The MDL Chengdu Major qualifiers schedule is set, with Dota 2 teams in Europe, CIS, China, Southeast Asia, North America and South America set to do battle for a place in the first event of the DPC season.
This season, the qualifiers are combined with the corresponding minor, meaning the MDL Chengdu Major qualifiers also determine the teams that will contest the Dota Summit 11 Minor in Los Angeles, where the final spot at the major is up for grabs.
What are the MDL Chengdu Major qualifiers dates?
MDL Chengdu qualifiers take place between Saturday, October 5th and Tuesday, October 8th, 2019 in all regions except for North America and China, which end on October 7th.
The Chengdu Major takes place from November 16th to November 24th 2019 and Dota Summit 11 runs from November 7th to November 11th.
The prize pool for the Major is $980,000, while the minor has a prize pool of $300,000.
Picture: Copyright ESL / Helena Kristiansson
MDL Chengdu Major qualifiers predictions
Dota 2 expert and member of the Luckbox community Riley has made his predictions for who goes to the Chengdu Major from each region.
EU Qualifiers
Team Liquid
With teams like OG, Secret, and (former) Liquid choosing to skip the first Major, the road has never been clearer for the new Liquid. Other than being one of the few rosters that underwent no changes post-TI9 (except for daddy Loda), Liquid's roster have shown incredible growth into a force to be reckoned with this year, with Top 6 finish at EPICENTER Major and 1st place at DOTA Summit 10, and with the previously-mentioned teams that keeps holding them from directly qualifying to the Major now gone, victories should flow easily with them.
Alliance
With no past performance records, judging too highly of the new Alliance could end up in a misfire. However the core blend of Nikolay "Nikobaby" Nikolov, who recently steamrolled at TI, and offlane prodigy Neta "33" Shapira masted with seasoned spacemaker Linus "Limmp" Blomdin, is excellent on paper. The last variable to be inquired is Adrian "Fata" Trinks' ability as a captain, a role he never assumed, although he has the vast experience to back it up. Oh, and having Jonathan "Loda" Berg as a coach is a plus too.
Another possible contender is Ninjas in Pyjamas, with a more solid leadership under Peter "ppd" Dager and Saahil "Universe" Arora, although ppd's decision to pick up and nurture less-experienced cores should give Alliance an edge over them, at least for the first qualifiers.
CIS Qualifiers
Major: Natus Vincere
Major: Virtus.pro
CN Qualifiers
Major: Vici Gaming
Major: Royal Never Give Up
Major: EHOME
SEA Qualifiers
Major: TNC Predator
Major: Fnatic
Major: Geek Fam
NA Qualifiers
Major: Evil Geniuses
Major: Quincy Crew
Major: J.Storm
SA Qualifiers
Major: Team Anvorgesa
Major: paiN Gaming
Where can I find live streams?
All Chendgu Major qualifying live streams and upcoming matches can be found on the Luckbox Dota 2 matches page.
Regional live streams
Qualifier format
The new DPC 2020 season has seen the introduction of a new format for qualifiers, starting with the Chengdu Major qualifiers.
Phase 1 - Group Stage
The 10 teams will be divided into two groups of give, and play in a round-robin format where the top 2 teams from each group directly advance to Phase 2 and the 3rd place from each group advance to Phase 3. The rest are eliminated and receive 10 DPC points.
If a region receives either an additional Major or Minor slot, the fourth place from each group battle in a best of three to determine who proceeds to the next Phase accordingly. If a region receives both an additional Major AND Minor slot, both fourth-placed teams advance to the next Phase.
Phase 2 - Major Qualifier Playoffs
The Major Qualifier Playoffs is a Double Elimination bracket, where all four teams start from the Upper Bracket and the top two teams qualify for the Major. If the region has an additional Major slot, then the three teams qualifiy to the Major. The rest advance to Phase 3.
Phase 3 - Minor Qualifier Playoffs
The Minor Qualifier Playoffs is a Double Elimination bracket, where all four teams start from the Upper Bracket and the winner qualifies for the Minor. If the region have an additional Minor slot, then the top two teams qualify for the Minor. The rest are eliminated and get 20 DPC points.
MDL Chengdu Major quiz
