The latest news from Valve for Dota 2 released a fully new system of governing their E-sports. Titled as Regional Leagues, the new body shall lay the basis of how the Dota 2 E-sports scene shall lead to their main International annual event.

The new Regional Leagues from Valve revises the whole overview, with emphasis on the need of regional fairness and eligibility for broader base-team events.

The TI, also normally called The International, is the main event that has been the largest E-sports event of Dota 2. It has also been the event that has set the record of the highest amount of Prize-pool for a single E-sport event consecutively, the highest reaching 2019’s international, TI9’s US 34$ million.

Up till now, from the First Ever TI that was held in 2011, the Road to The International has gone through frequent changes as a course for the most competitive and fair trail of choosing out the best teams in the scene.

In spite of this, there have been cases of issues that related to technicality in the competitive scene. The limited seats of each region valued to be the same caused controversy as there were differences in regional composition for the competitive scene. Europe and China were previously given the same amount of Eligible teams as other regions like the US, even though these two regions have been carrying the larger portion of Gaming Organizations. This is one example that did raise questions of a holistic scene of choice for TI.

There were previously Minors and Majors, smaller and larger official Events that governed DPC points; the same points that make up the list of finalists that can attend TI. Minors lead to the bigger Majors that gave the bigger chance of qualification with a bigger Prize-pool and more DPC points.

Teams were invited freely that could qualify and the final score would show based upon the DPC points, however, the final list compressed the basis of region. This meant that even if the instance of the final winning rosters of teams were mostly Chinese, the lower teams of other regions would still be eligible in their own region if they had some DPC points.

The new news of Regional Leagues has revised all parts, from DPC point allotment to the full road leading to TI. The Regional Leagues iteration seems to tackle the importance sustaining a healthy E-sports environment for teams of all tiers and not specifically for well set organizations. This comes with a few other tweaks for a better scene overall.

Now there is a convenience for lower tier competitiveness. Tier 2 and 3, so called as the lower local competitive events of the same game, are highlighted to be of a bigger chance to shine with a better showing of the more modest organizations that did not get the chance on the bigger events.

From now on, as the Regional Leagues Blog states, that there shall be three seasons annually. Each region shall have an Upper Bracket and a Lower Bracket. Each region shall give a separate allotment of finalists according to the won points, and there shall be restructure after each season. The next season shall go further by the exchange of the top two Upper Bracket teams exchanging places with the Lower Bracket top two. The Elimination will see the lowest two teams of the Lower Bracket be Eliminated regionally, with qualifiers choosing the next capable teams for the lowest places.

The dates for the new annual seasons for the new Regional Leagues are as follows at shown on the official blog:

The biggest change observed in this Regional Leagues’ iteration is the allotment of slots. China and Europe are given four slots each, with North America and Southeast Asia three each, and CIS and South America two slots each. This means the regional perspective has been given a hand in the reiteration. This system shall start right after the inauguration of the team winning TI10.

Each season in the new Regional Leagues shall lead to a Major where regions shall come together again. Now the top teams of the region, 18 in total, shall attend the finale of the season. On basis of the final DPC list. Majors shall hold the wildcard format along with the normal group-stage and playoffs.

If a team decides to change regions, they will have to enter the region through open qualifiers and climb through that region’s Lower Division.

For the full details on Regional Leagues for Dota 2, you can check out the main blog page.

Dota 2’s competitive E-sports scene continues to grow and show significance year after year. Fans are expecting this year or any in the future to not be any different.

Regional Leagues’ restructuring is in the hope of better development of the E-sports scene at a broader level in general. There was not fulfillment in Valve’s case when it came to lower tier teams previously. This is looked upon the most through this change.