Tour 1 of the DPC 2022-23 season is about to officially begin, and we're here to remind you about some interesting and important information.
The International 2022 ended on October 30th with Tundra's impressive undefeated run culminating in a stunning 3:0 sweep through Team Secret.
Since then, it has been a dry spell. Dota 2 official games were limited to qualifiers and a few regional events sprinkled around the map. Mostly, teams were undergoing some pretty hefty roster changes and even moves in preparation for the DPC 2022-23 Season.
Now that things are finally about to get moving, here are a few things to keep in mind as you sit down to watch the action.
1. Fast & Furious League Play
The schedule for the regional leagues went down from six weeks to just three. This is a big improvement and something that the professional scene has asked for the past two years. It opens time windows for third-party tournaments to happen in between each Tour and gives the pro players space to take small breaks in between the seasons.
2. Split Divisions
This year Valve has decided to do something new. The two divisions of each regional league will not be played in the same time frame anymore. Division 2 will start once Division 1 matches are over.
3. Region Hoppers
Region hopping seems to be a trend for the season for organizations and players with enough money or the ability to travel, such as Danil “Dendi” Ishutin's new B8 team 3/4 full of Ukrainian players competing now in NA, Evil Geniuses picking up a full South America stack and pivoting their focus south of the border and Alliance signing a full SA stack, Alliance.LATAM, in addition to their EU one.
- Read Dendi moves B8 to NA DPC Regional League
- Read Alliance venture to South America with TI11 Hokori roster
- Read Evil Geniuses officially announce full South American roster
4. Big Roster Changes
The post-TI11 shuffle can easily be considered one of the biggest the Dota 2 professional scene has seen in recent years. There have been some massive shakeups and new rosters hitting the field.
- Shopify Rebellion has entered the NA Dota scene and picked up the former EG roster, with the addition of Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek as well.
- Dmitry "DM" Dorokhin arrives to OG after spending the past couple of months inactive in the Virtus.pro roster. he is to replace Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf in the offlane.
- Team Liquid completed its lineup with Michał "Nisha" Jankowski assuming the mid-lane role left open by Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen's retirement.
- Alexander "TORONTOTOKYO" Khertek will shift to support and Danil "gpk" Skutin will play mid for BetBoom.
- Denis "Larl" Sigitov will have big shoes to fill at Team Spirit. He joins the squad two days after the TI10 champions had to wave goodbye to their one-of-a-kind mid laner.
- Bleed Esports, a Singaporean organization, most known for its VALORANT division, has bought T1’s Southeast Asia Division I slot for the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit season with a new roster.
- Chinese legends Fy and Fenrir, who placed second at TI4 under the Vici Gaming banner, reunite once more, though the latter remains in the coach position.
- PSG.LGD bring in young talent from EHOME and CDEC for the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit season.
- Gaimin Gladiators complete their roster by adding NA mid-lanner Quinn "Quinn" Callahan to their ranks.
- Entity welcomes Kazakstani carry player Alimzhan "watson" Islambekov to the team.
- Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf will assume the vacancy left behind by Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi who is taking a break for health reasons for Nigma Galaxy.
- Alliance had quite a rough go of the DPC 2021-22 season and released their full roster. Now, they are back with a new(ish) lineup including Simon "Handsken" Rasmus Haag and Gustav "s4" Magnusson.
- After bidding farewell to Nisha, Team Secret introduced Miroslav "BOOM" Bičan as the new mid-player, finalizing the roster.
- SEA organization Blacklist will make its Dota 2 debut picking up a full Filipino squad.
- Three of the TI11 Thunder Awaken players and two from beastcoast will now compete under the Evil Geniuses banner.
- Danil “Dendi” Ishutin's new B8 team 3/4 full of Ukrainian players will now be competing in NA.
5. New Major Locations
As part of the ongoing expansion of big Dota 2 events to various regions and countries, it has been revealed via sources that the three Majors for the DPC 2022-23 season will be taking place in Lima, Peru first, then Berlin, Germany, and end in Bali, Indonesia.
With the political climate in Peru and no official announcement, fans will need to keep their eyes peeled on what the final decision will be for the first Major.
Winter Tour
- Division 1 Regional League Tournament: January 9-29, 2023
- Division 2 Regional League Tournament: January 30 - February 19, 2023
- Major Tournament: February 24 - March 5, 2023
While five of the six regions are set to begin the Winter Tour on the 9th of January, China Regional League will start things off a few days earlier and will play 9 series across four days, closing the first week of the Winter Tour before the rest of the region will even begin.
