The most awaited Dota 2 event in 2019 is The International 2019 (TI19) which will be taking place in Shanghai (China) from 15 till 25 August.
Eighteen tournaments will be taking part in the tournament:
- 12 teams according to the DPC rating;
- 6 slots will be received by the winners of the regional qualifiers for the tournament.
On August 7, The International 2019 prize pool exceeded the $32,000,000 bar and keeps on increasing thanks to selling Battle Passes.
It is likely that before the start of the tournament, the prize pool will exceed $ 33,000,000.
Tickets for The International 2019 (TI9)
The tickets of the tournament got available on 24 May in 2019 and got sold out in several hours. The organizer two quotes of the tickets:
- for China;
- for other countries.
Chinese esports fans bought all the tickets in 53 seconds.
DPC invites
Teams were fighting for Dota Pro Circuit rating points at tournaments all over the world during the whole season. And it was worth it because the invitational quota was exceeded to 12 teams. Epicenter Major 2019 put the final point in the rating. Before the start of the event, 3 vacant spots were free on the train, which goes to Shanghai. The reigning champions OG and TNC Predator took penultimate spots and the last place was up for grabs between Alliance and Gambit. A regular match of the lower bracket was turned into a battle for the right to go to TI9. Alliance confidently won the battle with a score 2:0.
The final rating of the season 2018-2019 looks in the following way:
Qualifiers for The International 2019
The knockout stage took place in six divisions: North America, South America, Europe, CIS, Southeast Asia and China. In any of them one invitation to the DotA 2 World Championship was played for. In South America, Southeast Asia and CID the knockout stage was taking place from 7 till 10 July. In North America, Europe and China — from 11 till 14 July.
The winners at the qualifiers in North America are ex-Forward Gaming who are to perform as Newbee due to the reason that their organization went bankrupt and got closed down. Infamous made it to the championship through qualifiers in South America while Chaos Esports Club — through qualifiers in Europe. Natus Vincere became the best in the CIS division and as for Royal Never Give Up and Mineski, they got victorious in China and Southeast Asia, respectively.
Holding format
The championship will start at the group stage. There the eighteen teams will get divided into two groups with nine participants in each and will play at Bo2 matches by Round Robin. Four Best teams from each of the groups will pass to the upper bracket of the playoff stage. The roster taking the 5-8 places in groups will start their way at the final stage from the lower bracket. The teams who will take the last positions in their groups will leave the championship.
Sixteen out of eighteen participants will get to the playoff. Half of them will start their way to the final from the upper bracket while the rest will face with the lower bracket. The first matches of the lower bracket will be held in the Bo1 format, while the other meetings apart from the grand final — at Bo3. The final battle will be taking place in the series up to three wins.
Prize pool
The total prize pool of The International 2019 is known for being the biggest one in the esports industry. At the moment it exceeds $32,000,000, and division of the prize money looks as the following:
- 1 place — $14,604,813 (45,5%)
- 2 place — $4,172,804 (13%)
- 3 place — $2,888,865 (9%)
- 4 place — $1,925,909 (6%)
- 5-6 place — $1,123,446 (3,5%)
- 7-8 place — $802,463 (2,5%)
- 9-12 place — $641,970 (2%)
- 13-16 place — $481,477 (1,5%)
- 17-18 place — $80,246 (0,25%)
The International 2019 Group Stage
Seeding of the teams into groups went through by draft one day before the tournament. According to the regulations of the tournament, the contestants got devided into two groups.
Group A
Group B
PSG.LGD
Virtus.pro
Vici Gaming
TNC Predator
OG
Newbee
Team Secret
EG
Team Liquid
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