We now know the planned structure for the rest of the Dota 2 professional season this year, non-Valve tournaments notwithstanding. The Spring Major, just before the International, will take place in Manila, on the Philippines, during the first days of June this year. It joins Shanghai, Frankfurt and Seattle as the four homes of Dota for this season. Assumption has it that these four regions will continue to host the majors in the future, even if the cities will move.
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The announcement comes hot on the heels of the Shanghai qualifiers, from which the 16 teams that will battle it out for a whole heap of money and the title of defacto best in the world were selected. The final competitor list looks like this:
- OG – Winners of the Frankfurt Major.
- Team Secret – Runners-up in Frankfurt, one of the best teams in the world.
- Evil Geniuses – Third place at Frankfurt, winners of The International 5, probably on paper the best team in the world.
- EHOME – Probably the best Chinese team, 4th at Frankfurt, multiple smaller titles recently.
- Vici Gaming – Another good Chinese team, 4th at TI5, 5th-6th at Frankfurt, great results all last year.
- CDEC Gaming – 2nd at TI5 after great underdog run, 5th-6th at Frankfurt.
- Virtus.Pro – 2nd at The Summit 4, top half at Frankfurt and all-around solid team.
- Alliance – Winners of World Cyber Arena.
- Team Archon and Team Complexity – Winners of the American Qualifier.
- Team Liquid and Team Spirit – Winners of the European Qualifier.
- Fnatic and MVP Phoenix – Winners of the SEA Qualifier.
- LGD and Newbee – Winners of the Chinese Qualifier.
They’ll meet up in a group stage on February 25th, followed by the main event from March 2nd to 6th. More details on the official site, but it should be a hell of an event, with $3,000,000 on the line and a lot of implications for the future of different regions. Can China stop their slump on home soil? Will Europe continue their dominance? Can an American team other than EG show up to play?
Meanwhile, the Manila Major will get this full qualifying process again, probably some time in April or May. The community has reacted positively to the news, seeing one Major per region as a fair split, even if it leaves Eastern European and Russian fans a little out in the cold. I particularly enjoyed this poston Reddit from someone who lives in the region on why they’re happy to see it. It will be the second major tournament there this year, as ESL are hosting one of their big LANs in the city.