ESEA add age restriction for MDL Season 27

Now both EPL and the division below hold a minimum age requirement of 16.

ESEA has added a player age requirement of 16 for the upcoming MDL season. Many players took to social media to speak of the change, and Brett "few" Sheffield said that further information about the change is coming soon and that it would not impact the upcoming Global Challenge event.

We will have more information on the rule changes for S27 posted shortly, including the minimum age for MDL teams. The rule change does not effect MDL S26 LAN, which starts tomorrow. — Brett Sheffield (@fewowns) January 3, 2018

This would affect many players that currently play in the North American MDL, including Jason "neptune" Tran from Ghost Academy, Ryan "Snakes" Amann from SoaR, Owen "oBo" Schlatter from Guerrilla Tactics, Sam "s0m" Oh who was previously on ex-Naventic, and Nick "zeptic" Kaoud who last played for Good People.

In Europe, young talents such as Martin "stavn" Lund, Jere "sergej" Salo, and David "frozen" Čerňanský will be similarly impacted.

With the change, these players will likely now be forced to ply their trade in Main until they come of age.

Alright, I've already thought of the 5 man roster for main. Me, Snakes, Obo, Shanks, som. — Jason Tran (@neptunensic) January 3, 2018

The rules changes brings the MDL division in line with ESL Pro League, but further reasoning for it is currently unknown. What is certain is that changes in the upper echelons of MDL will be had, as Season 26 top four finishers SoaR and Ghost Academy will both need to find new players.