EPICENTER Major bracket and schedule set for DPC finale

Vici Gaming is the EPICENTER Major 2019 Champion!

The EPICENTER Major bracket, schedule and groups have been confirmed and 16 leading Dota 2 teams are poised to do battle in the final event of the 2018-2019 Dota Pro Circuit season.

The EPICENTER Major 2019 will take place in Moscow from June 22 to June 30 at the [CSKA Arena] and you can find all upcoming matches, live streams and results on our Dota 2 matches page.

Four teams can qualify for The International 2019 via the EPICENTER Major, with the remaining six spots coming via TI9 qualifiers.

The EPICENTER Major bracket and schedule will be updated here throughout the tournament in Moscow.

EPICENTER Major 2019 bracket

The EPICENTER Major bracket matches will be held in double-elimination format with the three last days hosted live in the CSKA Arena. Lower bracket Round 1 matches are BO1 and all other matches are BO3, except for Grand Finals, which is BO5.

Day 6, June 30th

Grand Finals - BO5

• Vici Gaming 3-2 Team Liquid

Lower Bracket Finals - BO3

• Team Liquid 2-0 Virtus.pro

Day 5, June 29th

Lower Bracket Round 4 - BO3

• TNC Predator 2-0 PSG.LGD
• Virtus.pro 2-0 Alliance

Lower Bracket Round 5 - BO3

• TNC Predator 0-2 Virtus.pro

Day 4, June 28th

Upper Bracket Finals - BO3

• 5pm - Team Liquid 1-2 Vici Gaming

Lower Bracket Round 3 - BO3

• PSG.LGD 2-0 OG
• Alliance 2-0 Gambit Esports

June 27th: Break

Day 3, June 26th

Lower Bracket Round 2 - BO3

• PSG.LGD 2-0 Forward Gaming
• Team Secret 0-2 OG
• Royal Never Give up 1-2 Alliance
• Ninjas in Pyjamas 0-2 Gambit

Day 2, June 25th

Upper Bracket Round 1 - BO3

• Vici Gaming 2-0 Gambit Esports
• 1pm - TNC Predator 2-1 Royal Never Give Up

Upper Bracket Round 2 - BO3

• Vici Gaming 2-1 TNC Predator

Lower Bracket Round 1 - BO1

• Alliance 1-0 Infamous
• Evil Geniuses 1-0 OG

Day 1, June 24th

Upper Bracket Round 1 - BO3

• Team Secret 1-2 Virtus.pro
• Team Liquid 2-0 PSG.LGD

Upper Bracket Round 2 - BO3

• Virtus.pro 1-2 Team Liquid

Lower Bracket Round 1 - BO1

• FNATIC 1-0 Forward Gaming
• Ninjas in Pyjamas 1-0 paiN Gaming

EPICENTER Major groups

Sixteen teams are separated in two GSL-formatted groups. The top 2 teams of each group advance to EPICENTER Major's playoff upper bracket. The bottom two teams of each group advance to the lower bracket. All EPICENTER Major group matches are best-of-three.

