Title image courtesy of Alliance
The team lineup for the first Major of the new DPC 2019-2020 season, MDL Chengdu Major, is mostly set. Only one slot is left for teams to claim.
MDL will hold it's 10th iteration of events in Chengdu, Sichuan on November 16-24th. This will be the first Major of the season for teams on the road to TI2020.
As with all Majors in the DPC, 15 teams were determined via qualifiers. The remaining slot will belong to the lucky winner of the BTS Dota Summit Minor. All 16 teams will battle it out for the lion's share of the $1,000,00,000 prize pool and 15,000 DPC points.
EU, CIS and SA were given two slots each for teams to represent their region. China, SEA and NA were awarded three slots.
After four days of open qualifiers followed by four days of fierce competition in the closed qualifiers, the lineup for the event was finalized.
China
The teams to compete on their home soil are ViCi Gaming, Team Aster and EHOME. All three teams ended their group stage with a 2:2:0 record and 2:1 victory over their opponents in the playoff brackets. Starting out the season, all three teams seem to hold a lot of promise and appear to be evenly matched. EHOME's addition of ex-Chaos player Cheng "vtFaded" Jia Hao seems to be a good fit for the team so far while Song "Sccc" Chun and Pan "Fade" Yi are already giving Team Aster a boost to start the season.
SEA
The biggest surprise of the region for many was them getting three slots. After Mineski disbanded and never reformed a new roster, TNC Predator and Fnatic were the two remaining powerhouse organizations. It was not much surprise to see the revamped roster of TNC including now Taewon "March" Park and Damien "kpii" Chock and the Fnatic's new lineup featuring rising start Nuengnara ‘23savage’ Teeramahanon. However, fans were most likely disappointed to see that Geek Fam with Carlo “Kuku” Palad didn't make the cut. The team did advance to the Minor qualifier and will have a chance to clinch the spot there and then aim for a place in China. Instead, it was Team Adroit with a full Filipino roster that came through the open qualifiers that will be heading to China. Team Adroit had a powerful showing in the group stage and playoffs.
North America
The NA region was blessed with three spots and fans were sure that the new Hassan brother's stack was sure to be one of the three to advance. Spoiler alert: They weren't. Although they did get through the group stage, they were bested by Evil Geniuses and then decimated by J.Storm in the playoffs. They will have another shot if they can qualify for the Minor up next. Evil Geniuses featuring their new lineup including SEA player Abed 'Abed' Yusop and Russian player Roman "Ramzes666" Kushnarev and J.Storm DID clinch their spots - as did Fighting Pepegas (who will most likely need to change their name/logo if they don't take a sponsor before then due to copyright laws) with Jacky 'EternaLEnVy' Mao.
CIS
Perhaps the biggest surprise or even disappointment of all the qualifiers across the board took place in the CIS region. Not only was beloved Na'Vi boasting Pavel "9pasha" Khvastunov, one of the first to fall out of contention but the revamped roster of Virtus.pro had a lackluster debut and were relegated to the Minor qualifiers after failing to advance in the group stage. Gambit who fell short of attending TI9 will start their season off with a bang and participation at the first Minor, joined by Positive Guys.
Europe
With several of the region's big powerhouse teams taking a break for the first wave of events, Europe was given only two slots. The favorites were ex-Alliance-turned-Team Liquid and a toss-up between the overhauled NiP roster and the new Alliance team featuring Nikolay "Nikobaby" Nikolov and Adrian "Fata" Trinks. As expected Team Liquid advanced through. Alliance, however, turned out to be quite the contender and are perhaps well on their way to giving the top teams a run for their money. Being led by Fata who has on-point game sense and insight, the team's movements and gameplay seem to be on par with the best.
South America
The region's sweethearts, Team Anvorgesa - now beastcoast, didn't disappoint. They went through the group stage undefeated and lost only one match in the playoffs. They are proving to be a full level above all the other teams in the region and having taken an impressive 8th place finish at TI9, they are no doubt in form to be able to make even more waves at the first Major. Also mostly from Peru, Team Unknown will be joining the ranks of the first Major competitors to represent South America. They prevailed through the lower brackets of the playoffs to usurp paiN Gaming who had also been undefeated in the group stage and were knocked to the lower brackets by beastcoast.
The qualifiers continue with teams fighting for a chance to attend BTS Summit Minor.
MDL Chengdu Major prizepool and point distribution
| Place | Prize pool | Points |
| 1 | $300,000 | 4850 |
| 2 | $160,000 | 3000 |
| 3 | $110,000 | 2100 |
| 4 | $80,000 | 1350 |
| 5-6 | $60,000 | 900 |
| 5-6 | $60,000 | 900 |
| 7-8 | $40,000 | 450 |
| 7-8 | $40,000 | 450 |
| 9-12 | $20,000 | 150 |
| 9-12 | $20,000 | 150 |
| 9-12 | $20,000 | 150 |
| 9-12 | $20,000 | 150 |
| 13-16 | $12,500 | 100 |
| 13-16 | $12,500 | 100 |
| 13-16 | $12,500 | 100 |
| 13-16 | $12,500 | 100 |
MDL Chengdu Major Format
Phase 1:
4 Bo3 GSL groups of 4
Top 2 teams per group advance to upper bracket
Bottom 2 teams per group advance to lower brackets
Phase 2:
16 team Double Elimination with 8 starting in Lower Bracket
Bo1 matches for 1st round of the lower bracket
Bo5 finals
Bo3 every other game
