Prepare for The Majors

This fall, a new tradition comes to the world of professional Dota. The Majors are a series of four seasonal marquee tournaments culminating in The International. The first Major will be occuring in Europe this November and we’ll have more details on ticketing soon.

Ahead of this Major, there will be Open Qualifiers from October 6-9, and Regional Qualifiers from October 10-13. Any team may participate in an Open Qualifier, and two teams from each region will be among those invited to participate in the Regional Qualifiers. The Regional Qualifiers will then determine several of the teams to be invited to battle at the Major. Direct invitations to the Major and the Regional Qualifiers will be announced on October 5th.

If your team would like to be considered for an invitation to either the Regional Qualifiers or the Major directly, head over to the registration site for more information. Any team that makes changes to its roster after September 5th 2015 at 12:00AM PDT cannot be directly invited to the Regional Qualifiers or Major, and must compete in the Open Qualifiers.
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Evil Geniuses: Grand Champions

Congratulations to Evil Geniuses, Grand Champions at The International 2015.

It’s been a long road for the victors. Battling in the Group Stage, Evil Geniuses secured a top position within their grouping. However, at the same time, the underdogs of CDEC Gaming were making a name for themselves. A runner-up at the China Qualifier, CDEC fought their way into the tournament through the Wild Card, and were ultimately tied with Evil Geniuses by the end the Group Stage.

At the Main Event, CDEC dominated the upper bracket, winning every match, eventually knocking Evil Geniuses to the lower bracket to advance to the Grand Finals. In the final day of The International, Evil Geniuses beat LGD Gaming to earn their way to the Grand Finals through the lower bracket, securing a rematch against CDEC Gaming in the process.

In the Grand Finals, CDEC’s win streak finally came to an end. As the dust settled, it was Evil Geniuses who stood triumphant, defeating CDEC Gaming 3-1.

A new Grand Champion has been crowned, and a new inscription will be set upon the Aegis of Champions:

2015
Evil Geniuses
Clinton “Fear” Loomis
Syed “Suma1l” Hassan
Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora
Kurtis “Aui_2000″ Ling
Peter “ppd” Dager

There were more great stories and incredible games at The International than we can possibly recount. If you’d like to relive the action, head to The International site, where you’ll find replays for every game. You can also check out photos and videos from the event on Flickr and at our media page.

We’d like to thank all of the teams, and everyone in the Dota community for helping to bring year’s tournament to life. Like you, we look forward to The International every year, and without you this amazing event wouldn’t be possible.
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Cloud9 disbands its Dota 2 team

After a poor showing at The International 2015, the Cloud9 Dota 2 team has been officially disbanded. Word of the split came first from Rasmus "Misery" Filipsen, who Gamespresso reports revealed the news during a livestream.

Filipsen didn't go into detail about the breakup, saying only, "I can't say anything more than that. It's for the better, guys." But fellow Cloud9 member Jacky "EternalEnvy" Mao effectively confirmed the news on Twitter, where he posted a link to the Cloud9 Dota 2 poster from The International and wrote, "In memory of the old C9 roster. Please note that any player on the poster may not be in C9 next DotA Year."

Cloud9 had a rough couple of days at The International earlier this month, where it was quickly knocked out of the competition with an 0-2 record. The team fell first to CDEC and then to Vici Gaming in a match Chris Thursten said "felt as if C9 had forgotten that they were up against some of the very best, most coordinated support players in the world."

The breakup of the roster does not mean that Cloud9 is out of Dota 2 for good, however. "Yes, Cloud9 will remain in #Dota2," team owner and manager Jack Etienne tweeted. "I'll miss our old team but I'm excited to create our new squad. TY EE, Misery, Fata, Bone, & BigDaddy!"

The remaining members of the team—Pittner "bOne7" Armand, Adrian "Fata" Trinks, and Johan "BigDaddyN0tail" Sundstein—have not yet publicly commented.

Cloud9 remains one of North America's biggest esports organizations, with teams for CS:GO, League of Legends, Hearthstone, and several other games.

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