Dota King, more commonly known as DK, has resolved the time clash the team had with WPC-ACE League and confirmed their participation in MLG Columbus, taking place November 22-24.
When WPC-ACE League announced their schedule for their 2013 season, Bei 'Farseer' Peng, DK's team manager quickly realized that there is a time clash between the two tournaments. Peng explained the situation to MLG but did not say they fully confirmed that they couldn't go and they told MLG that they have to talk to ACE about it.
Peng then reached out to Le 'King' Pei, CEO of ACE, and other committee members about the issue and ACE took a few days before they tweaked WPC-ACE League's schedule to work around MLG Columbus.
"We told them the tournament is of great importance to us and they understood," said Peng in how they approached ACE with the request.
The only schedule change made to WPC-ACE League is DK's second best-of-two match against TongFu on November 22. Bei told us the match has been rescheduled to November 20, meaning DK will have to play two best-of-two matches on the same day, first against LGD.Int and then against TongFu.
DK will be leaving for the States on November 21 and will be leaving for China by the 25th. Considering that DK will have to play till late the day before they depart and reach the States on the same day, one may be concerned if the time crunch will affect DK's performance at the $50,000 tournament.
Peng added, "The schedule is very tight for us and we will be suffering from jet lag as well. But we do not want to give up on such an opportunity and we will try our best to overcome these external factors.
"We do not have any specific goals going into MLG Columbus but we will appreciate the chance to be able to compete against Na`Vi and Alliance."
However, MLG is ready to accommodate DK who will be taking a 17 hours flight (including layover) to Columbus. "We will do our best to help the players get prepared for the event and make the competition environment as comfortable as possible," said Adam Apicella, Executive Vice President of Major League Gaming. "I will be talking to my league team about scheduling their initial matches on Friday a bit later in the day to accommodate their rest."
Greater Columbus Convention Center. MLG Columbus venue. Photo by dispatch.com
The decision to bring DK to MLG Columbus was made through a question asked on MLG's social media pages a few weeks back. After a careful review, MLG realized that majority of the fans seem to favour DK over any other teams. "They wanted it, we make it happen," MLG responded.
DK and MLG have been negotiating about their participation for weeks now. The negotiation was put on hold for ACE's response but MLG is very excited that DK is participating.
"We could not be happier with how our Championship event in Columbus is shaping up," said Apicella.
DK will be joining some of the finest Western teams and also two qualifying North American teams in the tournament. The line-up of the tournament is parallel to MLG's mission to promote the North American Dota 2 scene by creating chance for up and coming North American teams to compete against legendary teams like Alliance and Na`Vi.
MLG is running two qualifiers for the Columbus tournament. The NA Fall Dota 2 League is currently underway and culminates with the MLG Fall Invitational on the October 18 The winner will earn $10,000 in cash and a spot in MLG Columbus. MLG is also running an Online Qualifier. Teams can register now for the Dota 2 Open Online Qualifier taking place from September 28 – October 16. The top eight teams along with the teams finishing 2nd-8th in the NA Fall Dota 2 League will advance to compete in the invite-only qualifier from October 21 – November 6 for the spot at the Championship in Columbus.
The winner of MLG Columbus will walk away with $25,000 in cash prize while the distribution for the second, third and fourth placers remain unknown.
Spectators who would like to watch MLG Columbus live from Greater Columbus Convention Center are encouraged to purchase the entry ticket on MLG Store. The normal tickets cost $35 for the whole weekend while VIP tickets are $250 a piece.
“On behalf of MLG, I would like to thank ACE for accommodating the schedule change. We hope this is the beginning of a broader collaboration to ensure the best global platform for the players," said Apicella.
Teams participating in MLG Columbus:
The Alliance
Na’Vi
Fnatic
DK
Team Liquid
Evil Geniuses
Invite-only qualifier winner
MLG Fall Invitational Winner (TBD)
