DreamHack’s staple Open events will return in 2021
The organizer has announced the return of DreamHack Open Online with a total prize pool of $100.000 split into two regions.
The tournament will be played online, with a $100.00 prize pool split between Europe and North America, with the first event of the year set to take place on January 27-31.
The event will feature a mixture of invited and qualified teams in both regions. There will be eight teams competing in Europe for a bigger chunk of the prize pool on $70.000, while half of that will fight for $30.000 in North America.
For the European side of things, five spots will be decided by the ESL world ranking, where two will be reserved for teams that make it through the qualifiers, and the last spot will go to the winner of the German ESL Championship, which usually awards a place at DreamHack Open Leipzig.
With only four teams in NA, two qualified and two invited teams will battle it out in the event. The NA tournament will also be played with a different format, a double-elimination bo3 bracket, while the tried-and-tested DreamHack Open format will be used in EU, with a GSL group stage preceding single-elimination playoffs.
Before the official start of the tournament, two open and a closed qualifier will take place, starting on January 20.
The DreamHack Open January is also confirmed as a part of the ESL Pro Tour (EPT) circuit, meaning that teams will be rewarded for their placings with Pro Tour points that will help them qualify for EPT Masters Championship events such as ESL One Cologne.
Dates:
Open Qualifier #1: January 20
Open Qualifier #2: January 21
Closed Qualifier: January 22-23
Tournament: January 27-31