EDIT: The maths in this article has been updated on 26th Sept thanks to Reddit user /u/TheLux13. TL;DR - it’s now 2462 points required due to Quota rule. Thanks!

TI8 Direct Invites will go to the Top 8 teams of the 2017–2018 Pro Circuit Season. During this season there is a finite amount of points that can be given out, which means that as the events come and go, there will be a value that teams need to reach to get that sweet invite. Let’s find that value out.

There is a total of 22150 points available: 10 events worth 1500p, 15 events worth 300p, and two “rare” events worth 400p and 2250p. In order to be guaranteed top 8, you must win a quota of ninth of the prizepool plus one points. Quota = (22150÷9)+1 = 2462 points are needed to go to TI8.

Obviously as the amount of points available dwindles, this number will fall due to a team going over the threshold and making those points unavailable to the remaining teams, or smaller teams only placing once or twice which removes those points from circulation. We are also not considering the effect of how teams that change players will affect this to simplify things (we assume teams with high scores will stick together).

How to reach 2462 points

4 Major Wins = 3000 points.

Winning four Major events is an automatic TI8 invite. While winning 40% of Majors seems daunting, remember that it is possible for a team to do this by February (ESL Hamburg, DreamLeague 8, Fallout Gaming Major, First PGL Major). This could be a viable route for top tier teams.

Winning the last Major of the season (Second PGL Major) will also net you 1125 points. This is massive and can take you down to only needing 2 Major Wins and the PGL Major (or 1 Major win, PGL Major and a combo of 587 points). The Second PGL Major will be a last ditch attempt for many teams due to how much it’s worth.

3 Major Wins = 2250 (need 212 more points).

212/150 = 1.4 Minors. Therefore, 3 Major Wins and 2 Minor Wins give a guaranteed invite, or 3 Major Wins and a Major 2nd Place (450).

2 Major wins = 1500 (need 962 more points).

At this stage, you’ll need seven Minor wins. Winning 2 Majors and getting Major 2nd Place twice gives you 62 points left to gain (win or second place a Minor or third-fourth place in a Major will meet that requirement).

Is it possible to guarantee an invite with no Major points?

No ([150*15]+200=2450, or 12 points short), but in theory this is the maximum required points so this will be a yes after a few tournaments (although winning 16 Minors but losing 11 Majors seems like extreme bad luck in itself).

Can you go to TI while never winning an event?

Yes. Place Second five times in Majors, each major win being 450 points to get 2250 points, then get an additional 212 points (Win 2 Minors or place second in another Major).

What does this mean?

- Majors are EVERYTHING. Even placing second at a Major is worth three Minor wins. A third/forth at a Major is worth one Minor Win. Every team must focus on Majors to go into the top 8. If you can place first or second in at least five of the ten regular Majors, you’re guaranteed to go to TI8.

- Minors can be useful if you’ve won over two Majors and placed high in a third. Otherwise it’s just tiebreaker points for teams in the bottom half of the eight to focus on.

- These “guaranteed” values will go down rapidly if multiple teams win multiple Majors (for example, 11 different teams win 11 Majors) or if one team wins all the Majors. If that comes into play, Minors will become much much important as tiebreakers.

Is this system fair?

Any team that can win four majors gets $2 million dollars, which is equal to what OG got for winning the majors twice in a row last year. I feel that any team that does win 4 Majors deserves to go to TI8 regardless of whatever else they do, as it would prove that they are worthy of the top 8 teams. I also believe that any team that stops playing seriously after winning multiple events earlier in the year would find themselves in a bad mentality for TI8, and in addition these events also still give out prize money which is still a reward in itself. There is still a safety net of Qualifiers after the season ends which can help teams that find themselves unable to qualify for the 11 Majors around the area. I would give a particular eye on the final PGL Major as a potential area of abuse points wise, but as this is at the end of the season it is acceptable as a “last chance” event.

Overall, it’s something we can look at and start calculating from without guesswork, which is a lot more than I can say about last year.