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Well over a month since the last season, Netolic has finally released the confirmed schedule for the fourth edition of the Western league. The league will officially begin on the 9th of October and end with the grand finals on the 18th of December. NPL4 will be played out in the form of five cups (a la The Premier League 5) with the teams coming out tops seeded into the Winner's Bracket and the remaining teams seeded into the Lower Bracket. The tournament will close off with two teams fighting in a best-of-5 format (with the WB team gaining a one game advantage) for the grand prize of $6,000.
Cup 1 bracket:
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To kick things off, the boys over at Fnatic will be going up against dd.dota on the 9th of October at 19:00 CET. This should be an interesting match-up considering dd's flourishing results after the recent second-place finish at the Starladder Season 7 groupstages. The team has had their ups and downs, being the first team to be eliminated at TI3 but have proven to be a force to be reckoned with after their roster changes; beating Ukrainian powerhouse Natus Vincere. A huge question still remains though: how will the squad play their matches? After all, they had to withdraw from Starladder due to FATA's hand injury.
Not forgetting their opponent, Fnatic, who were one of the teams who made it into the Top 8 of TI3. Fnatic was one of the only teams who have managed to maintain roster stability throughout the post-TI3 period. Their performance, however, have been far from stable and has actually seen a decline. The team has yet to see a victory against any of the more well-known pro Dota 2 teams and was even taken down in the latest Starladder by Poseidon, a team which has actually lost to dd! All's not lost however, as one can always rely on N0tail's incredible micro-skills.
The second match between Life and EG will happen on the following day at 18:00 CET.
Also, if you are looking to buy the tournament ticket for NPL #4, it has just been released on the Dota 2 store and is bundled with a courier.
Source: Netolic
