EPICENTER Moscow revoked EHOME invite; Team Liquid invited instead

EPICENTER Moscow revoked EHOME invite due to recent roster changes. The team has been replaced by the Shanghai Major runner-up squad, Team Liquid. The $500,000 event will take place in Moscow between May 9-11th. Open Qualifiers begin tonight for CIS/European region, SEA and NA.

EPICENTER Moscow revoked EHOME’s invite. The news comes on the heels of the recent EHOME roster changes.

EHOME will be replaced by the runner-up team from the Shanghai Major, Team Liquid. At the Shanghai Major, Team Liquid progressed from the regional qualifiers to the grand finals where they were bested 3:1 by Team Secret.

Invitations have been issued long before the tournament in Shanghai, and at that time they looked justified. In general, the invites list looks great now. Unfortunately, due to the particular urgency in preparing visas for participants, we can not afford to wait for the team to part with some of their players and find a replacement. Therefore, we welcome Team Liquid, we are confident that the guys will show a good game and not disappoint their fans and viewers.

– Mark Averbukh, CEO Epic Esports Events

EPICENTER Moscow

The new $500,000 LAN event will be held at Crocus City Hall, Moscow, in May.

Six teams have been directly invited to compete and two teams will earn a place beside them.

EPICENTER Moscow will be split into several stages. The open qualifiers for the four regions – SEA, NA, EU and China – will take place starting tonight, March 9th.

Two finalists from the qualifiers will then advance to take part in the closed qualifiers with six other invited teams from that region. The winner of each closed regional qualifier will be invited to Moscow, with all expenses paid.

On the 9th of May, the qualified teams will play against each other for the two remaining spots in the group stages of the main event, which will be held on the May 10-11.

Tickets will be available in early April.

EPICENTER Moscow Open Qualifiers

Open Qualifiers for SEA, EU, and Americas will be hosted through FaceIT. The Chinese Open Qualifiers will be outsourced through ACE.

EPICENTER Moscow Open Qualifiers registration

• SEA registration here
• European/CIS registration here
• Americas registration here

EPICENTER Moscow Open Qualifiers schedule

March 9th – 18:00 CET/ET/17:00 SGT

• Played until Round of 64

March 10th – 18:00 CET/ET/17:00 SGT

• Round of 32 – best-of-one
• Round of 16 – best-of-three

March 11th – 18:00 CET/ET/17:00 SGT

• Quarterfinals – best-of-three
• Semifinals – best-of-three
• Finals best-of-one

EPICENTER Moscow teams

• Team Secret
• Team Liquid*
• OG
• Evil Geniuses
• Virtus.Pro
• Alliance
• TBD
• TBD

*EPICENTER Moscow revoked EHOME invite and replaced them with Team Liquid.

EPICENTER Moscow format

May 9th – Offline Qualifier

• Held at a prestigious hotel in Moscow.
• One team from each region will participate.
• Four teams will compete for the two available spots in the group stage.

May 10-11th – Group Stage

• Eight teams will compete – six invited teams and two from offline qualifiers.
• Top 2 teams from each group advance to the Upper Brackets of the main event.
• 3rd – 4th place teams from each group will advance to the Lower Brackets of the main event
• Held at a prestigious hotel in Moscow.

May 12-15th – Main Event

• All matches are best-of-three
• Grand Finals are best-of-five
• No Upper Bracket advantage
• Hosted at Corcus City Hall

Crocus City Hall

Crocus City Hall is a multi-faceted venue, located in the 3rd pavilion of Crocus City in Moscow, Russia. It has a seating capacity of more than 7000. The arena is equipped with a state-of-the-art acoustic system.

It is easy to get to the Crocus City Hall by metro. Myakinino underground station is situated on the territory of Crocus City, within a 5 minutes walk from the venue’s main entrance.