An early (and incomplete) calendar for the 2017-2018 Dota 2 competitive season has the game’s community in a tizzy this week. But the document, which does provide a great deal of information on the next wave of professional Dota 2 events, leaves us with nearly as many questions as it does answers about the upcoming changes to professional Dota .
The calendar that has everyone talking was originally published by Matthew “CyborgMatt” Bailey, a fixture on the Dota 2 scene for many years now. Bailey originally made a name for himself by dissecting new patches on Twitch, revealing major and minor changes to everything from character animations to new items and costume changes. He’s also the current Director of Operations for Team Secret, a regular participant in Valve’s existing Dota 2 Majors and Minors. But it looks like Bailey had one last scoop to give the community.
Dota 2 2017/2018. 11 minors, 11 majors. pic.twitter.com/qnVOFhkoBB
— Matthew Bailey (@Cyborgmatt) August 1, 2017
According to Bailey’s document, Valve will partner with a handful of new and well-established esports organizers for a series of 22 Dota 2 Majors and Minors that begin in mid-October and continue until early June. More than $14 million in prize money will be awarded during the same period, less than the $20-plus million we’ve come to expect during The International each year but more than the $9 million currently divided across three Dota 2 Majors. It’s also not clear how such a densely-packed schedule would impact the process of roster freezing. Each team usually has a set amount of time between events to hire or fire members of the team,or to recruit new alternates. With so little downtime on the 2017-2018 calendar, it’s not clear when teams will be allowed to modify their rosters; however, we’d be shocked if the practice disappeared entirely.
Here’s the current slate for the 2017-2018 competitive season:
Majors
Oct. 26-29, 2017 - $1,000,000 - PGL
Dec. 1-3, 2017 - $1,000,000 - DreamHack
Jan. 15-21, 2018 - $1,000,000 - DreamHack
Feb. 5-11, 2018 - $1,000,000 - PGL
Feb. 20-25, 2018 - $1,000,000 - ESL
March 8-11, 2018 - $1,000,000 - BeyondTheSummit & Next Generation Esports
March 30 - April 7, 2018 - $1,000,000 - Perfect World
April 27 - May 7, 2018 - $1,000,000 - Epicenter
May 14-20, 2018 - $1,000,000 - MarsTV
May 25-27, 2018 - $1,000,000 - ESL
June 4-10, 2018 - $1,500,000 - PGL
Minors
Oct. 11-15, 2017 - $300,000 - Starladder
Oct. 19-22, 2017 - $300,000 - PGL
Nov. 20-26, 2017 - $300,000 - Perfect World
Dec. 4-10, 2017 - $300,000 - MarsTV
Dec. 13-17, 2017 - $300,000 - BeyondTheSummit
Jan. 12-14, 2018 - $300,000 - Global Electronic Sports Championships
Jan. 23-28, 2018 - $400,000 - ESL
March 16-18, 2018 - $300,000 - Global Electronic Sports Championships
April 17-24, 2018 - $300,000 - Perfect World
May 11-13, 2018 - $300,000 - Global Electronic Sports Championships
Dota 2 is available on Windows and OS X. Valve’s annual world championship tournament, The International, begins on Aug. 7.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more Dota 2 news in 2017 and however long Valve supports Dota 2 in the years ahead.
