G-1 League remains the only competition where Western and Asian teams battle it out before The International in August. Though many fans had wished for a European or American team to be invited to the Super League -hosted by Gamefy and Perfect World- in the upcoming two months, it did not happen.
A six-digit prize money, an offline environment setting in Shanghai, constant pressure for top-performance between TI3-winning candidates? Those are the benefits Western-based teams will not profit from. Although, LGD.int will but they have already put down roots as players in China - they were in this sense expected to participate.
This list partipants of the Super League means the latter tournament did not turn out as some had hoped: It is not a revolution in the professional Dota 2 scene overall. It is a big step for Chinese Dota, providing an even better structure than G-League had at the beginning of this year. But it is not the big game changer everyone will synchronize with. Eight Chinese teams together with Orange and LGD.int will turn this into an almost perfect preparation for The International 2013, and the world will be watching them.
In the meantime, Europe and America will continue their program until The International as expected: StarLadder Season 6 will start soon, EMSOne Season 2 is already happening parallel to that. Both tournaments will have their finals in early July, about one month before The International. As a half-year highlight in the transatlantic scene, DreamHack Summer awaits in mid-June, with teams not expected to be prepared enough. And amidst these established offline tournaments, The Premier League and some online tournaments are also seeking the Western teams' attention
.
| Western Schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | Date | Teams | Prize | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Curse Invitational | Finals 18 May | 8 | $10,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| DreamHack Summer 2013 | Finals 15-17 June | 16 | SEK300,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| StarLadder Season 6 | Finals Early July | 4 | $15,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| EMSOne Season 2 | Finals 13-14 July | 8 | $39,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The Premier League | Schedule TBA | TBA | $15,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||
The Asian scene will concentrate on one G-1 League final in late May and be able to concentrate fully on the Super League afterwards, every single Thursday to Saturday until the finals in early July - possibly parallel to the SLTV finals in Kiev. The G-1 League with its separate Asian and Western qualifiers will provide the sole possible test of the Asian and Western teams model, with Liquid and Alliance representing America and Sweden.
When Blizzard announced the WCS for Starcraft 2, calls for a coordinated yearly Dota 2 championship structure were made from the outside. Now though an extensive worldwide pre-TI3 competition is not going to happen - not yet at least. Fans' hope for more World-wide action throughout the year will not yet be met this season.
Super League is the first run of the Gamefy and Perfect World collaboration. Maybe hopes for a big revolution were a bit too high: This time it's mainly Chinese participation, next time possibly some more South-East-Asian teams will get a chance. The next big step after that is postponed until after The International, possibly even until 2014.
| Asian Schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | Date | Teams | Prize | |||||||||||||||||||||
| AMD League | 6-17 May | 12 | $3,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| G-1 League | Finals 24-26 May | 6 | RMB400,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Super League | Final Early July | 10 | RMB1,000,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| E2Max Singapore | Final 7 July | 16 | SGD13,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| GEST Dota 2 | Every month | 16 | $1,000 each | |||||||||||||||||||||
