The 'Dota 2' Boston Major: How to watch and what you need to know
The first Major of the 2016-2017 Dota 2 season is about to kick off in Boston, and all 16 teams are locked in for the $3 million tournament.
The Boston Major's four-day main event runs from Wednesday to Saturday, Dec. 7 to 10, featuring eight invited teams from last season's International and eight qualified teams. All 16 teams competed in group stages this past Saturday and Sunday to determine their seeding in the bracket.
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The schedule
The Boston Major is the first Dota 2 Major to use a single-elimination bracket with seeding decided on group play. Each match is a best-of-three series except for the best-of-five finals Saturday.
All of the match-ups will be broadcast live on the Dota 2 Major Twitch channel, YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Wednesday -- round of 16
Virtus.pro defeated IG Vitality
Evil Geniuses defeated Wings Gaming
WarriorsGaming Unity defeated CompLexity Gaming
OG defeated MVP Phoenix
Thursday -- round of 16
Digital Chaos defeated Team Faceless
Team NP defeated EHome
Ad Finem defeated Newbee
LGD Forever Young defeated LGD Gaming
Friday -- quarterfinals
10 a.m. ET -- Virtus.pro vs. Evil Geniuses
1:30 p.m. ET -- WarriorsGaming Unity vs. OG
5 p.m. ET -- Digital Chaos vs. Team NP
8:30 p.m. ET -- Ad Finem vs. LGD Forever Young
Saturday -- semifinals
10 a.m. ET -- TBD vs. TBD
1:30 a.m. ET -- TBD vs. TBD
Saturday -- grand final
6 p.m. ET -- TBD vs. TBD
Times are based on the Boston Major's official schedule and some matches may not begin when scheduled.
The teams
In the group stages, four teams rose to the top of their groups with 2-0 series records: Digital Chaos, Virtus.pro, LGD Gaming and OG.
Digital Chaos went 2-0 against both LGD Forever Young and WarriorsGaming Unity and placed second at TI6 and fifth/sixth at The Summit 6 in November. Dark horse Virtus.pro went 2-0 against Team NP and Newbee and won The Summit 6 championship.
LGD Gaming also went 2-0 against both of their group stage opponents, Team Faceless and CompLexity Gaming, and finished ninth-12th at TI6. OG went 2-1 against both IG Vitality and Ad Finem and placed ninth-12th at TI6 and second at The Summit 6.
TI6 champions Wings Gaming defeated LGD Forever Young 2-0 and lost to to WarriorsGaming unity 1-2 in the group stages.
Teams that lose in the first round will walk away with $62,500, teams that place fifth through eighth will make $125,000, the third and fourth place teams will net $250,000, the second place team will take home $500,000 and the champion will win $1 million.
