All eyes of the eSports community are on Dota 2 again. And this time, thanks to AniMajor, the second Major of the year, which will have its final this Sunday, June 13^th. But, subsequently, and completely understandable, AniMajor is more important as a lead up to TI10, than it is as a tournament itself.

AniMajor Isn’t Just About AniMajor

That isn’t to say that a tournament with all (well, it would probably be more accurate to say “most”) of the strongest teams in the world right now and a prize pool of half a million dollars isn’t important on its own, on the contrary, but its position in DPC as a Major placed only two months before the biggest event of the year, is taking its toll.

The unbelievable tension and anticipation created through a year off of LAN and TI due to Covid is palpably reaching its peak, and we still have two months before the Dota 2 elite gathers in Stockholm and brings the show back to life. Currently though, they are all in Kyiv, Ukraine, showing off everything they’ve got (or are they?), and we have already seen a lot of interesting turns, implying TI10 will be highly exciting.

There are some big teams missing AniMajor and will have to try and earn their place on TI through qualifiers (dates were recently announced and are ranging from June 23^rd to July 10^th, depending on the region). For instance, there is OG, who hasn’t had a very good run and will have to struggle among many European talents to get through.  Also, China’s all-star team Elephant and CIS’s Na’Vi will have to work very hard in their respective regional qualifiers if they want to see Stockholm this year.

Current Situation

But, those who are competing are right at the height of it. We are currently nearing the end of a WePlay AniMajor, and we’ve been watching four teams each from Western Europe and China, three teams each From Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe and two teams each from North America and South America, battle it out for the last week or so.

Both the wild card stage and the group stage are over and we are down to the playoffs with a double-elimination bracket and Bo3, except the grand final which will be a Bo5. To summarise: we’ve been losing favourites left and right, and there are only four teams left in the upper bracket, while the quarter-finalists of the lower bracket will be known by Saturday.

What’s At Stake

To make it clear how important AniMajor is, aside from the money and prestige part, let’s just say that only four teams have theoretically secured the spot on The International before the tournament began: Evil Geniuses, Virtus.pro, Invictus Gaming and Team Secret. The remaining eight spots that qualify through DPC rankings depend on AniMajor results.

So, who do we have left? Team Nigma eliminated Virtus.pro from the upper bracket, and they’ve just lost to Vici Gaming in the Lower. We’ve already lost a bunch of huge names, such as Team Secret and Invictus Gaming who were eliminated in the wildcard stage, in fact, out of those who already qualified for TI before the tournament, only Evil Geniuses are still in play for AniMajor, although they’ll have a tough journey climbing out of the lower bracket.

Chances Are Getting Slimmer

At this stage we already know two more TI qualifiers: Nigma’s mentioned win over Virtus.pro directly catapulted Team Aster and T1 to TI, and Quincy Crew also managed to secure their spot. That also means we’ll watch three NA rosters at this year’s TI, since there is one more opening for them through regional qualifiers. PSG.LGD has also qualified and Team Nigma is in a great position to do so. They are looking really solid, and unless they suddenly start playing very poorly, they should be good.

That would leave only three open spots for qualifying for TI through AniMajor. Who will it be? Alliance, beastcoast, TNC Predator? What do you think? Share it with us on social media. In the meantime, don’t forget to check our free to play Pick 6 games, it’s super fun for every true fan.