The Summit is back this December and promises more thrilling Dota 2 gaming action. The media company Beyond the Summit started proceedings in June 2014, organizing the first tournament in Los Angeles, and fans have been able to enjoy three editions of epic clashes on US soil so far. This is the fourth.
What makes it unique is its casual atmosphere – the event will be held in a nicely accommodated property in Los Angeles, where the players will have the chance to meet, have fun and of course face each other in an attempt to take a share of the grand prize pool, which will be boosted substantially by crowdfunding. Fans will have the chance to help their favourite teams by increasing the prize pool through purchasing compendiums and treasure bundles inside the game.
The event will take place from December 9-13. The total prize pool in the previous edition reached more than $270 000, with the lion’s share going to the winner – more than $115 000. The prize pool has already started to increase and has reached $110 000 for the fourth iteration of the event.
The group draw will be held in the coming days. The eight teams will be divided into two groups of four. Each group will feature five or six matches (a match for third place is often not conducted as it is meaningless) played in a best of three format. Each team will face each other, with the first and the second in each group qualifying for the semi-finals. At this stage, the winner of the first group will face the second best in the second group and vice versa. The victorious ones will meet in the Winners’ Finals with the better one advancing directly to the Grand Finals. The losing teams in the semis will face each other in a Losers’ Round, the winner of which will face the loser from the Winners’ Finals. This will decide the second grand finalist. The Grand Finals, as the headline event, will be played in a best of five format.
With the qualifiers done, eight teams from all over the world will fight until the very end – EG, Virtus.Pro, OG, Team Liquid, Mineski, Digital Chaos, Vici Gaming and EHOME. Six qualified directly while two were invited. American team EG, bearing the crown of TI5 champions, were one of those while the second invitee is the Russian team Virtus.Pro, who were eliminated from the European qualifiers but deserve their spot due to good overall play since the TI5.
The Chinese Dota scene will be represented by the two powerhouses of EHOME and Vici Gaming, with the former containing lots of talented young blood and the latter having a mightily impressive star roster.
Their European counterparts will be represented by the winners of the Frankfurt Major, OG, and the pleasant surprise of the newly created Team Liquid, who have eliminated far more established teams such as Team Empire and Virtus.Pro to qualify for the event.
The second American representative will be another newly formed team but one that is full of surprises, Digital Chaos. Meanwhile, the SEA region has sent a usual suspect in the form of Mineski, who will have another attempt to do well far from home.
