Virtus.pro withdraw from Galaxy Battles II

Photo courtesy of BTS by Robert Paul

Virtus.pro have withdrawn from Galaxy Battles II following Valve's decision to the event's Major status.

On the day following Valve's decision to cancel their partnership with Galaxy Battles 2018 scheduled to be held in only 10 days - between the 15th - 21st of January Virtus.pro have announced they would no longer participate in the event.

Considering yesterday's Valve's resolution regarding Galaxy Battles II official Dota Pro Circuit championship status withdrawal, we have made the decision of declining the tournament's invitation. I wish to thank Valve's management for effective addressing of the problem and excellent communication with participant teams. The status withdrawal from Valve was the main reason behind our cancellation of the invitation. The said status, among all things, imposes additional standards of players' safety, event's technical security and logistics on the event's organizers. Furthermore, the participation in rating tournaments has always been our main goal, therefore Galaxy Battles DPC points loss absolves the tournament of sense in that regard.”

Although Galaxy Battles will no longer be a Major or part of the Dota Pro Circuit, organizers may choose to continue to hold the event on their own which would result in a deduction of prize pool down to at least $500,000 and removal of any qualifying points. 

At this point, the CIS powerhouse is the only team that has made any formal statement on the status of their participation. Updates will be provided as the sitaution continues to unfold.

 

Galaxy Battles II directly invited teams:

Newbee
OG
TNC
Infamous
LGD.Forever Young
Evil Geniuses
Team Liquid
Virtus.pro (withdrawn)

Galaxy Battles II qualified teams:

CIS 1 slot - Team Spirit
South East Asia 1 slot - Mineski
Europe 1 slot - Team Secret
North America 1 slot - OpTic Gaming
China 1 slot - VGJ.Thunder
South America 1 slot - paiN Gaming
Wildcards 2 slots