The Esports Championship Series (ECS), a ground-breaking esports initiative founded by FACEIT and supported by Twitch, the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers, has revealed the lineup of teams for season two of the ECS – Counter-Strike League, including 16 teams that have pre-qualified based on their position in the league’s debut season. The ECS will turn to its new Developmental League for fresh teams to join the league for season two, with eight teams from each region set to battle for the open positions in each region’s bracket. The Development League matches begin on 9th September, with premier matches throughout the league being live-streamed exclusively on FACEIT’s official Twitch channel – Twitch.tv/FaceitTV.
Four teams from each region will qualify for the ECS Developmental League through the ECS Open Qualifiers and another four teams invited by the ECS to compete in the league. The top two teams from both the North America and Europe brackets will then battle the bottom two teams from the ECS season one. The winner of each showdown will then earn a place in season two of ECS. In addition to this, the first place qualifying EU team will move directly into ECS Season 2, due to the European bracket’s additional open roster spot from Season 1.
The schedule for the Development League will see some of the CS:GO’s biggest teams battle for a chance to compete in ECS Season 2. The level of skill and quality of the teams in the development league alone proves to provide a nail biting series of matches.
The community may recognize the players from SK Gaming as the previous ECS Luminosity players, who competed in Season 1 2016. Due to the fact that they have recently left Luminosity, and as the Teams own the league slot and associated membership in the ECS, they have been invited directly to the development league. In addition, Na’vi had dropped out from Season 1 and therefore will need to re-qualify in order to participate to Season 2
“We are committed to the further growth of CS:GO” said Michele Attisani, Chief Business Officer and co-founder at FACEIT “Structure and consistency are very important to making the ECS what it is, the Open Qualifiers and upcoming Development League will go a long way to help build that structure, and provide even more exciting content for our community.”
The ECS Open Qualifiers kicked off on August 5 and end August 28, with rounds of the Open Qualifier taking place each week. The Developmental League will then begin on September 9 and conclude on September 27. After the completion of the Developmental League and the promotional showdown matches, the ECS season two will start on October 7, culminating with the grand finals in December. Teams interested in signing up for the ECS Open Qualifiers can visit FACEIT.com and signup for the tournament under the competitions section.
Teams that qualify for season two of the ECS league will earn all the benefits of Season One participants, including co-ownership in the league and the opportunity to select representation on the league’s governing committee. The ECS will provide a collective $1.75M for season two that will go toward the league’s prize pool and supportive funds that will provide stability. This includes helping organizations provide better salaries, facilities and equipment that will improve the overall conditions and welfare for players, while furnishing the ecosystem of the ECS with a more structured framework to operate within.
If you belong to a team or would like to form one for your chance to take part in the ECS Season 2 then you can still sign up and play on FACEIT at the following links:
Remaining EU Open Qualifiers:
https://www.faceit.com/en/csgo/tournament/9ce6b56e-1022-4544-9a09-a84640c6f8c6
Remaining NA Open Qualifiers:
https://www.faceit.com/en/csgo/tournament/9db69368-de1c-4215-ad8e-8c7c810e772b