The first batch of ESL Asia's national qualifiers were held last weekend, with the top two teams for each one advancing into the next stage. Five more national/regional qualifiers, those for Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, Japan and Rest-of-SEA, is scheduled this coming weekend.
Four national qualifiers finished last weekend, with two teams each from the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam heading into the Battle Royale. These teams are:
Mineski- Execration
Invasion- Nara Stacks
Impreza- Assail
FIFA- StarsBoba
Mineski and Execration took the two slots up for grabs in the Philippine qualifiers. Regarded as two of the best teams in their country, their qualification was of little surprise. Another qualifier which ended without any significant upset was that of Vietnam. One of the advancing team is FIFA, a combination of a relatively new local team in BFF and an established team in Spirit Gaming. The other team moving on to the next stage is a rather nostalgic name, the veteran team StarsBoba.
A relevant team was amiss in Malaysia's and Singapore's representative though. Orange eSports participated in the Malaysian qualifier, but they have been disqualified for using three Singaporean players in one of their games. That decision was made, because of a rule, which requires a team to have at least three local members playing in each game to be eligible in their respecive local qualifier. First Departure joined the Singaporean qualifier, but they were eliminated in this unforgiving single-elimination tournament.
Old names in Invasion and Nara Stacks will be representing Malaysia as they finished top two. Meanwhile, Singapore will be represented by two relatively unknown teams in Impreza and Assail.
Eight more teams will be joining the SEA Battle Royale. These teams will be taken from the five other regional/national qualifiers this coming weekend. The top two teams will be taken from the Indonesian, Thai and the Korean qualifier, while the top team will be taken from the Japanese and Rest-of-SEA qualifier.
The battle royale will be a 16-team, multi-stage tournament. It will have a round-robin group stage and a singe-elimination playoffs, and it is scheduled this 3-4 May. The top two teams of the SEA battle royale will move on into the important Asian qualifier, wherein two other qualifying teams and four invited teams will be pitted against each other in another tournament.
The teams competing in the Asian qualifier finals are:
- Titan
- Arrow Gaming
- Scythe.SG
MVP.Phoenix- Chinese qualifier's 2nd placer
- Chinese qualifier's 3rd placer
- SEA Battle Royale's champion
- SEA Battle Royale's 2nd placer
More information regarding the format can be seen here.
The champion team of the Asian qualifier will be one of the two teams representing Asia at ESL One Frankfurt. The other team representing Asia will be the champion of the Chinese qualifier. The details pertaining the Chinese qualifiers are still unconfirmed at the moment.
ESL One Frankfurt will be held on 28-29 June. Aside from the two Asian teams advancing from the Asian qualifiers, the main event will also feature invited teams Natus Vincere and Alliance as well three teams from the European qualifiers and one team from the American qualifiers. The prize pool of this tournament is $150,000 plus a portion of the DotaTV ticket sales.
Source: ESL Asia
