ESL Gaming has announced the ESL Pro League Season 13 Malta returns as part of its CS:GO competition. With the event mentioned in ESL Gaming’s road map in January, we now know the event’s teams and importance.
24 teams are taking part in the ESL Pro League Season 13 Malta, kicking off on March 8 (Image via ESL Gaming)
ESL Pro League Season 13 – When and Where
The ESL Pro League is back – with the event taking place through March 8 – April 11. The event will mix both online and LAN play. The Group Stages are set to take place online, with the teams making it to the Playoffs gaining travel to a private LAN event.
ESL Gaming has broken the Group stages into four pieces. Group A kicks off on March 8-12. Group B follows on March 13 -18, with Group C March 19-24, and Group D on the 25-29.
As it stands, the LAN event is currently in the works. ESL Gaming may go online for the Playoffs, just as the IEM Global Finals did to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic’s rising second and third waves.
ESL Pro League Season 13’s Teams
The ESL Pro League Season 13 contains 24 teams, with 12 of them ESL Gaming partners. The other 12 teams have qualified through the ESL World Rankings, ESL Pro Tour Points, and connected leagues.
The 12 Partnered teams are Astralis, Complexity, ENCE, Evil Geniuses, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, G2 Esports, Mousesports, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid and Vitality. The partnered teams remain the same from the beginning of 2020, except for 100T, who departed the CS:GO scene in late 2020.
The 12 teams coming through from the invites are as follows. Endpoint CEX and Team One Esports through the Mountain Dew League. Heroic, BIG, FURIA, OG, VP, Gambit, Cloud9, Renegades, MIBR, and one unconfirmed invite are coming through the World Rankings.
These teams will compete in four groups of six. The top three teams of each group will make it to the Playoffs. From there, the first-place teams of each group will draw into a closed bracket, with the winners advancing to the semi-finals. The losers of the first place play-ins go to the round of six byes. The other teams finishing in second and third of the groups will compete in a single-elimination round of 16, where the seconds seeds will face off against a third seed.
What is on the Line?
The ESL Pro League Season 13 will have $750,000 USD on the line throughout the event. Teams making it to the playoffs can expect a minimum of $7,000 prize, with the winner taking home $175,000.
The event is also a huge incentive for ESL Gaming’s internal league. Organizations taking part can earn ESL Pro Tour Points, which determine the teams making it to ESL Gaming’s biggest events, like IEM Katowice and ESL One Cologne.
All the information regarding the ESL Pro League Season 13 can be found here.
