The MDL Chengdu Major is confirmed to be the first major of the Dota 2 2019/20 DPC Season. The tournament is to be held in the "Panda Capital" from November 16 to November 24. The Chengdu Major offers a prize pool of $980,000 and Pro Circuit Points totaling 15,000.
The Chengdu Major is the tenth edition of the MDL. It is also the third Major overall organized by MDL after the MDL Macau and the MDL Disneyland Paris Major. In terms of distribution, the Chengdu Major has the top four teams getting a lion's share of the prize and points:
- First Place
- Prize Pool: $300,000
- DPC Points: 4,850
- Second Place
- Prize Pool: $160,000
- DPC Points: 3,000
- Third Place
- Prize Pool: $110,000
- DPC Points: 2,100
- Fourth Place
- Prize Pool: $80,000
- DPC Points: 1,350
- Fifth-Sixth Place
- Prize Pool: $60,000
- DPC Points: 900
- Seventh-Eighth Place
- Prize Pool: $40,000
- DPC Points: 450
- Ninth-Twelfth
- Prize Pool: $20,000
- DPC Points: 150
- Thirteenth-Sixteenth
- Prize Pool: $12,500
- DPC Points: 100
To participate in the tournament, six qualifiers are going to be held from October 5 to October 10 in these regions:
- North America - 2 teams
- South America - 2 teams
- Europe - 3 teams
- CIS - 3 teams
- China - 3 teams
- Southeast Asia - 2 teams
What this means is that no Dota 2 team is going to receive a direct invite to the tournament. Aside from these 15 teams, one additional team is going to be part of the tournament through the Dota Summit 11.
For the Group Stage, there is going to be a total of four groups with all games being best-of three. The top two teams advance to the Upper Bracket while the bottom two teams move to the Lower Bracket. For the Playoffs, the format is going to follow a double elimination bracket. The first round of the Lower Bracket is best-of one with other games are best-of three. The Grand Finals are best-of five.
While there is the expectation that excitement is high since this is the first Major of the new season, a number of teams like PSG.LGD have decided to skip this tournament. Still, it will be exciting to see how teams, especially the ones with new members, will fare.
Dota Summit 11
As mentioned, one team can join the Chengdu Major by winning the Dota 2 Summit, the first DPC Minor. This Minor tournament is scheduled for November 7-10 and will be held in Los Angeles. In addition to getting a chance at the Chengdu Major, this Minor tournament offers a prize pool of $300,000 and 600 Pro Circuit Points. A total of eight teams are expected to participate, with two teams receiving direct invites and one team each joining through the regional qualifiers.
