With aL abandoning their trip to Kiev the Dota 2 finals of the StarLadder Star Series will only feature seven teams. Only a few days earlier Evil Genius and Quantic Gaming were replaced as well due to not confirming their participation for the tournament. With four out of those seven teams being from East Europe, it will be definitely be the battle of Empire, Na'Vi, Moscow 5 and Virtus.Pro.
With 14 wins out of 15 games during the regular season, Empire is going into the tournament as one of the favourites. It could be the first huge victory for Empire, who currently has a winning streak of 26 games. Their manager Anahronix just stated in an interview that they will try to play their best game in Kiev, even though they don't have a huge offline experience with the current roster.
| Schedule SLTV Finals Dota 2 | |
| Match | Time |
| Group Phase | Thursday, 18 Oct, 13 CET |
| Upper Bracket Semi Final 1 | Friday, 19 Oct, 13 CET |
| Upper Bracket Semi Final 2 | Friday, 19 Oct, 16:30 CET |
| Upper Bracket Final | Friday, 19 Oct, 19:30 CET |
| Lower Bracket Final | Saturday, 20 Oct, 12 CET |
| Consolation Final | Saturday, 20 Oct, 20 CET |
| Grand Final | Sunday, 21 Oct, 18 CET |
On the other hand you have Na'Vi, who couldn't defend their The International-Title not long time ago. So maybe they are more motivated now to win this tournament and grab the $6,000 prize money for the first place. They had to replace XBOCT for the past weeks, but will be back to their full strength for the tournament. And don't forget Moscow 5, who finished the third SLTV season on the second place.
Just before the event mousesports and their Dota 2 team with Kuro 'KuroKy' Takhasomi went different ways. Both sides agreed that it would be the best solution to release the players from their contracts, because they already had other plans for their Dota career after they got knocked out at The International 2. With the help of the former ESL TV caster James '2GD' Harding, they can still travel to Kiev to play the tournament. It is just a one time only investment, Harding said.
The tournament is scheduled to kick off on Thursday, 18th October, at 15:00 CET. The participants will be divided into two groups, where the top two teams are moving into the playoffs. Those will be held in the double elimination format, with the semi-final being played in the best of three and the final in the best of five mode. The group drawing by Empire and Moscow 5 will be done on Wednesday evening.
Besides the main tournament there will also be a female tournament in Dota 2, featuring at least four teams. Virtus.pro, Ownedbypro, meow and Ba`Bi will participate. The number of teams is not limited and the tournament for the ladies is supposed to kick off on Saturday.
| SLTV Season 3 Finals Dota 2 | |
| Teams | Lineup |
 Empire | Goblak, Funn1k, blow, Scandal, Silent |
| Moscow 5 | nexus, Sedoy, BullsEye, STALIANER, Dread |
 Na'Vi | Puppey, Lost, Dendi, XBOCT, ARS-ART |
| Virtus.Pro | NS, Crazy, kSi, Illidan, Santa |
 Skånes Elit | WagamamaW, Reesion, Mini, Fishbone, Pinoy |
 Ex-mousesports | Kuroky, SingSing, SexyBamboe, Alex, Black^ |
 MeetYourMakers | CalculuS, THEneNo, Balsam, Atze, qojqva, Link |
Prize pool SLTV Finals:
1st place: $6,000
2nd place: $3,000
3rd place: $2,500
4th place: $2000
5th place: $500
6th place: $500
7th place: $500
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