Preview of DreamLeague Season 11

On 14 March, the best teams of the modern professional Dota stage will make it to Sweden to define the next champion of a Major and to decide the prize pool of $1,000,000 and 15,000 Dota Pro Circuit points which are necessary to get to The International.

Holding format

Sixteen best collectives of the modern professional stage will be taking part in the competition. Fifteen out of them made it to the tournament thanks to the regional qualifiers whereas Vici Gaming appeared to be the best at StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor.

Division of slots for regions:

• Europe - 3 slots
• The CIS - 2 slots
• China - 3 slots
• Southeast Asia - 2 slots
• North America - 3 slots
• South America - 2 slots
• Winner of StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor - 1 slot

All the participants have been divided into four groups where they are going to play in the GSL system. By the way, the group stage is not very important as no team will leave the competition by its results. The final placement of the rosters in quarters will influence only seeding in the playoff bracket.

Division of the teams into groups

At the final stage the participants are going to play in the double-elimination bracket with matches up to two wins. Only the first round of the losers’ bracket will be played in the bo1 format and at the grand final the team has to win at least three maps.

Championship organization

DreamHack is going to organize the championship. This studio is known for its home atmosphere at their tournaments. They have held ten tournaments of the DreamLeague series, the prize pool of which is always more than $50,000 and each of them was held at the LAN finals and that's why the studies does have enough experience.

Championship importance

This competition is extremely important for any professional Dota 2 player as apart from the prize pool, the players will be fighting for a big amount of rating points. By the way, victory at the Major provides the team with a trip to The International 2019, and this is the goal of any collective for a season.

Prize pool

As Valve gave the tournament a Major status, its prize pool will include $1,000,000 and 15,000 Dota Pro Circuit points. You can see its division below:

• 1 place: $350,000 + 4,950 DPC points
• 2 place: $170,000 + 3,000 DPC points
• 3 place: $100,000 + 2,100 DPC points
• 4 place: $80,000 + 1,350 DPC points
• 5-6 place: $60,000 + 900 DPC points
• 7-8 place: $40,000 + 450 DPC points
• 9-12 place: $15,000 + 150 DPC points
• 13-16 place: $7,500 DPC points

Teams’ chances

Team Secret: Victory coefficient from Parimatch — 3.75

Photographer - Andrey Bosenko

The guys from Team Secret have already shown during this season that they are one of the best team on the professional Dota 2 stage. At the current season they guys have won The Chongqing Major and made it to the final The Kuala Lumpur Major. Besides, they also turned out to be the strongest at some tournaments that are not included into the DPC system. Now the collective is in a good shape and several weeks ago they won ESL One Katowice 2019.

Team Liquid: Victory coefficient from Parimatch — 4

Photographer - Andrey Bosenko

Kuroky and the team also can be seen among three best teams in the world and they have already won two of three LAN tournaments where they took part in. The collective couldn't find anyone who could be equal to them at MegaFon Winter Clash and MDL Macau 2019, but they didn't make it to four best at The Chongqing Major, but at that championship the roster was performing with a substitute. Taking into account that Virtus.Pro and Team Secret have already provided themselves with a slot at The International and they are unlikely to play to the full extent of their power - “liquids” have the biggest chance to win the tournament.

Virtus.Pro: Victory coefficient from Parimatch — 4.7

Photographer - Andrey Bosenko

Virtus.Pro became the champions of the first major of this rating season The Kuala Lumpur Major. After that the roster also managed to make it to the grand final of The Chongqing Major and to get to the third position of MDL Macau 2019 and WESG 2018. At the last tournaments the collective performed not in the best way but this is not what shows the gaming shape of “bears” as they were performing without special preparation.

Evil Geniuses: Victory coefficient from Parimatch — 11

Photographer - Andrey Bosenko

Evil Geniuses are a very strong team and they can easily win over the clearest favorites of this competition but the collectives always lack something and they just can't win the championship. At the current season the guys got the third position twice at the third position at Major tournaments and at the recently finished MDL Macau 2019 Cr1t and the team couldn't oppose Team Liquid at the grand final. The team is likely to show their best side, but it will be difficult to win for the team.

PSG.LGD: Victory coefficient from Parimatch — 13

Photographer - Andrey Bosenko

The guys from PSG.LGD were seen among four best teams of the professional Dota stage until recently, but they are having some difficulties this season. Fy and the team couldn't make it to three best at The Kuala Lumpur Major at The Chongqing Major. By the way, the team will perform at this competition with a substitute, as Maybe is still on vacation.

Keen Gaming: Victory coefficient from Parimatch — 15

The roster of Keen Gaming has been showing themselves well recently and they got wins at several online championships. There is also the third place at The Bucharest Minor among their last serious achievements. The collective performs pretty stably and is likely to have some unexpected results, but it's early for them to fight with such clubs as Virtus.pro or Team Liqiuds.

Vici Gaming: Victory coefficient from Parimatch — 15

Photographer - Andrey Bosenko

Vici Gaming are still close to Keen Gaming and now they perform at approximately the same level. The collective is not famous for their stability, but at the last StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor they showed a great shape and won a competition not losing against their opponents at any of the maps. The only problem of the team that has got to the major through minor can be absence of new strategies.

EHOME, Fnatic and NiP: Victory coefficient from Parimatch — 21

Photographer - Igor Bezborodov

All the three collectives show approximately the same results and bookmakers give the equal coefficient of their win. The mentioned collectives win minor online tournaments and show themselves well at the rating championships. This event is unlikely to become an exception and Fnatic together with NiP must get to Eight Best. EHOME's results are questionable as they have had two replacements in their roster and now they look weaker than a month ago.

Forward Gaming: Victory coefficient from Parimatch — 21

Photographer - Andrey Bosenko

At every tournament everybody expects that Forward Gaming will show a shape they has in spring in 2018, but they disappoint their fans all the time. The collective had their last replacement in September and after that their results worsened a lot. The players from Forward Gaming are not able to get higher than the 9-12 position at the rating tournament. We suppose that this competition will become decisive for the guys as The International 2019 is on in a couple of days and they have nothing to do there with such a game.

Mineski and Chaos: Victory coefficient from Parimatch — 26 and 31, correspondingly

Photographer - Igor Bezborodov

Mineski and Chaos now look as teams that are unlikely to get the last positions but they also are not to get a place in Six Best. The collective are much stronger than the guys from the South America and now they can oppose to such rosters as Forward Gaming and J.Storm, but PSG.LGD or Vici Gaming will be difficult for them.

Natus Vincere: Victory coefficient from Parimatch — 31

Photographer - Andrey Bosenko

We suppose that this team is a bit underestimated by the bookmakers and they are able to perform at the competition well. The collective has been playing together since September and they show good results online. They also visited DreamLeague Season 10 and MegaFon Winter Clash, where they made it to the final. The team is likely to be pressured morally by the fan base and the Major status of the tournament, but being a dark horse, they have a chance to achieve a lot.

J.Storm: Victory coefficient from Parimatch — 41

Fear and the team visit major tournaments by Valve from time to time, they hold the last place in the group, make a sensation at the first round of the losers’ bracket and leaves the event losing against Fnatic at the next stage. We suppose that this time they are going to follow the same scenario and if they get to Eight Best, it will be success for them.

Infamous: Victory coefficient from Parimatch — 81

Infamous are the main outsider of the championship as they visit Major tournaments rarely. And if we take into account that they guys made it to the competition through qualifiers in South America (this region is considered to be the weakest in Dota 2), their chance is the least.