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After a few bumps in the road, GESC’s first Dota Pro Circuit event has finally arrived, taking place in Jakarta, Indonesia. Taking place in massive city in the epicenter of a major Dota 2 region, the tickets for the event have sold out, meaning fans from across Southeast Asia have prepped to catch the action.
The teams are no less prepared. GESC Indonesia is entered as a Dota Pro Circuit Minor, meaning $300,000 is on the line, along with 300 Qualifying Points. With CIS team Virtus.Pro already guaranteed for The International, seven more teams need to fight their way onto the road to TI8.
Possibly the most intimidating points-wise is VGJ.Thunder, a Chinese squad that most recently fell to VP in the Bucharest Major — but took a hefty second-place finish. While they historically haven’t done too well at events, their GESC Indonesia qualifier and Bucharest wins with recently-acquired Leong “ddc” Fat-meng means they may have a fighting chance here in Southeast Asia.
Evil Geniuses, then, will have a chance to redeem themselves, as they fell to VGJ.T in the finals of Galaxy Battles, the Manila-based ex-Major in February. To make matters worse, with VGJ.T’s Bucharest achievement, the Chinese squad pushed the North American favorites out of the top eight Pro Circuit rankings, where they sit a mere 15 points under SEA’s Mineski.
In addition, we’ll be seeing some new faces at this event. The European qualifier spot was taken by The Final Tribe, comprised of Swedish players including some Alliance alums. The squad came second in the Dota 2 Asian Championship only to the legendary OG Dota, but they beat out European dark horse Team Kinguin on their way to this Indonesian Minor.
GESC also opened up the doors to some local squads to bring in Indonesian pride by having their own Indonesia Qualifier, won by Rex Regum Qeon. None of the teams were particularly well-known internationally, but like the SEA and SA qualifiers of the DPC, this may open up the doors to more esports opportunities in the region.
With squads old and new coming in for the competition, this will certainly spice up the Dota Pro Circuit’s fare. Be sure not to miss the action with our schedule below.
Format
Official Stream: twitch.tv/geschampionship
Prizes: The prize pool will be $300,00 USD with 300 Qualifying Points at stake, in proportion to the cash prize. Point distribution and cash prizes for teams that earn points will be as follows:
- 1st Place — 150 Qualifying Points/player; $110,000 team prize
- 2nd Place — 90 Qualifying Points/player; $65,000 team prize
- 3rd/4th Places (both Semifinals losers) — 30 Points/Player; $35,000 team prize
If you’re still a bit confused about how the Pro Circuit will work, check out our primer about the Valve-sanctioned tournament series.
Competition Format: This event’s group stages will be in an altered “GSL” format, intended to be a double-elimination format. All teams will play in the Playoffs.
- Each team in the group of four will play another team in a best-of-one.
- The winners of this initial match play each other in the Upper Bracket Finals for placement in the Playoffs Semifinals.
- The losers of the initial match meet for Lower Bracket Match 1.
- The losers of the Upper Bracket Finals meets the winners of the Lower Bracket Match 1 for Match 2, for placement into the Playoffs Quarterfinals.
- The losers of Match 2 meet and play for a best-of-one seeding in the Playoffs Round-of-Eight match.
- The Playoffs are played as a single-elimination bracket, with Round-of-Eight being best-of-one and the rest being best-of-three, including Finals.
The Sunday matches will be the most heated, as these include both the Semifinals and Finals rounds.
Teams/Groups:
Group A:
- Evil Geniuses (North America, Direct Invite)
- Infamous (South America, Qualifiers)
- Natus Vincere (Commonwealth of Independent States, Qualifiers)
- Rex Regegum Qeon (Southeast Asia, Qualifiers)
Group B:
- Digital Chaos [Formerly Iceberg, Animal Planet] (NA, Qualifiers)
- Fnatic (Southeast Asia, Qualifiers)
- The Final Tribe (Europe, Qualifiers)
- VGJ.Thunder (China, Qualifiers)
Schedule:
(Note: Times in ET. Due to the gap in time zones, dates will be listed next to the first match of that date in ET. All times are approximate and will shift depending on prior match length.)
Groups Day 1
- 10:15 PM (Wednesday, March 14) — Group A Initial Match — Evil Geniuses (NA) vs Infamous (SA)
- 11:35 PM — Group B Initial Match — VGJ.Thunder (CN) vs The Final Tribe (EU)
- 12:50 AM (Thursday, March 15) — Group A Match 2 — Natus Vincere (CIS) vs Rex Regum Qeon (SEA)
- 2:15 AM — Group B Match 2 — Fnatic (SEA) vs Digital Chaos (NA)
- 3:45 AM — Group A Winner’s Bracket Match (Group A, Match 1 Winner vs Match 2 Winner)
- 7:25 AM — Group A Winner’s Bracket Match (Group A, Match 1 Winner vs Match 2 Winner)
Groups Day 2
- 10:25 PM (Thursday, March 15) — Group A Lower Bracket Match 1
- 2:15 AM (Friday, March 16) — Group B Lower Bracket Match 1
- 6:05 AM — Group A Lower Bracket Match 2
- 7:25 AM — Group B Lower Bracket Match 2
Playoffs Day 1
- 11:30 PM (Friday, March 16) — Round-of-Eight Match 1
- 1:00 AM (Saturday, March 17) — Round-of-Eight Match 2
- 2:30 AM — Quarterfinals Match 1
- 6:30 AM — Quarterfinals Match 2
Sunday, October 22 — Playoffs Day 2
- 11:30 PM (Saturday, March 17) — Semifinal 1
- 3:30 AM (Sunday, March 18) — Semifinal 2
- 8:00 AM — Grand Finals
More information should be available on their official site.