China Dota2 Professional League Season 1 begins tomorrow

Beginning from October 17, the China Dota2 Professional League will run until March 1, 2020. Ten teams will compete for over $200,000 and the crown for best Chinese Dota team.

Typhoon E-Sports Club and iG.Vitality both qualified for the event through the China Dota2 Development League Season 1, while the remaining eight teams attend by invitation. The tournament begins with a best-of-3 round-robin Group Stage, with the top four teams advancing to the Playoffs Upper Bracket. 5th and 6th move to the Lower Bracket while the remaining teams get eliminated. The Playoffs structure is a best-of-3 double-elimination bracket, and the Grand Finals will be a best-of-5 match.

The teams participating in the first season of the China Dota 2 Professional League are:

• EHOME

• iG.Vitality

• Invictus Gaming

• Keen Gaming

• Newbee

• PSG.LGDRoyal Never Give Up

• Team Aster

• Typhoon E-Sports Club

• Vici Gaming

The China DOTA2 Development League is designed to support amateur players in the region. Many of the more successful organisations have sub-teams besides their main roster which they use to train promising new talent. These sub-teams manage to thrive by attending tier 2 tournaments and leagues which occur regularly.

Imba TV hosts weekly tier 2 tournaments with the ImbaTV H-cup that was established in March 2016. It is also the organiser of both the Development League and the China Professional League, providing numerous opportunities for young players to get discovered by big successful teams. Ye “BoBoKa” Zhibiao and Pan “Fade” Yi are two players that have emerged from these cups to join the big league.

Other regions lack this level of support, with many semi-professional players laying complaints against Valve for not showing proper commitment to tier 2 players. The community has taken notice and created an uproar, but it remains to be seen just what Valve will do about the situation.