After announcing the format forthis weekend’s HCS NA Pro League Last Chance Qualifier, which you can read about here on GAMURS,ESL was met with considerable backlash from the competitive Halocommunity.
The news was announcedwith this tweet.
Fans and players alike raised concerns over the format of theevent, mainly due to the fact that the bracket stage featured onlysingle elimination. Community members felt that this was unfair tothe teams competing as it no longer ensured that the two best teamswould receive the remaining Pro League spots.
To understand why people felt this way, an example must beprovided: Suppose that OpTic Gaming and Team eLevate, two of theteams that are favoured to take the last spots, play in thequarterfinals of the  tournament. If they are the two bestteams present, only one of them can move on to have a chance at aspot in the Pro League with the single elimination format.
Concerns were also raised about the amount of opportunitiesgiven to amateur teams. For most teams, this was the first and lastchance to get into the Pro League. If they were rightfully thesecond best team present, but get matched against the best teamearly on, they would not be given a fair chance to enter theleague.
Thankfully, ESL listened to the community and have given fansand players what they’ve asked for.
This gives us a format with a group stage (four groups of four)on the first day, the top two teams from the group stage movingonto the bracket stage and the top eight teams playing through adouble elimination bracket on the second day.
With this format change, not only are there better odds for thebest teams to make it in, but it’ll also make for anexcellent tournament! Teams are putting their livelihoods on theline, this way we can see who truly deserves it.
What do you think about thisformat change? How do you feel about ESL giving into pressure fromthe community? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us@GAMURScom.
Patrick Cowley can becontacted through email at patrick@esports.guru or onTwitter, @PtrckCowley.
