WESG 2018-2019, better known as World Electronic Sports Games, is the largest esports event held in China in 2019, involving multiple competitions for esports such as Dota 2 and CS:GO. At the same time, these competitions are large scale events of their own, with dozens of teams involved and prize pools of $890.000.
On the surface, WESG is a hugely important esports event. However, there are a number of issues that make it underwhelming given the enormous amounts invested in it. And in this article we will tackle these issues and take a look at how they impact one of the biggest competitive LANs in the industry.
General Information About WESG 2018-2019
WESG is scheduled to take place in Chongqing, China between March 7th and March 10th. The event is organized by Alisports, the famous Asian company that’s doing quite a bit in esports in the Chinese region these days.
The Dota 2 tournament that’s part of WESG will be attended by 24 teams. Most of these teams had to go through qualifiers and that certainly helps with the overall competitive level of the event. However, there are certain problems that have to be addressed here and we’ll get to them in a moment.
WESG Dota 2 Prizes
WESG has an impressive prize pool for each of its competitions and the Dota 2 one is no exception. A total of $890.000 will be offered to the participating teams and that’s almost as much as a Dota Pro Circuit Major offers. So you might think that this is in fact a spectacular event, something that no serious team will want to miss. But things aren’t that simple.
The main problem with the prize pool is how it’s distributed. You might think that everyone will get at least a tiny piece of the pie but actually, that’s far from being true. Here’s how the prize pool will be distributed:
- 1st place: $500.000
- 2nd place: $200.000
- 3rd place: $100.000
- 4th place: $50.000
- 5th – 8th place: $10.000
- 9th – 24th place: $0
Yes, that is correct. The bottom two-thirds of the teams go home empty-handed. In fact, apart from the top 4 competitors, everyone has to spend on the event, with everything included, more than they actually make. For most teams, that alone will make them think twice about bothering to participate in such an event.
WESG Dota 2 Tournament Format
WESG 2018-2019’s format for the Dota 2 competition is in line with the overall theme of the event. To put it simply, it’s almost cruel. The teams will be divided into 4 groups of 6 and each of these groups will consist of Bo2 matches between every two teams. In the end, the top 2 teams from each group advance to the Playoffs while the other 4 are eliminated.
The Playoffs will be played in a very standard format, consisting of four Quarterfinals, two Semifinals and one Grand Final. Every match during this stage will be a Bo3.
Compared to most Dota 2 tournaments, WESG has a very all-in format. There’s absolutely no mercy for the bottom two-thirds of competitors. They get eliminated right from the Group Stage and go home empty-handed.
WESG Controversy And Rules
This is where WESG really gets on a lot of people’s nerves. Just like the previous editions, this year’s Dota 2 competition only accepts teams consisting of one nationality. In other words, if a team has a multinational roster, they cannot compete. Unless they temporarily remove some of their players and replace them with others, so that the whole roster can be consistent with the nationality criterion.
Because of the way in which Dota 2 works, this rules pretty much excludes every 90% of the top teams who could be taking part in the tournament. And that’s just one of the side effects. The other and even more annoying one has to do with the fact that some of the best teams in the world actually happen to be made up of players of just one nationality. Or if they don’t have all of their 5 players of one nationality, they have at least 4 of them.
This leads to a huge imbalance on the battlefield, simply because there will be just a handful of teams that happen to fulfill this condition and their opponents will be improvised rosters with little to no chance of succeeding under these conditions.
At the highest competitive level, a top team with one year or more in terms of experience as a unit has an almost insurmountable advantage compared to a newly formed one. Take for instance Team Russia, whose roster is practically Virtus.pro with a stand-in. And Virtus.pro is, you’ve guessed it, one of the best teams in the world, if not the absolute best.
What chance does that leave to all of the provincial nobodies who are trying to defy the odds at this event? Almost zero.
Given the circumstances, which aren’t new by the way, as WESG did this last year as well, most of the Dota 2 community will completely ignore this tournament and move on as if nothing would have happened. The whole event is set up almost exclusively for the Asian region, with no apparent interest in attracting the attention of the entire community. Although, when you invest so much money into a single esports event that lasts for just several days, shouldn’t you want to get more people to watch it and talk about it?
WESG Participants
WESG will be attended by the following teams:
- Team Aster
- Team Ukraine Yellow
- Team Russia
- Nemiga Gaming
- Room310
- Keen Gaming
- Mr Game Boy
- EHOME
- PotM Bottom
- TEAM TEAM
- Team Australia
- NoLifer5
- FATE Esports
- Team Canarinho
- Gorillaz-Pride
- Omega Gaming
- The Final Tribe
- Deutschlando
- TNC Predator
- Unity
- MEGA Aorus
- Team Mongolia
- Reckoning Esports
- LeetPro
Going into WESG 2018-2019, the most relevant teams among these 24 are the following:
- Team Russia
- Team Aster
- EHOME
- Team Ukraine Yellow
- Keen Gaming
- Team Canarinho
- TNC Predator
- The Final Tribe
- Team Australia
- TEAM TEAM
- Mr Game Boy
- Gorillaz-Pride
Groups and predictions
As we mentioned before, the WESG participants will be split into 4 groups of 6. These groups are the following:
Group A
- Unity
- Team Ukraine Yellow
- Team Aster
- Omega Gaming
- Reckoning Esports
- EHOME
In group A of WESG, the main favorites are Team Aster, EHOME and Team Ukraine Yellow.
Group B
- Team Australia
- Gorillaz-Pride
- Deutschlando
- Nemiga Gaming
- Keen Gaming
- LeetPro
In group B of WESG, the top teams are Keen Gaming, Gorillaz-Pride and Team Australia.
Group C
- FATE Esports
- Team Russia
- TNC Predator
- Room310
- TEAM TEAM
- The Final Tribe
In group C of WESG, the main favorites are Team Russia, The Final Tribe, and TNC Predator.
Group D
- MEGA Aorus
- Team Canarinho
- Team Mongolia
- Mr Game Boy
- PotM Bottom
- NoLifer5
In group D of WESG, the top two teams are Team Brazil and Mr Game Boy.
Overall, given the group seeding and the 24 participants, by far the most likely winner of the Dota 2 competition at WESG is Team Russia. They are the ones that won last year and they are almost certainly the ones who will win this time again. There’s very little that stands in their way so the whole event is a bit predictable in our opinion. That being said, feel free to make your own assessment and cheer for any of the participants.
