ESL Pro Tour review: the history and present of the tournament series
Elen StelmakhESL Pro Tour is one of the leading tournament series in the CS:GO discipline. ESL is the company responsible for the event and, together with its partners, has been running major championships and generating solid cash prizes for a number of years.
The ESL Pro Tour series was the result of a global merger between tournament operators ESL and DreamHack, who revealed their ambitious plans back in late 2019. Since then, each season has included around twenty tournaments, each with a different level of participation, format and prize pool size.
Nevertheless, to this day, the ESL Pro Tour series remains ESL's main "asset", as other well-known tournament operator series such as IEM and ESL Pro League are also included in the ecosystem.
Today, the series offers participants a transparent path to the top, giving them access to competitions on a par with the strongest teams on the planet. With the system in place, the ESL Pro Tour includes all the competition's most renowned and open entry areas.
History of the emergence of the ESL Pro Tour series
In the autumn of 2019, renowned tournament operators ESL and DreamHack announced that they were joining forces to create a new competitive ecosystem called ESL Pro Tour.
The new series absorbed all of the well-known championships run by both companies, as well as fostering the development of new offshoots that viewers enjoyed and established themselves on the scene.
The first tournament in the EPT series was the DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019, which took place in early October. The winner of that event was Team Fnatic, who decided to remind themselves after years of silence. Only at the end of 2019, the organisers managed to hold several championships in the series, but ESL and DreamHack were making big plans.
Development of the ESL Pro Tour series during the online period
In early 2020, the organisers managed to hold the DreamHack Open Leipzig 2020. However, very quickly the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the plans of the companies, who had to abruptly scrap their plans and go online.
As a result, all future ESL Pro Tour championships had to be either cancelled or moved online, adding a regional separation between competitors.
The result was the following story: a newly launched series quickly lost its development, despite the numerous efforts on the part of the organizers. However, the global situation did not allow ESL to return teams to the courts during the next season.
It was not until 2021 that there was good news and a decision was made to return to the LAN-format at the traditional IEM Cologne in the summer. Thereafter, the organizers gradually returned to the usual pace to finally turn the series into the premier competitive ecosystem in CS:GO.
The present of the ESL Pro Tour series
Today, the ESL Pro Tour series includes several levels of competition, ranging from the TIER-2 stage to major LAN tournaments featuring the world's top teams.
The general scheme of the series is as follows:
- Regional events from ESL.
- ESL Challenger League regionals and events.
- ESL Challenger tournaments at DreamHack.
- Intel Extreme Masters tournaments.
- ESL Pro League.
- Majors hosted by ESL.
The ESL Pro Tour series also used to include the DreamHack Open and DreamHack Masters events, but after the coronavirus pandemic, they underwent significant changes and were incorporated into the ESL Challenger at DreamHack structure. Also off the radar was the ESL One structure, which was replaced by similar championships from the tournament operator.
The main point of the ESL Pro Tour is to give little-known teams a chance to break into the elite and fight alongside the best. From regional tournaments, everyone has the chance to qualify for IEM and ESL Pro League tournaments, or take part in the lesser-known competitions such as the ESL Challenger at DreamHack.
Based on their success, each team earns points towards the ESL world rankings, allowing them to receive invitations to the big championships from the organiser.
Current tournament classification
Currently tournament operator ESL divides its current championships into classes. There are three subgroups, each with their own distinctive elements:
- Championships. These are andVent, held twice a year at renowned venues in Katowice and Cologne. A characteristic feature is the complex selection system, which is largely based on ESL world rankings.
- Masters. The next stage which consists of other championships under the Intel Extreme Masters umbrella. The advantage of these championships is that they are accessible to lower tier teams thanks to an open system via the andVent ESL Challenger at DreamHack.
- Challenger. The initial round of ESL Pro Tour events that includes not only LAN tournaments but also regional online championships. It's a chance for smaller teams to prove themselves and get a chance to play in the biggest events.
Existing classes are the equivalent of a career ladder. From the first rung onwards all teams will be promoted and receive invitations to bigger tournaments.
Key changes in the ESL Pro Tour series
The ESL Pro Tour series has undergone serious changes in recent years. First and foremost, it concerns the tournaments held, as the DreamHack Open, DreamHack Masters and ESL One events have been replaced by other championship classes.
Secondly, the organizers abandoned the points system, based on which they had previously issued invitations to all tournaments. Now the entire series system depends on winning the regional championships as well as the level of the teams in the ESL rankings.
The ESL Pro Tour series is a unified tournament system comprised of several championship groups. Thanks to the structure, every team has a chance to climb out of the bottom and get their chance to be champion.
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Elen Stelmakh is a creative individual dedicated to advancing gaming culture through articles and visual design. As a full-time EGamersWorld author and designer for a gaming website, Elen not only creates content but also infuses it with energy and creativity.