StarLadder will enter its 10th season and return once again with a whopping $80,000 prize pool - a number which grows with every DotaTV ticket purchased. Once again, four regional qualifiers will determine the eight teams that will battle in CyberArena in Kiev, Ukraine.
The post-TI depression is slowly reaching its end as more and more tournaments announce themselves. Amongst them is one of the bigger brands: StarLadder returns for its 10th season and will once more provide a starting prizepool of $80,000 with each sold DotaTV ticket adding another $2,50 to the prizepool. Four regional online stages will see eight teams advance to the LAN finals at CyberArena in Kiev. 16 teams from Europe, 8 from America, 8 from China and 12 Southeast-Asian teams will battle it out in different formats starting tomorrow until only eight teams remain for the LAN, taking place from October 23rd-26th.
The online stage of StarLadder's 10th season will be kicked off tomorrow, August 20th, by the SEA region. The 12 teams will play a bo1 round-robin groupstage and only the winner will have a secured spot at the LAN event.
Following that action will be the America region, starting on August 26th. Eight teams from North- and South-America will play in a bo1 round-robin groupstage as well, but this time the top four teams will play a bo3 double elimination playoff bracket. The winner will travel to Kiev.
On August 27th, the biggest region will step in again as Europe will see 16 teams fight it out for four spots. As usual, the European teams will fight in a bo1 round-robin groupstage and the top four finishers will advance to the LAN finals.
The final region will be China, starting only on September 9th. They follow the America's format with a bo1 round-robin groupstage, followed by a bo3 double elimination playoff bracket where two teams will go to Kiev.
The confirmed and participating teams are:
| Europe | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Power Rangers |  AlbumS | |||
| Team Empire | Virtus.pro | |||
 MeetYourMakers |  xGame.kz | |||
| Kompas Gaming | Relax | |||
 Alliance |  Natus Vincere | |||
 Team Tinker | Secret Team | |||
| Cleave | Fnatic | |||
 Cloud9 | Qualifier Winner | |||
| America | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Evil Geniuses | Sneaky Nyx Assassins | |||
| Na'Vi.us | Dream Destroyer | |||
| Shadows in the past |  Not Today | |||
| Union Gaming |  CNB | |||
| SouthEast Asia | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Titan | Arrow Gaming | |||
 First Departure |  Awake | |||
 Mineski | Invasion | |||
| Johnny's Revenge | Execration | |||
 Team Immunity | MSI-EvoGT | |||
| Insidiousidol | MiTH | |||
Coverage will be provided by SLTV, BeyondTheSummit, LGD.TV and many more to cover multiple languages. The DotaTV ticket will include a Tiny set and will cost $10, $2,50 of which will be added to the prizepool. Only teams at the LAN event will receive prize money. A list of the prizepool distribution can be seen below. In addition to the prizemoney, teams will receive full accomodation and travel costs.
| Prizepool distribution | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 45% | |||
| 2nd | 20% | |||
| 3rd | 14% | |||
| 4th | 8% | |||
| 5th-6th | 4% | |||
| 7th-8th | 2,5% | |||
Source: dota2.starladder.tv