While The International 10 isn’t happening in Sweden, Valve confirmed a new venue, the Arena Nationala in Bucharest, Romania.
In a statement, Valve revealed that it is happy with the partnership with Romania and the City of Bucharest. The company went on to say that it is looking forward to finally holding Dota 2’s biggest event.
For those wondering, you can watch the video below to see how some in the community responded to this announcement:
New Schedule
While a new venue has been selected, lots of preparations are still to be made. Thus, instead of August, the tournament is moved to October. Group Stage is from October 7 to October 10 with the Main Event kicking off on October 12. The Grand Final is on October 17 where the world gets to know which team gets the large piece of the $40 million prize pool.
Having a new schedule is beneficial for teams as those that qualify have more time to practice. For players, there is an extension for the Battle Pass, which is also good for the developer.
Goodbye Sweden
Back in June, Valve had revealed the problems holding the tournament in Sweden. The company added that they were caught off-guard when told that esports won’t be accepted into the sports federation. There was still a chance of having the event in Sweden through an appeal to the Minister of the Interior. But that request had been denied as well. So, Valve went out to look for other possible venues.
Qualified Teams
So far, 16 teams have been confirmed taking part in TI10:
- Direct Invites
- Evil Geniuses
- PSG.LGD
- Virtus.pro
- Quincy Crew
- Invictus gaming
- T1
- Vici Gaming
- Team Secret
- Team Aster
- Alliance
- beastcoast
- Thunder Predator
- Regional Qualifiers
- Undying (North America)
- SG e-sports (South America)
- Team Spirit (Eastern Europe)
- Fnatic (Southeast Asia)
Remaining Qualifiers
There are two more regional qualifiers remaining with the result expected on July 10.
For Western Europe, the top teams are fighting in the Upper Bracket. Today’s matches see Tundra Esports go against Team Liquid with the next match being Team Nigma versus OG.
In China, fighting for a spot in the Grand Final is EHOME versus Elephant. However, don’t count out Royal Never Give Up which may have been relegated to the Lower Bracket but could work its way up for the win.
