In a single tweet today, Valve confirmed the dates for the Main Event of The International 2019 (TI9): August 20-25.
The International 2019 heads to Shanghai, China for the first time in Dota 2 history. (Image courtesy of @wykrhm / Twitter)
At The International 2018, Valve announced the tournament was going to be held in Shanghai, China for the first time. It originally debuted at Gamescon in August 2011, in Cologne, Germany. The second through seventh iterations were held in subsequent years in Seattle, Washington, USA, where Valve is headquartered. The eighth installment was held in 2018, in Vancouver, Canada due to the renovations of Key Arena, the facility the tournament had used since 2014.
This is the latest in the year that Valve has confirmed dates for the event since The International 2013, when dates were announced on April 25, 2013.
In August, sixteen teams will head to Shanghai to compete in TI9 for a currently unknown prize pool; in past years, it has been crowdfunded and reached esports-record-breaking amounts. We should expect an additional announcement regarding a Battle Pass or Compendium of some sort soon.
Twelve teams will qualify directly to the event via their ranking in the Dota 2 Pro Circuit (DPC). Four teams have already acquired enough points on the DPC to secure their invitations: Virtus.pro, Team Secret, Virtus.pro, Vici Gaming and Evil Geniuses
The final event in the DPC is EPICENTER Major 2019, which will take place from June 22-30. After that, open qualifiers and regional qualifiers for TI9 will take place. One team from each of the six Dota 2 regions (South America, North America, Europe, CIS, China and Southeast Asia) will qualify for the final six spots at this year’s biggest Dota 2 event of the season.
