It’s challenging times right now. The Covid-19 outbreak proves to be a much bigger threat than anything millennials have encountered. Large events like the NBA, NFL and potentially the Olympics 2020 are put to a hold. The DOTA2 community’s beloved majors have met a similar fate as Valve has recently announced the cancellation of the fourth major and is also looking into cancelling the final major too.
As schedules becoming more open, third-party organizers are not hesitating to host their own tournaments. Answering Sheever’s tweet suggesting the return to online tournaments, WePlay! answers the with something to keep the viewers busy as we isolate ourselves in our homes. Thus, WePlay announces the WeSave! Charity Play tournament featuring a whopping $120,000 prize pool. This tourney comes with a twist however. All participants that win the prize pool money are expected to donate the funds to aid efforts to battle the current outbreak. Talk about killing two birds with one stone!
© WePlay! Esports
On top of this generous charity event, WePlay! gathers some of the finest DOTA2 teams in the world. Team Secret, TNC Predator, Nigma and many more have already signed-up. The biggest name among all, team OG, the two-time consecutive TI Champions themselves, join the fray as well. OG only consists of two of the championship players in Topson and Notail, yet they are still heavily hyped nevertheless. Unfortunately, there will not be any physical audience to watch these boys on-site as it’s an online tournament.
Finally, each region will consists of 4 competing teams, who will be playing in their respective groups and playoffs till the finals. Additionally, with six regions in total, the prize pool will be spread evenly across all of them, which gives 20,000 USD for each region.
There are only 6 spots left out of the 24 planned initially.
Southeast Asia: TNC Predator, Geek Fam, BOOM Esports
China: EHOME, Invictus Gaming
CIS: Natus Vincere, Virtus.Pro, Hellraisers,
Europe: OG, Team Liquid, Team Secret, Nigma
North America: CR4ZY, Business Associates
South America: FURIA, beastcoast, Thunder Predator, No Ping Esports
While WePlay took their online tourney to global heights, another tournament organizer, Rivalry, hosts their own. Named “No Major No Problem” it will only involve South American teams with only $5000 up for grabs. Nevertheless, it’s still a considerate effort given the current dilemma that Valve is facing as they are still deciding where and when should the postponed Los Angeles Major be held.
Finally, a honorable mention should go to the Chinese DOTA2 community which has long implement online tournaments in their region. To be exact, they’re called in-house leagues, where players are given the opportunity to play with strong players to climb the ranks until they get noticed by professional teams. Effectively, this has consistently nurtured the tier-2 pro scene for years. In fact, the TI9 champion, Ana, first begun his pro career in a Chinese in-house league too, and look where he is today!
Speaking of leagues, Valve has also caught up with the idea and is looking forward to implement regional leagues in the next DPC season. In the end, we could appreciate the various parties who have taken charge to improve the situation despite the setback on DOTA2’s growth as a viable Esports industry. Hopefully, their dedication and our support as fans will persist in supporting DOTA2 in the hardest of times. Stay tuned.
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