Esports Championship Series (“ECS”) has announced the 16 teams that will compete in the Season 4 ECS Development League. The action gets underway today with Gambit facing off against North.
The ECS Development League is the tier below the ECS main league which ultimately culminates in the final event. This year the tournament took place at the SSE Wembley Arena, London, where Brazilian squad SK Gaming took out FaZe in a tight run encounter in the grand final.
The top two teams from the development league in both North America and Europe will face off against the two lowest placed teams in the top tier to ultimately decide promotion/relegation.
The teams competing in the European development league are: North, Gambit, Space Soldiers, Heroic, Fragsters, Tricked, Team-LDLC and Team Kinguin. The winners of the European division will face off against juggernaut Virtus.pro and Team Dignitas as they look to hold their top division spots. Virtus.pro, although often impressive at offline events have struggled in online league events for quite some time.
Teams set to compete in North America are: Misfits, Tempo Storm, compLexity, Rise Nation, District7, Denial, Splyce and RONIN. The North American candidates for relegation are Luminosity Gaming and Ghost.
The Development League will again feature the Community Caster Challenge, where anyone can broadcast the games on their own YouTube channel. The challenge is still open, and for those interested they can enter by emailing full name, YouTube channel and social media information to [email protected].
Esports Insider says: There’s some seriously impressive teams in the European side, with Major winners Gambit (although missing Zeus) and North likely the pick of the bunch. In the American side, Misfits and compLexity are amongst big names that will be looking to compete with North America’s best in the next season of ECS.