1win’s official statement, and Chinese community’s reactions to OG replacing them at ESL One Birmingham 2024.
ESL announced on April 8 that OG would step in for 1win at ESL One Birmingham as 1win didn’t meet the visa requirements Earlier today. 1win posted their official statement regarding this case in their telegram channel, detailing the timeline of the visa application process.
Some Chinese communities have expressed dissatisfaction about it, as the replacement makes it harder for Chinese teams to qualify for Riyadh Masters 2024.
1win statement on Birmingham: “We received our visas at 5 pm on April 8.”
Just a few hours after ESL's announcement, 1win shared their timeline regarding the visa applications on Telegram. A Reddit post provided translations, and here is the timeline 1win shared:
Date | |
|---|---|
Jan 26-28 | 1win qualified for ESL One Birmingham 2024 for the Eastern Europe region. |
Feb 15 | Players and staff arrived in Moscow and applied for visas at the consulate. |
Mar 27 | The British Consulate contacted ESL for further confirmation of 1win's participation. During the call, the connection broke down, ending the conversation. Only a week later the British side was able to receive final confirmation of 1win's participation. |
Mar 28 | The expected date to announce the decision on the 1win’s British visa. |
Apr 5 | ESL extended the deadline to April 8, 13:00 Moscow time. 1win received Timur Ahilles Kulmukhambetov's visa confirmation at 21:00 Moscow time. |
Apr 8, Morning | 1win's visa agent requested ESL to delay the deadline until the evening or the next morning. |
Apr 8, 12:55 Moscow time | 1win informed ESL that they had a response and requested time until the evening to provide confirmation. |
Apr 8, 14:13 Moscow time | ESL requested confirmation. 1win asked for a few more hours but was ready to provide a completed coach visa. |
Apr 8, 15:19 Moscow time | 1win was notified of their exclusion from the tournament. |
Apr 8, 17:00 Moscow time | 1win received their visas. |
According to 1win's timeline, they received their visas two hours after ESL notified their exclusion from the tournament, at 5 pm Moscow time on April 8, which is 3 pm UK time. In their statement, they also expressed pity for not meeting ESL’s rules. But in the meantime, they stated that they would continue to qualify and participate in tournaments.
At 8:30 am UK time on April 9, ESL announced on X that OG would replace 1win at ESL One Birmingham. This isn't the first time an ESL event changed the participant team. In December last year, Team Secret was invited to attend ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 because of Team Spirit's withdrawal.
Discontent with impact of OG in the Chinese Dota 2 Community
Following ESL's announcement that OG would replace 1win at ESL ONE Birmingham 2024, Some people in the Chinese Dota community have expressed their dissatisfaction with this decision.
Since OG didn’t qualify for either ESL One Birmingham 2024 or DreamLeague Season 23, their EPT Points were supposed to be locked at 2266 points (According to Liquipedia). However, now their participation will affect the possibility of Chinese teams getting direct invitations to Riyadh Masters 2024.
Some discussions:
- Give the EEU slot to WEU, they look so bad.
- OG was done before because they couldn’t go to both ESL One Birmingham and DreamLeague S23. Now OG made it to one, they are CN's biggest competitor now.
Implications of OG replacement to EPT Points
What are the implications of this?
- Firstly, OG didn't qualify for both tournaments, which means their EPT points have been locked at 2266, close to 500 more than G2 x iG. In this situation, iG only needs to succeed in the first round to overtake the OG. Even if some teams perform well and get points in the top four, iG still can stay in the top eight.
- Secondly, the fact that OG is attending Birmingham means that IG can't stay safe now. If teams that have lower ranks on the EPT Leaderboard get top four, iG might fall out of the top eight in the leaderboard and lose the chance to get direct invitations since they can't attend DreamLeague S23.
- Thirdly, how OG performs may not impact Azure Ray, because they need to get at least the top three to have a chance of a direct invitation. But since OG joins the points competition, it makes the situation more complicated.
- How can they give the EEU slot to WEU? People know what they think.
- I will cheer for iG! Beat OG and get invitations!
- Just remind me that ESL also gave the slot to WEU when Team Spirit withdrew from ESL One Kuala Lumper.
In fact, It’s not the first time the Chinese Dota community complained about decisions that ESL made. Back in ESL One Mumbai 2019, the Chinese team Keen Gaming swept the finals with a score of three to zero, but ESL gave the Mercedes-Benz MVP to Febby from Mineski.
Don’t forget to stay tuned to Esports.gg, and we will share more news about Dota 2 upcoming events!