The upcoming Dota 2 tournament will see 18 of the best Dota 2 teams from around the world compete in Kyiv for what’s going to be the last Valve-sanctioned Dota 2 tournament before The International 10 in August. The event will kick off on June 2 with its Wild Card stage followed by the Group Stage on June 4 and the Playoffs that will go from June 9 until June 13. The event begins on March 27 with the Wild Card stage followed by the Group Stage on the 29th and the Main Event on the 31st, which will run through April 4. Because this is the last Major of the Dota Pro Circuit 2021, a lot of Dota 2 teams are hoping that they’ll get a high placement if not win the tournament. Otherwise, they risk having to go through the qualifiers to secure a lot at The International 10, which is not an ideal scenario. So, which Dota 2 teams are competing at the WePlay AniMajor? How much is the prize pool? What else is at stake? Scroll down below to find out.
What’s at Stake at the WePlay AniMajor?
After the ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021 back in late March, the WePlay AniMajor will serve as the final Major of the Dota Pro Circuit 2021. The WePlay AniMajor will take place at the WePlay Esports Arena Kyiv and will feature a $500,000 prize pool with as many as 2,700 DPC points that will be split across all the 18 Dota 2 teams. Here is a breakdown of how the prize pool will be split across all 18 Dota 2 teams:
1st place - $200,000 and 500 DPC points 2nd place - $100,000 and 450 DPC points 3rd place - $75,000 and 400 DPC points 4th place - $50,000 and 350 DPC points 5th-6th place - $25,000 and 300 DPC points 7th-8th place - $12,500 and 200 DPC points
The rest of the Dota 2 teams who will make it to the WePlay AniMajor will go home with zero money and DPC points outside of what they had already received as a reward for qualifying for the Dota 2 tournament.
The Competing Teams at WePlay AniMajor
The WePlay AniMajor will see 18 Dota 2 teams from around the world congregate in Kyiv for nearly two full weeks of action. Unlike in previous years, Valve has made changes to the Dota Pro Circuit 2021 so that teams will have multiple ways to make it to a Major tournament like the WePlay AniMajor. Below are the Playoff Seeds for the WePlay AniMajor that placed first in the Upper Division in their respective Regional Leagues:
Alliance - Europe Virtus.Pro - CIS Quincy Crew - North America NoPing e-sports - South America Team Aster - China T1 - Southeast Asia
The following are Dota 2 teams who placed second in the Upper Division of their respective Regional Leagues and are part of the Group Stages portion of the WePlay AniMajor:
Team Liquid - Europe Team Spirit - CIS Evil Geniuses - North America Beastcoast - South America PSG.LGD - China TNC Predator - Southeast Asia
The last six spots of the WePlay AniMajor are reserved for the Wild Card teams that placed 3rd and 4th in the Upper Division of the Regional League in Europe and China or 3rd in the Upper Division of the Regional League in CIS and Southeast Asia:
Team Nigma - Europe Team Secret - Europe AS Monaco Gambit - CIS Vici Gaming - China Invictus Gaming - China Execration - Southeast Asia
WePlay AniMajor Tournament Format
The WePlay AniMajor tournament format is composed of three different stages. The first is the Wild Card (June 2-3), followed by the Group Stage (June 4-7), and the Playoffs (June 9-13). For the Wild Card stage, the six Dota 2 teams will face off in a single round-robin format in best-of-two matches. The two teams with the most wins will advance straight to the Group Stages. The rest will be eliminated. In the Group Stage, the eight Dota 2 teams, including the two Wild Card seeds, will play in another single round-robin format in best-of-two matches. However, unlike during the Wild Card stage, the top six Dota 2 teams will advance to the Playoffs portion. But, of the six, only the top two will join the Playoffs teams in the Upper Brackets. The rest will be playing in the Lower Brackets, where one loss will mean elimination. The last and longest part of the event is the Playoffs, where the eight Dota 2 teams will fight it out in best-of-three matches in a double-elimination bracket. This will continue until the Grand Finals, where the final two Dota 2 teams will clash in a best-of-five series.
How to Watch WePlay AniMajor
If you’re interested to watch the WePlay AniMajor live, you have multiple streaming options: Twitch and the Dota 2 client.
