ESEA MDL Global Challenge to be hosted in New York
ESEA have announced they're to be hosting the MDL Global Challenge S26 LAN Finals in New York, over January 4th-8th. This marks a move of venue after hosting the event at the ESEA studios in Burbank, CA, last season. They've also announced that the ESL Pro League Relegation matches are to be played on LAN, for the first time ever.
This move will mean Casper "cadiaN" Møller be able to make it home for Christmas, and also provide more excitement to the event as a whole. The attendees of the Relegation matches are only partially confirmed, with cadiaN's Rogue being one of the Pro League teams competing and GX, being the third placed MDL side, also taking part. Ghost will also be attending, having been drafted in after Immortals forfeited their place in the competiton, completing their squad with Phong "bee" Nguyen and Dallas "Dallas" Micks.
The final team will be decided in a match between Rise Nation and SoaR Gaming, who are also set to play their final MDL game on LAN. The winner of that tie will secure an automatic ESL Pro League spot, with the losing side joining the last chance saloon of the relegation playoff.
After the relegation games, the main competitions will begin. With seedings and format not yet announced, a lot will still be on the line for the $50,000 competition. The teams in attendance for the ESL MDL S26 Global Challenge will be:
 Rise Nation |
 SoaR |
| GX |
Ghost Academy |
 AGO |
 eXtatus |
 Space Soldiers |
 Chiefs |
