and win some money thanks to the awesome guys over at Ballistix. There’s no doubt we aren’t rushing out all guns blazing, but it’s important to us that we walk before we run. – KYAN1TE

 With the event being three days and action packed due to all games being best of three, it is a lot for to take on for you guys casting it. Are you ready to show what the channel is capable of and compete with other coverage teams?

– Of course it will be an incredibly busy three days however we believe we have enough man power signed up to cover the tournament. I don’t want to reveal too much regarding the broadcasting aspect, it’s a bit of a surprise really so hopefully those who tune in will enjoy it.  Another thing worth mentioning too is that Ballistix have been incredibly kind enough to provide us with some awesome DDR3 & DDR4 memory to give away along with two 256GB SSDs to both viewers & subscribers over the weekend. We will also be sharing some top secret discount codes over the weekend too for different e-tailers meaning if you do unfortunately end up missing out on winning one of the giveaways, you can still use a special discount code to buy some discounted Ballistix gear anyways from your favourite store! – KYAN1TE

You’ve waited a long time for this moment and it’s finally come to fruition. What part of this launch tournament are you looking forward to the most and who do you think will win?

– I’m mainly looking forward to showing our surprise for the very first time. We have had logistical set backs, hence the long wait, and so it is a great relief to finally be able to host and broadcast our first tournament. I think that either Gamers 2 or ex GPlay (now known as Mortal Kombat) stand a good chance of winning the tournament, but this is CS after all and anything can happen! – Chewwy

So LogaN, you’re the new face as part of this trio. A lot of people won’t have heard of you before or be entirely sure what role you will be playing with NiP TV. Care to tell us a bit more about yourself?

-Well, where do I begin? I’ve been playing CS for over a decade and done many things in my time including being a competitive player, manager and even an observer. All the time spent with the game and experience gained has given me what I believe is my own unique insight in to CS, one which I will be bringing to the NiP TV team both through analysis and colour casting. I honestly can’t wait to show you all the things we have planned! – Logan

If that isn’t enough for you all, the NiP TV team have an extra announcement to make this Thursday regarding the live broadcasting of the tournament. Make sure to keep an eye out on our website, Facebook and Twitter, for the big surprise!

 There you have it, the future is bright for NiP TV so keep an eye out for everything we have to offer, and of course,  don’t forget to tune in on the 10th, 11th & 12th July at http://www.nipgaming.tv