There isn’t any such factor as an excessive amount of Dota, proper? The beginning of 2025 is unprecedented in how packed it’s with third celebration tournaments and related qualifiers, so at the moment we want to take a look on the subsequent couple of months that will help you navigate by way of the myriad of competitions and what they imply for the scene.
The primary Fissure Playground is already underway, however that’s solely the primary within the collection of tournaments deliberate this 12 months by FISSURE. Beforehand recognized for organising BetBoom Dacha tournaments, this 12 months the TO is increasing, with not less than 13 tournaments deliberate by the tip of 2026.
From our understanding, the Playground goes to be their premium, $1.000.000+ tournaments, whereas the Universe collection will probably be smaller, online-only occasions. The previous, notably, featured solely 5 areas and 5 slots throughout their qualifiers, giving North and South America a single shared spot.
The primary event within the deliberate collection options 16 groups, 11 of which had been invited immediately. It additionally used the Swiss-system, although we hope that within the latter iterations of the event the organiser will contemplate full bo3 format for everything of the group stage.
Blast is a relative newcomer to the Dota scene, with a wealthy historical past in Counter-Strike. Their second event, scheduled for the beginning of February is once more an invitation-only occasion that makes use of a round-robin group stage for seeding right into a single-elimination playoff bracket.
In our opinion a bo1 group-stage adopted by a single-elimination playoff can lead to some very fascinating upsets, making for a superb present. That mentioned, given a extra risky format, we’d like to see much less invited groups with qualifier slots as a substitute, to additional enhance the potential for distinctive and sudden storylines.
It’s also a event with no NA or SA representatives this time round, which is unlucky. That mentioned, we’re sure it’s going to produce some very fascinating video games and contemplating the dates there’s a likelihood a patch will come out a while in the course of the playoffs, spicing issues up even additional.
There are already two $1.000.000 tournaments introduced by PGL: Season 3 and 4 of Wallachia are scheduled for the beginning of March and mid-April respectively. These tournaments additionally use a swiss-system for the group stage, with a double-elimination playoffs for eight groups.
Final Wallachia was spectacular, each by way of match high quality and the storylines it created. It was a primary worldwide LAN victory for South America with a number of the strongest particular person performances we’ve ever seen, although it must be famous that a number of the notable groups had been absent from the event.
We will solely speculate about it for now, however contemplating PGL is the TO that’s sub-contracted for TI, there’s a likelihood Wallachia outcomes will probably be weighed extra closely with regards to direct invitations to the most important Dota event of the 12 months, therefore the perfect groups will need to be there. Nonetheless, we already know that BetBoom Crew and Parivision won’t be collaborating within the third season of PGL Wallachia, which is stunning, however they’re the one notable absentees within the event.
Lastly, there are ESL Professional Tour tournaments, which all lead as much as the Riyadh Masters — probably the most important event of the 12 months by way of prize pool. EPT Tournaments embody DreamLeague and ESL One collection.
One defining attribute of those tournaments is that they use EPT Factors for direct invitations. There are solely 4 invited groups in these tournaments, and intensive qualifiers throughout seven areas to find out the remainder of the members.
That is, in our opinion, essentially the most aggressive invitation format throughout the scene, because it offers higher probabilities for newer groups to show themselves. It additionally ends in increased stage of competitors inside the tournaments, because it primarily consists of essentially the most related groups on the time.
The closest EPT Match is DreamLeague Season 25 that can function 16 groups and could have a double-group stage, with a really quick double-elimination playoff. ESL One Raleigh is scheduled for early April and it will likely be a 12-team event with an prolonged double-elimination playoff. Later this 12 months, the final EPT Match, DreamLeague Season 26 will finalize the EPT desk.
Skilled Dota has by no means been that packed, as it’s at first of this 12 months. There are, nevertheless, a number of factors we want to increase.
To start with, whereas we’re seeing numerous tournaments, there are a few of them that don’t have any qualifiers, or the qualification slots are restricted. We really feel just like the presence of the latter is what permits new expertise to develop within the scene.
Secondly, there may be potential for spectator and athlete fatigue. Tournaments are nice, however we had the same 12 months earlier than, with 9 Majors throughout 2017/2078 and at occasions it felt prefer it was an excessive amount of.
Lastly, outdoors of the EPT system, there aren’t too many incentives for the groups to not swap their rosters. This creates the next stage of competitors, maybe, however it additionally probably destabilizes the scene.
What do you concentrate on the beginning of 2025? Share your ideas on what workforce you’re rooting for and what tournaments you’re most excited to look at within the remark part beneath.
