The Dreamleague Season 11 is the next Major in Dota 2 and it promises to have a lot of action in store for us. After the Starladder IMBATV Major, Dreamleague Major will showcase the best talent in Dota 2 in action. We will see all the top teams in Dota 2 such as Team Secret, Team Liquid, Virtus Pro and others. Most of the teams have already arrived at the venue and the action is all set to start in a few hours.

The Dreamleague Season 11 has a $1 million prize pool and features a total of sixteen teams in attendance. The prize money is incentive enough but there is a larger play at stake here. The teams will look forward to ensuring that they have a high placement in the Major. Dota 2 Majors grant DPC Points which can then serve as a measure of qualification towards The International 2019 in Shanghai. This is the ultimate goal for every professional team in Dota 2. The Stockholm Major is just a step forward towards this goal.

The Major Format

Group Stage – March 14th – March 15th, 2019 The teams are divided in four groups of four teams each. They play in a GSL Format double elimination match. Each team will have at least two chances to prove itself. The top two teams advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs. The bottom two teams advance to the lower bracket of the playoffs. All games are Best of Three matches, ensuring no sudden upsets or luck.

Playoffs – March 16th – March 24th, 2019 Sixteen teams play in a double-elimination format over eight days. The final three days being in front of a live crowd. Eight teams begin in the upper bracket, eight in the lower bracket. All games except Grand Finals and Lower Bracket Round 1 are Bo3. Lower Bracket Round 1 are Bo1. Grand Finals is Bo5



The Top Contenders at the Major

The Dota 2 Pro Circuit today has tiers of teams. While the teams such as Virtus Pro, Team Secret, NIP and Team Liquid pose legitimate threats to become the winners of the entire event. There are also teams such as PSG.LGD Vici Gaming and Evil Genius which are just knocking on the doors of the Top four teams. Dota 2 is heavily dependent on the patch and with this being the first Major post 7.21C, we might see a few upsets.

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Virtus Pro

The Virtus Pro team has been at the top of the Dota 2 scene for many months now. The team has a flamboyant, aggressive nature to its playstyle and they seem to enjoy their position in the game. The usage of voice lines and making improbably plays as their unique playstyle is what separates them from others. They also have a trademark move of backing off and then going in to surprise their opponents. This often catches their opponents out of position and allows Virtus Pro a significant advantage.

4 Majors – 4 Grand Finals in a row. Will we extend our streak in Sweden? 🤔#DreamLeagueMajor #GOGOVP pic.twitter.com/7Q6wfZng1w — Virtus.pro (@virtuspro) March 12, 2019

The team has finished in the top two at the last four Majors. They won ESL One Birmingham and the Kuala Lumpur Major. They have also reached the Grand finals of Chinese Dota 2 Super Major as well as the recent Chongqing Major. No one can count this team out of contention and they are always innovative with their strategies and playstyle irrespective of the meta.

PSG.LGD

It has been some time since we saw the TI8 finalists in the Finals of a tournament. The team has amazing talent but has slid down in the rankings and the lack of results is telling. However, if there is one team that can truly provide a challenge to the Western Supremacy in Dota 2 right now, it is PSG.LGD.

The team did make some changes early this year. They let go of Somnus from their team and they have a stand-in on loan from CDEC. Guo ‘XM’ Hongcheng joins the team and will compete under the PSG.LGD banner for the upcoming Major. With Chinese teams failing to pose a decent challenge to many of the top teams in Dota 2 right now, it falls to PSG.LGD to show that China can stand tall in Dota 2 right now.

Team Secret

Team secret is well-known for innovative drafts and strategies. Puppey is the person who brought this team together and they trust him implicitly. He always has some out of the ordinary draft in mind and is not afraid to try it even on the biggest stages. Sometimes they fail, and Team Secret looks awkward in these important matches. But of late, Team Secret has definitely stepped up in their implementation of these pocket strategies against top teams.

Coming into the Major, Team Secret is riding a high as they won the last Chongqing Major with ease. They are the favourites to win this Major as well, however, it won’t be as easy as last time.

Team Liquid

The former Number two team in the world, Team Liquid will look to regain much of their lost glory. They played the Chongqing Major with a stand-in as Miracle was unable to attend the event. However, we expect them to play at full strength during this Major.

They are a team with excellent synergy and coordination. Each player is worth his weight in gold and they have proven themselves repeatedly over the past few years. When you have a player like GH as support, the chances of success are very high. Team Liquid is almost surely qualified for The International 2019. However, they will still need to win the Major in order to boost their confidence and regain their form amongst the top teams.

Evil Geniuses

Evil Geniuses can truly be called the Chinese slayer by now. Their run through the Chongqing Major saw them defeat all the Chinese teams and dash the hopes of the entire Chinese community. They have proven themselves over the past few months but they always reach a wall when it comes to their matches against the top teams. They either lose to Virtus Pro or Team secret.

Evil Geniuses still has a lot of fans and they remain a favourite to reach the upper bracket in the playoffs. However, the team relies extensively on Artour to have a good farm. In fact, we have seen them try to play as four members and allow Artour to have a free farm. Against lower-tier opposition, this has proven to be very effective. However, the top teams can see right through their playstyle and counter Arteezy effectively.

Vici Gaming

Vici Gaming was a strong team from China, hower, they were always behind PSG.LGD. The team looked extremely strong during the Starladder IMBATV Minor easily cruising past their opponents and making it to the Major.

The team doesn’t really stand a chance against the top Dota 2 teams. However, they definitely have the potential to cause a few upsets and even eliminate some team on their best day.

The Dreamleague Stockholm Major starts on 14th of March 2019 and ends on the 24th of March 2019. You can catch all the action live on Twitch here.