The International 10 – What We Learned So Far

After a one-year delay, The International 10 is finally taking place. As usual, the event will be held in August (5^th – 15^th). And the location will be Stockholm, Sweden, as it was originally planned.

The International 10 Competitive Format

The International 10 will feature 18 teams, which is the standard for this event. As a result, the competitive format will most likely be the usual one: Group Stage followed by Playoffs. The Group Stage will consist of two groups of 9 and 8 of these competitors will advance to the second stage.

In the Playoffs, the format will be double-elimination. The first round of the Lower Bracket will be Bo1. Every other match is Bo3, apart from the Grand Final, which is a Bo5 match.

Prize Pool

The International is famous for its enormous prize pools and The International 2021 makes no exception. It surpasses all of the previous editions in this category. Its total prize pool is $40 million.

It is not yet known how the amount will be divided among the 18 participants, but I expect even the lowest-ranked teams to get a substantial sum of money.

Qualification Process

Just as with previous editions, the top 12 teams of the Dota Pro Circuit will get a direct invitation to the tournament. Six other competitors will qualify via regional qualifiers. Each region gets one ticket. In most regions, it’s quite obvious who the winner will be. But in some, like China and Europe, the battle looks fierce.

Qualified Teams

So far, 2 of the 12 directly invited teams have been decided. These are Virtus.pro and Evil Geniuses. Both teams have qualified as a result of winning over 1000 points, which is the current worst-case scenario amount required for qualification. EG will most likely fail to win Season 2 in the North American Upper Division after losing their direct match against Quincy Crew. As for Virtus.pro, the team already won the Eastern European competition.

 

Photo credit: Valve