On March 4 2018, the next event in the Dota 2 Pro circuit will kick off. The top 16 teams will compete for a share of the $1 million dollar prize fund and the 1500 qualification points for the International 2018. Read on to find out more.
Hosted by PGL and taking place in Bucharest, the upcoming major will use a new format compared to previous tournaments. The outright market is now live on Pinnacle and it’s time to take an in-depth look at the odds - view the latest Bucharest Major odds.
Ten teams were directly invited to the event, with the remaining six qualifying through their respective regional qualifiers consisting of eight teams. The regions with qualifiers are North America, South America, Europe, CIS, China and South Asia. One team from each region qualified.
With ESL One Katowice concluding just a week before the start of the Bucharest Major, the teams in question for the most part will not have a lot of time to prepare. Out of the 16 teams attending ESL One, 11 of them will also be present at the Bucharest Major which means LGD.Forever Young, Vega Squadron, VGJ.Thunder, TNC Pro Team and paiN Gaming will all have the advantage of watching their opponents perform.
The ten teams who were directly invited to the Bucharest Major:
- Team Liquid
- Newbee
- Evil Geniuses
- Natus Vincere
- Mineski
- complexity Gaming
- Vici Gaming
- LGD.Forever Young
- Virtus.Pro
- Team Secret
The six teams who achieved qualification for a spot at the Bucharest Major:
- OG (European Qualifier)
- Vega Squadron (CIS Qualifier)
- VGJ.Thunder (China Qualifier)>
- TNC Pro Team (Southeast Asia Qualifier)
- OpTic Gaming (North America Qualifier)
- paiN Gaming (South America Qualifier)
Bucharest Major betting: Tournament structure
The first initial group stage, beginning on March 4 will be using the Swiss system format. This is the first time a Dota 2 event has adopted the CS:GO major format and it will be interesting to see how things unravel. In theory there is a higher chance the best teams will qualify through to the next stage.
Simply put, you need three wins to progress with three losses meaning you are eliminated. You cannot play the same team twice and you always play teams with the same record as yourself (all teams on 1-1 will play one another and all teams on 0-2 for example).
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After eight teams have progressed through this stage they will enter a single elimination best of three (BO3) format. This is again a different format for Dota 2 events as they have predominantly used a double elimination bracket in the playoffs stage in the past. To be victorious in a BO3 match, you need to win two maps. The grand final will be a BO5, meaning a team needs three maps to win.
Who are the favourites and why?
The favourite to win this event is Team Liquid (3.030*) who are of course the current International champions. Their roster is full of stars and since GH joined at the start of 2017 the consistency in their performances reached another level, finishing in the top four of almost all events they attended throughout the year.
However, since the start of 2018 Team Liquid haven’t look ed as unbeatable as the previous 12 months. Miracle- is undoubtedly one of the best players in the world and although their results have not been so spectacular, they are still the team to beat.
Despite a disappointing finish at The International in 2017, Team Secret (4.240*) are still one of the favourites for this event. Taking a map off Liquid in a close series showed their level and in truth, they were probably unlucky to draw them so early into the competition.
This is the first time a Dota 2 event has adopted the CS:GO major format and it will be interesting to see how things unravel.
Team Secret’s form coming into this event is strong, with victories over VP, EG and even Liquid at the finals of DreamLeague Season 8 - they will certainly be hoping for a strong showing here.
Newbee (5.900*) had a very strong end to the year. After losing in a thrilling final to Team Liquid at the International, they were victorious at the Perfect World Masters and followed it up by getting revenge over Liquid in the final at ESL One Genting at the end of January this year.
Since then, their form has been somewhat poor, which is reflected in their odds being slightly further out then they would be if they had kept their results going.
VGJ.Thunder (7.030*) are one of the strongest Chinese side coming into this event. Despite winning Galaxy Battles II: Emerging Worlds, they took the bold step to replace Ayo with ddc after a disappointing result at ESL One Genting 2018. ddc brings a wealth of experience having finished third at the last International (when playing for LGD.Forever Young) and he is one of only three players to have competed in every single International to date.
VGJ.Thunder’s recent results have been impressive, including a 2-0 victory over Newbee. With not attending ESL One Katowice, they have plenty of time to practice and scout out their opposition.
Are any outsiders worth considering?
paiN Gaming (177.050* to win the tournament outright) will be happy to be mixing it with some of these teams but in truth, the Brazilian side has a very slim chance of progressing through the group stage. They are using w33 as a stand-in which will also impact their communication.
The former Team Secret player, w33 will bring a lot of skill and experience to the side having won the Shanghai Major in 2016 and been a runner-up at the International the same year. If he can exude confidence to the rest of his team, then who knows what the Brazilian side can achieve.
With ESL One Katowice concluding just a week before the start of the Bucharest Major, the teams in question for the most part will not have a lot of time to prepare.
Vega Squadron (106.940*) have done well to make it this far with such a new roster. Replacing three of their players officially on January 30, few will expect much from them going into this event with such little time to practice.
Failure to beat sides they would be expected to overcome (Gambit being one recent example) does not bode well for this young CIS side. Gaining valuable experience and working on their team chemistry is unfortunately about as much as they can hope for.
OpTic (43.820*) added Neta ‘33’ Shapira at the end of 2017 to replace their longtime stand-in Saksa. The rising offlane r will be looking to make a big impact at the Bucharest Major, where few will be expecting them to go far.
Performances since adding Shapira to the roster have been incredibly mixed. Losing to Virtus.Pro in the group stages at ESL One Katowice was to be expected and they will be happy with their performance against compLexity, who has got the better of them a few times in recent matches.
CompLexity (42.080*) will be flying the flag for North America as they are the only side coming into this event with a roster predominantly from that region. Their team went through a whole load of changes throughout 2017, with Chessie and Limmp both returning to their former side. Although they did manage wins over OpTic and EG recently they’ll need some drastic improvements to be in with a chance of winning the tournament.
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*Odds subject to change
