Asian Qualifier Format
According to information given to GosuGamers by the G-1 League administration, the format for the Asian qualifiers will be in three stages. The first stage will be an open qualifier where the organizers will choose 32 teams of those signed up to compete for advancement. The top eight teams will proceed to the second stage of the competition. This is likely to the be part of the competition set to kick off this or next week.
At the second the eight qualified teams will be facing off with eight invited teams from China and South East Asia, with the top four teams going through into the third round. A preliminary list of invited teams includes most of the usual suspects:
Zenith
Team ABC
LGD.Int
TongFu ViCi Gaming 1 ViCi Gaming 2 Rising Stars Rattlesnake
Notably non of the Philippino teams have been given direct invites to the second stage of the competition, meaning that we might see several of them taking part in the open qualifier instead.
For the third phase, the top four teams of stage two will face off against the top four teams from G-1 League Season 4. These teams were in order of placing:
LGD.Cn DK Orange Invictus Gaming
The top four teams of these eight will then go on to represent China and SEA at the LAN Finals for G-1 League Season 5.
The specifics of stages two and three are still subject to change. No information is also known at this time about the European or North American qualifiers. According to GosuGamers it is however likely that only two slots will be allocated to the western teams, meaning that it is likely we will see the Western teams seeded into a quarter-final stage similar to the G-League playoff format, allowing the top two teams from the more arduous Asian qualifier to proceed straight into the semi-finals.
Update 2
According to a translation by Team Liquid user Kupon3ss of a message from the G-1 League admins, the Western qualifiers are to take place in April. Details are not yet available regarding how Western Teams may indicate their interest in being part of the qualifiers, however there is now a deadline for the SEA teams signing up for the event, with a cutoff point of 15th of March at 19:00 SGT.
Contact information for teams interesting in participating (include details of team achievements etc.):
Signups (for Open Asian Qualifiers): baizhou_ning@163.com
Contact for SEA teams: Tuski，Skype iD： Krishna0390
Contact for Chinese teams: QQ：758393526
Sources: SGamer, GosuGamers, GosuGamers, Team Liquid