GRID Partners with Rethink Mental Illness for CS:GO Event

Esports data platform has gone into partnership with UK-based charity institution, Rethink Mental Illness, for a CS:GO charity event. With Christmas barely a month away, the CS:GO competition titled, ‘The Fight Before Christmas’ will hold on December 6. The proceeds will go into the purse of Rethink Mental Illness in their effort to support those in need. The event will also serve as a medium to raise awareness about mental health.

The Competition Itself

The competition will follow CS:GO’s wingman game mode and will see mixed-gender teams battle. The purpose of this is to try as much as possible to celebrate inclusivity while also, “helping females to feel more encouraged about competing amongst mail participants.” WIDE.gg, which is a female community gaming platform has been named as the diversity partner of the event. Skinwallet and Xtrfy have also been announced as sponsors. Also, TheEsportsBible will be joining the list of sponsors in the capacity of ‘Empowerment Content Partner’.

The Key Account manager of GRID, Harry Wiggett, said, “Here at GRID we felt the need to celebrate the end of 2020 with some refreshing CS:GO content for the community. It has been a wildly unpredictable year that we at GRID are thankful to have survived, personally, and professionally. Together with our partners, we are now happy to raise funds and raise awareness of mental health.

Wiggett went on to buttress that mental health needs a lot more attention than it is currently getting. He said, “An area that needs no introduction but more attention. Nobody deserves to face internal battles without any support therefore we want to raise awareness to Rethink’s services and also raise funds for them to advance in their support of those in need. Thanks to everyone involved in this event, it is a pleasure to be giving in the mental health space.”

As of this moment, only four teams have been confirmed to participate in this event, from a total of eight. After the first list of competitors were announced, Julia “Juliano” Kiran and Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov are on one team while the second consists of Piotr “Izak” Skowyrski and Kamila “Firiringirl” Kopij. The Swedish CS:GO player, Juliano, has competed professionally since 2010, also being the in-game leader of the 2021 XSET CS:GO roster. Her partner, m0NESY is a fifteen-year-old prodigy from Ukraine that is seen by many in the CIS region as the future s1mple. Ilya competes professionally in the esports community with Na’Vi Junior.

Piotr is the owner of Polish CS:GO team Izako Boars. He is retired from professional play but will make an appearance in this event, with Kamila from the Izako Boars’ female CS:GO lineup.

Former BIG player, Owen “Smooya” Butterfield is teamed up with XSET member, Petra “Petra” Stoker. Those two will make up team three, while team four will feature Norwegian player Aurora “aurora” Lyngdal and former FaZe Clan sniper, Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs. The remaining four teams will be announced in the coming days.

The main broadcast for the charity event will be produced by Relog media. Reports suggest that the event will use POV streams of the participants and instead of using a heavy commentary format, it will focus on following donations and engaged interaction with the community.

Rethink Mental Illness are also very happy and grateful for the partnership. A spokesperson for the organization said, “Rethink Mental Illness are very grateful to the charity partner of ‘The Fight Before Christmas’, the growing relationship between charity and esports is incredibly exciting and one we hope to build on for the future. Any donations received will go towards our work supporting those severely affected by mental health illness.”

Given the current climate of the world, this is a very serious topic that deserves attention. This partnership highlights how esports can help raise awareness on crucial topics such as this that plague people daily. The event will be streamed live on Twitch come Sunday.