Dota 2’s The International is known as the esports competition that offers the highest prize pool across any game. The competition is so intense as teams fight to see who is the best. However, because of the pandemic, Valve made the decision to cancel this year's TI. That itself is sad, and making it even sadder is that there aren’t even any online Valve-sponsored Dota 2 event replacements.
Despite the cancellation of many tournaments, organizations and teams continue to find ways in order to give fans what they want, which is exciting Dota 2 competition. Fortunately, two European groups decided to band together and come up with a special event. This marked the launch of the OMEGA League, made possible by Epic Esports Events and WePlay! Esports.
In a post on the official OMEGA League websute, Mark Averbukh of Epic Esports revealed that this is a truly unique product and that they are thankful to partner with WePlay! and the teams in order to create this league. He went on to say that they “hope that this event will set the benchmark in the level of production and provide the fans many hours of premium content.”
In the same post, WePLay! Lead Esports Manager Vitaliy “Nexius” Bozhko said that they are excited about this event and “really hope the audience will enjoy the results.” Since the event takes place on the dates where TI is supposed to happen, he added that it “impacts the level of responsibility we feel about OMEGAE League.’
The Europe leg of the competition is divided into two: Divine Division and Immortal Division. Matches start on August 10 and end on September 5.
The Divine Division is a tier 2 tournament with 12 teams fighting it out for a prize pool of $50,000. The teams are going to be divided into two groups with the top team from each advancing to the Upper Bracket. While that may sound standard, here comes an interesting mechanic: In the first round of the Upper Bracket competition, the two teams are going to go against the bottom two teams of the Immortal Division. Waiting for the winners in the second round of the Upper Bracket matches are the losers of the Play-in Stage of the Immortal Division.
So what is the Immortal Division? Since this is categorized as a Tier 1 tournament, it has many of Europe’s best Dota 2 teams. So far here are the teams participating:
- Team Secret
- Natus Vincere
- Team Liquid
- Virtus.pro
- FlyToMoon
- Evil Geniuses
- OG
- Alliance
- Team Nigma
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Two teams from the Closed Qualifier
The prize pool for the Immortal Division is $500,000.
The Americas, meanwhile, has:
- Divine Division
- Prize Pool: $31,500
- Team Participating: 10
- Ancient Division
- Prize Pool: $8,500
- Team Participating: 8
There is also the Asia region, which combines SEA and China. The prize pool for the Asia region is $40,000 with 12 teams expected to participate.
Do you think this is a good alternative for the TI? Do you wish Valve would instead host an official online TI instead? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
