ESL standardizing event formats in 2018

Gone will be the days of round-robin best-of-one groups!

The next generation of IEM events will feature a different format than the most recent event in Oakland

A report by Ben Fischer of SportsBusiness Daily has revealed that tournament organizer ESL will move to standardize tournament formats in 2018 for their ESL One, Intel Extreme Masters and ESL Pro League properties.

The new tournament format will feature sixteen teams, who will be split into two double-elimination groups of eight teams. From these groups, six teams will advance to the arena playoffs, which will be held over two or three days. ESL Vice President of Pro Gaming Ulrich Schulze noted that the changes would incur “A significant six-figure increase” in costs to the organization, but that they believe they can make up for the increase with revenue.

Below is a quick comparison of the various ESL events that were held throughout 2017:

Event Teams Group Format Playoff Teams IEM Season XI Katowice 12 Round-robin 6 IEM Season XII Sydney 8 Swiss 4 EPL Season 5 Finals 12 Round-robin 6 ESL One Cologne 16 Swiss 8 ESL One New York 8 GSL 4 IEM Season XII Oakland 12 Round-robin 6 EPL Season 6 Finals 12 Round-robin 6

Perhaps most notable is the move away from the Swiss and round-robin formats that the organizer heavily favored in 2017. The move to a larger double-elimination formation hearkens back to the 1.6 era, where 16 or even 32 team double-elimination brackets were par for the course. Additionally, ESL will be sticking with six team playoffs, which they featured in a majority of their 2017 events.

The SBD report also noted that the sweeping changes would affect "at least 10 planned events" in 2018. Four of these events are already known, being IEM Season XII Katowice, ESL One Cologne, and the next two finals of ESL Pro League. It is assumed that all the impacted events will also fall under the umbrella of the $1,000,000 Intel Grand Slam.

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The ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals are currently ongoing in Odense, Denmark, and will be the last ESL event of 2017. The event will resume tomorrow with the playoffs, which will see North American underdogs Misfits facing off against HellRaisers, and European transplants OpTic taking on Fnatic.