FISSURE Universe Episode 4: Viewer’s Guide

It’s been a long stretch of Dota 2 tournaments worth $1 million, with most of them being premier LANs like in the case of BLAST Slam 2 and FISSURE Playground Belgrade. This next one, titled FISSURE Universe: Episode 4, will dial things back a bit by lowering the stakes to $500,000 — while also taking the action online.

Still, there’s plenty to play for despite the reduced prestige compared to bigger events. Patch 7.38 is still being explored and experimented with, so there’s still a solid chance for teams to pull out a secret strategy or two here. Interested in what FISSURE Universe has to offer? We’ve got you covered with our viewer’s guide.

When is FISSURE Universe: Episode 4 Taking Place?

The tournament starts Saturday, March 22nd, with the group stage games taking place at 5AM ET. It will be held purely online, as opposed to a LAN setting where all the teams fly into the venue to play against each other in person. The group stage will go until March 26th, with the playoffs following right after from the 27th to the 30th.

Already here, it is so close 😈
Check out the schedule for the Swiss-Stage of FISSURE Universe Ep. 4

Watch here 📷
Twitch
fissure_dota_en — https://t.co/Pe1Iljk2Zz
fissure_dota_en2 — https://t.co/M4qKiDXdwe

YouTube
FISS DOTA 2 EN — https://t.co/DHFiF0lQZg pic.twitter.com/vk37n63u8s

— FISSURE_ENG (@fissure_eng) March 19, 2025

Given that FISSURE, the organizer of the tournament, is based in Belgrade, Serbia, it’s possible that the Eastern European servers will play host to the event. But considering that there will be several Western European teams in the mix as well, it’s also likely that the WEU servers will be used instead.

How Will the Prize Pool be Distributed?

As I mentioned, FISSURE Universe: Episode 4 will feature a $500,000 prize pool. The team that finishes in first place gets a whopping 50 percent of the pot at $250,000, while the team they beat will bag $100,000.

The full prize pool distribution is as follows:

• 1st place — $250,000
• 2nd place — $100,000
• 3rd place — $60,000
• 4th place — $30,000
• 5th-6th place — $20,000
• 7th-8th place — $10,000

With 16 teams participating in the competition, only the top eight squads will actually see any monetary reward for their efforts. It’s unfortunate that the rest of the field won’t get anything at all, but considering it’s an online tournament, perhaps it’s to be expected.

Which Teams Are Playing?

As mentioned, there will be 16 teams at FISSURE Universe: Episode 4, with eight being invited directly by FISSURE, and the other eight coming in from regional qualifiers.

The full list of teams is as follows:

If you’re interested in how these teams stack up against each other, check out our power rankings for FISSURE Universe.

What is the Format of FISSURE Universe: Episode 4?

The group stage of FISSURE Universe: Episode 4 will use a modified Swiss system, which sees all 16 teams placed into a single group. All matches will be best-of-three sets, with the top eight teams coming out of the preliminaries advancing to the playoffs. The rest of the squads will be eliminated.

As for the playoffs, it’s just your typical double elimination bracket, with all matches except for the best-of-five grand final being best-of-three.

Where Can I Watch the Games?

You can catch all the action through FISSURE’s official YouTube and Twitch channels.