The Dota Pro Circuit for 2018-19 is coming to an end in a very fitting manner in Moscow. The final event of the DPC Season is the EPICENTER Major in Russia. The tournament takes place at the CSKA Arena and features a massive prize pool of $1 million. However, in what is probably more important for many of the lower tier teams, there are 15000 Dota Pro Circuit points on offer.

The International 2019 will commence in August and is already on the path to becoming the largest prize pool for a single esports tournament in history. The International 2019 has already amassed $19 million in the crowdfunded Prizemoney.

There are multiple storylines at the EPICENTER Major. This includes the top of the Dota 2 scene such as Team Liquid, OG, Virtus Pro and Team Secret. However, at this tournament, the storylines stretch right down to the lowest ranked teams at the event. This is because there are still four slots remaining for a direct TI9 invite.

The Dota Pro Circuit Standings

As we can see in the image above, there will be a total of twelve teams receiving a direct invite to the event. The International is one of the most watched tournaments in esports and remains the final goal for all Dota 2 teams. As of right now, eight teams have a confirmed invite to The International 2019. There are still the final four slots which will be finalised post the EPICENTER Major 2019. As of right now, Keen Gaming, OG, TNC Predator and Ehome are the teams most suited to take these slots. However, they are closely followed by other teams such as J.Storm, Alliance and Gambit.

The final placements at the EPICENTER Major will be crucial to the determination of the direct invites to TI9. Let’s take a look at some of the teams at the EPICENTER Major 2019.

Best Chances

These teams are the ones with the best chances for a victory at the EPICENTER Major. Led by Team Secret, this group of teams definitely presents a strong case for the title of the victors.

Team Secret

Without doubt the best team in the world, Team Secret are the winners of The Disneyland Major. The tournament saw Puppey emerge as the MVP and he guided his team to victory and even more fame.

Coming into this tournament, Team Secret will put forth a strong performance without a doubt. However, what will be under scrutiny is the team’s performance and their synergy. As this is the last Major before The International, Team Secret will want to stay on top of their game. In previous DPC Seasons, we have seen the team which dominated throughout the season unable to put up a good show at The International. Due to the huge prize money at The International, a good placement at the event is crucial for any team’s financial health. It is a huge incentive for the players and definitely the goal of their professional year.

Team Secret is known for its innovative and unorthodox playstyle and hero picks. With Puppey at the helm, there is no hero lineup out of reach for the team. They have already developed an excellent synergy and communications channel with each other. The team’s performance throughout the year has been strong and we don’t expect anything less from the EPICENTER Major. They will almost surely reach the Top three, the bigger question is whether it would be from the Winners’ Bracket or the Lower Bracket.

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Team Liquid

Team Liquid has made a change to their roster when they let go of Matumbaman. For many players and professional analysts, Matumbaman was the best player on the team. Surely he was not as flashy as Miracle and others on the roster, but his consistent performance enabled the others on the roster to put up these highlight-worthy performances.

Team Liquid will be playing with W33, a player known as one of the best Invoker players in the world. Adding him to the roster provides them with a lot of flexibility in their gameplay and the ability to provide some great Dota 2 to their fans. However, the roster change is a very recent change and it will take time for the team to reach the same level of synergy and coordination with the new player. The old roster had been stable and in fact, was the longest standing roster in Dota 2 at the time of the change.

Team Liquid has already confirmed a slot at The International 2019. However, with these changes, it is essential that the team is able to put up a strong show at EPICENTER 2019 Major. Team Liquid’s performance at the EPICENTER Major will serve as a precursor to the team’s performance at The International 2019.

OG

The reigning TI Champions OG will want to repeat their performance at this year’s International. No team has won the International two times in a row, much less more than once. OG will look to repeat their performance from last year and put forth a strong performance at this year’s International.

As a team, they are already looking very strong in their current roster. They brought in Anathan ‘Ana’ Pham to their roster in March of 2019. For the most part, they have had trouble breaking into the Top 4 at the Premier events. They will look forth to improving their standings at this tournament. If they are to have any chance at winning The International 2019, a good performance at the Moscow Major is extremely important. The team does not lack synergy, in fact, they are one of the better-coordinated teams in the entire scene. Due to their stable roster ( at least right now) the team’s performance sees a greater understanding of each other’s playstyle.

