The first major of 2017 kicks off in Kiev on Monday, April 24, 2017 at 09:00 EEST, breaking new ground as the first Valve event in the CIS region. Sixteen teams will compete for a prize pool totaling $3 million dollars, with a split that leaves first place taking home $1 million.
The Kiev Major Group Initial Seeds. @pglesports #KievMajor pic.twitter.com/HDEjXHz5eL
— Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) April 22, 2017
The Format
The day one schedule for Kiev Major’s group stage
Valve will continue with its single elimination format that it first established at the Boston Major. The newest change is that the group stage is now swiss style, rather than the group elimination format of previous styles.
What does it mean for a tournament to be in swiss format? At first glance, it’s fairly complicated, but simply put, it’s a survival of the fittest structure to determine the main event seeding.
And most importantly, teams are matched against other teams with the same record. So in the second round, teams who are 1-0 will play each other in their group, and teams 0-1 will play each other in their group.
The third round will then have three groups who will play against each other: 2-0 (“high”), 1-1 (“mid”), and 2-0 (“low”). Winners and losers of this group, four teams ending in 3-0 or 0-3 records, are automatically placed at the top and bottom of the main stage bracket.
The fourth round involves the final 12 teams with 2-1 and 1-2 records. Winners and losers of this round will determine the final seeding slots.
What’s interesting about the format is that it’s difficult to plan what to watch, since the later round schedules depend on the results of the round before it. That’s compared to a round robin (TI) or group format (previous Majors), where fans can plan their schedules to watch their favorite teams and matchups, especially when so many games are streamed simultaneously. What’s better is that there’s additional drama in the final round of the group stage, when in other formats those later games often had little impact on seeding.
Single Elimination Playoff
More is at stake with a single elimination bracket, where a bad matchup can result in an early knockout. It’s all the more reason for teams to value their performance in the group stage. For example, teams like wings.gaming and Faceless bottomed out of the Boston Major bracket with a first round elimination, despite their perceived strength being higher than some of the competition.
The main event is slated to start on April 27, 2017.
How To Watch
The event will have English, Russian, and Chinese broadcasts. Viewers will be able to tune in via the Dota 2 client or Twitch.
For those who are out of the time zone to watch it live, or simply can’t watch four games simultaneously, we’ll be wrapping up the group stage and the event on our blog. And be sure to check out our event page for the Kiev Major where you can keep up with the games as they’re played.