Group matches' results

Day 1, June 22

Opening Matches Group A

• Team Secret 2-0 paiN Gaming
• FNATIC 1-2 Royal Never Give Up

Winner's Match Group A

• Team Secret 2-0 Royal Never Give Up

Loser's Match Group A

• paiN Gamin 1-2 FNATIC

Decider Match Group A

• Royal Never Give Up 2-0 FNATIC

Opening Matches Group B

• Evil Geniuses 2-0 Infamous
• Team Liquid 2-1 Gambit

Winner's Match Group B

• Evil Geniuses 1-2 Liquid

Loser's Match Group B

• Infamous 0-2 Gambit

Decider Match Group B

• Evil Geniuses 0-2 Gambit

Day 2, June 23

Opening Matches Group C

• Virtus.pro 0-2 Aliance
• Vici Gaming 2-1 Forward Gaming

Winner's Match Group C

• Alliance 0-2 Vici Gaming

Loser's Match Group C

• Virtus.pro 2-0 Forward Gaming

Decider Match Group C

• Alliance 0-2 Virtus.pro

Opening Matches Group D

• PSG.LGD 1-2 Ninjas in Pyjamas
• 12pm - OG 1-2 TNC Predator

Winner's Match Group D

• PSG.LGD 0-2 TNC Predator

Loser's Match Group D

• PSG.LGD 2-0 OG

Decider Match Group D

• Ninjas in Pyjamas 1-2 PSG.LGD

Teams and rosters

Team Secret

• Nisha
• MidOne
• zai
• YapzOr
• Puppey
• Sunbhie

Team Liquid

• Miracle-
• w33
• MinD_ContRoL
• GH
• Kuroky
• rmN-

OG

• ana
• Topson
• 7ckngMad
• JerAx
• N0tail
• Sockshka

Gambit Esports

• Daxak
• Afoninje
• AfterLife
• Immersion
• fng
• boolk

Virtus.pro

• RAMZES666
• No[o]ne
• 9pasha
• RodjER
• Solo
• ArsZeeqq

PSG.LGD

• Ame
• Somnus丶M
• Chalice
• fy
• xNova
• QQQ

Royal Never Give Up

• Monet
• Setsu
• Flyby
• LaNm
• ah fu
• Super

Vici Gaming

• Paparazi灬
• Ori
• Yang
• Fade
• Dy
• rOtk

TNC Predator

• Gabbi
• Armel
• Kuku
• Tims
• Eyyou
• Heen

FNATIC

• MP
• Abed
• iceiceice
• DJ
• Jabz
• DuBu

Forward Gaming

• YawaR
• CCnC
• Sneyking
• MSS
• pieliedie
• Aui_2000

Evil Geniuses

• Arteezy
• SumaiL
• s4
• Cr1t-
• Fly
• BuLba

paiN Gaming

• Mandy
• 4dr
• Liposa
• Thiolicor
• 444

Infamous

• oliver
• Black^
• HesteJoe-Rotten
• Biver
• Papita

Ninjas in Pyjamas

• Ace
• Fata
• 33
• Saksa
• ppd
• Pajkatt

Alliance

• miCKe
• qojqva
• Boxi
• iNSaNiA
• Taiga
• Loda

Talent

Hosts

• Sheever (Jorien van der Heijden)
• Nahaz (Alan Bester)

Maker

• Reinessa (Leah Blake)

Analysts

• Trent (Trent MacKenzie)
• LizZard (Admir Salkanović)
• Lacoste (Dominik Stipić)
• Godz (David Parker)

Casters

• ODPixel (Owen Davies)
• Fogged (Ioannis Loucas)
• TobiWan (Toby Dawson)
• Kyle (Kyle Freedman)

Predictions

The final Major of the Dota 2 season is coming, and it’s as important as they come for a lot of teams involved. There are the lucky few that already know they have a spot at TI9 booked and can enjoy the event for what it is, but for every Team Secret there are three big orgs still not certain of a place at the crown jewel in Valve’s tournament season.

The likes of J.Storm, Alliance, Chaos, Mineski, Na’Vi and paiN currently find themselves outside the top twelve and in need of those sweet DPC points, and when you consider the heritage of those names it shows just how competitive the scene really is. On the other hand, we have perennial contenders like Virtus.pro, Team Liquid and Secret atop the DPC rankings, showing that in Dota some things never change.

Of course one thing that has changed is Liquid’s line-up following the departure of Lasse Aukusti ‘MATUMBAMAN’ Urpalainen, and the death of the longest continual roster in the game. For over three years the five men had kept Liquid at the top of the Dota tree, and making this change just days before a Major, and not far from TI, is going to put the pressure on.

Thankfully, they are already safe and sound as TI9 contenders, meaning they can use this time to try and bed in their new fifth, but the same is not true for many of the names we’ve already mentioned. Let’s have a look then, at who has the most to gain in Moscow, as we approach the final furlong of the Dota 2 year.

Yeah, winning is cool and everything, but…

The boring bit first, as we have a look at who might win the event, and most of the signs point to Team Secret being the best-placed to take another Major crown. If you aren’t Secret, you need to have a ‘V’ in your name, with the other two Majors so far going to VP and Vici Gaming, in Kuala Lumpur and Paris respectively. A third Major of the year would also be nice for Secret as it would put them over $1m earned from the regular season alone.

The play of Zai has been a standout for the men in black and white, and at Birmingham they showed no real signs of slowing down, even if the teams around them are starting to get into top gear ahead of the big show. It was Evil Geniuses that fell to Puppey’s power in Birmingham, and you should never write off a team with that much talent in, so this could be a very interesting Major when it comes to who is the winner, but we all know that’s not the story….

Who goes to China?

This isn’t the absolute last chance to go to The International 9 in Shanghai, as there is still the TI9 qualifiers to come, but this is the last Major, and missing out on this opportunity to pick up points is a blunder. For the likes of J.Storm, Mineski and Chaos Gaming there is nothing to be done but practice and watch on as the rest push ahead, with those three teams not even having qualified for the tournament.

Forward Gaming have an interesting route, with many of the same teams they faced in Birmingham being in their path, and looking at the names on that team you’d expect them to make a decent fist of this tournament. Yawar, MSS, CCnC, Sneyking and pieliedie are all players with long careers and much experience, but they face both Vici and Virtus.pro in groups, making it likely that their clash with Alliance will be the crucial game in that phase.

One of the other teams still in need of a big boost is fan favourite paiN Gaming, who wowed the neutrals ahead of last year’s TI with their explosive, innovative style of play. Their group does contain a monster in the shape of Team Secret, but it also has Royal Never Give Up and Fnatic, so there is a chance for the South American team to make it out in winners side if they play their best.

The other team to watch is Gambit, who looked pretty decent at times in Birmingham and need a decent wedge of points from this event to guarantee a trip to China. With Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid in their group you’d maybe think they have a difficult time to even make winners side, but don’t forget Team Liquid are coming in with a new player, and EG are famously fragile, so this could be Gambit’s chance to risk it all and win big.