not an MLG major WutFace

http://www.netbooknews.com/wp-content/2011/09/dr-evil-1-million-dollars.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/0i4Ykvy.jpg

This and with the possibly of Thorin being able to be at ESL events again is hype

This has been on their twitch page for a while..

Tbh if esl brings thorin back im happy

pgl production

http://puu.sh/obe2W/a2a27233bf.jpg

hopefully a 1m prize pool becomes normal in majors

pgl means scoots right

or is that gfinity

it doesn't technically mean anything in terms of talent, but the production should be really good. the talent lineup is left up to ESL

So just like the last major, there will be 4 regional minors that will qualify teams for the ESL One Cologne major qualifier. Each minor will have 8 teams each that will be each competing for a spot at the qualifier. The teams that qualify from the minors will compete with the bottom 8 teams from the last major to compete for a "Challenger" spot at the major

The regions will be:

• Americas Minor (hosted by MLG at the MLG Arena in Columbus, Ohio)
  
• European Minor (hosted by Dreamhack at Dreamhack Open Tours in France)
  
• CIS Minor (hosted by Starladder in Moscow, Russia)
  
• Asia Minor (hosted by PGL and KeSPA in Seoul, South Korea)

Important changes to the minor system:

The minors will now have a $50,000 prize pool, and the finalists from each minor will qualify for the major qualifier instead of the winner of the minor, so that means that there will be no last chance qualifiers and it also ensures an equal amount of teams from each region.

Also important is that players that played in the last major will be allowed to participate "provided their team does not consist of three or more players who played together in that event (such teams would already be directly invited to the qualifier or Major)" according to Valve, so that's a very good change.

Roster rule changes for the major:

ESL have announced a lot of rules concerning rosters for the main qualifier and the major:

http://i.imgur.com/PIGA1Am.jpg

Americas Minor:

MLG annoucned that they will once again be hosting the Americas minor at their MLG arena. There will be 4 invited teams and 4 other teams that will decided through online qualifiers:

http://i.imgur.com/GHtsSlj.jpg

For the last 4 spots at the minor, 3 NA teams will be decided from a qualifier, starting with a 128 preliminary bracket that you can sign up for here (schedule is here)

8 teams from the preliminary bracket will compete with 8 other invited teams for a spot at the minor.

http://i.imgur.com/AbB8rvy.jpg

3 teams from the minor qualifier will qualify for the Americas minor.

The last spot of the minor will be decided from an SA qualifier, with 8 invited SA teams that will compete for a spot at the minor.

http://i.imgur.com/EShFtBc.jpg

European Minor:

Dreamhack will be hosting the EU minor at their Dreamhack Open circuit event at Tours, France.

The first closed qualifier saw 4 teams qualify:

http://i.imgur.com/mL4eTEX.jpg

The last four spots will be decided through another qualifier (can't find the list of the teams that will compete in the qualifier)

CIS Minor:

Starladder will be hosting the CIS Minor in Moscow, Russia

Here's the 8 teams that will be competing (4 teams from invites, 4 teams from qualifiers):

http://i.imgur.com/I7kP1IN.jpg

Asia Minor:

PGL and KeSPA will be hosting PGL Minor in Seoul, South Korea

Here's the 8 teams that will be competing:

http://i.imgur.com/UewYxIT.jpg