ESEA adjusts ESL Pro League qualification system

3-7-2025 22:40

The system has been changed to follow the VRS guidelines.

The path to EPL has been adapted

The ESL Challenger League and the ESL Pro League qualification system have been adjusted to follow Valve's tournament guidelines after the two-season exception to continue the previous format ran out. This means that the ESEA Advanced to ESL Challenger League pipeline is replaced by two Elite events per season.

The Elite events will serve as qualifiers for ESL Challenger League and will be held twice per season in Europe and North America. They will begin with open qualifiers, where each team's performance in the ESEA League decides their seeding, which will feed into a 16-team group stage, with the two best teams set to earn a spot in ECL. Elite events will be VRS-ranked.

ESEA Advanced will continue being an unranked event due to teams being automatically moved from the previous season and earning their spots with their performances in lower divisions. That goes against the ranked events guidelines, which state that teams need to be invited based on open qualifiers or their VRS rank.

To make up for that, the winner of each Advanced season will earn a trip to DreamHack Knockout, a BYOC LAN qualifier set to award a spot at ESL Pro League.

In essence, the move means that ECL has moved away from the ESEA League system (Open, Entry, Intermediate, Main, Advanced).

ECL will thus remain ranked and continue to award direct spots for ESL Pro League, while the league system remains unranked, with Advanced champions set to secure a spot at the BYOC EPL LAN qualifier.

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2025-07-03 22:41

I hate vrs 😡 Actually lowkey this makes esea have meaning again- they need to remove all the rule exploiters tho

2025-07-03 22:44

I am too low IQ for this...

2025-07-03 22:42

6 replies

b4 this change, getting a good placement in advanced qualified you to challenger league (online tournament), then to epl (stage 1 - hltv.org/events/8035/esl-pro-league-seas..). now getting a high placement in advanced qualifies you to a byoc (bring your own computer) dreamhack event

2025-07-04 00:11

5 replies

Way better reward, free trip with the boys

2025-07-04 03:36

4 replies

Free? Sure if you dont count the pc you have to bring

2025-07-04 04:11

3 replies

ESEA will provide the PC for the Advanced champions

2025-07-04 10:07

1 reply

Oh i see

2025-07-04 13:30

"Winners of Season 54 Advanced will earn a trip to DreamHack Knockout, the ESL Pro League BYOC LAN qualifier at DreamHack Atlanta, with all expenses paid"

2025-07-04 11:10

huge L

Valve should've just given an exemption for the ESL leagues and had Advanced/Challenger be VRS event even if they are worth like 25-50% less points because invites arent VRS.

2025-07-03 22:45

2 replies

I don't even know why ESEA isn't VRS. As far as I know, anyone can register for the very first stage, so they can be considered open qualifiers (Fragadelphia also works like that), and all the leagues above are invites from previous seasons, which VRS also doesn't contradict.

2025-07-04 04:22

Valve on some bullshit. They may dislike ESL for fair reasons, but the whole ESEA league is very legit imo (except I guess all the matchfixing in NA/Australia that we heard about). VRS points tho would disincentivize fixing I'd hope or at least I would rather take the bad with the good instead of teams forced in the infinite online cup hellscape.

Someone explain Im not smart enough

2025-07-03 23:31

I don't know either, hope this helped!

2025-07-03 23:38

Hey, let me know if you have any questions, from our blog: TL;DR - Updating Promotion: We’re adjusting the progression from Advanced so the four seasons per year no longer qualify directly for ECL. This is a necessary step to follow the rules, which the entire professional scene follows. Due to Advanced containing teams that automatically moved from the previous season and being qualified by lower divisions, Advanced cannot be an Open Qualifier for ECL, a Tier 2 VRS-Ranked event. - Eight, New Qualifiers For ECL Each Year: Our new Elite events qualify for ECL in Europe and North America. If you don't have any VRS Points, your team's performance in the ESEA League decides your seeding in these qualifiers. The best teams then compete in a group stage and playoffs to earn ECL promotion and $2,500 per Elite event in each region. Elite meets Valve’s Tournament Operation Requirements for a Ranked event so each Elite can offer VRS Points if HLTV.org covers the matches, for example, in the Elite playoffs for two chances to qualify each season. - Adjusting the prize pool: To follow the VRS Unranked Event requirements, the total League prize pool will be capped at $250,000 per year. We will be redistributing the difference into the Elite prize pool, the full LAN travel support for Advanced champions, and other initiatives for upcoming players. - A New Prize for Advanced: Winners of Season 54 Advanced will earn a trip to DreamHack Knockout, the ESL Pro League BYOC LAN qualifier at DreamHack Atlanta, with all expenses paid. This is a chance for Tier 2 teams to gain vital experience in a VRS-Ranked LAN environment and break into the top tier without facing the full ECL format. - More Tools To Support Your Climb: We are bringing back .coach, spotlighting more amateur matches on the main ESLCS Twitch stream, and supporting new stars by paying Advanced players to demo review Open teams.

2025-07-04 11:11