Goodbye old Majors system: Valve details new Dota 2 Pro Circuit series

Valve has finally revealed what it’s going to be like for future Dota 2 tournaments, after it decided to retire the old Majors system in favor of an updated Pro Circuit series that comes after the post-International 7 roster shuffle.

Unlike what we saw in Valve Majors the past few years, the Pro Circuit will include much more tournaments known as Majors and Minors. These events are backed by Valve’s financial support and will be hosted primarily by third-party organizers such as ESL، PGL and DreamHack. According to official webpage, there will be 11 Majors and 16 Minors in the Circuit, beginning with the StarLadder i-League Invitational and PGL Open Bucharest next month and ending in June 2018, with a Major worth $1.5 million.

Valve has set some requirements for organizers to have their events classified under the Pro Circuit, like having the Major events start at $1 million in prize money with Minors starting at $300,000. Both Majors and Minors must also host open and regional qualifiers. Each event will award qualification points that will go towards team slots at TI8 next year. Majors will give at least 1500 points in total, while Minors will give at least 300.

Points are earned by the top three teams at each event and are tied to players, not to teams and/or organizations. If a player decides to join a different team, his qualification points will be retained. In order to discourage players from jumping to high-scoring teams, only the totals of the top three point scorers on each team will be counted towards their final total. The top eight teams by points at the end of the Pro Circuit season will be invited directly to TI8. The rest of the competitors will be determined by regional qualifiers as usual.

Valve also addressed the change to its rules regarding coaching. All coaches will be allowed to speak with the team during the drafting phase, but when the game itself starts all coaches must leave the playing area. This is the first time coaches may be present in the drafting phase for their respective teams in Valve-sponsored events and it’s certainly a welcome change.

We will be waiting for the new system to take place next month, and we expect all the best from these changes.