Everything you need to know about the Telkom Digital Gaming League

The Telkom DGL is South Africa’s biggest and most prestigious eSports gaming league. With registration currently underway, we took a look at this year’s tournament structure.

The first thing to note is that the tournament has been restructured so as to incorporate The Masters, the old division-based system and an ELO-based ladder system that allows for unlimited entries.

The games being played

Dota 2
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
League of Legends
Battlefield 4
Hearthstone
Rocket League
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (PC)
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (PS4)

The Masters

The Masters, announced in January, is the first eSports tournament of its kind in South Africa.

The competition features eight of South Africa’s top MGOs with both Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 teams, who will compete for a total prize pool of R1 million in October’s main event.

This is primarily a showcase event (for streaming) and to show off the best the country has to offer.

The DGL (Divisions)

Masters Division (Exclusive to participating Masters teams in CS:GO and Dota 2)
Premier Division
First Division
Ladder

The teams which competed in the 2015 DGL are automatically seeded in the Premier and First Division of this years DGL. These seeded teams will still be able to compete on the ladder but any newcomers will have to work their way up through the new ladder system.

The Ladder

Any number of teams or individuals can enter the Telkom DGL through the ladder-system. At the beginning of the season, teams will begin with 1000 base Elo points.

Based on their wins/losses this number will either increase or decrease, showing how they compare on this 1000-point scale. Each team will be eligible to challenge other teams within a 200 Elo point difference during the season.

At the end of each leg and based on the players’ performances, a set number of teams will be promoted to a higher division.

A complete FAQ on the Telkom DGL can be found here.