ESL Hamburg: Teams Confirmed for Leading Dota 2 Tournament
The ESL Hamburg tournament is set to begin on Oct. 23, with the official announcement of participating teams made recently. A replacement team had to be found after TNC Predator pulled out to focus on the WESG.
EVOS Esports, the second-place finishers in the SEA qualifiers, have been confirmed as the team filling the gap left by TNC. This will mark the Indonesian team’s first appearance at a Western event.
In total, there are twelve teams participating in the tournament. Eight of them received direct invites, while the remaining four qualified through regional events. The teams receiving direct invites include Virtus.pro, Evil Geniuses, Team Secret, Mineski, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Forward Gaming, paiN Gaming, and Vici Gaming.
The four teams qualifying through regional events are EVOS from Southeast Asia, Team Aster from China, compLexity Gaming from North America, and Alliance from Europe.
The tournament has also introduced a new match format. Teams in each of the two groups will play a two-game series, with each team competing in ten group games. The top two teams from each group will move to the upper bracket, while the bottom two teams will head to the lower bracket. The playoffs will follow a traditional format, with each series being a best-of-three until the finals, which will be a best-of-five double elimination bracket.
ESL has released the schedule for the opening day of the event, which includes matches between Team Secret and Evil Geniuses, paiN Gaming and Vici Gaming, and Alliance and Mineski. The tournament will run from Oct. 23 to Oct. 28.
Stay tuned for the latest updates and results from ESL Hamburg!
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