Five teams have dropped out of ESL One Mumbai 2019

The original roster for ESL One Mumbai consisted of 12 teams – J.Storm, Alliance, Natus Vincere, TNC Predator, Gambit Esports, compLexity, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Chaos Esports Club, Keen Gaming, Mineski, The Pango, and Signify. Due to timing clash between this event and other Dota 2 events going on around the globe, five of the aforementioned teams decided to withdraw from ESL One Mumbai 2019 and focus on other commitments.

Dota 2 Pro Circuit

Alliance, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Gambit Esports recently qualified for the OGA Dota PIT Minor 2019 which is supposed to take place in Split, Croatia, just one day after ESL One Mumbai 2019 ends. Therefore it is impossible for these teams to participate in ESL One Mumbai, fly all the way from India to Croatia, and then again participate in OGA Dota PIT Minor, which is why they decided to pass ESL One and go for Dota 2 Pro Circuit instead.

In an official statement, Alexander Nehr, Tournament Director at ESL said – “We are disappointed that we could not work out a way for the affected teams to attend both tournaments. We think that the remaining seven squads and the addition of Team Team makes this a very competitive lineup where now every team is guaranteed to play on stage in front of thousands of fans.”

Other events and the addition of Team Team

Chaos Esports Club has decided to not participate in ESL One Mumbai and utilize that time period to instead train for the MDL Disneyland Paris Major. On the other hand, J.Storm decided to drop out of ESL One Mumbai too as they are supposed to compete in WSOE 6: Serenity’s Destiny this weekend.

Team Team has shown prior interest in joining the ESL One Mumbai roster if there was any empty slot due to teams dropping out because of OGA Dota PIT Minor 2019. Their wish came true as not one but five teams decided withdraw from the event. Since the roster then consisted of only seven remaining teams which would make it really difficult to conduct the tournament, Team Team was added to the ESL One Mumbai roster. They are to participate in WSOE 6: Serenity’s Destiny, and then make it back to Mumbai just in time for ESL One.

“Unfortunately our team will not be participating in ESL One Mumbai. While we consider the event a great opportunity to compete in front of a passionate and underserved community, the dense Dota circuit has caught up with us. At this time we consider it better to pass on an event in order to focus on practice, team chemistry, and avoiding burn out”, said Chaos Esports Club, in an official statement. “We take full responsibility for the misset expectations for the fans planning to attend and spectate the event. Our hope is that with better planning and awareness of our players fatigue we can avoid this situation going forward.”

J.Storm, on the other hand withdrew because they had double booked themselves. In a video, RedEye took digs at J.Storm for withdrawing out of ESL One even though they had booked themselves at this event first.

Every team will make to the big stage

While the schedule for the stage events at the NSCI Dome remains unchanged, the competition will go ahead with the new roster consisting of eight teams and a modified group stage. This means that the eight teams have been split into two groups of four with no elimination before the main event.

Here’s the final roster for the Dota 2 tournament at ESL One Mumbai 2019 –

Group A

Natus Vincere

TNC Predator

compLexity

Team Team

Group B

Keen Gaming

Mineski

The Pango

Signify

As Alexander Nehr stated, we will get to see each of these teams play on the main stage. There’s no telling who’s going to win this one so let’s wish all the teams good luck for their upcoming tournament at ESL One Mumbai 2019.

This article has been written by Riko Bannerjee