The 2019-20 Dota Pro Circuit has officially begun as the first Minor of the season has found its champion. Beyond The Summit hosted DOTA Summit 11 this past week, the event pitting eight teams against each other for the grand prize of $72,000. In addition to the prize pool, the victors received 140 DPC points and a spot at the upcoming MDL Chengdu Major.
DOTA Summit 11 saw eight teams from six different regions compete in Los Angeles, California. The eight participating teams were split into two groups of four, playing in a best-of-three GSL group stage format. Invictus Gaming and the newly-signed Chaos Esports Club topped the groups, followed by CIS squads Jfshfh178 and HellRaisers. The bottom two teams from each group were eliminated, while the top two moved on to the double-elimination play-off bracket.
Group victors Chaos and Invictus won their opening play-off matches, moving on to meet each other in the upper bracket final. Invictus Gaming took the upper bracket victory after a 2-0 series, sending the North American squad to the lower bracket final. Chaos were met by HellRaisers in the lower bracket final, eliminating the mixed Russian-Ukrainian team after another swept 2-0 series.
The Grand Final pit Chaos against Invictus in a best-of-five. Game one went the way of Invictus fairly quickly, the Chinese-Malaysian squad securing the victory in twenty-three minutes. The North American side of Chaos managed more of a fight in game two, though Invictus ultimately took the win after thirty-four minutes. Game three saw Invictus take the clean sweep victory in forty-one minutes, securing the grand prize of $72,000, 140 DPC points, and a spot at the MDL Chengdu Major later this month.
MDL Chengdu will be the first Major of the 2019-20 Dota Pro Circuit season. Sixteen teams from six different regions will meet in Chengdu, China, to fight for the first place prize of $300,000 and 4,850 DPC points. The Chinese event with feature many prominent esports organizations, including Team Liquid, Vici Gaming, and Evil Geniuses. The team list is now rounded out by Invictus Gaming, who will play on home soil.
The MDL Chengdu Major is slated to begin on November 16th, and will run until November 24th.