According to a tweet from Team Secret manager Matthew “Cyborgmatt” Bailey, next year’s Dota 2 season will include 11 $1 million Majors and 11 $300,000 minors.
Dota 2 2017/2018. 11 minors, 11 majors. pic.twitter.com/qnVOFhkoBB
— Matthew Bailey (@Cyborgmatt) August 1, 2017
The tweet reveals a schedule presumably passed down from Valve that shows the first Major will be hosted by ESL and run in October. The latest development follows Valve’s July 3 announcement regarding changes for the new competitive season. The format departs from the previous model of two $3 million Majors and little structure around other intermittent tournaments before The International.
The new schedule will also be the first time where Qualifying Points will be introduced. This points, which will determine the teams who are invited to The International 8, will be awarded in each Major and Minor based on the prize pool. Players on high ranking teams will get Qualifying Points, with the top three players in terms of accumulated Qualifying Points contributing to the team’s overall Qualifying Points.
The expanded tournament schedule is also in line with Valve’s announcement that it planned to “work more closely with third-party tournaments.” The list of Majors and Minors show a number of different organizers, with the first Minor after The International 7 being hosted by Starladder from Oct. 11-15. The first Major will be hosted by ESL, and will take place from Oct. 26-29.
Other notable organizers for future Dota 2 Minors and Majors include PGL, DreamHack, and Beyond the Summit, as well as the Chinese organizer Perfect World, which will host two Majors and a Minor. Beyond the Summit has been hosting comparatively smaller LAN tournaments in the U.S., while Perfect World will host its first Valve sanctioned event with the new schedule since the terribly received Shanghai Major last year.
UPDATE (4:14 p.m. ET): ESL One Hamburg will be the first Dota 2 Major of the new season.