ESL releases IEM Katowice 2019 rulebook
With great power comes great responsibility, and ESL have been given the power of hosting the next major with IEM Katowice 2019. Therefore, they have updated their rulebook to facilitate Valve's rules and necessities.
The standard 16-year-old age restriction will remain intact, multi-team ownership will continue to be prohibited, and the Major Overtime rules will be used as opposed to ESL's rules. ESL have also placed the roster lock to January 1st, 2019, a month before the event is scheduled to begin.
The rule that may see some difference in team appearances is the regional qualifier restrictions. Teams are to play in their home region's qualifier, with the exception of team's residing in other sub-regions for esports related reasons. Teams residing in other sub-regions are able to participate in another sub-regions qualifier if they fit within the criteria, but teams may not participate in another regions qualifier outside of their home region.
ESL included the example of Luminosity who's home region has been deemed Americas, while their sub-region is South America. Due to residing in North America, the other sub-region to Americas, and playing in both the ESL Pro League and the ECS, Luminosity are allowed to play in the North American qualifier.
With this being the case, MDL squad Bravado will have to travel to Dubai due to their home region being the African region, and all African regional teams will be participating in the Middle East qualifier.
Under rule 2.7.7, Bravado could make a valid reason as to why they should be allowed to play their qualifier matches from NA, but will face the penalty of high ping if they choose to do so.
As mentioned earlier, the roster lock for the Major will be set for January 1st, 2019. Roster changes can be made throughout the time between now and the lock, but ESL have placed multiple restrictions on each stage of the qualification process.
During each stage, any player that wins an open qualifier, closed qualifier, or Minor, may not play for any other team than the one they qualified with. However, in the event that a player loses any stage with a team, i.e. an open qualifier, that player may join a team that is in a stage higher, i.e. a closed qualifier, if the change is known to be a permanent one, i.e. if their is a valid contract.
To see the rulebook in full, click here and to sign up for the event, click here.
