What was only a rumor before is now officially confirmed by Valve's Dota 2 blog. The game’s competitive scene will receive a major rework for its next season with the introduction of regional leagues.
Minors are gone
Just like we’ve already mentioned previously, Minors seem to be a thing of the past. In their place, we’ll have regional leagues for each of the six regions. The number of Majors will be reduced from the current 5 to 3 and that’s no coincidence as each of the leagues will have a total of three seasons for the year. The culmination of each season will be a corresponding Major.
Regional leagues
The six regions remain unchanged – Europe, CIS, China, North America, South America, and SEA. The regional leagues will consist of an Upper and Lower Divisions, each consisting of 8 teams, for a total of 96 in all regions combined. At the end of each season, the top two teams from the Lower Divisions will trade places with the bottom two of the Upper Division. The bottom two of the Lower Division will be eliminated from the league and replaced by another two teams determined by Open Qualifiers. This will ensure that there’s always fresh blood coming in.
The prize pool of each of the regional leagues for the season will be fixed at $280,000. The distribution between participants will be as follows:
It’s nice to finally see Valve distribute wealth among the Tier 2 and Tier 3 Dota scene as the only teams that won’t be winning will be the ones who get replaced in the Lower Division. Roster changes will be locked from the start of each season until the end of a Major. Teams will be eligible to participate in a region if at least 3 of the players reside in it. If a team wants to change regions, they’ll have to forfeit their spot in the league and go through Open Qualifiers.
Thanks to the separation of Upper and Lower Divisions, each week will be filled with plenty of Dota 2. Every region will play in three days of the week.
Majors
The prize pool for the Majors in the next season will be $500,000 and 2700 DPC points. It’s a decrease from the current one of $1,000,000 but on the bright side, a huge chunk of prize money will go to leagues and supporting Tier 2 and Tier 3 Dota. A total of 18 teams will compete in the Major and they’ll be solely determined by the leagues. Each region will have a predetermined number of slots:
- Europe and China – 4 slots
- Northern America and Southeast Asia – 3 slots
- CIS and South America – 2 slots
Once all three seasons are set and done along with the three Majors, the top 12 teams in the DPC rankings will get an automatic invite to The International 2021. The remaining 6 slots will be determined by a regional qualifier for each region. Open Qualifiers will not be a thing for TI11.
Valve's plans for the next competitive season seem like the right choice. Dota 2's Tier 2 and Tier 3 scene was in shambles for so long and it'll finally get a better structure. In the meantime, big teams probably won't be affected as a result so it's a win-win for everyone.
For more information on the upcoming Leagues, you can always check the official blog post.
