ESL One Kuala Lumpur: Format, Teams and More
ESL will organize its final tournament of the year, ESL One Kuala Lumpur. There may be no further tournaments following this tournament until February next year. ESL One will feature the top twelve teams from around the world, gathering in Kuala Lumpur for the ESL One Pro Tour Season 2 to officially kick off the new Dota 2 professional season. Here's a brief preview of ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023.
The tournament features a million-dollar prize pool. Unlike DreamLeague, ESL One Kuala Lumpur is an offline LAN tournament. A regular 3-day ticket will cost around 50 USD, and the premium 3-day tick cost around 150 USD. The group stage is going to be intense. It features a single round-robin group of six teams each.
ESL One Kuala Lumpur Format
The groups of ESL One Kuala LumpurCredits: ESL One
The series played during the group stages are all Best of 2, which means points are given on the outcome of each match and not the series as a whole. Thus, teams need to win each match to secure enough points to stay alive in their group.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the upper brackets in the playoffs. The team placing third and fourth in each group will go to the lower bracket. The bottom two teams are eliminated.
The playoffs will feature a double-elimination bracket. All the matches played in the playoffs are Best Of 3 except the grand-finals. The grand finals are Best Of 5.
The Teams & Where To Watch
Three of the twelve teams participating in the tournament were direct invites. Initially, four teams received direct invites to the tournament. The directly invited teams all placed in the top four at The International 2023.
Team Spirit posing with their 2nd TI.Credits: Valve
However, Team Spirit, the current International champions, declined their invitation, citing health concerns for their players after the triumphant journey from the US.
The management did not clarify which players needed to receive treatment. As a result, the number of teams that received the direct invite was reduced to three. Therefore the Western European region received an extra slot in the qualifiers due to this unfortunate outcome.
With Team Spirit out of their way, Gaimin Gladiators might be the toughest opponent at the tournament.Credits: Gaimin Gladiators
The twelve teams participating in the tournament are:
Group A
Wawitas Sagazes
Group B
Team Liquid
The tournament will start on 11th December in Malaysia at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre. Fans can catch all the live action on ESL One’s Twitch and YouTube. The detailed schedule is available on our website.
Additional Information
Chalice and Somnus at The International 2023.Credits: Valve
Azure Ray faced a difficult challenge when three of their players retired. The result forced the team to go through a roster change before the event began. They would face disqualification if Valve organized the tournament. However, since ESL organized the tournament, the rules are flexible. Despite this, some have called out for Azure Ray’s disqualification from the tournament.
33 joins Team Liquid.Credits: Team Liquid
Team Liquid is another team that will be using a stand-in at the tournament. The team had to make a last-minute change as their newly added offlaner couldn’t secure a VISA to Malaysia. As a result, they have to bring in the offlaner from Shopify Rebellion for the tournament.
Midone applying Make-up on Media Day. Credits: Valve
Passion for the game runs deep in the South East Asian region. With some of their natives participating in the tournament, most teams will have to try extremely hard to win the crowd on their side. The ESL Kuala Lumpur 2023 champions will receive 4800 EPT points and half a million USD prize winnings.
Featured Image Source: YouTube.@ESLDota2
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