The 16 teams for the first ever Dota 2 major are now set in stone! After weeks of hard-fought open and main qualifiers, the best two non-invited teams from each of the four regions - SEA, Europe, the Americas and China - have been determined. Read up on how the Frankfurt Major qualifiers went down below.
SEA
The general consensus about the SEA main qualifiers was that Fnatic and Mineski would most likely occupy the two qualifier slots by the end of it - and that’s exactly how it went down. The only somewhat surprising aspect was that Mineski actually managed to secure the top spot over Fnatic, who are widely regarded as the best team in the region. In the end, it’s not a big deal that Fnatic qualified as second place as the only thing that mattered was reaching the top two, but it’s a great sign for the region that the top spot is getting some serious challengers.
- First place: Mineski
- Second place: Fnatic
Europe
The European main qualifiers were arguably the hardest to predict ahead of the group stages, with many established and newly formed team vying for control. In the stacked and hotly contested EU bracket, Fly and BigDaddy’s new squad (Monkey) Business were able to secure the top spot for themselves without dropping a series in the process. In the end, TI3 champions Alliance came out ahead against Ninjas in Pijamas in the all-Swedish lower bracket finals for the second EU Frankfurt Major slot. In a bracket filled with fan favorites, this left the likes of Na’Vi, Team Empire, Team Liquid and NiP empty-handed.
- First place: (Monkey) Business
- Second place: Alliance
Americas
History was made in the American qualifiers for the Frankfurt Major on multiple accounts. Cloud9 may have taken the number one spot, but the headlines were made by Team Unknown, an open qualifier team from Peru who managed to beat out Elite Wolves and Digital Chaos to punch their ticket to Frankfurt in second place. They are the first ever team from South America to take part in a Valve event and are the first and only open qualifier team to make it to a major - truly a historic feat. We are excited to see them in action in Frankfurt!
- First place: Cloud9
- Second place: Team Unknown
China
Similar to SEA, the favorites managed to prevail in the Chinese main qualifiers. Invictus Gaming and Newbee were by far the biggest fish in the pond, and they didn’t have too much trouble securing their trip to Frankfurt. Newbee, not unlike Alliance, seem to be back at their old strength and showed glimpses of their TI4-winning form, as underlined by their 2-0 victory over iG in the upper bracket finals for first place. With this, China will now field six out of the 16 teams at the Frankfurt Major, and it’ll be interesting to see which team will be the spearhead of Chinese Dota 2 in the months to come.
- First place: Newbee
- Second place: Invictus Gaming
If you can’t wait to see the teams in action live, grab your ticket for the Frankfurt Major today and follow ESL Dota 2 on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date.
