Yesterday, ESL announced the largest tournament so far for the Oceanic region, the Overwatch ESL AU & NZ Championship. The $12,000 AUD (~$9,000 USD) tournament will run over three months with extensive qualifiers, culminating in offline finals in May.

Registration is open for the first two online qualifying cups, scheduled for the 12th and 18th March, and the tournament is limited to teams with six players from Australia or New Zealand. The top teams from these two initial qualifiers will progress to the March Monthly Final on the 19th, where they can compete for a $1,000 AUD prize pool. The top two teams from that Monthly Final will qualify for the $10,000 LAN in May.

The same process will be repeated in April, with qualifiers on the 2nd and 9th April and the April Monthly Final on the 23rd. Again, the finalists will progress to face the top two from the previous month in the May offline event.

ESL AU & NZ Championship

Fusion Girls are by far and away the favourites coming into this tournament. The top Australian team has won every event in the region since September of 2016, with a crazy dominance over the competition. The top Australian side has professed a desire to become an international team in the past but will surely relish the opportunity to prove their strength within OCE one more time.

Competing top teams within the region are Love Shack, Scylla Esports, and JAM Gaming, the other three playoff teams from the recent major tournament, the Oceanic Summer Series.

Schedule

March:

April

  • Sunday, 2nd April - Overwatch Cup #3
  • Sunday, 9th April - Overwatch Cup #4
  • Sunday, 23rd April - Overwatch April Monthly Final ($1,000 AUD prize pool)

May

  • TBA - Overwatch ESL AU & NZ Championship Final ($10,000 AUD prize pool)

The announcement states that:

More information will be released shortly about the Overwatch ESL AU & NZ Championship Final including format, schedule, venue location, spectator tickets and much more!