ESL Clarifies Decision and Offers Solution for Disqualified Teams in Dota Meisterschaft
The Dota community has been in a state of confusion following ESL’s reported decision to disqualify multiple teams from the ESL Meisterschaft 2020 Season Two competition due to roster conflicts with one of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit events.
ESL has now clarified that it will not be disqualifying teams because DreamLeague is not specified in the rulebook for ESL events, despite using the same rulebook. Instead, teams affected by the conflict will be given an additional slot to add new players if needed.
“All teams already have two slots to add new players for the playoffs, but teams whose players have played DreamLeague will get a third slot to compensate for the unclear situation regarding the rulebook,” ESL said. “Teams whose players have played ESL One CIS DPC qualifier will keep the two slots and will not get an additional one, because ESL One tournaments are clearly mentioned in the rulebook. This will—at least theoretically—enable all remaining playoffs teams to have an eligible lineup of five players for the semifinals and finals.”
Rulebook Conflict and Player Restrictions
According to an ESL spokesperson, the ESL Meisterschaft’s rulebook states that a player cannot compete in more than one ESL Pro Gaming tournament simultaneously with two different teams. This means that players must maintain the same roster across all ESL events.
This rule led to issues at Meisterschaft because teams were structured around the requirement of having three players from Germany on the roster, with a maximum of two international players. Substitute players are an exception, but overall, the roster structure must be followed.
ESL and DreamHack Merger Complicates Matters
The conflict arose when players competing at Meisterschaft also signed up or were invited to participate in some of the 2021 DPC qualifiers in Europe or CIS. These regions are being run by ESL and DreamHack for the regional leagues. Although the EU events are called DreamLeague, they are being treated as ESL tournaments due to the merger between ESL and DreamHack.
As a result, teams could not compete in the ESL-run CIS qualifiers because it conflicted with the rules set by ESL. This ruling put players like Giorgos “SsaSpartan” Giannakopoulos and Tasos “Focus” Michailidis, who were invited to the closed qualifiers despite already competing in Meisterschaft, in a difficult situation.
Controversy Surrounding the Ruling
The clarification from ESL allows the completion of Meisterschaft playoffs with some of the qualified players. However, it raises concerns about why a company like ESL, running a national league, can ban players from international competitions, even if ESL is also running the event.
Players and those involved in Meisterschaft question why ESL can impose such restrictions. TheBloodySky said, “You might think they want to prevent team hopping, i.e., that a player plays in several teams at the same time. But no, that’s all fine as long as you play with another team if it’s a tournament/league organized by non-ESL (and apparently Dreamhack).”
ESL appears to be working on improving its rulebook based on feedback from the players involved in this situation. ESL product manager Christoph Kohlhaas has stated that they will review and make changes for future Dota competitions.
ESL, Dota, Meisterschaft, DreamLeague, roster conflicts, disqualification, player restrictions, rulebook, ESL events, playoffs, teams, conflict resolution, controversy, restrictions, international competitions, ESL and DreamHack merger