ESL Pro Tour Dota 2 2023: dates, format, prize pool and other details

ESL FACEIT Group recently announced ESL Pro Tour Dota 2 2023, a series of record-breaking tournaments in the eSports discipline from Valve. The event will have the potential to breathe new life into the professional Dota 2 scene and attract more investment into the esports scene. We'll go into the following article with more details about ESL Pro Tour Dota 2 2023.

Dates

ESL Pro Tour Dota 2 2023 will be divided into three parts, DreamLeague Season 19, DreamLeague Season 20 and Riyadh Masters 2023. The matches will start in mid-April and continue until the end of July.

The ESL Pro Tour Dota 2 2023 schedule is shown below:

• DreamLeague Season 19 - 9-23 April
• DreamLeague Season 20 - June 7-25
• Riyadh Masters 2023 - 17-30 July

A break of over a month between Season 19 and Season 20 is connected with The Berlin Major and the first division matches of DPC 2023 Tour 3. That said, the organizers have already shared details about DreamLeague Season 19 such as the format and lineup, which we'll talk about next.

Format and participants

DreamLeague Season 19 will take place in three stages: first group stage, second group stage and play-offs. In the first group stage, 16 teams will play in two groups with a Round-Robin format. All matches will be played as a bo2 series. The teams from the top 4 will advance to the second group stage. The remaining participants will leave the tournament.

The second group stage will be one round robin format group, where 8 teams will battle it out in bo3 matches. Teams ranked 1st to 2nd will get a slot in the top play-offs. 3rd and 4th places will go to the bottom set, while the remaining clubs will finish in the DreamLeague Season 19.

The final stage of the tournament will be in the Double-Elimination grid with 4 teams participating. Two teams will start at the top of the table and two will finish at the bottom. The format is bo3, while the grand final will be played as a bo5 series.

The organizers also unveiled the list of participants in the upcoming tournament:

• Gaimin Gladiators
• Tundra Esports
• Team Liquid
• Entity
• OG
• Shopify Rebellion
• Nouns
• TSM
• Talon Esports
• Execration
• Evil Geniuses
• beastcoast
• Team Spirit
• HellRaisers
• PSG.LGD
• Team Aster

We can assume that the format of DreamLeague Season 20 will be similar to DreamLeague Season 19. No further details have been announced by ESL.

The final part of ESL Pro Tour Dota 2 2023 will be the Riyadh Masters series tournament, namely Riyadh Masters 2023, which is part of the massive Gamers8 gaming festival. The Riyadh Masters 2023 will also take place in three stages: Play-In, group stage and play-offs. The Play-In stage will be played by 12 teams who will be divided into 2 groups with Round-Robin format and bo2 matches. The top 2 from each group advance to the group stage of the tournament.

The 3rd and 4th ranked teams in the group will play against the 5th and 6th ranked teams from the opposing group. The winner of each match qualifies for the group stage as well. In the group stage of the Riyadh Masters 2023, 16 teams will play, which will be divided into two baskets with 8 teams in each. The group matches will be played in a Round-Robin format with bo2 matches.

The final round of the tournament will be played in a Double-Elimination format. The teams ranked 1st to 4th in the group stage will qualify for the top play-offs, the 5th and 6th places will start at the bottom of the table. A total of 12 teams will take part in the play-offs. All matches except the grand final will be played in a bo3 format. The Riyadh Masters 2023 champion will be determined by the results of the bo5 series.

Prize pool

DreamLeague Season 19 participants will compete for a total of $1,000,000 in prize money. DreamLeague Season 20 will have the same amount of prize money and a similar distribution.

The distribution of the DreamLeague Season 19 prize pool is as follows:

• 1st place - $300,000 - Slot for Riyadh Masters 2023.
• 2 place - $175,000
• 3 place - $120,000
• 4 place - $85,000
• 5 place - $52,500
• 6 place - $47,500
• 7 place - $42,500
• 8 place - $37,500
• 9-10 place - $25,000
• 11-12 place - $20,000
• 13-14 place - $15,000
• 15-16 place - $10,000

In addition to the generous prizes, the DreamLeague Season 19 champion will receive a ticket to the Riyadh Masters in 2023. The Riyadh Masters 2023 prize pool is also known. The final tournament on the ESL Pro Tour Dota 2 2023 will offer the strongest teams to fight for $15,000,000 in prize money. It's the biggest prize pool of any third-party event and second only to Valve's The International series. In comparison, at the Riyadh Masters 2022 teams competed for $4,000,000, which even then seemed like a huge amount.

Conclusion

ESL Pro Tour Dota 2 2023 was the largest tournament series ever staged by a third-party operator in the history of the eSports discipline. Combined, the prize pool for ESL Pro Tour Dota 2 2023 will be $17,000,000, slightly less than the $18,930,775 that will be awarded at The International 2022. This event will be a boost for the professional scene and give new life to Dota 2, which has fallen on hard times. Will the organizers succeed? Time will tell.