ESL and DreamHack have announced the regional groups for DreamHack StarCraft II Masters 2021: Fall, which is set to begin on July 28th.

The first week of games will feature the start of the European group stages, as well as the entirety of the Latin America, Oceania & Rest of Asia, and Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau/Japan regionals. The North American and Chinese regionals are set to begin in week two.

tommey.liang

United States171 Posts

July 26 2021 17:37 GMT

Holy so many Tosses! It's interesting seeing how many of them are pitted against each other in groups A & B for EU. Can't believe DH Fall 2021 is starting up soon.

starvingbox

United States36 Posts

July 26 2021 17:45 GMT

Protoss festival.

starkiller123

United States3281 Posts

July 26 2021 19:36 GMT

I have to say I find these enormous groups very boring most of the time, I prefer 4 person groups and I don't think they should ever have larger than 6 player groups

Ciaus_Dronu

1271 Posts

July 26 2021 19:53 GMT

Really looking forward to watching the two groups that have non-protoss matches :D

Crocolisk Dundee

547 Posts

July 26 2021 19:54 GMT

Rooting for MilkiCow in group D of Europe.

Nakajin

Canada7269 Posts

July 26 2021 20:00 GMT

Nice groups, I'll say I would like to see some names I don't know about. Although I don't know who Antis and the well named Mysteryman are, hopefully they can pull of an upset or two!

InvictusRage

United States222 Posts

July 26 2021 20:43 GMT

I'm always really happy with this format; I like how the groups develop over a week or two and the players have tons of time to show their stuff.

Warcloud

United States91 Posts

July 26 2021 22:05 GMT

Why does the region with the best players only have a 4-person qualifier?

stardog

554 Posts

July 27 2021 07:24 GMT

#10

On July 27 2021 07:05 Warcloud wrote:
Why does the region with the best players only have a 4-person qualifier?

With Cure winning the EU ESL Open last week playing cross-server I'd rather give an extra spot to him.

AzAlexZ

2666 Posts

July 27 2021 07:31 GMT

#11

On July 27 2021 07:05 Warcloud wrote:
Why does the region with the best players only have a 4-person qualifier?

But Korea has 6 spots, not 4

MarianoSC2

Slovakia1709 Posts

July 27 2021 07:49 GMT

#12

Another snooze fest. This format with a million players per group is so bad and boring :/ Why dont they at least try to make the most overhyped region interesting?

Edpayasugo

United Kingdom2088 Posts

July 27 2021 10:25 GMT

#13

Toss time

Ciaus_Dronu

1271 Posts

July 27 2021 11:04 GMT

#14

Personally I quite like the big groups. Lots of different series with lots of potential to have some good matchups and spicy upsets. Not every series is good, but every day will likely have some good series.

The large number of matches also helps ensure that the top players make it further, which I think is good. Stuff like single elim too early can land you up with semis and finals that really aren't the best players duking it out, just because someone got unlucky.

rtomic

24 Posts

July 27 2021 13:34 GMT

#15

On July 27 2021 20:04 Ciaus_Dronu wrote:
Personally I quite like the big groups. Lots of different series with lots of potential to have some good matchups and spicy upsets. Not every series is good, but every day will likely have some good series.

The large number of matches also helps ensure that the top players make it further, which I think is good. Stuff like single elim too early can land you up with semis and finals that really aren't the best players duking it out, just because someone got unlucky.

However a favourite not making it due to falling in a single elim bracket is what I would call an upset. Serral losing 1 map in an 8-man group is hardly an upset or interesting to see...

I think only playing 1 or 2 matches per group per day is a strange schedule. I prefer the way GSL does it...

FCHK

24 Posts

July 27 2021 13:43 GMT

#16

Protoss being the dominant race in all regions except Latin America is so funny

EndlessViolence

109 Posts

July 27 2021 14:19 GMT

#17

super hyped for the tournament , lets goo

Moonerz

United States227 Posts

July 27 2021 14:48 GMT

#18

On July 27 2021 16:49 MarianoSC2 wrote:
Another snooze fest. This format with a million players per group is so bad and boring :/ Why dont they at least try to make the most overhyped region interesting?

I absolutely agree, it almost seems like they want so badly for none of the favorites to get knocked out in group stages. Makes sense from a viewership perspective but really makes the groups a lot less interesting. There are so many one sided games. Obviously we get the occasional upset but even if one of the top players drops a map or set against someone lower level it doesn't matter as they typically make it up over the course of the group.

Contrast this is GSL Ro 16 groups or even sometimes Ro28 and half the excitement is every game is so crucial because the damn group is so tough to get out of.

geokilla

Canada7855 Posts

July 27 2021 16:47 GMT

#19

At least it'll be good for betting.

BaneRiders

Sweden3612 Posts

July 27 2021 20:15 GMT

#20

I kind of like the idea of big groups, but having the games spread out over all groups all the time has made it very difficult for me to actually follow the groups very closely. I think it would have been better to finish one group after the other simply.