The Kuala Lumpur Major: Everything you need to know

The First Major of the 2018-19 Season

The Kuala Lumpur Major is set to be the first Major of the 2018-19 season of the Dota 2 Pro Circuit. The International 8 ended two months ago and with its conclusion, the next season of Dota 2 is all set to begin. Some changes to the Pro Circuit have been made.

If any player leaves a team between the season, that team won't be disqualified from the Pro Circuit. Instead, a 20% penalty on the points earned will be put on the team. Also, the player no longer takes his points with him to his new team.

The winners of the Major will receive 4950 DPC points. The second placed team will get 3000 points, the 3rd placed will get 2100 points and the 4th placed team will get 1350 points. Teams placed 5th and 6th will receive 900 each. The teams at the 7th and 8th will get 450 each. Finally, the teams at the 9th to 12th will get 150 points each and the last placed 4 teams will get a mere 75 points.

Details regarding the Major

The Major takes place in Kuala Lumpur the capital of Malaysia. The final three days of action will take place in front of a live crowd at the Axiata Arena. It will be the first Valve Major held in Malaysia and the second in South East Asia after the Manila Major in 2016.

The Major begins on 9th November and ends on 18th. The format of the group stage hasn't been announced but a simple group stage into an upper and lower bracket branching is expected. There will be 16 teams participating in the Major out of which 15 have been decided with one team yet to qualify.

The prize pool for the event is $1 Million Dollars. The winners will get $350,000, the runner-up will get $170,000, 3rd placeholder will receive $100,000 and the one on 4th place will go home with $80,000.

The 5th and 6th placed teams will have $60,000 to their name. 7th and 8th will get $40,000. The 9th to 12th placed teams will receive $15,000 and the last 4 teams will get $10,000.

As usual, the tournament can be viewed on Twitch by everyone as well as the In-Game Dota 2 Client. PGL might even put up streams on YouTube and Facebook as well.

Here's who will compete at the event

The 16 Teams in the Kuala Lumpur Major

No invites were handed out to the teams for the Major. As it was the beginning of the new season, teams could only participate via qualifiers. The teams were divided by region as follows: Europe-3, China-3, North America-3, CIS Region-2, South America-2, South East Asia-2 and The DreamLeague Season 10 Winner.

The DreamLeague Season 10 finals will take place one day before the Major itself with the winner getting a spot at the tournament. The teams that have qualified for the Major are:

From Europe:

1. Team Secret - The new Team Secret has looked amazing. With their new star core players in Nisha and Zai they have proved themselves to be one of the strongest teams in the world. They finished first in the European qualifiers and lost only one map in doing so.
2. Ninjas in Pyjamas - The newest addition to the Dota 2 scene, the organisation popular for its CSGO roster has made a stellar impact in the Dota 2 World. NiP finished second in the European Qualifiers and looked really good on paper. Under ppd's guidance, Ace, Fata and the rest can certainly do something incredible at the Major.
3. Alliance - The resurgence of Alliance has finally borne fruit. They finally managed a spot at the Major after years of trying. Their young and new squad is one of the most promising teams in Dota today.

From North America:

1. Evil Geniuses - EG had an amazing TI as they finished third behind OG and PSG. They kept their form in the NA Qualifiers as they won the tournament easily. With one of the strongest teams in the world, EG are favorites to win it all.
2. Forward Gaming - The new roster featuring Yawar, Sumail and Resolution have taken the Dota 2 world by storm as they took on all comers at the NA Qualifiers. They finished second only to EG and grabbed a spot at the major.
3. J.Storm - Another new team featuring a mixed team of Canadian, American and South Korean players grabbed the last spot at the Major. The new team participated in the NA Qualifier as an amateur team and were picked up by J.Storm after they successfully qualified.

From China:

1. PSG.LGD Gaming - The strongest Chinese team at TI were PSG.LGD. They were the clear favourites to win the tournament but were upset by OG at the end. After TI the roster decided to stick together and easily qualified for the Major as well. They are also favourites to win it all.
2. Vici Gaming - Vici Gaming fared better than last year as they managed to dominate the Chinese scene losing only to the aforementioned PSG.LGD. They finished second in the Chinese qualifiers losing to PSG in the grand finals.
3. Team Aster - B-God Burning's newest team Aster qualified for the Major after finishing 3rd in the Chinese qualifiers. Burning had previously coached Invictus Gaming at TI8 but failed drastically to provide results. However, Aster has been performing above expectations and are looking like a team who can prove to be a dark horse at top events.

From CIS Region:

1. Virtus.Pro - Virtus Pro was the strongest team in the world in the last season. But they failed to replicate their amazing results at TI. The team will have redemption on their mind when they participate in the Major. They won the CIS qualifier with ease losing just 2 maps.
2. Gambit Esports - The former Ferzee Gaming finished last in their group at the CIS Qualifier. But they bounced back in the bracket stages. They won 4 series in a row before falling to Virtus Pro in the final. The team was picked up by Gambit Esports on their way to the Major.

From South-East Asia:

1. Fnatic - The new Fnatic lineup wiped out their competition in the SEA Qualifiers. They lost only one map in the entire tournament and qualified for the Major with ease. They have looked amazing with new additions in MP and iceiceice. They will be dark horses at the Major given the talent they have among their ranks.
2. TNC Predator - The Filipino roster were the only team who managed to beat Fnatic in the qualifiers. Although they lost 2 Best of 3 series to Fnatic, they managed one map victory over them. They finished second in the SEA Qualifiers and managed to get a spot at the Major.

From South American:

1. Pain Gaming - Pain Gaming has sat atop the South American scene for quite a while. They continued their dominance by easily qualifying for the Major and winning their Qualifier. Also, they are the only team who were completely undefeated in the Qualifiers with a record of 6-0.
2. Pain X - Just to prove their dominance, Pain Gaming formed a second team earlier this year with Brazilian and American players. This 1 month old team finished second in the Qualifiers losing only to Pain Gaming in the finals. This gives Pain Gaming two teams in the Major.

DreamLeague Season 10:

The DreamLeague Season 10 will act as the direct Minor to the Kuala Lumpur Major. The tournament will have 8 teams out of which 1 team will qualify to the Major. The 8 teams in the Minor tournament are:

1. Complexity Gaming
2. ROOONS
3. Infamous
4. The Final Tribe
5. Team Lithium
6. Na'Vi
7. Royal Never Give Up
8. Tigers

Notable Absentees:

1. OG - The defending TI Champions and the best team in the world won't be at the Major as they have announced that they will take a break after TI. The team's incredible performance at The International surely earned them a break. They will be back for the next Major but it still sucks not to see them at Kuala Lumpur.
2. Team Liquid - Liquid failed to qualify for the Major. They were defeated by Team Secret at the Qualifier upper bracket and then by Team Lithium in the Lower bracket. They were supposed to participate in the DreamLeague Season 10 Minor but pulled out due to health reasons. Liquid were one of the best teams in the world and they will be missed at the event.
3. Newbee - Newbee were one of the top Chinese teams before TI8. But they fell from grace as more teams from China grew notoriety. Still, everyone expected them to qualify for the Major. They failed to do so after losing to Team Serenity in the Qualifiers.
4. Team Serenity - Team Serenity were one of the surprise performers from the Chinese scene last season. They were promising and looked to have a bright future. But their spotlight has been stolen by Team Aster as they became the hottest new team from China.