What are the Dota 2 Asia Championships?
The Dota 2 Asia Championships is a tournament organized and hosted by Perfect World and MarsTV. Nicknamed as TI4.5, the tournament is set to feature 16 of the best teams from around the globe with an emphasis on Asian teams. The prizepool started out at a base of $250,000 and has since grown over $1,000,000 in the span of two days.
What teams are playing?
Eight teams have been invited directly to the main event, with eight more slots to be determined via three regional qualifiers.
The following eight teams are directly invited to the main event:
NewBee
Vici Gaming
Invictus Gaming
LGD-Gaming
Evil Geniuses
MVP.Phoenix
Rave
Team Secret
What format do the qualifiers and the main event follow?
The European and North-American qualifiers are simple double-elimination brackets with bo3 matches. Each region's winner is directly qualified to the main event. The 2nd and 3rd placed teams from the EU region are invited to the Wildcard playoffs in Shanghai.
The Asian qualifier is a big bo2 round-robin groupstage, consisting of 16 teams from China and South-East Asia. The four top teams at the end of the groupstage will directly advance to the main event with the 5th and 6th placed teams being invited to the Wildcard playoffs in Shanghai.
The Wildcard playoffs will consist of six teams: 2 teams from the European qualifier, 2 teams from the Asian qualifier and the two finalists of the Dota 2 Semi-Pro League, which is also organized by Perfect World and MarsTV. These two finalists are Wings and EP.
The main event is split into two parts:
The groupstage will feature a big 16 teams bo1 round-robin which will last 5 days. The playoffs will see a double-elimination bracket, with the best eight teams from the groupstage starting in the upper bracket. The bottom eight will begin in the lower bracket and the first lower bracket round features only bo1 matches. From there on out, every match-up will be a bo3, except for the grand finals which will be a bo5.
When will all of this take place?
The North-American qualifier will kick things off on January 5th at 22.00 CET with Team Fire vs. compLexity Gaming and is set to conclude on January 6th.
The European qualifier will follow on January 8th and will last until January 11th.
The Asian qualifier will begin on January 10th and will end on January 15th.
The Wildcard playoffs will take place on January 28th.
The groupstage of the main event is scheduled from January 29th - February 2nd.
The playoffs of the main event are scheduled from February 5th - February 9th.
Who will cover the event?
English commentary will be provided by BeyondTheSummit and Russian commentary by StarLadderTV. GosuGamers will provide English coverage on site as well.
Where will all of this take place?
Wherever you want it to be - the qualifiers are all online and you can enjoy them at home. Obviously the main event is set on LAN but with our coverage on site we will make sure that you can enjoy as much of the event as possible. The Shanghai Grand Stage, also known as Shanghai Indoor Stadium, can seat up to 12,000 spectators and has been a stage for multiple events such as concerts or sports competitions. What better stage to present the first iteration of the Dota 2 Asia Championships on?
Check out our official coverage hub to stay tuned to all the news surrounding the event.
