This article is brought to you by StatBanana, the best Dota 2 strategy tool.
Have you ever wondered what blind auditions might look like for a Dota 2 player? ESL has got you covered. The ESL Academy is an initiative by the organizers to “develop, promote, and elevate undiscovered Dota 2 talent” to the big leagues and features a prize pool of over $240,000.
The ESL Academy for Dota 2 has partnered up with Dotabuff’s Reach program to bring attention to the summit of the pub scene. Reach functions as an in-house league where players can matchmake in competitive Captain’s Mode games and strive for the top spots on the public leaderboards for the North American and European region, essentially functioning as blind auditions.
ESL has announced the four celebrity coaches for its Dota 2 Academy. Former The International winner Loda headlines the backroom staff, along with Per Anders “Pajkatt” Olsson Lille, Jimmy “DeMoN” Ho, and Kim “DuBu” Doo-young.
The four veterans bring with them a wealth of playing and coaching experience, combining for 40 years of Dota and Dota 2 involvement. The four coaches will draft their rosters from the top-40 players of both regions live at the ESL One Los Angeles Major.
The Academy players will get to test their skills in front of a live audience in addition to battling for a sizeable prize pool. While there have been no details on the distribution, it’s still a large sum of money committed by ESL.
After the veterans put the upstarts through their paces, the four teams will clash in a free-for-all at the ESL One Birmingham tournament, which is set to begin on May 26.
