Seeing that most of the Dota 2 teams have finished their new roster, the shuffle period after The International 7 tournament will soon close. The 2018 season which will use a new system is named the Dota 2 Pro Circuit.
Unlike the Major tournaments from Valve in recent years, the Pro Circuit will include more than four tournaments sponsored by Valve, including the Major and the Minor. The tournament, which is given financial support from Valve, will be hosted by a third party, especially by ESL, PGL, and DreamHack.
According to the Pro Circuit’s official website, there will be 11 Major tournaments and 16 Minor tournaments, starting with the StarLadder i-League Invitational and PGL Open Bucharest next month. The season will continue through June 2018, ending with a $ 1.5 million Major.
Valve requires organizers to adhere to certain regulations in order for their events to be classified as Pro Circuit. Major competitions must have a prize pool of $ 1 million dollars, and Minor must have a prize pool of $ 300,000 dollars. Both Majors and Minors must also host open and regional qualifications.
Each competition will provide qualification points which are required to qualify for the The International 8 tournament next year. Major will give at least 1500 points in total, while Minors will give at least 300 points. The points will be earned by the top three teams in each competition.
Whereas qualifying points will be awarded to players, not teams or organizations. So, if a player decides to join a different team, the qualification points will be retained. The top eight teams with qualifying points at the end of the Pro Circuit season will be immediately invited to the The International 8 tournament. The rest will be determined from the regional qualifiers as usual.
Team registration is now open, and will be split into two stages. Teams can add and / or remove players from their roster during the first stage. However, at the end of the first phase, players can no longer be removed from their roster, assuming they have accepted the invitation to the team.
In the second phase, teams can invite players who are agent-free to their team to complete the roster.
And finally, Valve will change the rules regarding team coaches. From now on all coaches will be allowed to speak with the team during the drafting phase. Once the game has started, all coaches must leave the play area.
Following is the Competition Schedule for Next Season
