Dota Pro Circuit

From late 2015 until early 2017, Valve sponsored a series of smaller-scale, seasonally held tournaments known as the Dota Major Championships.[2][3] Their format was based on the tournament series of the same name that Valve also sponsored for their first-person shooter game, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Including The International 2016 and 2017, which were considered to be the cumulative Major of their respective seasons,[2][4] the series had five other events, which were the Frankfurt Major,[5] Shanghai Major,[6] Manila Major,[7] Boston Major,[8] and Kiev Major.[9] Following the International 2017, the Majors were replaced with the DPC due to criticism by teams and fans for Valve's non-transparent and unpredictable nature for handing out International invitations.[10][11][12][13]

For the first season (2017–2018), teams' scores were determined by the total score of the top three point-earning players on them, with points being carried over if a player changes teams during the season.[14] Qualifying points are weighed more heavily towards Majors than Minors.[12] The qualifying points in every tournament awarded 50% to the champions, 30% to the runners-up, and 10% to the semi-finalists. If there was a third-place decider match held, the points were awarded 15% to the 3rd-place finishers and 5% to the 4th-place finishers.[15][16] The ranking of a team was calculated only by the accumulation of the top three players with the highest qualifying points. A team was allowed to change its roster twice in a specified time period, but would automatically lose its eligibility to obtain a direct invitation if they changed its roster after the second mid-season roster period had passed.[15]

Starting with the second season (2018–2019), there were a number of adjustments to the rules, with the primary one being that both Major and Minor events are held in pairs, with qualifiers for each set to run in exclusively scheduled windows, as direct invites to them are now forbidden. In contrast with the previous season, the overall number of them decreased from 22 to 10, with the season beginning in September 2018 and concluding in June 2019. The number of direct International 2019 invites was increased from eight to twelve, with each of the six regions being given a single qualifying slot.[17][18] The qualifiers for Majors ran first, and teams who failed to qualify for it were eligible to compete in the Minor qualifiers a few days later. The winner of a Minor tournament is granted a reserved slot in the associated Major. Valve also removed roster locks that previously prevented teams that made changes mid-season from qualifying for points for the season. Instead, all points are directly assigned to teams rather than individual players. Removing a player from the roster reduces the team's total points by 20 percent, with adding a replacement player having no penalty.[19] In addition, Valve also implemented a rule that only allows for a single team owned in an multi-team organization to compete in The International and the qualifiers leading up to them. The rule also includes cases in which individual players have financial ties to other teams.[20]

The 2021 Dota Pro Circuit will consist of two seasons instead of three. The Minors have been replaced by Regional Leagues that are six-weeks long, in which teams compete for qualifying positions in the Major tournament. In addition, points from the suspended 2019–2020 season will not be used. Instead, the top four teams from each region will be selected to qualify for the upper division, with qualifiers being used to determine the remaining twelve teams in both the upper and lower divisions.[21]

In the Dota Pro Circuit, a "Major" is a sponsored Dota 2 tournament that has two teams from the North American, South American, Southeast Asian, Chinese, European, and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) regions, a minimum prize pool of $500,000, which Valve adds $500,000 of their own towards, and concludes with a LAN finals.[10] In addition, a "Minor" championship tier exists and follows the same rules, but with a minimum prize pool of $150,000 instead.[10] Teams are awarded "Qualifying Points" based on their results in the tournaments, which are publicly listed on a leaderboard.[11][12][14][22] The top twelve teams at the end of the season earn direct invites to that year's International, with a single qualifying spot being offered to each of the six regions. Major and Minor events are held in pairs, with qualifiers for each running in scheduled windows. The qualifiers for Majors run first, and teams who fail to qualify for it are eligible to compete in the Minor qualifiers shortly later. The winner of a Minor tournament is granted a reserved slot in the associated Major. All points are assigned to teams rather than individual players. If a team decides to removing a player from their roster, it will reduce their total points by 20 percent; adding a replacement player has no penalty.[23] To avoid conflicting dates, Valve directly manages the scheduling of the entire circuit.[12]

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