Following the success of ESL One Manila, another Southeast Asian country, Malaysia, will be home to the next edition of the ESL series. It will take place in the Arena of Stars, Resorts World Genting in Pahang. It will be the first ever Malaysian ESL event and will run from 6-8 January.
The luxury Resorts World Genting complex is situated in the Titiwangsa Mountains near Kuala Lumpur. Fans and players will have the chance to enjoy themselves at some of the local attractions as they take a break between the action. The resort is famous for having The First World Indoor Theme Park which includes Snow World, a luxury spa, high quality dining and even a video games area.
The Arena of Stars itself was built in 1998 and has a capacity of 6,000, which no doubt will be completely filled. The arena is equipped with high-end facilities such as modern lighting and sound systems, and it has accommodated some world-renowned music performers in the past too.
The base prize pool will be the same as in the previous events in Manila and Frankfurt – $250,000 – and each of the teams that make it to the main event will receive a cut of the prize money. The prize distribution based on ranking will be:
| 1st | $100,000 | 40% |
| 2nd | $50,000 | 20% |
| 3rd-4th | $25,000 | 10% |
| 5th-6th | $12,500 | 5% |
| 7th-8th | $12,500 | 5% |
Four of the eight teams will be directly invited, while the other four will have to battle their way through regional qualifiers. Each of the major regions will be given a chance to have a representative – specifically America, China and Southeast Asia – but the European and CIS teams will be grouped together, making it tougher for these sides to reach the main event.
As usual, the qualifiers will contain high profile invited teams and teams that have come through the Open Qualifiers. Any team that wishes to try their luck can sign up. The previous event had a total of 12 teams in each of the four qualifying regions apart from the NA qualifier, where there were only eight teams.
In both ESL tournaments this year, the eight participants in the main event were divided into two groups of four teams, so it’s likely that the format will be similar. The four teams will be seeded to form two best-of-three series. The two winners will face each other and whoever claims victory will top the group and advance to the semis. The loser of this winners’ match will face the winner of a match between the two initial losers for the second qualifying spot. There will be no losers’ bracket and only the top two teams from each group will advance. The first from Group A would clash with the second from Group B and vice versa in the semifinals. All matches will be played in a best-of-three format, apart from the Grand Finals which will be decided as a best-of-five.
Only one team has been revealed so far – the Malaysian outfit Fnatic, who are currently the strongest and most successful team in the country. Their invitation is no surprise given their 4th place finish at the recently concluded TI6.
More information about the tournament will be revealed by ESL in the upcoming weeks.
