ESL One Kuala Lumpur is set to be the first major Dota 2 tournament after Valve officially abolished the Dota Pro Circuit after six years.
This likely means the increased importance of third-party tournaments — and ESL has been putting up some of the biggest ones in recent years. The last three editions of DreamLeague have featured $1 million dollar prize pools, and Riyadh Masters was the biggest tournament in terms of prize money last year — US$15 million, eclipsing The International 2023’s.
With that in mind, ESL One Kuala Lumpur is kicking the next season of competitive Dota off, from December 11 to December 17. Aside from a US$1 million dollar prize pool, it could be the start of a new way for teams to battle for relevance and prestige ahead of any potential invites to The International in 2024.
Here are all the teams qualified for ESL One Kuala Lumpur.
ESL One KL teams: Three of TI12’s top four teams star in 12-team field
Credit: ESL
TEAMQUALIFIED VIAGaimin GladiatorsInvitedLGD GamingInvitedAzure RayInvitedTeam LiquidWestern EuropeTeam SecretWestern EuropeBetBoom TeamEastern Europe9PandasEastern EuropeTeam FalconsMENAInvictus GamingChinaBlacklist InternationalSoutheast AsiaTSMNorth AmericaWawitas SagazesSouth America
Three teams were invited to the tournament — all of which finished in the top four at The International 2023. The rest of the teams qualified via regional qualifiers: Western and Eastern Europe, MENA, China, Southeast Asia, and North and South America. Western Europe and Eastern Europe both had two slots, while every other region had one.
TI12 winner Team Spirit was originally invited, but instead withdrew from the tournament due to health issues, according to tournament organizers ESL. The tournament slot instead went to the Western Europe closed qualifiers, which allowed Team Secret to qualify.
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