WePlay AniMajor Scheduled for Wednesday, June 2

WePlay AniMajor Scheduled for Wednesday, June 2

Set to run from June 2-13, WePlay AniMajor will mark the second Dota 2 Major championship of the year. It will feature 18 of the best Dota 2.

Set to run from June 2-13, WePlay AniMajor will mark the second Dota 2 Major championship of the year. It will feature 18 of the best Dota 2 teams from all corners of the world who will duke it out for the lion’s share of the $500,000 prize pool and the coveted Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) points.

Anime-Themed Dota 2 Major

WePlay AniMajor is the second Dota 2 Major of the year and the culminating event of the second DPC season. The competition will take place from Wednesday, June 2, to Sunday, June 13, at WePlay Esports Arena in Kyiv, Ukraine.

The tournament will feature 18 teams from six regions, who will compete for the $500,000 prize pool and the right to participate in The International.

WePlay AniMajor will kick off with the Wild Card stage, where six wild card teams will duke it out in a single round-robin, best-of-two (Bo2) group. The Wild Card stage will run for only one day, after which the top two teams receive an invite to the group stage, while the remaining four get eliminated.

The group stage is slated to kick off on Friday, June 4, featuring a single group of eight teams. The single round-robin Bo2 format will be in place for this stage as well.

The top two teams from the WePlay AniMajor group stage will advance into the upper bracket of the playoffs. Teams that finish third-sixth will get placed into the lower bracket, whereas the bottom two get eliminated.

The Playoffs will run from Wednesday, June 9 to Sunday, June 13, with the remaining 12 teams competing through the double-elimination bracket. All WePlay AniMajor playoffs matches will be Bo3, except for the grand finals that will move to Bo5.

WePlay AniMajo Participating Teams

The WePlay AniMajor will feature 18 teams from six regions. That includes Western Europe, Eastern Europe, China, Southeast Asia, North America, and South America.

The teams are split into three categories based on their performances during the second season of DPC – Playoffs Seeds, Group Stage Seeds, and Wild Card Seeds.

The top-performing teams from their respective region have earned a direct bye into the WePlay AniMajor playoffs. The runners-up will begin their journey in the group stage, whereas six teams will have to fight through the Wild Card stage.

WePlay AniMajor Team Seeding

Teams from Western Europe and China each have four seeds, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe three, and North and South America two seeds for the WePlay AniMajor.

  • Playoffs seeds: Alliance (EUW), Virtus.pro (EUE), Team Aster (China), T1 (SEA), Quincy Crew (NA), NoPing e-sports (SA)
  • Group stage seeds: Team Liquid (EUW), Team Spirit (EUE), PSG.LGD (China), TNC Predator (SEA), Evil Geniuses (NA), beastcoast (SA).
  • Wild Card seeds: Team Nigma (EUW), Team Secret (EUW), AS Monaco Gambit (EUE), Vici Gaming (China), Invictus Gaming (China), Execration (SEA)

Who Are the Favourites to Win the WePlay AniMajor?

The esports bookmakers have Virtus.pro (+400), Team Aster (+500), Evil Geniuses (+500), and PSG.LGD (+500) priced as the top favorites to win gold in Kyiv. That’s interesting to see, considering Virtus.pro are the only top-seeded team from their region out of the four.

Regardless, all five are world-class squads that have been terrorizing the international Dota 2 competitive scene for years. Still, these are not the only teams capable of going all the way.

Invictus Gaming travel to Ukraine as the reigning Dota 2 Major champions, having won the ONE Esports Singapore Major in April. Joining the field of potent underdogs are Team Secret (+1000), Team Liquid (+1400), and Team Spirit (+2000).

One should also not ignore Team Nigma (+4000), who placed third in the Western European DPC standings. Although Team Nigma haven’t achieved much this year, they are still the same core of players who finished inside the top-three in all of the last three Internationals – including a title from 2018.

Two significant absentees from WePlay AniMajor are Fnatic and the two-time The International champions OG.

WePlay AniMajor Outright Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of BetOnline Sportsbook:

  • Virtus.pro +400
  • Team Aster +500
  • Evil Geniuses +500
  • PSG.LGD +500
  • Invictus Gaming +700
  • Alliance +1000
  • Team Secret +1000
  • Team Liquid +1400
  • T1 +1400
  • Quincy Crew +1600
  • NoPing e-sports +1600
  • Team Spirit +2000
  • TNC Predator +2000
  • beastcoast +3500
  • Team Nigma +4000
  • Vici Gaming +4000
  • AS Monaco Gambit +10000
  • Execration +15000