posted by NanaKrustofski,
ESL One Thailand 2020: Asia is about to kick off on Thursday. Striking stand-ins and national newcomers promise some interesting matches, as Abed 'Abed' Yusop will make a short return to the Southeast Asian region. The Asian division of the ESL One is going to take place from 20 August - 6 September. A prize pool of $135,000 is on the line, which would be a lush bounty for the newcomer teams among the 12 participants.

Group stage


  • 20 - 31 August
  • Two groups of six teams each
  • Single round-robin in best-of-three matches
  • Top two teams from each group advance to upper bracket of the playoffs
  • Third and fourth place advance to lower bracket
  • Bottom two teams from each group are eliminated


Playoffs


  • 1 - 6 September
  • Double-elimination bracket
  • Best-of-three matches
  • Grand Final in best-of-five




Fnatic without iceiceice



The orange-themed powerhouse has been the dominant force during the corona season, exclusively claiming podium finishes as well as a row of straight up gold medals. Now, they have to face a setback as their offlaner Daryl Koh 'iceiceice' Pei Xiang is currently taking a break. Korean Sang-Don 'FoREv' Lee is going to stand in for this tournament. The 28-year old most recently played for T1 but left the team in late July.

Another roster change worth taking a closer look at: Marc Polo Luis 'Raven' Fausto joined the team in July as new carry. The ESL One will be his first appearance in his new Fnatic's jersey, so it will be interesting to see if he is a suitable successor for Nuengnara '23savage' Teeramahanon.



Abed joins Geek Fam for the fight



Geek Fam will enter the fight with prominent assistance: Evil Geniuses midlaner Abed 'Abed' Yusop joins the team for the event. As mentioned above, Geek Fam lost their carry Raven as he switched to Fnatic. With the first player to ever reach 11,000 MMR standing in, the squad will surely put on some exciting fights.



Young blood from Thailand



A peculiarity of the ESL One Thailand: as the name suggests, the Asian division will be filled with national teams which could turn out to feature some promising newcomers. The top two teams from the ESL Thailand Championship Season 1 were awarded a slot to play at the main event. Motivade.Trust Gaming and Hashtag?.DOTA were able to come out victorious.



You can watch all matches on the official Twitch stream of ESL, or on the official YouTube channel.

Which matches are you most excited about?



Photo credit: DreamHack Adela Sznajder

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