Popular European-based betting site Pinnacle is making another foray into the esports landscape with a large scale, $100,000 tournament, the Pinnacle Cup. The DOTA 2 tournament will include some of the best teams in Europe. The prize pool is one of the largest offered outside of the Dota Pro Circuit.
Pinnacle made a similar move into esports a few months before. They previously hosted a Counter Strike: Global Offensive Pinnacle Cup. Pinnacle have partnered with Relog Media in order to provide the broadcast and data that made their previous events stand out. The broadcast will focus on offering both pregame and live betting markets.
The #PinnacleCup returns next month with a vengeance and this time it's Dota!!
⚔️ 12 Top EU/CIS teams
👑 $100,000 prize pool
📆 5ᵗʰ – 30ᵗʰ MayRead more here: https://t.co/xSpY5vligH#TheChanceToBeChampion pic.twitter.com/OwGv97H8e3
— Pinnacle Esports (@PinnacleEsports) April 23, 2021
The Pinnacle Cup Format
The tournament will begin with a single round-robin group stage that features 10 directly invited teams. The field includes the likes of: Vikin.gg, Hellbear Smashers, Brane, Team Spirit and HellRaisers. The top two teams in the group will advance to the winner’s bracket of the playoffs, in addition to two unknown teams that have been invited into the winner’s bracket. The third through sixth place teams in the group stage will advance to the lower bracket, the remaining teams will be eliminated. When the playoffs begin, each game will be a best of three, with a best-of-five grand finals waiting at the end.
The Pinnacle Cup Advantage – a Range of Competition
The teams duking it out will be some of the best European competition outside of the EU DPC. Even without the reveal of the two mystery teams that are invited to the playoffs, the Pinnacle cup provides a unique set of competitors. It allows the viewer an opportunity to see teams from the upper and lower bracket of the DPC play against open qualifier and amateur teams. In the DPC, there are scarce opportunities for upper division teams to play against lower division or open qualifier teams.
You can read their official announcement here, and can catch the group stages starting on May 5, the playoffs start May 26 on the TEBTV Twitch channel.
