After months of waiting, WePlay Esports has announced the next Dota 2 Major or “Animajor” taking place in Kyiv, Ukraine from June 2 to 13. Up for grabs are $500,000, 2700 DPC points and most importantly, a chance for underdog teams to qualify for the pinnacle of Dota competition, the International 10.
Coming off of their strong track record of hosting great events such as the WePlay Bukolvel Minor, WePlay Esports has chosen to call the event the “Animajor”, with the implication that there will be an anime-based theme throughout the duration of the Major.
“WePlay Esports is proud to announce that we will be hosting the next Dota 2 Major, the AniMajor! June 2nd-13th, $500,00 + 2700 DPC Points #WePlayAniMajor #Dota2AniMajor,” WePlay tweeted.
WePlay Esports is proud to announce that we will be hosting the next Dota 2 Major, the AniMajor! 🤩
📆 June 2nd-13th
💰 $500,000 + 2700 DPC Points#WePlayAniMajor #Dota2AniMajor pic.twitter.com/G0tqeJucnf— WePlay Studios (@WePlay_Studios) May 16, 2021
The WePlay Esports Major will be the final event of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit right before the International 10. It will also be the final chance for teams to gain DPC points after the end of the regular season. Winning first place at the event guarantees teams a direct invite to The International 10 in most situations, as the current cutoff for a direct invite is 475 DPC points. In order to find out more about the International 10, feel free to look through our coverage of the announcement.
Focusing on the major itself, 18 teams will be invited from the 6 primary regions of the DPC: North America, South America, China, Europe, CIS and Southeast Asia. The major begins with a Wild Card that will feature 6 teams that have the lowest standing of their represented region. The wildcard will be a single round-robin format that has the top 3 teams advancing to the actual group stage. The group stage will feature 8 teams in another round-robin format. Here the top three teams are seeded into the upper bracket playoffs. Fourth through seventh will advance to the lower bracket, and the eighth place team will be eliminated. Finally the playoff teams will face off in a double elimination bracket to determine the eventual winner of the WePlay Animajor.
