ONE Esports Singapore Major: Dota 2 Preview

The ONE Esports Singapore Major, presented by PGL, is the first Dota 2 esports LAN event in over a year. Anticipation for this event has been building up for quite some time and Dota fans can’t for the event preview.

ONE Esports Singapore Major

Participating Teams and Format

The world’s best Dota 2 teams are converging at Fairmont in Singapore. The coronavirus pandemic impacted Dota 2 esports as many events were canceled or moved online. So which teams are competing from March 27 to April 4 at the ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021?

Wild-Card

Nigma, Liquid, AS Monaco Gambit, PSG.LGD, T1 esports and Vici Gaming form the deadly list of the Wild Card teams. Image Credit: ONE Esports.

The Wild Card features teams from regions that narrowly missed out on qualifying for the group stage. Despite not making it to the playoffs or the group stage, the list of teams in the Wild Card is daunting. Teams such as PSG.LGD, Vici Gaming, Team Liquid and Nigma are tier one teams in Dota 2 esports.

These six teams play in a single round-robin format where all matches are best-of-two series. The top two teams advance to the tournament’s group stage while the rest face elimination.

Group Stage

The group stage teams at the Major are Natus Vincere, Quincy Crew, Thunder Predator, NEON Esports, Team Aster and Alliance. Image Credit: ONE Esports.

In the ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021, 18 Dota 2 teams will participate. Based on their performance in Dota Pro Circuit Season 1, eight teams compete in the group stage. This list includes those who placed second in DPC Season 1 that have qualified to this stage.

The group stage of the Dota 2 Major features a single-stage round-robin format. Six qualified teams are joined by the top two teams from the Wild Card event. Then, everyone plays each other in best-of-two series. The top two teams advance to the upper bracket playoffs while the next four teams move to the lower bracket.

Playoffs

Team Secret, Virtus.Pro, Evil Geniuses, Beastcoast, Invictus Gaming and Fnatic are the teams that topped their regions and qualified to the Major playoffs. Image Credit: ONE Esports.

Playoffs feature 12 Dota 2 teams, including the six who directly qualified to the upper bracket. The top two teams from the group stage also move to the upper bracket playoffs while the next four teams go to the lower bracket.

ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021 playoffs use a double-elimination format where each match is best-of-three. The grand final is the only match in the tournament to feature a best-of-five match and crown the first Dota 2 Major winner of 2021.

Prize Pool

Regarding the prize pool, the ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021 boasts a $500 thousand prize pool with first-place receiving $200 thousand. Runner-ups earn $100 thousand while third and fourth-place take $75 thousand and $50 thousand respectively.

In addition to the prize pool, Dota 2 esports teams secure valuable Dota Pro Circuit points. DPC points are metrics via which Valve decides the final invitations to The International. Currently, TI10 holds the biggest prize pool in esports history and lets participating teams earn serious revenue.

Dota 2 fans can catch the ONE Esports Singapore Major live on Twitch. Those looking for more can watch Netflix’s Dota 2 anime, DOTA: DRAGON’S BLOOD, on March 25.

Written by Rohan Samal

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