MLG X Games Aspen Counter Strike: Global Offensive 2015 Format, Live Stream

From Jan. 23 to Jan. 25, the Major League Gaming X Games in Aspen will be the first to cover the mega-popular Counter Strike: Global Offensive. It's one of the sequels spawned from the original cult classic Counter Strike which was released in 1999.

Originally, the first-person shooter was originally an add-on for the classic Half-Life, but it grew to have its own huge following.

With updated graphics and gameplay, CS:GO has become a popular title on the competitive gaming scene. 

The X Games format will feature the top-eight CS:GO teams from North America, Europe and Brazil competing in a three-day tournament for X Games gold. The top-eight teams were determined during qualifying matches in Dec. 2014.

Here are the teams and schedule of play.

The Groups

Group A:

• NiP
• Cloud9
• Kabum TD
• Dignitas

Group B:

• Fnatic
• LDLC
• Wicked Masterminds
• Counter Logic Gaming

Event Schedule

Friday

• 12:30 PM Pregame Show
• 1 PM Pool B – Team Liquid vs. Fnatic
• 2 PM Pool B – CLG vs. Team LDLC
• 3 PM Pool A – Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Team Dignitas
• 4 PM Pool A – KaBuM.TD vs. Cloud 9
• 5:30 PM Pool B – Team LDLC vs. Fnatic
• 6:30 PM Pool B – CLG vs. Team Liquid
• 7:30 PM Pool A – Cloud 9 vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
• 8:30 PM Pool A – Team Dignitas vs. KaBuM.TD

Saturday

• 1 PM Pool B – Fnatic vs. CLG
• 2 PM Pool B – Team Liquid vs. Team LDLC
• 3 PM Pool A – Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. KaBuM.TD
• 4 PM Pool A – Cloud 9 vs. Team Dignitas
• 5:30 PM Semifinal #1
• 7:30 PM Semifinal #2

Sunday

• 12 PM Bronze Medal Match
• 2:30 PM Gold Medal Match

You can watch all the action via live stream at MLG.com.

Prize, Format and Replacement Squads

The teams are competing for the winner's share of a $50,000 prize. Clutch Cats has withdrawn from competition per Executive Vice President of MLG Adam Apicella. He tweeted this on Wednesday:

"

Xgames Update: Clutch Cats have withdrawn from the competition. @mlg is working on a replacement team for the competition. Stay tuned.

— Adam Apicella (@MrAdamAp) January 21, 2015"

This development caused tournament organizers to scramble for a replacement team, but per MLG, Team Liquid has stepped in to take Clutch Cats' place. The team will take on Fnatic in the opening Pool B match to begin the round-robin action.

All four teams in both pools will play each other once. The two teams with the best records after the trio of best-of-three maps matches in pool play will advance to the semifinals on Saturday. The losers will play for third place on Sunday, while the winners face off for the gold medal. 

The $50,000 prize is spit between the top four with the winner taking home $25,000. There's $12,500 to second, $7,500 to third, and $5,000 to fourth, per Joe Nguyen of The Denver Post.

Prediction

Team LDLC is the pick to win. Per GOSU Gamers, the French team, which has won five matches in a row, is the top-ranked squad in the world. It has also won 10 of its last 11 and seems to be playing on another level.

Led by Vincent Cervoni aka Happy, LDLC has every element needed for a strong CS: GO team. Happy has 6.476 kills in the game, per HLTV.org. He'll be looking for even more when play begins this weekend.

Follow Brian Mazique aka FranchisePlay, the Sports Video Game Journalist