Good news for Dota 2 fans! After several announcements in recent weeks regarding the Dota 2 ESL Pro Tour and the Riyadh Masters, the ESL has announced the 16 teams that will participate in the first event of the season, the DreamLeague Season 19.
As we detailed in due time, the DreamLeague Season 19 and DreamLeague Season 20 are part of the new ESL Pro Tour announced a few days ago. Many personalities in the Dota 2 scene claim that this new format resembles the DPC, as it will participate in the best teams in the world playing for a juicy prize pool of $1,000,000.
ESL reveals the participating teams of DreamLeague Season 19
On March 20, ESL’s official Dota 2 account published all the teams that will participate in the DreamLeague Season 19. Let’s remember that there will be a total of 16 teams that will face each other from April 9 to 23 this year and will also fight for most of the $1,000,000 prize pool for a place in the Riyadh Masters, which, as we know, has a prize pool of $15,000,000.
We have SO many fantastic teams locked in for DreamLeague Season 19! 😱
Who do you think will come out on top and win a slot in the @gamers8gg #RiyadhMasters? 🤔
Remember, you can find out all the details on our new #ESLProTour ranking system here 👇https://t.co/tqyYNDUBw3 pic.twitter.com/3ZjTWkzBLC
— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) March 20, 2023
The teams participating in DreamLeague Season 19 are as follows:
- Beastcoast
- Entity
- Evil Geniuses
- Execration
- HellRaisers
- Team Liquid
- Gaimin Gladiators
- Nouns
- OG
- LGD
- Shopify Rebellion
- Talon Esports
- Team Aster
- Team Spirit
- TSM
- Tundra Esports
As we can see in the list, we have teams from every region of the world and, of course, the best of the best. In addition, the official statement presented by ESL details that all matches will be played online, and all teams must play from a training camp on the European continent.
Team selection format
Now, in the first season of the ESL Pro Tour, no qualifiers will be played to define the qualified teams, but instead, they will use a new ranking system created by the ESL.
According to the press release, all ESL events will have at least one team per region in each event. In addition, different teams will be added depending on the strength and good results of the regions in any tournament.
However, for events with more than 13 teams participating, only two places will be awarded to those regions where at least one team from that region has reached the TOP 12 in the last two competitions. In other words, for a region to have two spots in the ESL tournaments, a team from that region must be among the top 12 to be guaranteed the second spot.
The DreamLeague S19 is a stepping stone to the next Major
If we look at the start and end dates of the events, we can see that the DreamLeague S19 starts right after the end of the DPC of each region. In addition, the latter ends on the eve of the ESL One Berlin Major 2023, giving us a taste of what could happen in Berlin.
Now, as we mentioned, the winner of the DreamLeague S19 will get, in addition to a juicy cash prize, a direct place in the Group Stage of the Riyadh Masters. Finally, with a prize pool of $15,000,000, this tournament becomes the second Dota 2 event with the most prizes, only behind The International.
Everything you need to know about #RiyadhMasters 2023:
✅ Championship of ESL Pro Tour Season 1
✅ Play-ins, group stage & playoffs
✅ 20 teams participating
✅ $15,000,00 prize pool
✅ … more details below! pic.twitter.com/TE37aMmPlb— Gamers8 Esports (@Gamers8GG) March 13, 2023
Header: ESL