Intro

As we head into the final stretch of ESL Pro Tour before the Masters Championship, there is no better time than now to explore the current state of the circuit, the next steps, and where fans can find more of the outstanding StarCraft that is being showcased in the ESL Pro Tour that will conclude the year of 2023/24 at the Esports World Cup.

Circuit Recap

2023 was a year filled with multiple EPT competitions, featuring two out of three online regionals and LANs held at Dreamhack events. Jönköping and Atlanta were the stages where Serral and Clem secured their slots at the EWC.

At the beginning of 2024, one of the most traditional StarCraft II events, the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice, took place. There, 24 players battled for four slots at the EWC. In this tournament, Dark, Maru, and Cure secured their participation in the Masters Championship.

Alongside Katowice, the LAN held in Dallas has also featured four slots for the EWC. However, only one of the Top 4 placing attendees had not secured a spot in Riyadh prior to this event. Oliveira, once again defying all odds, has qualified for the Championship event becoming the sixth player to do so.

During SC2 Masters Spring, three more players have punched their tickets to the Esports World Cup. Reynor, GuMiho and Astrea have collected enough EPT ranking points in their respective regions (Europe, Korea, and Americas) to guarantee their participation in the biggest SC2 tournament to date.

PLAYERS QUALIFIED TO THE ESPORTS WORLD CUP:

• Serral from ESL Masters Summer
• Clem from ESL Masters Winter
• Maru, Dark and Cure from IEM Katowice
• Oliveira from ESL Masters Spring
• Reynor from EPT Standings EU
• GuMiho from EPT Standings KR
• Astrea from EPT Standings AM

Beyond direct slots: How to make it to EWC

Once the last Masters competition concludes, the clock starts ticking, and all paths converge towards the Masters Championship held at EWC through a series of key dates:

Last ESL Open Cup with points: June 24th

EPT Standings Lock-in: June 29th

Open Qualifiers: July 4th to 7th

The ESL Open Cups will continue taking place every Monday at the usual days and times, but circuit points will be awarded until June 24th. After this week, they will continue (until August 26th) but without direct contributions to the EPT Standings.

On June 29th, the regional standings will be locked. All three subregions of the EPT will have their rankings defined, the Korean region will be complete with 5 GSL Seasons, and the invites based on subregions will be issued. After the regional invites are done, invites from global standings will be made, confirming 16 out of the 18 contestants that will join the Group Stage at EWC.

EWC SLOTS AVAILABLE FROM THE EPT STANDINGS:

• 1 slot from EPT Standings EU
• 1 slot from EPT Standings KR
• 1 slot from EPT Standings Asia
• 4 slots from EPT Global Standings

It’s worth reminding that the invitation through global standings will be based on the Seeding Standings of each player in the circuit. These standings are a modification applied over the EPT Points held in their main subregion, to account for the Regional Asynchronism between EPT and Korean regions (explained in detail in section 2.2.2.2 of the ESL Pro Tour Rulebook). Its value at the end of the expanded year of 2023/24 is 10/9ths, meaning that non-Korean players will have their standing points multiplied by 10/9.

EWC Qualifiers

With all prestigious events of the year completed and the invites secured for the majority of the players, there is only one final matter to be resolved: the names of the two players who will make their way through the Last Chance Qualifier.

This two-stage competition will feature regionally locked Open Qualifiers seeding a total of eight players into a two-day Closed Qualifier, from which the best two players will secure their slot at the EWC. 

Open Qualifiers

Closed Qualifier

Closed Qualifiers Bracket you can find here: https://play.eslgaming.com/starcraft/global/sc2/challenger/ewc-sc2-2024-global-closed-qualifier/