Valve has announced that it will open the 2016-2017 Dota 2 season with the Boston Major at Wang Theatre from December 7 to 10.
This will be the first Major that will be held in North American soil, as the first three versions of the restructured Major event happened in Germany, China and the Philippines.
Many find the location for the Fall Major baffling since USA already hosts the International, and Valve said the Spring and Fall Majors will be used to extend the competition’s reach in the global stage, much like with the Frankfurt Major, the Shanghai Major and Manila Major.
ONE AND DONE
Like its predecessors the Boston Major will have the same $3 million prize pool and will have 16 teams competing in the event, though it has not been announced whether how many teams will be invited and how many teams will get to join via the qualifiers.
But unlike the first versions, the Boston Major has been shortened and made harder as it will feature a single-elimination format after a two-day group stage, a lot more punishing than the usual version of having an upper and lower brackets.
The teams will be seeded after the group stage and will then proceed to a knockout phase with the losers getting eliminated. All matches in the KO rounds are best-of-three games, except for the grand final which will be a best-of-five match.
SCHED
Tickets for the Boston Major will be available this October 14.
Open qualifiers are scheduled this October 23 to 26, while the regional qualifiers will be held from the 27th to 30th. The group stages will be on December 3 and 4.
Source:
http://www.thescoreesports.com/dota2/news/10746-next-dota-2-major-set-for-boston
http://blog.dota2.com/2016/10/the-boston-major/
http://www.pcgamer.com/this-years-fall-major-brings-dota-2-to-boston/
