Over the past few years the competitive Esports scene in Sri Lanka has grown immensely in both talent and numbers. Online events such as the Gamer.LK Clans Warfare League and league have always brought in droves of players. Their purpose was twofold: on the one hand it was only a practice ground for the more mechanically skilled teams but on the other, an opportunity for newer teams and players to test out their skills without the harsh commitments a LAN tournament includes. Over time as the disparity of skill became more evident and obvious, the newer and “tier 2” teams of each competitive title were dissuaded to compete against the higher ranked teams. A noticeable trend was teams giving walkovers to the top ranked teams. This trend only stagnated growth and created a larger division between skilled teams and relatively lower skilled teams. The end all solution to this is the new format introduced by Gamer.lk in this years GCWL and GCLL: the Pro and Challenger Leagues.

The Pro League

This is where the TOP 6 teams based off the National  ranking system of the Sri Lanka Esports Association are invited to play.This allows for a better platform for top ranking teams to gain recognition for their efforts and quality of games. Further it will reduce games where there is a large disparity of skill in the early stages of the tournaments. At the same time it will incentivize teams to make their performances at each ranked tournament count.
It’s common knowledge that being invited to a tournament reduces the pressure on having to play qualifiers.

The Challenger League 

This is an open tournament to all teams and players. At the end of the league the top two teams will qualify to play in the Pro League.
Reducing the chances of meeting high skill teams in early stages will prevent teams from giving walkovers without valid reasons and also allow for better development for newer teams.