Events have been cancelled left and right because of COVID-19 and eSports events and tournaments were not spared. As of March 25, 2020, ESL One Team announced the re-scheduling of ESL One Birmingham 2020 into 2021, leaving fans around the world disappointed and worried – especially those who were looking to watch it live.
Fortunately, there was also the decision to push through with this year’s tournament in online form while ensuring that the supposed tickets for the event will remain valid until 2021.
With ESL One Birmingham Online kicking-off tomorrow, here are the final lists of teams that will be participating in their respective regions.
Thirty teams have received direct invites from ESL while the remaining six have been determined by closed qualifiers. Once again, the region with the most participants in the tournament is the combined Europe/Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). 16 teams will be competing in this region with 14 of them receiving direct invites, the remaining two slots will be claimed by the team to emerge out of the closed qualifiers. Here are the teams that will be competing in the combined Europe/CIS region:
Team Secret, Team Liquid, FlyToMoon, Natus Vincere, OG, Alliance, Ninjas in Pyjamas, VP.Prodigy, Team Spirit, Gambit Esports, Team Nigma, HellRaisers, Cyber Legacy, Vikin.gg, Team Unique, Aggressive Mode
The second largest region of this tournament is China which will be composed of eight teams, again two of whom came from open qualifier spots for teams that were left off of the invite list. Below is the list of teams gearing up for China:
PSG.LGD, EHOME, Team Aster, Royal Never Give Up, Invictus Gaming, CDEC Gaming, Sparking Arrow Gaming, Longinus
Six teams will battle it out in The North America/South America Region with five teams receiving direct invites leaving only one spot open for the emerging champion of the closed qualifiers. Four out of the five teams invited came from North America with beastcoast being the the only South American team to receive an invite. No surprises as to who claimed the qualifier slot here as SA favorites Thunder Predator, who seem to be a more competitive team compared to beastcoast lately, secured the last slot through closed qualifiers. The Americas will be represented by:
Evil Geniuses, Quincy Crew, CR4ZY, Business Associates, beastcoast, Thunder Predator
Similar to the NA/SA region, the South East Asia region is also composed of five invited teams with one final slot for the closed qualifier champs. The selection of teams to receive direct invites has been direct to the point selecting the teams to watch and those that remained competitive. With Reality Rift clinching the final slot from closed qualifiers, here are the six teams looking to emerge as champions for the SEA region:
TNC Predator, Fnatic, Geek Fam, Boom Esports, Team Androit, Reality Rift
Fans and players looking for more DOTA 2 action must be excited to have something to look forward to for weeks to come. ESL One Birmingham Online 2020 looks to be the most entertaining tournament to follow and is shaping to be a massive event despite being re-scheduled and held online because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Whether you are a DOTA 2 fan looking for your fix of competitive DOTA or rooting for a specific team, look no further as this tournament is poised to bring you all the DOTA 2 action you need with the biggest names ready to go at it for the title starting on May 21, 2020 until June 7, 2020.
Which region would you be keeping an eye on the most? Which teams will you be betting on? Who will emerge from their regions and win it all?
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