Team Liquid and Newbee, the two finalists from The International 7, will be present at ESL One Hamburg, the first Major in the new Dota 2 system.
ESL announced Wednesday the two teams were invited to ESL One Hamburg, which takes place the last week of October. Liquid and Newbee are the only two teams to receive direct invites to the Major. The six other teams will have to win their spots through regional qualifiers in Europe, the CIS, China, Southeast Asia, North America, and South America.
Liquid had a dramatic run to win TI7 after being knocked down to the losers bracket of the main event. Newbee awaited Liquid in the finals after running through Evil Geniuses, Invictus Gaming and LGD.Forever Young in the upper bracket.
ESL One Hamburg is the first Valve-sponsored Major of the new season and contains a $1 million prize pool. The first place team will take home $500,000.
The teams will compete for more than just prize money, as the Major will reward high placed teams in the newly-created qualifying points system. As the sole criteria for determining invitations for next year’s International, individual players will accumulate points with the top three players’ points adding up the team’s total.