It was back in September when Valve announced that the 2023 DPC would be the last. It meant that with the exception of The International, they won't be supporting other Dota 2 tournaments. Instead, these are going to be the responsibility of third-party operators.
One of these is ESL Gaming, which recently held the ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023. For 2024, the organization has three tournaments planned. The first of these is DreamLeague Season 22, which brings back the format that a lot of Dota 2 fans are familiar with especially during Season 19 and Season 20. Open Qualifiers for Season 22 is happening on January 9 to January 12 and the Closed Qualifiers scheduled for January 13 to January 17.
The main tournament itself is set to run for two weeks beginning February 25 with the Grand Final on March 10. A total of 16 teams are participating with four coming from the EPT Leaderboard and these are Azure Ray, BetBoom Team, Gaimin Gladiators, and Team Liquid. The remaining 12 are going to come from the regional qualifiers.
The tournament format is broken down into:
- Group Stage 1 (February 25 to February 28)
- Two round-robin groups featuring eight teams each.
- Matches are two game series.
- 1st-4th place teams in each group advance to Group Stage 2.
- 5th-8th are eliminated from the tournament.
- Group Stage 2 (March 1 to March 7)
- One round-robin group featuring 8 teams.
- Matches are best-of-three.
- 1st and 2nd place move to Playoff Upper Bracket.
- 3rd and 4th move to Playoff Lower Bracket.
- 5th-8th are eliminated from the tournament.
- Playoffs (March 9 to March 10)
- 4 team double elimination bracket.
- 2 teams start upper bracket, 2 teams lower.
- Matches are best-of-three, except Grand Finals, which is best-of-five.
Of course, the tournament won't be complete without the rewards. Teams are going to fight for prize money along with EPT points. The prize pool is $1 million with EPT Points to be distributed at 18,500. These are broken down into:
- 1st - $300,000 (4200 Points)
- 2nd - $175,000 (3500 Points)
- 3rd - $120,000 (2800 Points)
- 4th - $85,000 (2240 Points)
- 5th - $52,500 (1680 Points)
- 6th - $47,500 (1400 Points)
- 7th - $42,500 (840 Points)
- 8th - $37,500 (560 Points)
- 9th & 10th - $25,000 (350 Points)
- 11th & 12th - $20,000 (175 Points)
- 13th & 14th - $15,000 (98 Points)
- 15th & 16th - $10,000 (42 Points)
Excited to watch the tournament? Who do you think is going to win? Can Azure Ray keep the crown or is it another one of those wins by teams from Europe? Dota 2 is available on PC via Steam.
