The rumours were true after all. Valve has just revealed the details of the new DPC season and the new regional leagues. After TI10, the Dota Pro Circuit will introduce the new competitive Dota 2 system. It will divide the year into three seasons and distribute teams in six regional leagues.
Regional Leagues
The leagues will be further be subdivided into two divisions: 8 teams in the upper division and 8 in the lower division. After each season (40 days on average), the bottom 2 teams in the Upper Division will switch places with the top 2 teams in the Lower Division. The bottom 2 teams in the Lower division will be eliminated from the league and their place will be taken by two new teams from the open qualifiers.
The prize pool of each of the 6 leagues will be $280,000 for a season.
The Group Stage format is a BO3 Round Robin system. The matches of the upper-division will be broadcast by studios hired by Valve while the lower divisions will be broadcast on DotaTV.
Timings of the Matches in SGT
You can watch the games at these times (SGT).
- Upper Division
Time | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| 07:00 PM | China | SEA | SEA | China | SEA | China | |
| 10:00 PM | China | SEA | SEA | China | |||
| 01:00 AM | Europe | Europe | CIS | CIS | Europe | CIS | |
| 04:00 AM | Europe | CIS | CIS | Europe | |||
| 07:00 AM | SA | SA | SA | ||||
| 10:00 AM | NA | SA | NA | SA | NA | ||
| 01:00 PM | NA | NA |
- Lower Division
Time | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| 07:00 PM | China | China | SEA | ||||
| 10:00 PM | SEA | SEA | China | China | SEA | China | SEA |
| 01:00 AM | CIS | CIS | CIS | CIS | |||
| 04:00 AM | Europe | Europe | Europe | Europe | CIS | Europe | |
| 07:00 AM | SA | SA | SA | NA | |||
| 10:00 AM | SA | SA | |||||
| 01:00 PM | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Other Rules and Details
For a team to be eligible to play in a region, at least 3 of the 5 players must reside in the region. If a team decides to change regions, it will have to start its way through open qualifiers and then climb their way up through the Lower division of the new region.
Player transfers can only be made after the end of the Major and before the beginning of the next season. Each change of player will be penalized with a penalty of 15% of the current points for that team.
Valve will announce Direct Invites to the Upper and Lower divisions for the first season depending on the rosters on paper.
The Majors Reworked
Each season will conclude in a Major, with 18 top teams from all regions. The prize pool will be $500,000 and DPC points.
The 18 participants will be teams from the top ranks of the upper division. The regions will have a fixed number of slots throughout the year:
- Europe and China - 4 Slots
- NA and Southeast Asia - 3 Slots
- CIS and SA - 2 Slots.
Schedule of the Season
- Season 1 (Fall League): Oct 5th – Nov 15th
- Season 1 Major: Dec 7th – Dec 19th
- Season 2 (Winter League): Jan 4th – Feb 14th
- Season 2 Major: Mar 8th – Mar 20th
- Season 3 (Spring League): Apr 12th – May 23rd
- Season 3 Major: June 21st – July 3rd
