Mineski kicks off its eight season for the MPGL.

Ever since its conception in 2010, the Mineski Pro-Gaming League has been the backbone of esports in the Philippines. Starting out as a 10-month long league with WC3 DotA as its major title, and StarCraft and Call of Duty 4 as its minor games, the MPGL has since expanded into a variety of other titles, where it has steadily played a critical role in expanding the scene and taking to new heights the level of competition for each game.

This 2016, the Mineski-Events Team is proud to announce the MPGL’s eighth. Supported by Sports5, GG Network, ViewSonic, and, of course, GIGABYTE, the MPGL8 is gearing up to be the biggest, most competitive iteration of the Philippines’ most prestigious Esports league thus far.

With its modest baseline prize pool of 1.6 Million Php for the season, the MPGL8 seeks to radically transform the Philippine esports landscape in a way that simply injecting money can’t do. Season 8 brings with it two major changes that will no doubt facilitate the local esports industry’s transition into the mainstream.

LEAGUE, COMMUNITY, IMPROVING TOGETHER

One of the bigger changes the boys from the MET are excited to unveil is the MPGL’s new permanent team format, where the teams that will be competing in the MPGL’s major titles throughout the season are more or less set in stone, a move made to steer the MPGL away from the usual team/roster volatility between legs that has plagued the local scene for the longest time now.

Instead of relying on qualifiers to fill the lineup of competitors, the MPGL has instead scoured the land for teams backed by organizations that meet the MET’s criteria in proving their commitment to the esports cause, based on existing standards of professionalism: sponsorship, player wages, presence of a boot camp, or any combination of the aforementioned givens.

Of course, this does not mean that the MET has turned its back on grooming local players on a grassroots level. There will still be smaller tournaments outside the MPGL that cater to the needs of amateurs and semi-professionals currently outside of the big leagues.

The MPGL8 will also be premiering the brand new MineskiTV studio.

Now nearing its completion, the MineskiTV studio is primed to be the first full-time esports studio of its scale in the Philippines. And for its maiden voyage, the MineskiTV studio is set to host all matches of the MPGL8’s main titles within its walls. This means that not only will the competing teams play all their league games within the studio, ensuring fairness and quality, as well as a renewed atmosphere of competition, but that there will also be a full-time broadcast and production crew based in the studio to ensure a quality experience for the fans watching.

A VARIETY OF TITLES

Season 8 of the MPGL will feature five different games, divided into the major and minor categories. The major divisions are none other than  Dota 2, League of Legends, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, all of which are returning titles, with CS:GO notably being revived after more than a year’s hiatus from the MPGL.

Meanwhile,  Hearthstone and Clash of Clans round off the overall list of games as they make their MPGL debuts as minor divisions.