DOTA Summit 11 Tournament
DOTA Summit 11 marks the beginning of the new Dota Pro Circuit season and constitutes one of its five Minors. With eight of the best teams in the world competing for $300.000 in prizes, 660 qualification points for The International 2020 and the last ticket for MDL Chengdu Major, DOTA Summit 11 promises to be an unforgettable event.

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DOTA Summit 11 Schedule
The DOTA Summit 11 schedule will be pretty uncomfortable for the Europeans, Chinese and gamers from other regions too. The tournament will take place in Los Angeles between November 7th – 10th.
If you’re living in Europe, the time zone you’ll want to adapt your sleep schedule to is GMT-7 or nine hours behind Germany’s time. So if the first match starts at 10 AM, you’ll be watching it at around 6-7 PM. The problem of course is not with the first match, but with the ones that follow it.
For other parts of the world, such as China, the DOTA Summit 11 schedule demands even bigger sacrifices.
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DOTA Summit 11 Prize Pool
The DOTA Summit 11 prize pool is no different from that of all the other Dota Pro Circuit Minors. The tournament also offers 660 qualification points for TI10, as well as a ticket for MDL Chengdu Major.
The DOTA Summit 11 rewards will be distributed in the following way:
- 1st place: 140 pts. / $72.000 / ticket for MDL Chengdu Major
- 2nd place: 120 pts. / $60.000
- 3rd place: 110 pts. / $54.000
- 4th place: 90 pts. / $42.000
- 5th – 6th place: 60 pts. / $24.000
- 7th – 8th place: 40 pts. / $12.000
The distribution of the DOTA Summit 11 prize pool is quite unusual considering Valve’s typical way of dividing tournament prizes. Just consider the prize pool of TI9 and its distribution: the winner of the event got more than 300% more money than the 2nd place team.
DOTA Summit 11 Format
DOTA Summit 11 has a typical format. The event takes place in two stages and each of these stages will be played in the GSL format (double elimination).
Group Stage
Initially, the eight teams will be split into two groups of four. Each group consists of Bo3 matches. The top two teams advance to the Playoffs. The bottom two teams are eliminated.
Playoffs Stage
The Playoffs Stage of DOTA Summit 11 is practically a recreation of the Group Stage, but with the best four teams. Once again, the format is GSL and the matches are Bo3, except for the Grand Final (Bo5).
DOTA Summit 11 Teams
DOTA Summit 11 brings together eight teams from all over the world.
- Southeast Asia: Geek Fam
- China: Invictus Gaming
- North America: Quincy Crew
- South America: paiN Gaming
- Europe: Ad Finem, Ninjas in Pyjamas
- CIS: HellRaisers, Virtus.pro
The strongest of these eight teams seem to be Virtus.pro, Invictus Gaming and Ninjas in Pyjamas. However, Geek Fam and Quincy Crew are not that far away in terms of strength and should be able to challenge them on their path to the title. Geek Fam is Raven and Kuku’s newest team while Quincy Crew has SVG, CCnC and other world-class players in its roster but needs to find a replacement for SumaiL, who decided to leave immediately after the DOTA Summit 11 Qualifiers ended.
Here’s a brief analysis of the eight DOTA Summit 11 teams.
Geek Fam
Geek Fam is one of the strongest teams in the SEA region. And the good part about them is that they’re a relatively new team in their current format. This practically means that they will get better and better as time goes by. So by the time we get to DOTA Summit 11, they might be a very strong competitor.
Invictus Gaming
Invictus Gaming has resurfaced with a slightly new roster after a miserable season in 2018 – 2019. The biggest transfer they’ve made in 2019 was Kaka, a former TI Finalist with Newbee in 2017. With his prowess as a position four roamer, IG might win this tournament and participate in their first Major since April 2017.
Quincy Crew
Quincy Crew is a team with many big names that have been playing at the highest level for many years. YawaR is the team’s carry and he’s also SumaiL’s brother. At this point, he really needs no introduction. The other three members are CCnC, SVG and MSS. All three players have been involved in competitive Dota 2 and used to compete in teams like Evil Geniuses, OpTic Gaming and VGJ.Storm. As long as they can find a good replacement for SumaiL, Quincy Crew has excellent chances of getting a top four result at DOTA Summit 11.
paiN Gaming
This is one of the stronger South American teams and many of its players have been around for at least three years, competing at important Valve events with varying degrees of success. Going into this first Minor of the season, they have little chance of winning and they’re most likely to finish somewhere around 5th – 6th.
Ad Finem
The mighty Madara and his crew are back after a few years of absence from the top tournaments. Around three years ago, Ad Finem played in the Grand Final of a Major and shocked the world with their determination. Then they quickly returned to irrelevancy and they stayed there for a long time. Now, reanimated and with the exact same lineup as before, they will try their luck against some of the best teams in the world. Their chances are slim but it will definitely feel good to see them compete again.
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Similar to Ad Finem, NiP is back with a new roster. Only ppd is still with the team after that disastrous TI9 result (17th – 18th). Overall, the roster doesn’t look spectacular but the fact that ppd and Universe are on the same team has a lot of people excited to watch them play. A top three finish at DOTA Summit 11 is definitely within NiP’s reach.
HellRaisers
HellRaisers is one of the underdogs at this tournament. We haven’t seen them in a long time and there’s almost no chance for them to make it out of the groups.
Virtus.pro
And finally, we have Virtus.pro, which is now a shell of its former self. However, with Solo and No[o]ne still on the team after the partial disband that occurred after TI9, things might bet better over time. But right now they’re in big trouble, at least when it comes to beating the world’s best teams. At this competitive level though they may have a good chance of playing in the Grand Final.
Read next: Dota 2 The International - Event Guide, Teams and History