ESL Pro Tour overhauls to create a more complete Dota 2 ecosystem

ESL, a well-known e-sports event organizer, announced that the ESL Pro Tour (EPT) will undergo a large-scale reform in the upcoming 2025-2026 season.

The reform covers a number of changes, including shortened schedules, adjusted competition systems, and the first official support for Dota 2's second-tier regions. The goal is to create a more refined and growing competition system.

In the new season, ESL One brand events will be greatly reduced, with only one spring event remaining as the flagship event of the season. This will halve the number of events compared to the two events in the past year. However, in order to balance the impact, the only offline event will be expanded to 16 teams, the group stage will be changed to two groups of eight teams, and the overall competition system will remain unchanged.

On the other hand, DreamLeague as an online tournament brand will continue to maintain three seasons each year, but each season has its own characteristics. The 27th season will use 24 teams and Swiss round group stage; the 28th season will return to the classic 16-team and two-stage system; the 29th season will adopt a single-group round-robin tournament, no longer setting BO1, and the battle experience will be fully upgraded.

The biggest highlight is that ESL launched a new project "DreamLeague Division 2", which is specially set up for second-tier teams. It plans to hold four online competitions with a total prize pool of 200,000 US dollars. This event not only provides a performance stage for unknown players, but also opens up a channel for promotion to the main competition area and creates a ladder for e-sports growth. Currently, only European regions are allowed to participate, but the online competition system reduces regional restrictions.

It is worth mentioning that ESL did not mention the final destination of the Esports World Cup. Although the tournament points system still exists, the specific arrangements for the Esports World Cup have not yet been announced, which has aroused the concern of some fans.