Different Dota 2 teams around the world are now gearing for the new DPC competition. It will start on January 18 and consists of two seasons, which leads to The International 10. That’s right, it’s still TI10.
Each season is composed of a six-week League that leads to a Major. Once the two seasons are over, qualifiers will be done for the remaining slots for TI. The TI itself is set in August in Stockholm.
Here’s the complete schedule:
- Season 1: January 18 – February 28
- Major 1: March 25 – April 4
- Season 2: April 13 – May 23
- Major 2: June 2 – June 13
Season Format
The matches for the seasons are played in each region. There’s going to be an Upper Division and a Lower Division. Only the top teams from the Upper Division of each region get to join the Major. For the first Major, the slots are distributed this way:
- EU: Top 4
- China: Top 4
- SEA: Top 3
- CIS: Top 3
- NA: Top 2
- SA: Top 2
So, what about the Lower Division? Well, the bottom two teams of the Upper Division will go down to the Lower Division. Meanwhile, the top two teams of the Lower Division get promoted. The bottom two teams of the Lower Division are eliminated from the League. The remaining slots are then filled up through open qualifiers. All these will happen before the new season begins.
Just in case you’re wondering, these are the official organizers for each region:
- Europe: Dreamhack
- CIS: ESL
- China: Perfect World
- SEA: PGL
- NA: BTS
- SA: Dotapit
Criticisms on the Format
While fans may indeed be excited with the upcoming new DPC competition, the same cannot be said for many of those in the esports scene. It appears that the new format is a bit friendlier, especially for upcoming teams who want to make it big. It does have its own problems.
For example, a team in SA that has members with TI experience didn't even get a direct invite. According to this TwitLonger post by Otávio "Tavo" Gabriel, it seems that invites were based on “stable rosters and results.” That means they need to go through the Lower Division and get the top spot to be promoted to the Upper Division by the second season.
Then, there’s the case of Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon over in SEA. He was signed by the Chinese team Vici Gaming but didn’t really get to play. He’s recently been released by VG and now has no team as the new DPC is about to start.
Although these are just a few examples, more problems are likely to arise when the season finally debuts. We’ll see if this is indeed a good idea or if Valve should go back to the old format.
