- Valve and Beyond the Summit will host Stockholm Major online qualifiers in Eastern Europe
- This comes after the regular DPC EEU season had to be canceled because of the war in Ukraine
- Epic Esports gave up on its hosting rights, which made the current qualifiers possible
Eastern European Dota 2 teams will have a shot at the Stockholm Major as Valve and Beyond the Summit unveiled a new qualifier event.
EEU Dota 2 Teams Will Get to Play
It looks like Eastern European Dota 2 teams will have a shot at the Stockholm Major in May. Valve announced that it’s working together with Beyond the Summit, one of the world's largest esports networks in the world, to host EEU qualifiers.
While this won’t be a full season as in previous years, it is still a welcome addition as it will allow teams from the region to compete on an international level – a chance they would have otherwise missed.
The qualifiers will take place online to make things easier for both the players and the organizers. The esports event is scheduled to begin on April 27 and will see the best teams from Eastern Europe return to competing professionally.
As per Beyond the Summit’s announcement, the top eight teams from EEU will play in a double-elimination bracket for a shot at the Stockholm Major. The best two teams will make it to the international event. An additional invite will be available for one of the teams that rank third to sixth. The latter will play a few more games to decide which one will go to the Stockholm tournament.
Meanwhile, EEU’s second division will also get some attention, although its teams will miss their chance to go to the Major. Valve and Beyond the Summit promised to host a separate event at a later date.
The Russian Invasion Messed Up Valve’s Plans
The EEU edition of the Dota Pro Circuit Spring Tour was postponed because of the war in Ukraine. Not only did Russia’s invasion disrupt Dota 2 esports but it also caused a divide in professional gaming as countless companies sanctioned Russia and Russia-based teams and organizations.
At the beginning of March Valve admitted that there seems to be no chance to host a DPC season in Eastern Europe. However, the company seems to have found a way to patch things up. It’s in part thanks to Epic Esports, the organization which was supposed to host the DPC tour in EEU. Epic Esports willingly gave up on its hosting and production rights to help Valve find an alternative.
It is unfortunate that there will be no DPC season in EEU this year and even more unfortunate that this cancelation was caused by a terrible human tragedy such as war. However, it is nice to see that Valve is giving its best to maintain the DPC league even when times are difficult.
