While we are all caught up following The International 5 qualifiers, MLG has revealed the groups and the format for the upcoming LAN finals of joinDOTA MLG Pro League 2.
With each group of the MLG Championship housing four teams, the tournament structure will operate as follows. The first round is double elimination: each team of each respective group will play a series of best-of-one matches against one another with the top two teams of each group advancing to the playoff round. The playoff round is of course single elimination: the finalists of each group will face each other in a best-of-3 matchup, with the winners and losers of each advancing to the winner’s and loser’s brackets, respectively. The teams entering the first round of the winner’s bracket will each play for direct entry into the grand finals. Since the loser of this round will be left to duke it out with the remaining teams in the lower bracket, the tournament will culminate in the last team of each bracket facing off in a traditional best-of-five final matchup.
It should be noted that each group is home to one replacement squad: Vega - having been forced to drop out due to visa issues - has had their spot in Group A filled by LDNCON, whereas NiP is taking the place of TI-invited Team Empire in Group B.
It seems fair to say that EG is the decided favourite of Group A (being that they represent the group’s sole TI contestant). Given Alliance’s recent elimination from the TI5 European Qualifier, however, we may see them demonstrate the kind of gumption needed for a top tier finish. Team Malaysia and Virtus.Pro are the only other (directly) TI-invited teams in the tournament, making them the obvious contenders for the top spots in their group. Newly assembled mouz and the dominant, Swedish ‘powerhouse’ NiP will each need to come hard and fast if they hope to advance, especially given the disappointment of their recent elimination from the TI5 Qualifiers.
The MLG Season 2 Championship starts at 11:00 AM CDT on June 5, goes until the 7th, and will be held at the X Games in Austin, Texas. This tournament is set to clash with the MarsTV Dota League - where the vast majority of TI-invited teams will be competing - leaving EG, MY, and Virtus.Pro as MLG’s only contestants who were afforded direct invitations to this year’s International.
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