At this time of the year, Dota lovers generally witness the International Dota 2 tournament taking place with the best teams in the world competing for a life-changing prize pool. But this year The International is not taking place due to Covid-19. So with no major Dota event on the horizon, tournament organizer WePlay decided to step up and host the OMEGA League, a $550,000 tournament that aims to replace The International. The main event will run from Aug. 14 – Sept. 6, 2020.
The competition will be divided into two regions – Europe and the Americas. Europe will feature a $550K USD prize pool split between two divisions, while the Americas region will have a combined $40K prize pool.
The participants in the OMEGA League include Team Secret, Natus Vincere, Team Liquid, Virtus.pro, Alliance, Ninjas in Pyjamas, FlytoMoon, Nigma, North American team Evil Geniuses and two-time The International champions, OG. Two additional teams will join the main league through a closed qualifier.
“One of the reasons this event is hosted on a global scale with teams from every competitive region is the idea that we make a version of The International online,” says Maksym Bilonogov, General Producer at WePlay! Esports. “We can’t recreate the true LAN setting with its atmosphere, shouting crowds, the banter between the players. Yet, we do everything possible to engage the viewers at home through the teams who were supposed to play at TI, the casters who also were supposed to work there, and our out-of-the-box approach to broadcasts.”
