With just five days to go before the first ever Dota 2 Major hosted in South America, the group stage draw has been finalised.
4D Esports and Epulze, the Lima Major organisers, went for a live stream for the group stage draw and gave a bit of a scare to the Dota 2 fans with a rather lackluster production studio set. But, besides the overall execution scare, the Lima Major groups have been set and the hopes remain high for a high quality first Major in SA and the first Major of the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit.
A total of 18 teams secured their spot at the Lima Major during the regular season of the Winter Tour and will start their quest for the trophy divided in two groups. The top six teams from each group will make the cut to the playoffs, while the bottom three teams will be eliminated.
Lima Major format
Group Stage: February 22 - February 26, 2023
- Two groups of nine teams each
- Single round-robin
- All matches are Bo2
- Top four teams from each group advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs
- 5th and 6th place teams from each group advance to the lower bracket of the playoffs
- Remaining teams are eliminated
Playoffs - February 28 - March 5, 2023
- Double-elimination bracket
- All matches except Grand Final are Bo3
- Grand Final is Bo5
By far, Group A seems the more balanced one, with no team being an obvious front-runner. It’s also the group with the highest chances of seeing regional top seed teams going home early.
Group A
Execration
Gaimin Gladiators
TSM
Evil Geniuses
PSG.LGD
Team Spirit
Talon Esports
EHOME
Tundra Esports
At first glance, Group B looks like an easy path to the playoffs for Team Liquid, who have been dominating the WEU league, securing their spot at the major with a clean 7-0 run.
Group B
Geek Slate
Team Liquid
Shopify Rebellion
beastcoast
Team Aster
BetBoom Team
HellRaisers
Entity
Knights
Lima Major has a total prize pool of $500,000 and 1,900 DPC points to offer. Similar to the previous DPC season, only the top eight teams at the end of the tournament will get a share of the prize money and the DPC points.
Out of the 18 participating teams, two will be playing with stand-ins and will suffer point penalties at the major. PSG.LGD couldn’t secure the visa for their offlane player, Li "项羽" Longwu and will be competing with Ren "old eLeVeN" Yangwei standing in, while HellRaisers, who kicked their carry after qualifying for the Major, will have OG’s Artem "Yuragi" Golubiev standing in for them.
With the dates set and the groups decided, the final puzzle piece for the Lima Major is the broadcast talent, which is yet to be announced. So stay tuned and check our tournament hub HERE, for daily schedule, latest updates, and scores!
