Welcome to the new year, to kick off 2022 we wanted to reach out to share our thoughts and ideas for the 2022/2023 competition year of the ESL Pro Tour for SC2.
Sc2 ESL Pro Tour
We are planning offline events. It’s been almost two years since we were last able to gather players to compete in front of an audience and it’s something we have all missed deeply; players, staff and fans alike. While we are committed to making it happen in the new year, safety will of course remain our highest priority.
We’ll be keeping much of the online presence we’ve used in the past two years. Having regular online matches provides a lot of benefits through the yearly SC2 competition. Regular important matches for players to hone their skills, games for the community to enjoy, and plenty of moments to tune in during the year. Paired with live events this will give us high points during the year to rally around as a community, as well as the steady stream of games we’ve recently had and we’re excited with how the cadence of the year will play out.
In the next season the ESL Pro Tour for SC2 will be evolving in an important step for the longevity of competitive SC2. We will be looking to work closer with other tournament organizers that the community already knows and appreciates.
We are happy to announce that Team Liquid & TaKeTV have officially joined the ESL Pro Tour and their competition details are listed below. By taking this step, we want to open the door to working closer with organizers, offering direct and indirect support together with Blizzard as well as ensuring that their competitions do take place and importantly, announced as part of the ESL Pro Tour ahead of each competitive year.
Competition Calendar
The 2022/2023 season will have two EPT Masters competitions ahead of the EPT Championship in 2023.
DreamHack SC2 Masters: Valencia 2022 - $338,000
Qualifiers: May 3 - 8
Regionals: May 18 - Jun 5
DreamHack Valencia: Jul 1 - 3
DreamHack SC2 Masters: Atlanta 2022 - $338,000
Qualifiers: Sep 13 - 18
Regionals: Sep 28 - Oct 16
DreamHack Atlanta: Nov 18-20
EPT Championship: IEM Katowice 2023- $500,000
Feb/March, 2023
Partner Events - $100,000 Combined
HomeStory Cup XXI
July 21-24
TeamLiquid StarLeague 9
July 29 - September 4
HomeStory Cup XXII
December 15-18
The new Partner Tournament aspect of next year’s EPT Season means we can come to you already with our dates and planning for further events from TaKeTV and Team Liquid. Together with Blizzard Entertainment, we'll be helping support these organizers with up to $100,000 in prize pool and an increased EPT point allocation, turning these tournaments to become important steps on the Road to Katowice.
ESL Open Cups & TLMC
We will continue to run our ESL Open Cups in the same fashion as the current year. Our existing cups will cease to award EPT points following the January 10, 2022 edition and starting up again April 4, following our event in Katowice and a one month off-season after the event. As a reminder, our Shopify Open Cup Boost will also stop just before IEM Katowice.
We’ll also be returning through 2022-23 to continue to work with TLnet on the creation and rotation of fresh maps in the ladder pool via the TLMC, which will have two more editions before we go to our EPT Championship in February 2023.
Wrapping up
Starting in spring of 2022, the competitive year will then see its finale at IEM Katowice 2023 where we will crown the official World Champion.
