While some of Dota 2 teams are resting after a hard-fought WePlay AniMajor or preparing for TI10 regional qualifiers, that hasn’t stopped ESL from holding its tournament. The ESL One Summer 2021 starts today with the Grand Final happening on June 20.
The prize pool for this competition is $400,000 with all 12 teams having the chance to take home some of the prize money. That was different from the recently concluded Major which had a $500,000 prize pool and only those in the top eight got a share of the pie.
With only four days of competition, the tournament immediately heads to the Playoffs. Seeding is based on DPC Points and qualifier ranking with the top four starting in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals. It’s going to be a double-elimination bracket with all of the matches in best-of-three, except the Grand Final which is in best-of-five.
Support Your Favorite Team
The teams that are fighting in Round 1 of the Upper Bracket are:
- OG vs. AS Monaco Gambit
- Alliance vs. Team Unique
- Vikin.gg vs. Team Nigma
- Team Liquid vs. Tundra Esports
Meanwhile, the team waiting in the Upper Bracket Round 2 are:
- Virtus.pro
- Team Secret
- T1
- Quincy Crew
Broadcast Talent
For this tournament, the action is going to be covered by these talents:
- Austin “Cap” Walsh
- Kevin “Purge” Godec
- Shannon “SUNSfan” Scotten
- Neal “Tsunami” Khandheria
- Andrew “Jenkins” Jenkins
- Dominik “Lacoste” Stipić
- Robson “TeaGuvnor” Merritt
- Kurtis Daniel “Aui_2000” Ling
- Kyle “Kyle” Freedman
You can watch the official English broadcast one and two.
All Eyes On
For this tournament, the one team to look out for is OG. Not because they’re going to dominate the tournament but on how they’re going to perform. The team recently revealed that Anathan “ana” Pham had made the decision to retire. Replacing him is Syed Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan. This is an interesting development considering that OG had previously signed SumaiL but later released him. We’ll see how SumaiL performs with OG this time around.
It’s also important to keep a close watch on Team Liquid. Liquid had been able to qualify for the Singapore Major but was promptly eliminated during the first round of the Playoffs. The team also managed to be part of WePlay AniMajor yet was eliminated at the Group Stage. Can Liquid show the other teams that they have what it takes?
Who do you think is winning this tournament?
