Battlechat Blizzard, Destiny 2 and Starfield News, Reviews, Videos & GuidesBlizzard has announced that they signed a deal with ESL and Dreamhack to create a pro circuit for Starcraft 2 and Warcraft 3: Reforged in a three year agreement. This means that fans of the RTS genre can enjoy three years of Starcraft and Warcraft esports. More than $4.6 million in total prize money will be offered in the new ESL Pro Tour format across both games.
Taking over from the StarCraft II World Championship Series, the new ESL Pro Tour StarCraft II will feature tournaments on a minimum of four different continents with the global finals moving from BlizzCon to Intel Extreme Masters Katowice. Which means that Blizzcon visitors won’t see the Starcraft finals during the yearly celebration of Blizzard. The first season will have a prize pool of over $1.8 million.
Next to that, ESL and Dreamhack are creating a new competitive scene for Warcraft 3: Reforged by introducing the ESL Pro Tour Warcraft 3: Reforged. This format is familiar for CS:GO players, since ESL has been using it for the popular shooter for a while now. The first season is meant to start legacies for new players or extend existing ones, with a prize pool of $200.000.
The ranking and qualifying format for the ESL Pro Tour StarCraft II is based on the model of Blizzard’s existing WCS system. The first season of the StarCraft II tour comprises seven tournaments in total, including both Katowice 2020 and Katowice 2021 to allow new players to make their way to the top. Two IEM competitions and four DreamHack tournaments will lead up to the Masters Championship at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2021.
Warcraft III: Reforged esports will consist of one ESL competition and three DreamHack tournaments, culminating in a Championship tournament in 2020. In addition to both ESL Pro Tours, weekly ESL Open Cups will be held for the wider amateur and grassroots community.
Check out some Warcraft 3: Reforged gameplay by YouTuber and streamer Lowko below
