Hot in the wake of Invictus Gaming’s impressive demolition of Fnatic at League of Legends World Championships, there is more good news for Chinese esports, with the announcement today that Starladder will host the second Dota 2 Major of the DPC season in the Chinese city of Chongqing.
Sixteen of the best teams will travel to China to contest the $1m prize pool, along with 15,000 DPC points which are up for grabs, with the event running from the 19th to the 27th of January 2019. The event will be hosted in conjunction with Imba TV, a Chinese esports broadcaster, and shown on Twich in the West.
First Starladder Major
Fifteen attendees for the Chongqing Major will be decided by Open and Regional Qualifiers, with the last spot going to the Bucharest Minor Champions. All qualifiers for the Chongqing Major will be held from the 25th to the 30th of November, with teams drawn from six regions: North America, South America, Europe, CIS, China and Southeast Asia, with a more detailed schedule of qualifiers due to be released in the near future.
While Starladder are a well known TO, this will be their first chance to host a Dota 2 Major since the introduction of the DPC circuit system. The event will be run in conjunction with Imba TV, the stream platform for the CN region, and be broadcast on Twitch for the wider western audience to ensure the maximum number of eyes are on Dota 2’s second showcase of the season.
After the first Major of the season, which starts in Kuala Lumpur at the end of this week, this will be the second to run in Asia for the year, making it a clean sweep of hosting for that continent. Speculation is that the next Majors to be announced this term will be held in North America as a result, with Dreamhack and Stockholm already confirmed for March, but for now it’s time to prepare for a showdown in Malaysia, and look forward to an amazing event in China next January as the Dota 2 season gets up to full speed.
Confirmed Dota 2 Majors for 2018/19
- The Kuala Lumpur Major (Malaysia): Nov 9-18, 2018
- The Chongqing Major (China): Jan 19-27, 2019
- League Season 11 (Sweden): Mar 14-24, 2019
Image credit: Ajith Jumar
