ESL PRO TOUR CHANGES FOR 2023

Today we’re announcing changes to the qualification for the most prestigious CS:GO tournaments in the ESL calendar, the ESL Pro Tour Championship events: Intel Extreme Masters Katowice & Cologne

Changes for 2023

Effective for Intel Extreme Masters: Katowice 2023, ESL Pro Tour points will cease to exist. The structure will adapt to inviting Champions of prominent mostly EPT tournaments or through the ESL World Ranking. The forthcoming EPT Championship event, IEM Cologne 2022, will be the last EPT Championship with the current structure in place.

  • Regionalized ESL World Ranking slots will be evaluated after each EPT Championship for potential redistribution into the next EPT Championship.
  • * EPT Masters invitations will work in accordance with announced tournaments. An increase or decrease will impact the number of ESL World Ranking slots.
  • **A maximum of 3 ESL Pro Tour Affiliate Event Champions will be invited directly to the Play-In Stage. If there are no EPT Affiliate Events, the slots will be filled via the ESL World Ranking

The ESL Pro Tour was announced in September of 2019, put in place as an open ecosystem connecting all ESL tournaments in CS:GO. Teams compete within the EPT in order to make it to the Championship events that take place twice a year: IEM Katowice & Cologne.

The ESL World Ranking is currently being re-configured to accommodate for additional challenges the current structure poses, as furthermore fit with the changes for 2023.

Why are we making these changes?

We are on a continuous mission to simplify the ESL Pro Tour. Our current structure in which we invite teams to an EPT Championship via two Ranking (EPT points & ESL WR) systems leads to confusion.

What is an EPT Affiliate event?

Moving forward we would like to collaborate with other tournament organizers to invite their champions to our events. Should an EPT Affiliate event slot not be activated, any unactivated slots will go back into the ESL World Ranking Slot.

What happens to the slots if a team wins two qualifying tournaments, i.e. two EPT Masters Competitions?

Only the winning team of an EPT Masters tournament is eligible to receive the direct invitation. In case the winning team already earned a direct invitation to the EPT Championship, then the slot will be transferred to the global ESL World Ranking pool and does not trickle down to the second placed team in said tournament.

If a team first wins a slot for the EPT Championship Play-In, and then later on wins a slot for the EPT Championship Group Stage, then the Play-In slot will be transferred to the global ESL World Ranking pool and does not trickle down to the second placed team in said tournament.

Are there changes to how teams are qualifying to EPT Masters Competitions (IEM Dallas & IEM China)?

There's no changes to these competitions, invites remain based on ESL Partner Team Slots, ESL World Ranking Slots and regional online qualifiers. The only difference is that the winners of these competitions will now qualify directly to the EPT Championship events.

What about the EPT Challenger Competitions?

There are no changes to these competitions, namely ESL Challenger, ESL Challenger League and ESL National Championships. Winning an EPT Challenger Competition will still grant qualification into the Conference Stage of the ESL Pro League.

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