With the Asia League 2024 Stage 2 kicking off tomorrow, here's a look at everything you need to know ahead of the start of Asia's second split of the season.
Matches and calendar
The Asia League 2024 will include seven playdays, with the group stage kicking off on September 4. Here’s a look at all of the matches that will be played during the upcoming three weeks:
September 4
- FURY vs. Dire Wolves
- Rival Esports vs. Elevate
- Hasib Warriors vs. NoCap R6
- Knock Knock vs. Bleed Esports
September 5
- FURY vs. NoCap R6
- Dire Wolves vs. Rival Esports
- Bleed Esports vs. Hasib Warriors
- Elevate vs. Knock Knock
September 11
- FURY vs. Bleed Esports
- Rival Esports vs. Knock Knock
- Dire Wolves vs. Hasib Warriors
- Elevate vs. NoCap R6
September 12
- Rival Esports vs. NoCap R6
- Dire Wolves vs. Bleed Esports
- FURY vs. Elevate
- Knock Knock vs. Hasib Warriors
September 19
- FURY vs. Rival Esports
- NoCap R6 vs. Bleed Esports
- Knock Knock vs. Dire Wolves
- Hasib Warriors vs. Elevate
September 20
- NoCap R6 vs. Dire Wolves
- Bleed Esports vs. Elevate
- FURY vs. Knock Knock
- Hasib Warriors vs. Rival Esports
September 25
- Bleed Esports vs. Rival Esports
- FURY vs. Hasib Warriors
- NoCap R6 vs. Knock Knock
- Elevate vs. Dire Wolves
Format
The format used in the Asia League 2024 Stage 2 will be unchanged from the one used in the initial split. The eight teams will play against each other in a round-robin format with BO1 games. The best six teams will qualify for the playoffs, which will follow a double-elimination bracket system. The games there will be BO3s. Only the top seed will qualify for the BLAST R6 Major Montreal.
Teams
Here’s everything you need to know about the rosters that will compete in the second split of the Asia League 2024:
Bleed Esports
Ahead of the start of the second split, Bleed Esports are the favorites to take Asia’s first seed after representing the region at the BLAST R6 Major Manchester and the Esports World Cup.
Despite the results collected during the previous year, the team had to make a change before the beginning of the Esports World Cup as Jay “Asphy” Wan left the team as he joined the Singaporean army. Instead, the Asian roster signed Jake “Leadr” Fortunato.
Additionally, another Brazilian joined Julio “Julio” Giacomelli as the former E1 Sports staff member Lucas “Lenda” Diniz was announced in June 2024 as the team’s new analyst. He joined to replace Zhang “BruceZz” Jinghe, who had been Bleed’s head coach from March 2023 to January 2024.
FURY
Historically, Bleed Esports’ fiercest opponent in the region is FURY. Last season, the Thai roster had lost every BO1 against the red squad; however, they won every BO3 to take the region’s first seed ahead of Copenhagen and Atlanta.
However, the first stage of the season saw how Bleed Esports took a step ahead as they now have defeated FURY in the last two BO3 series – in the qualifiers for Manchester and the Esports World Cup.
Despite having missed out on the last two major international events and the team’s early exit from the Six Invitational 2024, the Thai haven’t made a roster change since Kritsanai “KritJ” Saemsub’s arrival in March 2023. FURY’s only addition during the summer transfer window was Parus “Phenomenal” Sarasuk, who joined as the team’s new analyst.
Elevate
One year after the team’s last international appearance, Elevate will have to defeat the region favorites Bleed Esports and FURY to clinch Asia’s spot to compete in Montreal.
Seven months after the team signed two imported players in Alex “Shed” Moore and Chow “Mcie” Pak-him from the European Tier 2 roster G Who, alongside their coach RandoSando and the Singaporean talent Nhaiqal, it’s fair to say Elevate have had enough time to take over the region in this season’s second split.
Dire Wolves
Dire Wolves have made two changes compared to last stage’s roster as Binbin and Huang “HARAM3E.” Chih-hang were added to the starting lineup. Meanwhile, FelarX was benched and Broden “Juicy” Dean joined as the team’s new coach.
Although Dire Wolves are one of the top four sides in the Asia League, the team is arguably the weakest of the leaders in the region. In the first split, the Taiwanese squad finished in fourth place after a 1-2 defeat against Elevate. Meanwhile, in Asia’s Esports World Cup qualifiers, the team was knocked out by Bleed Esports after two 2-7 defeats.
Hasib Warriors
Hasib Warriors are back to Asia’s top-flight after winning the South Asia Qualifier Playoffs. The Bangladeshi-majority roster secured the qualifier’s top-seed after a 2-1 victory against the European roster of Lumina Gaming, a squad that included a few European Tier 2 players and the former Virtus.pro player Pavel “Amision” Chebatkov.
In the first split of the Asia League 2024, Hasib Warriors finished in seventh place, behind their archenemies Knock Knock and ahead of Daystar.
NoCap R6
The players in NoCap R6 come from representing Gelida Esports during the first split of the season. With five players and two substitutes, the organization-less roster includes six former Elevate players who represented the team in multiple international and regional events.
The Thai squad is arguably the strongest squad coming from the SEA Qualifier Playoffs as they ran over all of their opponents, with their run including three 2-0 victories against pewpewGANGo, Rival Esports, and Daystar.
Knock Knock
After finishing in sixth place of the Asia League 2024 Stage 1, the Indian-majority squad had to go through the regional qualifiers ahead of the second split. Following a 1-2 defeat against the European roster of Lumina Gaming, the team clinched the second seed of the qualifier after three back-to-back 2-0 victories in the Lower Bracket.
It’s worth mentioning that Knock Knock will compete in the second split with a full-imported staff team, including the South Korean Ok “Kellan” Jun-woon and the Moroccan Redouani “Uniq” Saadi.
Rival Esports
Last but not least, Rival Esports became the first Taiwanese squad in the league after a 2-0 win against Daystar.
While the majority of Rival Esports’ players are debutants in the professional scene, the team includes two former Dire Wolves players in Wu “Jackywu” Chih-ying and Chen “Songla” Yung-han.
Prize pool and SI Points
Here’s a look at the Asia League 2024 Stage 2 prize pool and SI Points distribution:
- 1st: US$40,000 and 100 SI Points
- 2nd: US$25,000 and 95 SI Points
- 3rd: US$20,000 and 90 SI Points
- 4th: US$18,000 and 85 SI Points
- 5th: US$16,000 and 80 SI Points
- 6th: US$10,000 and 75 SI Points
- 7th: US$9,000 and 70 SI Points
- 8th: US$7,000 and 65 SI Points