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This weekend, the final event of the Dota Pro Circuit season will take place in Shanghai — the Dota 2 China Supermajor. What happens here will decide which of the competing teams will qualify for the world’s richest esports tournament, The International.
This final event is a Supermajor, which means it offers more points and prize money than any other tournament on the circuit. A total of $1,500,000 is up for grabs, although the teams will be more interested in the 2,250 DPC points for the top four finishing teams.
Who has pole position?
After ESL One Birmingham last weekend, teams that have amassed 3,172 points or more have done enough to earn a direct invitation into The International 2018.
At the moment, there are four such squads: Virtus.pro, PSG.LGD, Team Liquid, and Team Secret.
Alongside these four teams, Mineski, Vici Gaming, Newbee, and VGJ.Thunder could also acquire enough points to reach that total. However, all of these teams are in a fortunate position: they could miss all points at the Supermajor and still hold on to the remaining four qualification spots.
However, those teams will have a close eye on the only three teams in the DPC rankings that could unseat them from the top eight.
Thus, Evil Geniuses, OpTic Gaming, and VGJ.Storm have the most to play for at the Supermajor. They will no doubt put everything on the line trying to earn enough points to make it into that elite group.
OpTic Gaming can count themselves extremely fortunate to have a chance at all. Having not qualified for this event, they received a direct invite due to OG withdrawing from the event on May 28.
Current DPC rankings
- Virtus.pro – 10,347 points – Qualified
- LGD – 6,321 – Qualified
- Team Liquid – 6,084 – Qualified
- Team Secret – 4,800 – Qualified
- Mineski – 3,150
- Vici Gaming – 2,835
- Newbee – 2,445
- VGJ.Thunder – 1,935
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- OpTic Gaming – 1,800
- VGJ.Storm – 1,347
- Evil Geniuses – 1,335
- Fnatic – 1,265 – Eliminated
- Natus Vincere – 1,199 – Eliminated
- OG – 930 – Eliminated
- FlyToMoon – 675 – Eliminated
- paiN Gaming – 504 – Eliminated
Dota 2 China Supermajor
A total of 16 teams will compete in the China Dota 2 Supermajor, 10 of whom earned direct invites to the event and a further six teams that qualified through regional competitions. The teams are:
- Direct Invites – Virtus.pro, Team Liquid, Team Secret, Newbee, Vici Gaming, VGJ.Thunder, Evil Geniuses, Natus Vincere, Mineski, OpTic Gaming (who replace OG).
- China Qualifier – PSG.LGD
- Southeast Asia Qualifier – TNC Pro Team
- North America Qualifier – VGJ.Storm
- South America Qualifier – Infamous
- Europe Qualifier – The Final Tribe
- CIS Qualifier – Team Spirit
The draw for the group stage will take place on the eve of the tournament. Teams will initially play through a group of four teams. The top two from each group will then progress into the Main Event Upper Bracket. The bottom two from each group will enter the Main Event Lower Bracket.
The Main Event will then be a two-tier bracket tournament where the winner of the upper and lower brackets will meet in the best-of-five Grand Final.
What do the bookies think?
As of now, the bookmakers indicate two teams as the clear favourites for the China Dota 2 Supermajor. They also seem to fancy the chances of two teams outside the top eight making an upset and perhaps clinching a last-gasp direct invite. The full list of Outright Winner odds provided by Betway are below.
- Virtus Pro – 3/1
- LGD – 4/1
- Team Liquid – 6/1
- Evil Geniuses, OpTic Gaming, Vici Gaming – 7/1
- Team Secret – 9/1
- Mineski – 12/1
- Newbee, VGJ Storm – 16/1
- TNC Pro Team – 22/1
- VGJ Thunder – 25/1
- Natus Vincere – 80/1
- Infamous, Team Spirit, The Final Tribe – 100/1
Our betting tips for the Supermajor
To start, there’s little onus on the top teams to pick up a victory here. Already qualified for The International 2018, these teams can essentially freewheel in this tournament.
Conversely, the fifth through eighth-place teams know their participation in that event could well be under threat.
Then, the real pressure is on the likes of OpTic Gaming and Evil Geniuses. They both need to pick up points to earn a top eight spot. Certainly, OpTic Gaming showed improved form last week in Birmingham to reach the final, but they are likely to need an equally strong showing here in order to clinch a top eight finish.
I don’t hold out much hope for VGJ.Storm or Evil Geniuses making the cut. Over the course of the DPC season, these two teams have been a little too inconsistent, and they are not in OpTic-level form right now.
Ultimately, I think the bookmakers have this right. Although Virtus.pro are undoubtedly the number one team in Dota 2 at the moment, I think the fact PSG.LGD have shown such quality in recent tournaments will give them the edge here.
Editorial credit: PGL
