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Initially, ESL’s May Dota 2 Major was supposed to be held in Manila, Philippines, following the success of ESL One Manila. However, local policy changed and local narcotic tests became mandatory for any sporting event held in the country. After speaking with the players on the top teams and researching the situation, it was decided to move the event to Birmingham. Initially, ESL’s May Dota 2 Major was supposed to be held in Manila, Philippines, following the success of ESL One Manila. However, local policy changed and local narcotic tests became mandatory for any sporting event held in the country. After speaking with the players on the top teams and researching the situation, it was decided to move the event to Birmingham.

Announcing the tournament format of #ESLOne Birmingham 2018!➡️ https://t.co/S9P706LcFn pic.twitter.com/F47xSpc1fC— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) April 11, 2018The only other DPC event planned for the Philippines this season was Galaxy Battles 2 , which was later stripped of its Major status by Valve, citing "information we’ve recently confirmed regarding new government regulations for esports players entering the Philippines". ESL's reasoning echoes similar sentiments:The original event was planned with just one day between the Mars Media Dota 2 League: Changsha Major in China and ESL's own event in Manila. As the Philippines and China share a timezone, this would have been a reasonable move for teams. Now that teams must adjust to a seven hour difference, ESL opted to cut off one day of the event.Past ESL One events (with the exception of ESL One Hamburg) have been 16-team events with full double elimination brackets in the group stage seeding a shorter single-elimination bracket in the playoffs. In order to accomodate the reduced number of days, the event was changed to 12 teams event and two days of groups. Accordingly, the group stage format has changed while the playoffs will use the same format as before.Instead of double elimination, there will now be three groups of four teams each playing GSL-style. Only the opening matches in each group will be single-game series, the rest will be best-of-three. The top team from each group will play a single-game "decider match" to determine who is seeded directly into the semifinals. The third place team will join the three second place group stage teams in the quarterfinals.ESL One Birmingham takes place May 23-27, with the main event at the Arena Birmingham May 25-27. It is the second to last Major on the Dota Pro Circuit before TI8 qualifiers.