The stage is set and all participating Dota 2 teams are ready to go head-to-head at Lima Majo, the first Major of the new DPC Season. Up for grabs is a prize pool of $500,000 and total DPC points of 1,900.
A few weeks back there were concerns from some in the Dota 2 community when various reports revealed that a state of emergency was declared in Lima, Peru, the venue for the tournament.
While there’s been no update on the situation, it seems everything is ready for Lima Major with groupings for the group stage revealed. The drawing was actually done live and the results were:
- Group A
- EHOME
- Evil Geniuses
- Execration
- Gaimin Gladiators
- PSG.LGD
- Talon Esports
- Team Spirit
- TSM
- Tundra Esports
- Group B
- beastcoast
- BetBoom Team
- Entity
- Geek Slate
- HellRaisers
- Knights
- Shopify Rebellion
- Team Aster
- Team Liquid
Tournament Format
The group stage of Lima Major starts February 22 and runs until February 26. Each group follows a single round-robin with all matches in best of two. The top four teams of each group advance to the upper bracket of playoffs. Meanwhile, teams at fifth and sixth position of each group move to the lower bracket of playoffs. The remaining teams are eliminated.
This means that from 18 teams at the start of the tournament, only 12 teams will advance to playoffs.
After the group stage, qualified teams get a chance to recover and plan their strategy with schedules for playoffs on February 28 and the grand final on March 5. Double elimination is followed for playoffs with all matches in Bo3 except for the grand final to be played in Bo5.
The champion takes home $200,000 and 400 DPC points. Only teams that finish in the top eight get awarded with prize money and DPC points.
Initial Thoughts
Looking at how the teams are divided, it’s clear that there’s going to be exciting matches in Group A. After all, you have the likes of current TI champion Tundra Esports, Chinese powerhouse PSG.LGD, and of course, former TI champion Team Spirit.
There are also good matches in Group B though the favorite is clearly Team Liquid. This is the team that dominated Western Europe, the region with some of the best Dota 2 teams in the world.
Even then, they can’t be complacent especially with BetBoom and Shopify Rebellion just waiting for the perfect opportunity. Let’s not forget Team Aster too
What about you? Which team do you think is making it to the playoffs?
