Photo courtesy of Alliance
Alliance has received one of the few remaining invitations for ESL One Katowice 2019.
Hot on the heels of the Iconic Swedish organization's win in the European qualifiers of The Chongqing Major, Alliance has secured themselves a placement in another prestigious event taking place in the early part of 2019.
Since the start of the new season, Alliance has shown no signs of slowing down and have the confidence and swagger of a team that is rising to the top. They were able to secure a place for the Kuala Lumpur Major, where they ultimately took a 9-12th place finish, secured a place at ESL One Hamburg 2018 where they also had a 9-10th place result. In addition to the LAN events, the team has taken a few online championship titles for themselves and clearly making a mark on the regional scene.
Eight teams will receive direct invitations to the group stage. Team Secret was the first team to receive an invite as the defending champions with NiP receiving the second invitation. TI8 champions, OG, have already confirmed their appearance and the fourth invited team is none other than paiN Gaming. Fnatic's invite yesterday was quickly followed by Alliance's today, leaving only two more invitations up for grabs.
The remaining four spots will be filled through regional open qualifiers in Europe, North America, China, and Southeast Asia. The open qualifiers kicked off this last weekend with a few teams such as compLexity Gaming, Team Spirit and Team Empire claiming slots in the closed qualifiers. The regional team invites have not yet been announced and are expected to take place next week.
February 19-24th, 12 of the world’s best Dota 2 teams will be competing for a $300,000 prize pool. The group stage is set to take place from February 19-21th, followed by the main event in the Spodek Arena from February 22-24th. Once again, the ESL tournament will not be part of the DPC events for the new season.
