The first Major of the new DPC season may have been canceled but there’s a silver lining for Dota 2 teams. The International 11 is set to have 20 teams during the group stage. That means two more teams than in TI10.
When The International started, there were 16 teams invited. By TI7, this was increased to 18 teams and that format was followed until TI10. You're probably wondering why the additional teams for TI11?
When it was announced that the first Major was canceled, there was no word on the alternative plan. Eventually, Valve came out and revealed the Regional Finals. Despite being a good plan, it could create a situation where each region earned the same number of points towards TI qualification.
To offset this bias, Valved decided to do the following:
- The TI Qualifiers will be played as originally planned, with the top team from each region qualifying to TI.
- The second and third placers from each region's qualifiers will compete in a LAN event shortly afterward, before The International.
- Out of those 12 teams, the first and second placers qualify to The International 11.
If you're keeping count, that's six teams from the qualifiers and two from the LAN event, for a total of eight teams. So, there are still 12 teams heading to TI11 through a direct invite.
For TI11, the group stage will have 20 teams divided into two groups of 10. Two teams from each group are eliminated, while the remaining 16 teams move to the main event.
Valve also announced that they “expect the rest of the year to go as planned,” and will reveal more details about the second and third Majors in a few weeks. By the way, Patch 7.31 is coming out once the Regional Finals end.
Current Rankings
The Regional Finals are set to happen in February, and you can learn more about it here. You can also read our predictions about it here.
That said, the teams that finished on top of each region are the ones leading the rankings with 300 DPC Points each. The teams, in alphabetical order, are:
- BOOM Esports
- PSG.LGD
- Quincy Crew
- Team Liquid
- Team Spirit
- Thunder Predator
Dota 2 is available on PC.
