SUNSfan Reveals Details of Online DPC Tournaments Replacing the Canceled Major

Dota 2 caster and content creator, Shannon "SUNSfan" Scotten, revealed details about possible replacement tournaments for the canceled Major that will take place across all six regions. In the We Say Things podcast numbered 135, SUNSfan stated that according to his sources, which included organizations from different regions, the top four teams from each of the six Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) regions (Division 1) will compete in online regional tournaments in February 2022. There will be a total of $100,000 USD in prize money as well as DPC points on the line in each of these six events. In addition, SUNSfan also discussed the details of a potential wild card tournament following The International's (TI) qualifier later this year.

SUNSfan states that there will be canceled Major replacement tournaments in Feb 2022

SUNSfan explained in the podcast that he had first heard from someone about such online tournaments taking place, but he wanted to confirm it with multiple sources around the world. After contacting them, he discovered that all teams had indeed been notified of this via emails.

SUNSfan then laid out the details of these possible Major replacement tournaments. No LAN would take place but instead, online tournaments will be held for all six regions. The top four seeded teams in each of the six ongoing DPC leagues will qualify for the tournament of their respective region. The teams that finish in the top two will then earn a share of the $100,000 prize pool and the DPC points. As per SUNSfan, all six regions would be given the same amount of points. The format is not yet confirmed.

“And this will happen during two weekends in February where one weekend is three regions so they kind of overlap with time zones and the next weekend is another three regions,” he added.

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As these tournaments account for the DPC points for the first canceled Major, SUNSfan mentioned that the points that had been redistributed to the second and third Majors will now be taken back.

On 12th Jan, the cancellation of the Dota 2 Major was met with community backlash, and many Dota 2 players expressed displeasure at the lack of communication regarding such decisions. A day later Team Secret's Operations Director Matthew "Cyborgmatt" Bailey tweeted an email in which Valve apologized to teams and players and announced plans to hold a replacement LAN tournament.

At the time of writing this article, there have been no announcements of a replacement tournament by either Valve or the various DPC organizers. As SUNSfan said, his sources were surprised that the details of these online tournaments were not yet announced.

SUNSfan states that a potential wild card LAN event will take place after TI11’s qualifiers

In addition to revealing details about the potential replacement tournaments for the canceled Major, SUNSfan also listed the details of a tournament that will take place following the TI qualifiers later this year. This tournament appears similar to the wild card event, and shall grant teams the chance to compete at TI if they finish in second and third place at TI's qualifier.

“After the TI qualifiers are over this year, they (Valve) will take the second and third place teams from the TI qualifiers and put them on LAN somewhere before TI11. So, that’s 12 teams because it’s six regions, six times two. Out of those 12 teams, the top two go to TI. So, there are going to be 20 teams at TI with two groups of 10 and four teams are going to be eliminated from the group stage. So, all the teams have been contacted about this already.” said SUNSfan.

As per the current rules and format for the DPC system, the TI qualifiers are the last opportunity for teams to qualify for TI. The winning team from each of the six qualifiers books a spot at TI.

In all six regions, the current league season is about to end. If these tournaments are indeed scheduled, they will likely be announced shortly.

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