New rules for 2022-2023 DPC season

The new season of the Dota Pro Circuit is around the corner, and teams are locking in on players and rebuilding their rosters, with quite a few announcing their departure from the Dota 2 pro scene before the deadline in December. And recently, Valve has announced that the new season will implement harsher penalty rules for teams. 

The new rules were stated among the frequently asked questions as the initial roster lock for the 2022-2023 DPC Season will end on December 9. 

Roster locks and penalties

Player removals and player locks can still happen during the DPC season, but player removal will be only allowed if it’s done after the Major. It is now stated that teams will incur a 20% penalty with the addition of the normal player-removal penalty to all DPC Points earned if they remove a player after they were qualified for the Major.

Back in the previous season, it was only 15% penalty. There will be no penalty for adding a new player. This is done to prevent players from being dropped at the last minute, leaving them no time to join another team. 

Furthermore, Valve also implemented a new format for using substitutes at the Major. Teams will still be allowed to bring up to two substitutes for the Major if needed, but using those players when the situation arises will cost a 40% penalty on DPC Points earned from the particular Major per sub. If the team requires more than two substitutes, the team will be considered forfeited from the particular Major. Also, a team can play with a sub for four out of seven matches during the Regional League.

Lastly, Valve announced that it has also updated rules regarding owning a DPC spot within each region. Now, it is stated that the owner of the slot will be the person who is registered as the admin of the team. For teams, this is generally a manager or a person representing the organization. If the team wishes to have an admin with limited control, a team may set up contracts among themselves and can change their admin at anytime.

The new TI format

These changes were done with prior experience. Back in the 2021-2022 DPC season after the Airlington Major, Finatic got qualified for TI11 as Outsiders had to go through the qualifiers when the community pointed out a points distribution error to Valve. 

Furthermore, there will no longer be an Open Qualifier for The International 2023. This is done to prevent qualification shortcuts. Instead, all Regional Leagues will now have an Open Qualifier tournament for their Division II spots which means that the final DPC Tour will act as an Open Qualifier. 

Header: Valve Corporation