GESC Thailand preview: schedule, teams and format

It’s near the end of the Dota Pro Circuit season, which means the prizes are ramping up — and the Minors are coming to an end. But there’s one more to go, and GESC Thailand, taking place May 9th through the 12th, is looking to be a promising event.

Bangkok is going to be a fresh weekend for competitive Dota 2 fans. Here, there’s a new rotation of teams ready to fight for a small (but significant) sum of money and Qualifying Points, with seven non-Epicenter teams plus Secret trying for a share of $300,000 USD and 300 Qualifying Points at stake.

Unfortunately, there’s already a bit of tragedy, as two of Vega Squadron’s members couldn’t secure their visas, and the team preferred to take the loss. This brought the team count down from nine to eight, but there’s still plenty of excitement to be had.

Even with very little to worry about for The International 8, given their third place ranking in the Pro Circuit, Team Secret comes fresh from a low finish at Epicenter. Now, they need to prepare to take on some teams that hopefully come in with a new perspective: specifically Evil Geniuses and Fnatic, both of whom have laid low.

Last time Fnatic met Team Secret at DreamLeague Season 9, they took a 3-0 loss. Still, they’ve kept at the top of their game, qualifying for most of their events over local rivals, including the upcoming ESL One Birmingham Major. With their main SEA competitors knocked out and Mineski not present, if they’ve learned anything, they can be a serious threat.

Evil Geniuses has been on their own roller coaster of victories and losses. They failed to qualify for Epicenter, and instead are taking a trip east for this Bangkok event instead. They won in GESC’s Indonesia Minor, and they’re looking to take this one as well — but their track record isn’t too pretty. Whether they’ve improved since Dota 2 Asia Championship a month ago is yet to be seen.

The other wild cards are VGJ.Storm, Keen Gaming and The Final Tribe, as well as Thailand qualifier winner Alpha Red. The more familiar teams, respectively from America, China and Sweden, have been grinding to qualify from their regions. They need it to pay off here in Thailand, as Valve is likely watching out for closed qualifiers. Alpha Red, meanwhile, represents the local Dota 2 scene — and hopefully they and their fans can bring in some great gameplay and enthusiasm.

Excited to see it all go down in the East? We’ve got your guide to the weekend below.

[Editor’s Note: We’ll update with the official schedule once it’s released in full.]

Event Format & Info

Official English Coverage:

• Main Stream: twitch.tv/geschampionship

Prizes: The prize pool will be $300,000 USD with 300 Qualifying Points at stake. Point distribution for teams that earn points will be as follows :

• 1st Place — 75 Qualifying Points/player; $110,000
• 2nd Place — 90 QP/Player; $65,000
• 3rd/4th Place — 30 QP/Player; $35,000

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:

Teams begin in a round-robin group stage, in which all teams play each other, followed by a single-elimination playoff bracket.

1. All teams begin in the group stages and play each other in best-of-one matches.
2. At the conclusion of all matches, the bottom two teams are eliminated.
3. For playoffs, remaining teams are seeded by group stage performance into the single-elimination bracket.
4. The top two teams in Groups start automatically in the semifinals. The rest begin in Quarterfinals.
5. The best-of-three bracketed Playoffs continue until the best-of-three Grand Finals.

Teams:

• Alpha Red (Thailand Qualifier)
• Evil Geniuses (NA, Direct Invite — GESC Indonesia Champions)
• Fnatic (SEA, Qualifier)
• Keen Gaming (China, Qualifier)
• SG e-sports (SA, Qualifier)
• Team Secret (EU, Direct Invite)
• The Final Tribe (EU, Qualifiers)
• VGJ.Storm (NA, Qualifier)

Schedule:

GROUP STAGE: May 9 — May 10

[All Group Stage matches are best-of-one. Some matches start simultaneously.]

Wednesday, May 9th

• 10:00 AM ICT (Tuesday, May 8, 11:00 PM ET)
  Team Secret vs SG e-sports
  ALPHA Red vs Keen Gaming
• 11:15 AM ICT (Wednesday, May 9, 12:15 AM ET)
  ALPHA Red vs The Final Tribe
  Team Secret vs Keen Gaming
• 12:30 PM ICT (1:30 AM ET)
  Fnatic vs The Final Tribe
  VGJ.Storm vs SG e-sports
• 1:45 PM ICT (2:45 AM ET)
  Team Secret vs Fnatic
  Keen Gaming vs SG e-sports
• 3:00 PM ICT (4:00 AM ET)
  VGJ.Storm vs The Final Tribe
  Evil Geniuses vs Keen Gaming
• 4:15 PM ICT (5:15 AM ET)
  Team Secret vs VGJ.Storm
  ALPHA Red vs Fnatic
• 5:30 PM ICT (6:30 AM ET)
  Keen Gaming vs The Final Tribe
  Evil Geniuses vs Alpha Red
• 6:45 PM ICT (7:45 AM ET)
  Fnatic vs SG e-sports
  Evil Geniuses vs VGJ.Storm

Thursday, May 10th

• 10:00 AM ICT (Tuesday, May 8, 11:00 PM ET)
  Evil Geniuses vs The final Tribe
  Fnatic vs VGJ.Storm
• 11:15 AM ICT (Wednesday, May 9, 12:15 AM ET)
  Evil Geniuses vs SG e-sports
  Team Secret vs The Final Tribe
• 12:30 PM ICT (1:30 AM ET)
  ALPHA Red vs SG e-sports
  Keen Gaming vs VGJ.Storm
• 1:45 PM ICT (2:45 AM ET)
  Team Secret vs Evil Geniuses
  Fnatic vs Keen Gaming
• 3:00 PM ICT (4:00 AM ET)
  SG e-sports vs The Final Tribe
  ALPHA Red vs VGJ.Storm
• 4:15 PM ICT (5:15 AM ET)
  Evil Geniuses vs Fnatic
  Team Secret vs ALPHA Red

PLAYOFFS: May 11 — May 12

Friday, May 11

• 1:00 PM ICT (2:00 AM ET) — Show/Stream begins
• 1:30 PM ICT (2:30 AM ET) — Quarterfinals Match 1
• 5:00 PM ICT (6:00 AM ET) — Quarterfinals Match 1

Saturday, May 12

• 10:30 AM ICT (Friday, May 11, 11:30 PM ET)
• 11:00 AM ICT (Saturday, May 12, Midnight ET) — Semifinals Match 1
• 2:30 PM ICT (3:30 AM ET) — Semifinals Match 2
• 5:30 PM ICT (6:30 AM ET) — Grand Finals