A showmatch with Virtus Pro

OG will play a showmatch against Virtus Pro on the sidelines of the EPICENTER Major. This decision was taken with Ceb, Valve and Solo in presence. Solo was very vocal about 7ckngMad / Ceb’s toxic attitude in pub games on his social media post. The players have come together and in consultation with Valve will implement a slew of measures meant to raise awareness of the rising Toxicity in Dota 2.

The Showmatch will be a display of goodwill between the two players and teams. At the same time, it is an important route to raise awareness about the toxicity in the community.

Punishment for Ceb

OG decided that they will take action against Ceb for his display of toxicity in the game. The organisation’s decision will see Ceb donate his winnings at the EPICENTER Major to Charity of his choice. He will also receive a fine equivalent to his monthly salary.

Seb will give up all the gains he might earn at the Epicenter Major to a charity of his choice that will be made public. In addition to that, we fined him the equivalent of his monthly salary. He also guarantees that such situation shall never occur again on pain of a stronger punishment.

We hope that all of this will not distract OG from their primary gameplay. The OG roster is extremely strong on paper and they can rise to become a top tier team, capable of winning the EPICENTER Major. OG will play their first EPICENTER Major match against TNC Predator on the 23rd of June 2019.

The Contenders for a Direct Invite

The teams listed above have already secured a direct invite to the Shanghai International. However, there are still many teams languishing near the bottom of the table. Most of these teams do not have a realistic chance of making it to the Top 4 of the EPICENTER Major. However, they can hopefully have a decent placement at the EPICENTER Major to garner enough points for The International.

Alliance

As a team, Alliance has been rising through the ranks in performance and their rank. They secured a top-two finish at the Starladder Minor and that guaranteed them a spot at the EPICENTER Major. In terms of the Dota Pro Circuit standings, Alliance currently has 379 Dota Pro Circuit points. They will have their task cut out for them if they are to secure a spot at the International via a direct invite.

In order to secure a direct invite to The International, Alliance needs a top-eight finish at the EPICENTER Major.

TNC Predator

TNC Predator secured a 5-6th place finish at ESL One Birmingham after losing to Team Secret. It was a strong performance and finish, but unfortunately for them, ESL does not have a DPC sanctioned tournament for this year. Prior to that, they secured a fourth-place finish at ESL One Mumbai 2019.

The stakes are high for the last chance to earn DPC points at the final major tournament of the season. Here is an update of the DPC points before the Epicenter Major 2019 starts this weekend.#StrongerTogether#SummonYourStrength pic.twitter.com/e028aDFf9L — TNC Predator (@TNCPredator) June 20, 2019

While they have been consistently showing some amazing performances at ESL One events, it does not really help them advance to The International 2019 tournament.

The last time that the TNC Predator team secured some DPC points, it was at the Chongqing Major 2019. It was a low place finish, where TNC Predator finish in the bottom group ( 9th to 12th place). TNC Predator currently has 771 Dota Pro Circuit points and if the current status quo continues, they will receive an invite to The International 2019.

Gambit and Forward Gaming

Of course, these two teams are always considered a threat in Dota 2 due to the sheer amount of talent on the roster. Gambit Gaming is a team that needs just a top-eight finish at the EPICENTER Major to qualify for The International. This is definitely possible and Gambit might just make it to The International 2019 via a direct invite.

However, Forward Gaming will require a Top six position at the EPICENTER Major 2019. Unfortunately for Forward Gaming, they have not had the best results of late and it seems unlikely that they will produce a decent result at this event.

The EPICENTER Major starts soon

The EPICENTER Major 2019 has one of the most stacked lists in terms of attending teams. The Major will also serve as the qualification tournament for four different teams to The International. We expect to see a patch update very soon post the EPICENTER Major.

The EPICENTER Major will stream live on Twitch here. You can follow all the action on Liquipedia here.