With the rise of esports exposure and the popularity of Dota 2 in Malaysia, U Mobile has partnered with Mineski Events Team to launch the Malaysia Esports League (MESL). Said to be the biggest Dota 2 league in the country, the event will have a prize pool of RM500,000, and will run for about six months starting in September.
It may be called a league, but the Malaysia Esports League is more of a combination of a standard tournament with a league format added in halfway through. The qualifiers will take place from 2 September, and will be held offline in cyber cafes across Peninsular and East Malaysia.
The top 16 teams from each qualifier will enter the group stages of the MESL league – this will run for three months. The top 8 teams here will advance to the playoffs stage to determine the final two teams. The grand finals is expected to take place before the 2018 Chinese New Year.
Interestingly, the Malaysia Esports League will be open to both professional and amateur teams. According to Yap Kenchi, President and CEO of Mineski Corporation, the only requirements for participating in the MESL is that each team must consist of at least three Malaysians. He also added that while the MESL will start with Dota 2, there are plans for more popular esports titles that may be added in the future.
With such a huge prize pool and an equally low requirements, the Malaysia Esports League definitely will attract top-quality participants. And if the RM500,000 prize pool isn’t enough, U Mobile has a sweetener: if every member in the winning team is an active U Mobile subscriber (either Prepaid or Postpaid) from the beginning of the MESL, U Mobile will add an extra RM50,000 cash bonus for the team.
If the winning team does not fulfill the criteria, the cash bonus will go to the second- or third-placed teams that fulfill the criteria.
Besides U Mobile, the Malaysia Esports League will also feature some very well known partner sponsors. Logitech G is the official gaming gear sponsor, while there are two official broadcasting partners in eGG Network and Twitch.tv.
More details for the Malaysia Esports League qualifier – as well as the team registration page – can be found at www.mesl.my.
