Fourteen teams hailing from eight different Southeast Asian countries will compete in the SEA Esports Championship with a total of US$35,000 on the line.
The 14 participants have been split into four groups, facing off in a double-elimination GSL format, with best-of-two matches along the way from January 6-9. Four days later, the action will continue, with two teams from each group will go on to face off in the double-elimination, best-of-three playoffs.
Below you can find the groups for the tournament:
| Group A | Group B |
| 🇮🇩 BOOM Esports | 🇸🇬 COPIUM |
| 🇧🇳 Goodfellas Gaming | 🇮🇩 ONIC G |
| 🇱🇦 NINE Esports | 🇻🇳 CERBERUS Esports |
| 🇲🇾 Kingsmen | 🇧🇳 W KEY |
| Group C | Group D |
| 🇱🇦 Team EVO | 🇵🇭 South Built Esports |
| 🇵🇭 Bren Esports | 🇻🇳 DivisonX Gaming |
| 🇸🇬 shiba n the homies | 🇹🇭 Sharper Esport |
Teams qualified for the event via open qualifiers held by organizer partners in each country, sending two representatives each. Indonesia, for example, held VALORANT Arena Showdown, which ONIC G and BOOM Esports topped. However, Malaysia and Thailand fielded only one representative each, reducing the total number of group stage teams to 14 from the actual 16 figures. The tweaked format saw both Group C and D only feature three teams.
Ahead of the event, a new-look DivisionX will be put to the test, having parted ways with three of its players in the off-season, including Nguyễn “Nizzy” Tấn Thành, Hoàng “DucT” Trung Đức, and captain Phạm “ATTACKER1” Xuân Giang.
ALSO READ: CERBERUS Esports – “The Vietnamese scene could have grown more”
BOOM Esports head into the event with confidence sky-high after winning the EPULZE Royal SEA Challenge Playoffs over South Built Esports. In this tournament, the Indonesian side, currently ranked 8th in VLR’s APAC rankings, will encounter six of the eight teams from the aforementioned EPULZE tournament.
Group D has been dubbed the “death group,” since three top-ranked teams of South Built Esports, DivisionX, and Sharper Esport will compete for just two playoff berths.
The tournament was to originally feature Bleed eSports as Singapore’s #1 seed alongside shiba n the homies as the country’s representative but withdrew presumably to focus on the new addition of the Swedish duo player of Jacob “pyth” Mourujärvi and Max “Maxie” Lönnström. They are being replaced by COPIUM, featuring the likes of former SMG player Joshua Damien “JdFaker” Fok and former Louvre player Brandon “Haise” Loh.
SEA Esports Championship 2021 will be broadcast on various official channels. Hosting the event will be seven Vietnamese talents and yet-to-be-announced English talents, who will be describing on-goings as the matches progress. The following is the complete talent lineup:
English Commentators:
- TBD
Vietnamese Commentators:
- 🇻🇳 Lynx – Caster
- 🇻🇳 SinhToxic – Caster
- 🇻🇳 Teacher Minh – Caster
- 🇻🇳 Trọng Linh – Caster
- 🇻🇳 Tomy – Caster
- 🇻🇳 HuyLova – Caster
- 🇻🇳 Bapj – Caster
Lastly, the US$35,000 prize pool will be distributed among all 14 participating teams the following way:
| Place | Prize |
| 1st | US$8,000 |
| 2nd | US$5,000 |
| 3rd | US$4,000 |
| 4th | US$3,000 |
| 5th-6th | US$2,000 |
| 7th-8th | US$1,500 |
| 9th-12th | US$1,000 |
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Cover photo courtesy of SEA EC 2021
