ECL S49 teams to receive play-in opportunity to qualify for Advanced or Open playoffs

ESL reaffirmed today that all Challenger League spots in Season 50 will be determined though VRS or the the playoffs of ESEA Advanced or Open (depending on the region).

As for the the Season 49 teams that no longer receive automatic qualification into next season, they will have the "opportunity" to requalify. All Season 49 teams "will receive invites to a play-in stage where the top 8 go to Advanced/Open Playoffs." Additionally, teams will be able to "compete simultaneously in ECL and the next highest League division."

But there's been some conflicting messaging to ECL teams around whether or not they were allowed to compete in Advanced this past season. Last week, free agent team Marca Registrada said they asked an ESEA admin if they would have to play Advanced again, and were told no. However, they claim another team asked and were told that they could compete in Advanced, which would earn that team more VRS points that could go toward automatic ECL qualification.

Of course not every team in ECL S49 will need to accept the invite to the play-in, as some will have high enough VRS standings to qualify directly for ECL S50. However, there is a world in which some may accept an invite to try and grind VRS points in Advanced playoffs.

ESEA Advanced Season 53 is currently running while ESL Challenger League Season 50 is set to start on August 5th.