Valve reveals TI6 Wildcard Group Stage Matchups and Changes to 2017 competitive season
With less than a day before The International 2016 (TI6) kicks off, Valve has announced the preliminary Wildcard and Group Stage matchups, along with some info about changes to Dota 2’s next competitive season.
THE WILDCARDS
Pinoy representatives Execration (Xctn) will be going up against Chinese team EHOME, while North American team CompLexity Gaming will face the European squad of Escape Gaming in TI6’s preliminary Wildcard matches.These four teams will be going head-to-head in a best-of-three, double elimination bracket to determine the last two teams to advance into the tournament itself.
The brackets for the Wildcard Stage. Pic courtesy of Wykhrm Reddy
The top two will be joining the rest of the qualified and invited teams in the Group Stages, along with the assurance of at least a 0.3% cut of the tournament’s humongous prize pool of over $19 million (more or less $100,000). The bottom two however will not only go home empty-handed, but will also have to content themselves to watching the rest of the tournament from the sidelines.
After a harrowing journey just for the chance to compete in the biggest tournament in all of eSports, the Wildcard stages will be the last hurdle for Xctn on the road to glory.
READ: Pinoy teams TnC and Xctn might miss chance to compete in TI6 due to visa problems
READ: TnC and Xctn secure visas a day before flying to TI6
Wanna know more about Xctn and the teams they’re up against in the Wildcards? Read our team previews here.
THE GROUP STAGES
Valve has also drawn the groups for TI6’s Group Stages, which will take place from August 3 to 5. The Group Stages will have two groups of eight teams, with every team facing against every other team in their group. The top four teams in each group will be seeded into the Upper Bracket of the Main Event, while the bottom four of each group will be seeded into the Lower Bracket, where they face will face elimination in best-of-one matches.
Here are the groups:
The groups for TI6’s Group Stages. Pic courtesy of Wykrhm Reddy.
As can be expected from arguably the most competitive iteration of The International, both groups appear equally stacked. While teams like OG, Wings, Newbee, and Liquid are expected to top their respective groups, other teams like MVP, Na’Vi, LGD, EG, and Secret will most likely not be too far behind. Expect the fight for the Upper Bracket seeds to be fiercely contested.
As for TnC, the other Pinoy representative, they are clearly the underdog of their group. While they may have a more comfortable spot in the tournament, relative to Xctn’s, they’re still going to have a tough time making it deep through the tournament. Still, like any underdog, it’s not too far-fetched to expect TnC to pull off some upsets thanks to their signature Pinoy tenacity.
The broadcasts for the Wildcards will begin at 9AM PDT (12 midnight here in the Philippines) on August 2, and will continue until August 5 for the Group Stages.
You can check out the full schedule here.
CHANGES FOR THE NEXT COMPETITIVE DOTA 2 SEASON
In a meeting with players prior to the beginning of the tournament, Valve also announced that there will only be two Majors next year leading to The International 2017 (TI7), along with changes to the roster lock system.
The first Major will take place before the end of 2016 while the second will happen around Spring 2017, meanwhile TI7 will be held Summer 2017, around the same time as TI6. Valve is yet to disclose whether the Majors will have the same venues, like Frankfurt and Manila, as this season, or will be shuffled around.
Another big change for the competitive scene will be an all-new roster lock system. Unlike the current system, which allowed for last minute roster shuffles and have been the cause for quite a bit of drama recently, the new one will allow for more streamlined and enforceable roster shuffles.
The roster shuffles will have two phases; the first will allow teams to drop players or players to leave teams, while the second will allow players join new teams. Valve has yet to reveal the timeframe for these roster shuffles.
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The International 2016 is yet to begin and already big changes are coming to the Dota 2 competitive scene. With less than a day left before TI6 officially begins, stay tuned to eSports by Inquirer.net’s coverage of the biggest eSports tournament in history!
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