The year 2020 is coming to its end. The time to sum up the year has not come in esports yet. A few big tournaments are still waiting for their winners. But fans always live for future victories. They are interested in what large competitions will be on the list of the first ones in 2021.
Having made the all-sided analysis, we have chosen four big tournaments in the two most popular esports disciplines: Dota 2 and CS:GO.
Starting from summer 2020, there were persistent rumors that the company Valve was preparing the massive structure reform of regional leagues. The changes are dedicated to the return of the Dota Pro Circuit.
The structure of the new tournament will include six leagues: China, North and South America, the CIS countries, Europe, and Southeast Asia. 16 leagues will be listed in every league.
Every regional league will include two divisions: the upper one and the lower one. The global season will be divided into three stages, which will be over with a large tournament with the winners of their leagues. The International (TI) will be the final chord.
Valve states that the new system will improve the development of the second and third-division teams. They will play more status matches and earn additional money. According to the corporation, it will increase the level of competition and provide the rotation between clubs.
Considering the comments, these changes were set to release in the middle of 2020 but the lockdown messed up all the plans. The schedule changed seriously due to it. The start of the regional tournaments is tentatively scheduled for the end of January 2021.
It is not worth forgetting that there is an open question about the winner of the global final, which will be hosted from 18.01 to 21.01. Only six out of eight participants are known at the moment. The teams will be divided into two groups. The top two teams from each group will receive a spot in the semi-final.
The final prize pool will amount to one million dollars. The winner will bring 600 thousand dollars to its club’s bank account. Traditionally, the favorites of the competition are:
The tournament will probably have a record number of views. It will allow the organizers to involve additional sponsors. The events hosted online have appeared to be not that non-perspective business.
The main complaints were against the server issues but the developers almost solved this problem over the past half a year. The threat of the coronavirus pandemic is still real in Europe, so the organizers are not going to host events in the brick-and-mortar format, principally.
The biggest tournament operator BLAST has become the first to appear in 2021. The company has published the schedule for the year and revealed the sum of prize money – 2 million and 500 thousand US dollars. The operator has left the formula of the competitions untouched. Initially, there will be group matches, after that there will be a Showdown and the final. The success will guarantee the winner a slot in the final battle.
Spring Groups will be the first to open a new season. It will be carried out from 04.02 to 14.02. The prize pool will be equal to 150 thousand dollars.
ESL has not stayed aside. The company traditionally tells about its plans to fans before Christmas. The ESL representatives have mentioned that from now on, they will begin the year with a big Major. It will be IEM Katowice 2021. The competition is scheduled to be hosted on 16.02-24.02 with the participation of 24 teams. Everyone has realized that the tournament will be based in Katowice.
The prize pool is solid – 1 million dollars. Natus Vincere definitely wants to secure its title. But it will be pretty difficult to do so. The online format of the competition provides some serious surprises sometimes. However, the organizers are still being silent about the format of the matches. At least, there were rumors about a possible ticket sale.
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