While the world is still celebrating DK's spectacular comeback against Invictus Gaming in WPC-ACE League finals, it is business as usual for both teams as they flew to Beijing, China earlier today to compete in Esports Champion League. Joining the two juggernauts will be Fengyun Championship runner-up Tongfu and Asian Cyber Games 2013 champion Titan. The tournament will run from the 3rd to the 7th of January at China Esports Center.
The format of the tournament will be a best-of-two round robin followed by a four-team bubble race. No teams will be eliminated from the groupstage and the four participating teams will only be competing for seeding in the playoffs. The third and fourth placers of the groupstage will have to play one another in the quarter-finals and the winner of the match will have to face the second seed of the groupstage. The same will follow for the semi-finals match. The top seed in the groupstage will guarantee themselves at least a second place finish in the tournament.
Bubble race format:
All the games of ECL will be streamed and commentated by BeyondTheSummit Studios.
Aside from Dota 2, ECL will also play host to a wide array of other sports title including Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Starcraft 2 and the up-and-coming title Hearthstone. All the games will take turns to be played on stage, explaining why there are some gaps between each matches. While the delay isn't too long on the first two days - 45 minutes allocated for Hearthstone after every match - the three final days of the tournament will have a bizarre gap of Starcraft 2 or Hearthstone in between the first and second game.
ECL is also known for their open booth concept in which the casters are separated from the players and trashtalking between opposing teams, especially in Dota 2, is encouraged. The spectators who will be in the same room as the players will not be enjoying analytical talks from professional casters but instead, the friendly banter between the teams. If the last season of ECL was any indication, a microphone will be placed near the players so the spectators could hear how their idols are going at one another.
Unfortunately, Bai 'rOtk' Fan, some deemed the king of open booths, will not be participating in the tournament. Many pro players told us Invictus Gaming's Zhi Hao 'Hao' Chen's trashtalk is the one to look out for.
Dota 2 prize distribution:
1. 100,000 RMB (~$16,520)
2. 20,000 RMB (~$3,300)
3. 10,000 RMB (~$1,650)
