Chinese Teams to Miss the Stockholm Major; Will Play Regional Finals Instead

The top four Chinese teams in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2021-22 Tour 2: Division 1 will not be able to travel to Sweden for the ESL One Stockholm Major 2022. This was revealed through an announcement on Twitter by Perfect World, the league's organizer. Due to their inability to travel to the Major, the Chinese DPC will instead hold Regional Finals from 6th to 8th May 2022. The top four teams from Tour 2: Division 1 - PSG.LGD, Team Aster, Xtreme Gaming, and Royal Never Give Up - will likely feature in the Regional Finals. This news comes after there had been concerns about Chinese teams attending the Major as in the past few days, there have been lockdown restrictions in Shanghai, where many teams are bootcamping.

Chinese teams unable to travel for the Stockholm Major, will play in Regional Finals

“The DPC CN Tour 2 Regional Final will be played from May 6 - 8 for the upcoming Stockholm Major 2022,” Perfect World reported on Twitter, noting the Chinese teams will not be able to travel to Sweden for the Major.

Since early April, Shanghai has been in the grip of a severe lockdown, making it nearly impossible for residents to leave their homes. Due to this, Tour 2 of the Chinese DPC was initially postponed and, although it was held later and concluded recently, the top four teams' ability to get visas and travel to Sweden was always a concern.

Just yesterday, PSG.LGD had even issued a statement saying that it was unable to apply for visas for the upcoming ESL One Stockholm 2022 Major since its players are under quarantine and isolation at home. Now, Perfect World did not specify a reason for the teams being unable to attend the Major, but it is probably the result of such severe restrictions.

Currently, the Chinese region is set to hold its Regional Finals from 6th to 8th May. Except for the fact that it will be an elimination bracket, Perfect World did not provide any more details; however, it is expected to be along the same lines as the one held after Tour 1.

A double elimination bracket was used for the Tour 1 Regional Finals, in which the top two teams in each region received a portion of the DPC points. The grand final of the Chinese region was won by PSG.LGD against Royal Never Give Up with a scoreline of 3-1.

While Chinese teams are now unable to compete at the Major, there are also questions regarding the participation of Eastern European (EEU) teams currently playing Tour 2. A large number of players participating in the EEU DPC Division 1 are from either Russia or Ukraine.

Additionally, OG's CEO JMR Luna said on Twitter that securing visas for players for the Stockholm Major is "super tricky". OG has two Russian players and one Ukrainian player.

Since the Stockholm Major 2022 is scheduled to be the first significant Dota 2 tournament with live spectators since the DreamLeague S13 Major in January 2020, this development will be disappointing for fans worldwide. If the EEU teams also fail to travel for the Major, the event may end up reduced to an 11-team event rather than an 18-team event.