Held at the PGL offices from Bucharest, Romania, the PGL Open Bucharest - Minor LAN event will be divided in a GSL group stage followed by a single elimination bracket playoffs.
PGL Open Bucharest is set to be the second minor of the Pro circuit and it will come with a $300,000 prize pool and 300 circuit points. While the prize pool will be distributed among all the eight participating teams, the circuit points distribution stops at the top four finishers, basically the four teams that will advance from the GSL group stage to the playoffs.
PGL Open Bucharest - Minor prize pool and Dota Circuit Points (DCP) distribution:
1st place: $130,000 + 150 DCP
2nd place: $65,000 + 90 DCP
3rd/4th place: $30,000 + 30 DCP
5th/6th place:$15,000
7th/8th place: $7,500
The LAN event will be held from the 19th to 22nd of October behind closed doors in two stages. The eight attending teams will be at first split into two groups of four and will play in GSL format, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the playoffs. The playoffs will be played in a single elimination bracket, best of three games, including the grand finals. The group stage seeding hasn’t been announced yet but the eight participants are as follows:
Evil Geniuses direct invite)
LGD Gaming (direct invite)
Natus Vincere (CIS qualifiers)
Digital Chaos SA (SA qualifiers)
Immortals (NA qualifiers)
Mineski (SEA qualifiers)
VG J Thunder (CN qualifiers)
Team Secret (EU qualifiers)
For three of the qualified teams at the PGL Open Bucharest, this will be their second minor appearance. Team Secret, Mineski and Natus Vincere will come to Bucharest straight from the SL i-League Invitational Season 3 - Minor, event for which they’ve also qualified. The SL i-League minor will finish on the 15th of October, only two days before the PGL Open Bucharest commences.
PGL Open Bucharest - Minor schedule:
Thursday - October 19th
09:40 CEST: Preshow
10:00 CEST: Group A Semifinal #1
13:20 CEST: Group A Semifinal #2
16:40 CEST: Group A Upper Bracket Final
Friday - October 20th
09:40: Preshow
10:00 CEST: Group B Semifinal #1
13:20 CEST: Group B Semifinal #2
16:40 CEST: Group B Upper Bracket Final
Saturday - October 21st
08:40 CEST: Preshow
09:00 CEST: Group A Elimination Match
12:20 CEST: Group B Elimination Match
15:40 CEST: Group A Decider Match
19:00 CEST: Group B Decider Match
Sunday - October 22nd
09:40 CEST: Preshow
10:00 CEST: Semifinal #1
13:20 CEST: Semifinal #2
17:40* CEST: Grand Final
* Grand final starts one hour after the end of Semifinal #2
Pro players and their fans alike are looking at a busy schedule ahead of them. Not only that the first two minors are only two days apart, but three days after PGL Open Bucharest will crown their winners, the first Major of the Pro circuit will kick off. Team Secret and Evil Geniuses will travel from Bucharest to Hamburg as both teams qualified for the ESL One Major.
