Dota 2 ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023: Everything you need to know about this Dota 2 event taking place from 11 to 17 December

ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023, the last big Dota 2 tournament of the year, is almost upon us. From 11 to 17 December, 12 of the best teams from all around the world will be battling in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a cut of the US$1 million prize pool.

Many of the teams competing in Kuala Lumpur were formed during the post-The International (TI) 2023 roster shuffle, turning the tournament into a showcase of some of the most exciting squads to look out for in the 2024 competitive Dota 2 season.

Here's everything you need to know about ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023:

Teams

The 12 teams competing in ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 are comprised of three directly-invited teams and eight teams coming from regional qualifiers in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, China, Southeast Asia, MENA, North America, and South America.

The number of directly-invited teams originally included the Top 4 teams at TI 2023, namely newly-crowned two-time TI champions Team Spirit, three-time Major champions Gaimin Gladiators, as well as Chinese powerhouses LGD Gaming and Azure Ray.

However, Team Spirit withdrew from the tournament due to health issues. The slot originally meant for Team Spirit was then reallocated into an additional qualifier slot for Western Europe.

Here are all the teams competing in ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023:

Gaimin Gladiators (direct invite)

1. Anton "dyrachyo" Shkredov

2. Quinn "Quinn" Callahan

3. Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard

4. Erik "tOfu" Engel

5. Melchior "Seleri" Hillenkamp

6. Aske "Cy-" Larsen (coach)

LGD Gaming (direct invite)

1. Guo "shiro" Xuanang

2. Zhou "Emo" Yi

3. Li "niu" Kongbo

4. Xiong "Pyw" Jiahan

5. Zhang "y`" Yiping

6. Zhang "xiao8" Ning (coach)

Azure Ray (direct invite)

1. Lou "Lou" Zhen

2. Guo "Xm" Hongcheng

3. Lin "Xxs" Jing

4. Zhao "XinQ" Zixing

5. Jiang "天命 (tiān mìng)" An

Team Liquid (Western Europe qualifier)

1. Michael "miCKe" Vu

2. Michał "Nisha" Jankowski

3. Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek (stand-in)

4. Samuel "Boxi" Svahn

5. Aydin "Insania" Sarkohi

6. William "Blitz" Lee (coach)

Team Secret (Western Europe qualifier)

1. Remco "Crystallis" Arets

2. Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng

3. Miroslav "BOOM" Bičan

4. Daniyal "yamich" Lazebnyy

5. Clement "Puppey" Ivanov

BetBoom Team (Eastern Europe qualifier)

1. Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko

2. Danil "gpk" Skutin

3. Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko

4. Vitalie "Save-" Melnic

5. Alexander "TORONTOTOKYO" Khertek

9Pandas (Eastern Europe qualifier)

1. Alik "V-Tune" Vorobey

2. Gleb "kiyotaka" Zyryanov

3. Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev

4. Andrey "Afoninje" Afonin

5. Alexey "Solo" Berezin

G2.iG (China qualifier)

1. Du "Monet" Peng

2. Cheng "NothingToSay" Jin Xiang

3. Thiay "JT-" Jun Wen

4. Ye "BoBoKa" Zhibiao

5. Yap "xNova" Jian Wei

Blacklist International (Southeast Asia qualifier)

1. Marc Polo "Raven" Fausto

2. Abed "Abed" Yusop

3. Kim "Gabbi" Santos

4. Timothy "TIMS" Randrup

5. Carlo "Carlo" Manalo

Team Falcons (MENA qualifier)

1. Oliver "skiter" Lepko

2. Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak

3. Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf

4. Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen

5. Wu "Sneyking" Jingjun

Tundra Esports (North America qualifier)

1. Enzo "Timado" Gianoli

2. Jonathan "Bryle" De Guia

3. Gainullin "kasane" Ilyas

4. Aleksandr "Immersion" Khmelevskoi

5. Matthew "Whitemon" Filemon

Wawitas Sagazes (South America qualifier)

1. Edward "Lumière" Valencia

2. Gonzalo "DarkMago" Herrera

3. Oscar "Oscar" Jimenez

4. Rodrigo "n1ght" Cruz

5. Jose "Panda" Padilla

Format

ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 is split into two main phases, starting with the Group Stage from 11 to 13 December followed by the Playoffs from 15 to 17 December.

The Group Stage will split the 12 participating teams into two groups of six teams each, where they will then compete in a single round-robin with best-of-two matches for placement in the Playoffs.

Here are the groupings for the Group Stage:

• Group A: Azure Ray, BetBoom Team, Blacklist International, Gaimin Gladiators, Team Secret, Wawitas Sagazes

• Group B: 9Pandas, Invictus Gaming, LGD Gaming, Team Falcons, Team Liquid, TSM

The four best-performing teams in each group will advance to the Playoffs while the bottom two teams will be eliminated. The Top 2 teams from each group will start in the upper bracket of the Playoffs while the third and fourth-placed teams will start in the lower bracket.

After a one-day break, the Playoffs will kick off and pit the eight remaining teams in a double-elimination bracket. All Playoff matches will be a best-of-three except for the Grand Finals, which will be a full best-of-five series.

The Group Stage will only be broadcasted online while the Playoffs will both be broadcasted online and played in front of a live audience at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre.

Prize pool

ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 will have a prize pool of US$1 million with a grand prize of US$300,000. It will also feature an additional pool of 19,980 ESL Pro Tour (EPT) points, which will determine invites to future tournaments organised by ESL in 2024.

Here's the full prize pool breakdown for ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023:

• Champions: US$300,000, 4,800 EPT points

• 2nd place: US$175,000, 3,600 EPT points

• 3rd place: US$120,000, 3,000 EPT points

• 4th place: US$85,000, 2,400 EPT points

• 5th-6th place: US$57,500, 1,680 EPT points

• 7th-8th place: US$47,500, 780 EPT points

• 9th-10th place: US$30,000, 420 EPT points

• 11th-12th place: US$25,000, 210 EPT points

How to watch

ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 will be broadcasted live on the official ESL Dota 2 Twitch and YouTube channels. There will also be secondary and tertiary Twitch streams active during the Group Stage to accommodate the higher number of matches per day.

For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page and Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube.