With the invites distributed and the close of the regional qualifiers the teams for PGL's Wallachia Season 2 are set, but will it change after the Post-TI shuffle?
PGL Wallachia Season 2 is the second event planned in a three-year plan from PGL that includes eight Dota 2 tournaments -- each with one million dollars on the line to be held across 2024, 2025, and 2026.
A total of 10 teams received direct invites to the event based on their performances early in the year at various other tournaments. Regional qualifier winners filled the remaining six slots – 1 per region.
But with the tournament taking place merely weeks after The International concludes – right in the thick of the ‘silly season’, the topsy-turvey post-TI shuffle – it begs the question “What will happen to teams that make changes in their lineup?”
Roster Changes = Lost Spots?
Historically speaking, if a team changes out more than two players in the lineup they lose their spot (invited OR qualified). This has been the general rule for most third-party events over the years. It was even a factor in how many times a roster could play with a stand-in.
Will teams that swap two or more players have to give up their spots? Depending on results at The International we could see that happen with Team Liquid, Team Spirit, nouns, Xtreme Gaming, Tundra, and G2.iG. A poor result at TI could easily throw any of these teams into disarray.
Don't forget how poor performance and results had been marring Team Spirit's reputation and dampening morale earlier in the season. A series of 4-6th place finishes to start the year was then followed by a 13-14th place result at Elite League and 9-10th place at ESL One Birmingham 2024. The manager, Dmitry “Korb3n” Belov, addressed the team’s departure from Elite League via his Telegram channel, saying that currently the team is out of shape. He also didn’t exclude the possibility of disbanding when and if the team needed it.
AVULUS is the new kids on the block but could easily be subject to players being poached. Blacklist has had its share of struggles during the season and the whole SEA could be ripped apart and spit back out into full new squads.
And let's not forget how Azure Ray posted “It's too embarrassing,” on their their Weibo page after they were eliminated from Riyadh Masters 2024. “We can’t continue to lose far away from home,” the organization noted, announcing a period of restructure.
Spots = Key Player?
The only time it wasn't tied to specific number of swapped players had been with the DPC – and we all remember those Hunger Games.
Essentially spots were ‘owned’ by one person to who it was registered to. It was a time full of highjacking, holding hostage, selling and/or buying spots as well as overall taking advantage of loopholes and chaos.
Remember the debacle surrounding Eternal Envy and the DPC ownership spot? For those that don't remember or the uninitiated, the TL;DR was that EE accused Black N Yellow’s Daniel “zero” Yun of holding the DPC spot hostage even though EE's team had three of five members of BnY.
Or
When Dota 2 legend and co-owner of B8, Danil “Dendi” Ishutin got kicked from his own team on the official Dota Pro Circuit Registration page, which was seemingly going to force him and his team to go through open qualifiers for a lower division start?
So if PGL is following this logic, then which player has decided is the key person who ‘owns’ the spot? The captain? The longest-standing member of the team?
Spots = Organization?
Perhaps it will just be given to the organization. No matter how many players (including a full five-man overhaul) are changed out, the organization will still retain the spot. Curious how that will work for unsponsored teams.
No matter which direction PGL goes with this, inviting teams and holding qualifiers before the infamous Post-TI shuffle might be a bad idea. Our biggest question is about the spots and changes…. but was it in an email sent to the teams and did they read it?
PGL Wallachia Season 2 Invited Teams
Team Spirit
Team Falcons
Team Liquid
Xtreme Gaming
Heroic
nouns 
G2.iG 
Tundra Esports
PSG Quest
Cloud9
PGL Wallachia Season 2 Qualified Teams
AVULUS - Western Europe
L1GA TEAM - Eastern Europe
Azure Ray - China
Blacklist International - Southeast Asia 
Apex Genesis - North AmericaTeam Waska - South America
PGL Wallachia Season 2 dates and format
The event will take place only weeks following the conclusion of The International 2024 in Copenhagen when most TI bound teams are expected to be shuffling rosters or heading out for a well-deserved holiday.
Just like with last season, PGL will host the event at their studios in Bucharest, Romania, from October 4th to 13th with no live audience. The 16 teams will start the competition in a modified "Swiss System" group stage featuring five rounds of best-of-three series.
At the end of the group play, the top eight teams will advance to the playoffs. The playoffs stage will be played in a double elimination bracket, best-of-three series with the grand finals being a best-of-five battle for the title.
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