Dota 2 developer, Valve, has announced that the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) will see a new regional league system following The International. The Dota team say the new system “will introduce a new system that presents competitive Dota in a more scheduled and consistent way during the year.” This will make Minor tournaments obsolete. Now, regional leagues will compete in three individual “Seasons”. The best teams from each region will then compete in a Major for a chance to play in The International.
The regional league system will operate throughout the normal DPC year and feature the usual six regions. A total of 96 teams will be competing in the new system. Each region will feature an Upper Division and Lower Division with eight teams per bracket. The top two teams from the Lower Division will take the place of the bottom two teams in the Upper Division at the end of each season. The bottom two teams from the Lower Division will be dropped from the league and replaced with new ones. This will eliminate gatekeeping due to early dominance, and create fresh match ups.
An open qualifier tournament will be held within each region, and winners will go on to replace eliminated teams in the Lower Division. From there, they’ll have the opportunity to compete for the $280,000 prize pool given to each league. The top team in the Lower Division will receive their Upper Division promotion and $17,000, with descending prizes for teams below them. The top team in the Upper Division will qualify for the Major playoffs, and take home $30,000. Teams below them will also receive descending prizes.
Three of the five players on a roster must reside in a region for that team to be able to compete in it. All rosters are locked for the duration of every Season, but teams can use stand-in players for up to 4 games, barring the stand-in is not competing in the Upper Division of DPC.
For more info on the new regional league system, click here.