Regional qualifiers for MDL Chengdu, the first Major of the new Dota 2 Pro Circuit season, are set to begin in just three days’ time – the teams which have been directly invited into these qualifiers have been confirmed as well as the format.

From the 5th to 10th of October 2019 all regions; North America, South America, CIS, Southeast Asia, China and Europe, will be battling in qualifiers to determine who will be going to the Major and which team will be braving the Minors too. MDL have confirmed, via Weibo, which teams in each region have been invited into the Major qualifiers.

North America

Evil Geniuses

Fighting Pepegas

J.Storm

Quincy Crew

Team Plus

Team Xolotl

NA seems to have a bit more bite to it this season already, with EG revealing a new roster, Jacky ‘EternalEnvy’ Mao’s squad looking extremely strong along with the likes of J.Storm and Quincy Crew to add to the region’s strength. There will also be four teams which will make it into through into this via open qualifiers and the top three teams will get into the Chengdu Major.

South America

Anvorgesa

EGOBOYS

FURIA

Gorillaz-Pride

Infamous

NoPing Esports

paiN Gaming

Team Unknown

SA will have two teams joining these eight and the top two teams from this will advance into the Major.

Europe

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Team Singularity

GODSENT

Ad Finem

Wind and Rain

Hippomaniacs

Bridge Four

Cool Team

EU is an interesting region with teams like Bridge Four who are the ex-Alliance squad as well as the re-formed Ad Finem in the pool and no Team Secret, OG or Kuro ‘Kuroky’ Salehi Takhasomi stack – with the former taking a break for the initial part of the season. Two more teams will join in this pool through open qualifiers and EU have only received two spots for the Major.

CIS

Gambit Esports

Hellraisers

Natus Vincere

Old but Gold

Positive Guys

Virtus.pro

CIS is another interesting region to watch with the new VP squad forming as well as the new additions to Na’Vi possibly making them an extremely powerful roster. There will be four teams joining this qualifier through the open division while only the top two will make it through to the Major.

China

Vici Gaming

Keen Gaming

Team Aster

EHOME

Invictus Gaming

Royal Never Give Up

Team Sirius

CDEC Gaming

CN’s qualifier will definitely be missing a team after PSG.LGD announced that they would be skipping the first Major due to players needing personal time, such as Xu ‘fy’ Linsen’s eye surgery. However, the teams in the qualifier are still massive and we’ve already seen a resurgence in the likes of iG when they powered through bigger names in ESL One Hamburg qualifiers. Two more teams will join through open qualifiers, while the top three will get a chance to shine at the Major.

Southeast Asia

Fnatic

TNC Predator

Geek Fam

BOOM Esports

Alpha x Hashtag

Reality Rift

Sterling Global Dragons

Team Jinesbros

For some time now, SEA Dota 2 has been extremely strong and it has always been a point of interest why the region had not received more spots in Major events. This seems to have finally changed as SEA will receive three spots at the Chengdu Major. With such a huge amount of talent on display in these qualifiers, plus two more teams joining through the open division, SEA is definitely going to be a region to be weary of at the Major.

These upcoming qualifiers are very different from ones in previous DPC seasons as now they will cover both Minors and Majors in one. Below is a breakdown of the format of this;

Majors and Minor qualifiers format:

Phase 1 (October 5-6):

2 x bo2 groups of 5. The top 8 teams with DPC points are invited.

2 open qualifier spots.

In case not enough teams have DPC points, Valve will decide how to distribute the remaining slots.

Top 2 from each group advance to Phase 2.

Third from each group advances to Phase 3. Everyone else is eliminated and gets 10 DPC points. In case the region has 3 Major invites, both 4th places play a bo3 to decide who goes to Phase 3.

Phase 2 (October 7-8):

4 team Double Elimination.

Top 2-3 qualify to the Major. Loser(s) advance to Phase 3.

Phase 3 (October 9-10):

4 team double elimination. Top 1/2 qualify to the Minor, the rest get 20 DPC points.

The first Major is definitely going to be a big chance for some of the smaller teams to gain some DPC points, especially with the likes of Secret, OG and LGD not in the running. However, there are still a plethora of big names across the board who are hungry for Dota 2 action. Open qualifiers begin today and with only a few spots available in some regions, it will be interesting to see which teams join the action. We will keep you up to date on all the teams that make it through to the first Minor and Major of the DPC season as it takes place later this week.