Witmer von Denial Esports prangert EEPL als „mangelhaftes System“ an

Ein Spieler des nordamerikanischen Teams Denial Esports macht seinem Ärger in einem Statement in den ESEA Foren, zur aktuellen Situation in der ESEA ESL Pro League und der Qualifikation über die Premierdivision, Luft. Denn durch eine Regeländerung in der Mitte der vorübergegangen Saison hat man keinen garantierten Platz mehr in der EEPL durch das abschließen der Premierdivision an der Tabellenspitze.

Man kennt es aus unzähligen Sportarten, wenn man eine Saison auf dem ersten Platz abschließt steigt man in die höhere Liga auf, in der Bundesliga hat man somit einen gesicherten Platz in der UEFA Champions League. Aber seit Mitte der Saison ist dieses System nicht mehr in der ESEA ESL Pro League vorhanden. Man änderte diese Regel um Teams aus Australien anzulocken, einem Kontinent auf dem ESEA aktuell stark versucht sich durchzusetzen und den australischen Markt für sich zu erschließen. Und genau diese Regeländerung bekamen nun die Jungs von Denial Esports zu spüren, denn sie schlossen die Premierdivision auf Platz zwei ab und gewannen die Playoffs der Premierdivision und wären somit vor vier Monaten noch direkt qualifiziert gewesen, nun aber nicht mehr. 

In seinem Statement klagt er hauptsächlich darüber dass die Arbeit einer ganzen Saison in einem Best-of-3 auf dem Spiel steht und die Gegner ja bereits vorher bekannt waren und man als zweiter mit dem australischem Team Renegades einen leichteren Gegner gehabt hätten, begründet wurde die These mit dem Relegationsspiel gegen Renegades bei dem drei Spieler der Australier mit einem Ping von über 200 Millisekunden spielen mussten.

Ganzes Statement von Shawn ‚Witmer‘ Taylor, Spieler von Denial Esports:

Here’s the thing. Here’s the fucking thing. I know I’ll get backlash for this, and I know it probably isn’t very professional for me to be typing this up. I get it, I’m an idiot for saying anything. But here’s the fucking thing.
An ESEA season is a long time. Three to four months, I’m spitballing here. Premier was, when it was created, quite literally defined by ESEA as a „stepping stone to Professional“. This implies that the teams in Premier would be put in a position to become Professional teams, a title that is so grand that people’s entire lives change when they enter the division.
My story is a pretty shitty situation but in the context of ESEA and Professional league, it is irreleavnt. My passion for this game has up until this point been unwavering.
I am not going to lie, when the rule was implemented mid season, I was a bit worried. At the time though, we had to worry about actually winning the division first. Well, I say that, but in retrospect, we didn’t even have to technically win, and that’s where my first big problem is. The first and second place premier teams both got a chance at relegation. When talking about such a prestigious division as Premier, I would think, as most of the rest of the Professional community thinks, that winning it would give you a benefit that second place teams don’t have. I get there’s a small prize money disparity, but this amount is pennies to the money and opportunities that being in the Professional division offers. In future scenarios, the current system bothers me because what if the team that got second place in premier got an „easier“ relegation match? The one we played tonight was against a team that, as everyone knows, shouldn’t have been in it in the first place because they had 3 players with 200+ ping. Teams would literally have a bigger incentive to lose their Premier finals match because the potentially-relegated pro teams are already determined by the time Premier finals is over. This doesn’t seem very linear to me, and to be quite frank, makes zero fucking sense.
Furthermore, what actually bewilders me is the idea that a team can win a division, as we did, that was defined as a „stepping stone to Professional“, and have our very long ESEA season be essentially inconsequential because it comes down to a single best of three.
The idea that I have seen preached by people within the ESEA staff is that it gives chances for different regional teams to come to our region and compete against the best teams. What bothers me about this idea, is that what makes team x, whether it is Renegades, or another „top“ team from a different region, instantly better based on status then us. Moreover, what makes them more deserving?
There’s a few duct tape fixes to what is fundamentally a flawed system as I see it.
To me, it makes more sense, at the very least, to have the premier winner play the wildcard team for the autopromotion spot. Then, the loser of that match would play the relegated Professional team. This way, it not only gives incentive to actually winning premier as opposed to just getting second and still getting a shot at Pro league, but it gives a gaguge for the performance level of the team that is coming from a different region in comparison to the teams that have bested „the stepping stone to Professional.“ Even with this though, a spot in the prestigous Professional division still boils down to a series or two. It begs the question, what is the incentive to even win Premier?
There are a few other points to made, that the rules changed midseason and that entering the Premier division, the premier teams had an entirely different expectation as to what victory would provide, but I digress. ESEA has proven time and time again they can make changes as they see fit whenever they want, whatever.
How can a team play an entire season, win their division (when they expected to go to professional automatically upon doing so originally), have their chance at such an amazing opportunity to play in ESEA’s best league against the best teams with an astounding prize pool and unlimited gaming opportunities RIPPED away from them, expect to want to do it all again.
How does this system breed up-and-coming teams that stick together.
How does this system uphold the integrity of the premier division?
How does this system give incentive to even playing premier at all?
The culture of North American CS is very heavily and often laughed at because the same players are constantly switching around different rosters. Then, when an extra road in the way is created for up and coming teams to show what they can do, the fundamental philosophy behind that same road is changed at will and essentially nullified.
The fact is, there is no point to playing and by extension winning premier.
I cannot speak for my teammates because we are still so devastated after such a long road, but I know that for the first time in my entire CS „career“, my aforementioned unwavering passion and love for this game and ESEA as the premier North American CS league has broken as the results stand.
I look at that best of three, looked at the scorelines and the CS that was played, and I just cannot believe that everything we did before that is quite literally for nothing.
„Oh it’s okay, just win premier again and prove your worth“
No.
We already did.
We won premier, we proved our worth, and it was for nothing. Nothing any of you can say, no point you can make about wild card slots, the reservation ESEA has to do what they want, the status of our team or winterfox or best of threes or renegades or brazilians or whatever, can change this.
The fundamentally flawed system that we partook in has killed the passion and integrity of our team and the Premier division.
Probably not a very „Professional“ post by me, but maybe if I said it with an Australian accent it would mean a little bit more to the people in charge.
Sorry to our fans, sorry to my team, and I’m sorry if I offended anyone on the ESEA staff. I’ve never been so broken over a sport. People can laugh at this, call me a nerd, whatever. I don’t care. I loved this game.