HoN has always had a small section in ESL, but this year, it's part of a larger tournament series. Here's the general annonucement of the 8th season of the ESL Major Series:
“
We proudly present to everyone the 8th season of Europe's top online league! The finest leagues, more than a thousand players competing and thousands more will try to qualify - with 16,000 Euros worth of prize money for the best of the best. Fasten your seatbelts for the ESL Major Series Season VIII!The ESL Major Series is the highest level of European competition in the ESL for games and disciplines not included in the Intel Extreme Masters. Over the past seven seasons and four years, more than €100,000 in prize money has been won by hundreds of gamers.
While Season VII is in the final stages, we are today prepared to announce the upcoming season's games and prize distribution.
Team disciplines:
Heroes of Newerth (5on5): 5,000 €
Counter-Strike: Source (5on5): 3,000 €
Call of Duty: Black Ops (5on5): 2,500 €
Trackmania (Team mode): 2000 €
Quake Live (2on2 TDM): 1,000 €
Pro Evo Soccer (1on1): 750 €
FIFA (1on1): 750 €
(Remember Counter-Strike 1.6, StarCraft II and Quake Live 1on1 are in the Intel Extreme Masters)
Overall Prize Money: 16,000 €
As always the Prize money for the ESL Major Series is heavily sponsored by the Electronic Sports League!”
In its first season as part of the ESL Major Series, HoN tops the list of games and claims the biggest portion of the overall prize money. This will no doubt attract a lot of the top Europeans to participate. Some of the well-known teams that are already signed up include FnaticMSI, Infused Tt eSPORTS (Infs), Online-Kingdom, Team Empire (Empr), and TS-Gaming (TSoG).
These teams, and many more, will be competing in a series of qualifiers to see who makes it in:
Qualifiers
To determine the best teams to play the ESL Major Series, we will host some qualifier cups starting on Sunday, 6th of February. The cups will be held in 5on5 mode. Here are all the dates and information about the upcoming qualification period. It is depending on the sign ups how many cups and how many teams we will make.
Rules
Team Size: 5on5
Maps: Forest of Calvadar
Mode: Best of 1
Qualification: Top 4 of each cup qualify for ESL Major Series Season 8
ESL Major Series VIII:
Signup until 06.02.11 14:00 CET
Start 06.02.11 15:00 CET
Structure: Single Elimination
To determine the best teams to play the ESL Major Series, we will host some qualifier cups starting on Sunday, 6th of February. The cups will be held in 5on5 mode. Here are all the dates and information about the upcoming qualification period. It is depending on the sign ups how many cups and how many teams we will make.
Rules
Team Size: 5on5
Maps: Forest of Calvadar
Mode: Best of 1
Qualification: Top 4 of each cup qualify for ESL Major Series Season 8
Signup until 06.02.11 14:00 CET
Start 06.02.11 15:00 CET
Structure: Single Elimination
We're working on getting some more information from ESL about HoN's first season in the EMS. Stay tuned for a possible interview and future coverage of Europe's top teams duking it out!
Links
esl.eu - EMS Season VIII annoucement
esl.eu - HoN Qualifier information
