The second Minor of the 2019-20 Dota Pro Circuit season has been announced, with WePlay! Esports hosting the $300,000 event. Teams will meet in Bukovel, a Ukrainian ski resort, in early January to fight for a spot in the following DPC Major. This will be the first Dota Pro Circuit event ever put on by WePlay! Esports.
The 2019-20 Dota Pro Circuit season is just beginning, as the qualifiers for DOTA Summit 11 and the MDL Chengdu Major are getting underway. These are the first Minor and Major of the season, each taking place in November. WePlay! Esports has now confirmed that they will be hosting the season’s second Minor tournament at Bukovel, a ski resort located in the snow-capped Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine. WePlay! Esports has been a part of the Dota 2 professional scene since 2013, though this will be their first ever Dota Pro Circuit event. They have hosted numerous tournaments in the past, the most recent of which being Reshuffle Madness in September. Natus Vincere came out victorious at the $50,000 online event. At $300,000, the Bukovel Minor will have the largest prize pool ever offered at a WePlay! tournament.
The qualifiers for the Ukraine event will run from December 5-6th, 2019. Eight teams will qualify, from six different regions. The winning team from each region's qualifier will advance to the Minor, while the remaining two teams will be chosen independently by Valve. Following the new Dota Pro Circuit system, teams will compete in the Minor/Major qualifier as they have now been merged into one event. Once at the Minor, qualifying teams will be divided into two groups of four, and play in a GSL group stage format. The top two teams from each group will advance to the double-elimination play-off. The Grand Final will be a best-of-five, with the winner earning themselves a spot at the next Dota Pro Circuit Major, which is yet to be announced. The winning side will also take home the $72,000 grand prize, along with 140 DPC points added to their Dota Pro Circuit standings. The event will offer a total of 660 DPC points, to be distributed amongst participating teams. Those points will contribute to each team's journey to The International 2020.
The WePlay! Bukovel Minor is slated to begin on January 9th, 2020. The tournament will run until the 12th, where a champion will be crowned. The following Dota Pro Circuit Major is scheduled to take place a week later, from January 18-26th, 2020.