The stage is set and 18 Dota 2 teams are ready to fight it out in the upcoming Lima Major. This being the first Major of the new DPC Season, the champion is sure to get a much needed head start over the others with 400 DPC Points. Of course, there's also the $200,000 cash to whoever gets the crown.
Organized by 4D Esports and Epulze, the Lima Major is the first such tournament to be held in South America. Matches start on February 22 with the grand final scheduled on March 5.
Format
For the tournament format, the 18 teams are divided into two groups of nine teams each. The group stage is scheduled from February 22 to February 26 and follows a single round-robin format with all matches being Bo2. The top four teams from each group move to the upper bracket of the playoffs.
Meanwhile, the fifth and sixth placers from each group will go to the lower bracket of the playoffs. The three remaining teams from each group are eliminated.
Playoffs are scheduled from February 28 to March 6. Like most Dota 2 tournaments, this round has a double-elimination format. All matches are in Bo3 with the exception of the grand final which is Bo5.
The Teams
- Western Europe
- Team Liquid
- Gaimin Gladiators
- Tundra Esports
- Entity
- Eastern Europe
- BetBoom Team
- Team Spirit
- HellRaisers
- North America
- TSM
- Shopify Rebellion
- South America
- beastcoast
- Evil Geniuses
- China
- PSG.LGD
- Team Aster
- Knights
- EHOME
- Southeast Asia
- Execration
- Geek Slate
- Talon Esports
Surprise Non-Qualifiers
The new DPC season was off to a good start with a lot of interesting matches and results. In China, for example, Invictus Gaming failed to qualify for Lima Major along with Xtreme Gaming. Xtreme had a good roster but the team gave up its spot after losing in a tiebreaker match.
In Western Europe, OG has to settle for being retained in Division I. After three tiring tiebreakers, they were the ones who lost against both Tundra and Entity. Then, in Eastern Europe, Virtus.pro failed to join Lima Major.
Notable Relegations
In Europe, both West and East had some long-time Dota 2 teams relegated to Division II, specifically, Natus Vincere in Eastern Europe and Team Secret in Western Europe. Both teams actually forfeited their tiebreaker matches and settled for last place.
In Southeast Asia, Fnatic and BOOM Esports had to bow out and now have to start Tour 2 at Division II.
Dota 2 is available on PC.
