esl pro tour ranking
The ESL Pro Tour Ranking is the connective tissue between all tournaments under the ESL Pro Tour and is the core mechanic behind the Road To Katowice. As in 2019, the ranking will cover Korean tournaments, the ESL Pro Tour as well as global tournaments. Players throughout the year will collect points from their region as they look to qualify to the Masters Championship at IEM Katowice .
All points gathered on the Road To Katowice will count towards the IEM Katowice Masters Championship of 2021. Winners of each tournament will be directly invited to the championship event.
From Zero to Hero
The ESL Open Cups will allow all aspiring professionals and talented players, based in Europe, Korea and North America, to participate in weekly tournaments. These will contribute 15 points towards the ESL Pro Tour ranking and $100 in prize money, each tournament, each region, each week.
These tournaments are open for all players, there are no regional restrictions.
Formerly known as Challenger, the next level within our structure is the Masters Qualification which will act as the qualifying stage for upcoming Masters competitions. These series of regional tournaments offer prize money along with free travel and accommodation to high finishing players. Regional prize money distribution will be announced soon.
The Masters level comprises of IEM and Dreamhack competitions ran throughout the whole year, ranging from 16 to 80 player tournaments. These are split into two, ESL Pro Tour and ESL Pro Tour global events (featuring players from the ESL Pro Tour and Korean leagues at the same time). Winners of all Masters events will directly qualify to the IEM Katowice Masters Championship.
The tournament structure for the majority of ESL Pro Tour competitions will be identical to the 2019 system. Triple group stage into the knockout bracket and finally into the playoffs. Global tournaments will have their own unique formats.
The Masters Championship takes place once per year, with a prize pool of $400,000+ in 2020 and $500,000 in 2021. Starting in 2021, the Championship will be a week long tournament, with Masters winners and highly ranked ESL Pro Tour players, as well as league winners and highly ranked players from Korea.
The Masters Championship will take place at IEM Katowice where 36 of the best players compete for the crown of World Champion.
10 Year Anniversary
To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of SC2 and the release of the new ESL Pro Tour system, all tournaments will see a significant prize pool boost totalling an additional $325,000. Happy birthday SC2!
Masters Championship
Bigger & Better! The new “Global Playoffs” moves from BlizzCon to Katowice. Formally it was 8 circuit players vs 8 from Korea. Now it’s expected to be about 18 vs 18. The tournament now has 36 of the best players compete for the crown of World Champion.
3 YEAR COMMITMENT
pRIZE POOL & POINTS
RegionAL COMPETITION
Regional competition ruling for 2020 rules will continue as in 2019 however we are very open to discuss this ruling for 2021. We have rebalanced regional qualifiers into each Masters tournament.
more about the
Masters Championship
The Masters Championships in Katowice in the winter will mark the 10th anniversary of StarCraft II as a leading title in IEM and will again invite the world’s best SC2 players to compete in Poland for their share of a US $400,000 prize pool.
