Hopes will be fulfilled, dreams will be shattered. 60 teams will battle next week in the regional qualifiers for a handful of spots to the biggest Dota 2 event of the year, The International 2017.
For a lot of professional teams The International regional qualifiers are the most important step towards a successful season. This year’s International regional qualifiers will run from the 26th to 30th of June in a two stages format that gives to all the participants more chances at fine tuning their tactics and landing the big victory that will have them packing for Seattle. The 60 teams (10 in each of the region) will start in a Round Robin, best-of-one group stage where each team will play against all others nine opponents in their region. Each won game is worth one point and at the end of this Round Robin group stage, the first placed team in each region, except CIS and South America, will be already qualified to TI 7.
The CIS and South America regional qualifiers format is slightly different as only one team from each of these two regions will qualify to TI7, as opposed to the rest of the regions which have at least two spots reserved.
For CIS and SA, winning the Round Robin stage will not be enough to qualify. Instead, the top four teams in the group stage will advance in a double elimination bracket where they will battle it out for the one spot available in their respective region.
CIS and South America regional qualifiers format:
Phase one:
10 teams - Round Robin group, bo 1
Top 4 advance in phase two
Phase two:
4 teams - Double Elimination bracket, bo3 series
Grand finals are bo5 - winners qualify to TI7
In the Chinese, SEA, European and North America regions, the winners of the Round Robin group stage will go straight to Seattle while the 2nd to 5th placed teams in the group will go to regional qualifiers stage two which for China and SEA means a GSL bracket while for Europe and North America is a double elimination bracket.
For those not familiar with the many formats, the difference between stage two in SEA and China vs Europe and North America was needed because of the qualifying slots. Having two teams qualifying to TI 7 from stage two in SEA and China, the GSL bracket eliminates the need of grand finals. Europe and NA have just one team that will qualify from stage two, meaning that the lower bracket and winners and the upper bracket winners will have to clash in a bo5 grand finals to decide which one will secure the tickets for The International 7.
China and Southeast Asia regional qualifiers format:
Phase one:
10 teams - Round Robin group, bo1
1st place qualify to TI 7
2nd to 5th place advance to phase two
Phase two:
4 teams - GSL bracket, bo3 series
Upper Bracket winners qualify to TI 7
Lower Bracket winners qualify to TI 7
Europe and North America regional qualifiers format:
Phase one:
10 teams - Round Robin group, bo1
1st place qualify to TI 7
2nd to 5th place advance to phase two
Phase two:
4 teams - Double Elimination bracket, bo3 series
Grand finals are bo5, winner qualify to TI 7
The International 2017 regional qualifiers Hub is fully packed with the best Dota 2 commentators, analysts and content creators and will be hosted by Beyond the Summit. The action will go live on the BTS streams on the 25th of June at 10 am PDT/19:00 CEST.
