Esports Malaysia Association (ESM) have today announced that they are preparing for the National Selection Finals ahead of Malaysia’s much-anticipated first-ever appearance at the Southeast Asia Games 2019 (SEA GAMES 2019) in the Philippines. Yes. The time is almost upon us. The first ever medal event in the world for Esports is really taking shape and Malaysia aren’t mucking about in their quest for gold.
“I would like to thank all the states under ESM who have run an excellent state qualifier campaign which have allowed us to unearth a lot of potential talent in Malaysia that we can build upon. We look forward to what the Group Stages and Grand Finals will bring as well. I hope all the teams continue to bring their A game to these sessions.”
Azlan Ismail, Acting Secretary of Esports Malaysia
After a successful state qualifier campaign across the 16 different states and regions under Esports Malaysia, 16 teams have been successfully identified for Dota 2, 15 players for Starcraft 2, 16 teams for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, 12 teams for Arena of Valor and 16 players for Tekken 7.
These players/teams will all come down to Kuala Lumpur for the group group stage and finals that will be taking place from the 29th of April to the 4th of May. Here’s a breakdown of the tournament format:
Dota 2
Phase 1 Round Robin
16 teams will be randomly seeded into 4 groups in a 2 round series. The top 2 will advance to the upper bracket while the bottom will advance to the lower bracket.
Phase 2 Double Elimination
All upper bracket games are best of 3 and all lower bracket games will be a best of 1, with only the finals being a best of 3.
Phase 3 Grand Finals
The Grand Finals will be a best of 5 with 1 game upper bracket game advantage.
Mobile Legends:BangBang
Phase 1 Round Robin
Like Data 2, 16 teams will be randomly seeded into 4 groups in a 2 round series. The top 2 will advance to the upper bracket while the bottom will advance to the lower bracket.
Phase 2 Double Elimination
All upper bracket games are best of 3 and all lower bracket games will be a best of 3 as well, with the finals being.. you guessed it.. a best of 3.
Phase 3 Grand Finals
The Grand Finals will be a best of 5 with 1 game upper bracket game advantage.
Arena Of Valor
Phase 1 Round Robin
12 teams will be randomly selected into 4 groups in a 2 round series with the top 2 advancing to the next stage.
Phase 2 Double Elimination
All games are best of 3 using the Global ban pick format
Phase 3 Grand Finals
All games are a best of 5 using the Global ban pick format
Tekken 7
Phase 1 Round Robin
16 teams randomly seeded into 4 groups in a 2 round series with the top 2 advancing to the next stage.
Phase 2 double elimination
All games are best of 3
Grand Final
Best of 5 with a 1 game upper bracket advantage’
Starcraft 2
Phase 1 Round Robin
16 teams randomly seeded into 4 groups in a 2 round series with the top 2 advancing to the next stage.
Phase 2 Double Elimination
All games are a best of 5 with a 1 game upper bracket advantage
Grand Final
The grand final is a best of 7 format with a 1 game upper bracket advantage
Venue
Group stage games for Dota 2 and Starcraft 2 will be played at Orange Stadium, Setapak from the 29th of April to 1st of May 2019 starting 9 am onwards. For AOV and MLBB, group stage games will be held at The Pantheon Subang Jaya with the date and time being the same as above. Lastly, for Tekken 7, group stage games will be held in Gamesbond, Kota Damansara on the 30th of April from 10 am onwards.
The grand finals for all games will take place on the 3rd and 4th of May in Central i-City, Shah Alam. The event is open to public so do pop by to see your favourite teams compete!
Following the finals on May the 4th, Malaysia will select their teams that will move to the bootcamp. The bootcamp will be run from August 2019 and will go on straight through the SEA Games. The bootcamp is designed alongside Majlis Sukan Negara who have the expertise in developing national athletes on a physical level while Esports Malaysia will focus on developing the esports side of our athletes. Razer is also chipping in players from their Esports team to help with training of these athletes.
