The Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers race begins today, January 3rd. Over 2,000 teams from across three regions have registered for the first round of the Open Qualifiers. There will be two separate opportunities for teams to contend for one of the spots in the Regional Qualifiers. Two teams from each of the four regions of the Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers – Americas, Europe, China and Southeast Asia – will advance to the Shanghai Major Regional Qualifiers.
With the announcement of the Shanghai Major, Open Qualifiers for each region were added to the mix, giving eight teams (two from each region) that were not directly invited to the event or its Regional Qualifiers the opportunity to advance. One winner from each of the two Open Qualifiers rounds will advance to the Regional Qualifiers and might ultimately have the chance to attend the Shanghai Major and compete with the best Dota 2 teams in the world.
Valve and Perfect World have partnered up with FaceIT to host the Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers. All the information on notable contenders, schedule and streams is wrapped up below.
The winning of the Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers will advance to the Regional Qualifiers, which will take place between January 7-10.
The Shanghai Major will be held between March 2-6, at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, in Shanghai, China, with a set prize-pool of $3,000,000. Sixteen teams will compete at the main event hosted by Perfect World and Valve.
Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers streams
A couple of channels and casters will be covering selections of games from the European, American and Southeast Asian Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers. The following spreadsheet will be updated throughout the four days of Open Qualifiers.
- BeyondTheSummit’s stream
- MoonduckTV’s stream
- ODPixel’s stream
- Xyclopzz’s stream
- MusicBlade’s stream
- CygnusCasting’s stream
- MithosDota’s stream
- PerilousGaming’s stream
- Turbo’s stream
- DragodDrop’s stream (on HitBox)
Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers notable registered teams
Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers notable European contenders (1024 teams registered):
- MamasBoys (former 4Clovers & Lepricon)
- Burden United
- Big Red Machine
- Siberian Valenki Black
- Ad Finem
- London Conspiracy
- E-Lab
- PRIES
- ProDota
- 4FC
- COOKISS
- DK Bears
- No Logic Gaming
- Arcade.Power Rangers
- Spin 2 Win
- YeS
- Team Clique (MantisQ, StalCat, watafaka)
- Steak Gaming
- Team 20cm (Neqroman, klasynky)
- ATN
- Recovery Position
- STARK
Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers notable American contenders (over 560 teams registered thus far):
- Slayers
- Vegetable Esports (Merlini, Capatlist, Maelk)
- As1- (Demon’s team)
- T Show
- Team Freedom (former Mischief)
- Dile
- God Bless
Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers notable SEA contenders (over 450 teams registered):
- MVP.Hot6ix
- Rave
- Mineski-X (Winter, Xtinct-, KecikImba)
- Kingdom
- RRQ
Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers
Much like for the Frankfurt Major, there will be two opportunities for teams to compete in the Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers. Two rounds of Open Qualifiers will be hosted – the first will take place between January 3-4, while the second is set for January 5-6. Teams are able to register and participate in both sets of events.
Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers schedule
1st round of the Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers
Day 1 – January 3rd:
SEA
Registration
Check-in: 11:00 SGT
Start time: 13:00 SGT
Europe
Registration
Check-in: 11:00 CET
Start time: 13:00 CET
Americas
Registration
Check-in: 10:00 CDT
Start time: 13:00 CDT
Rounds played: Round of 1024 (Bo1), Round of 512 (Bo1), Round of 256 (Bo1), Round of 128 (Bo1), Round of 64 (Bo1)
Teams that didn’t sign up on time will be able to sign up 30 minutes before the tournament starts if there are available slots left.
Day 2 – January 4th:
SEA
Start time: 13:00 SGT
Europe
Start time: 13:00 CEST
Americas
Start time: 13:00 CDT
Rounds played: Round of 32 (Bo1), Round of 16 (Bo1), Round of 8 (Bo1), Semifinals (Bo3), Finals (Bo3)
Notable Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers contenders
Some of the teams that registered to the Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers were not directly invited to the Regional Qualifiers due to roster changes or simply did not make the cut for the already stacked regional list. Many notable teams were left to qualify in the Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers. Among them, there are some quite strong teams that are expected to create an atmosphere of fierce competition in the brutal best-of-one brackets.
Arcade.Power Rangers
Arcade.Power Rangers received invitations to numerous tournaments, such as The Gaming Resorts invitational, the Game Show Global Cup, Alienware Summer’s End Cup, The Defense #5, and D2CL season #6. They were unable to qualify for ESL One New York 2015 and ASUS ROG DreamLeague Season 4.
Arcade.Power Rangers have had numerous roster changes since August 2015 and continue to look for the composition that might bring them back on top.
Arcade.Power Rangers roster:
Dmitry “Barash” Lednikov
Eugene “chshrct” Kostroma
Alexei “j4” Lipai
Danilo “Bignum” Shehovtsov
Lozovoi “fn” Rostislav
STEAK Gaming
Credits: Adela Sznajder/ Dreamhack
On December 2nd, analyst and caster Troels “syndereN” Nielsen announced his return to competitive Dota 2.
He will be playing alongside former NiP players Adrian “Era” Kryeziu and Elias “Sealkid” Merta.
The three well known players are joined by North American professional player Ioannis “Fogged” Loucas. Fogged was most recently a part of High Council of Wizards & Priests.
Trent “sLicKz” Tucker from Australia will round up the team. sLicKz is a former Heroes of Newerth professional who recently played Dota 2 for Banaaaanas, as well as Team Immunity, Zephyr, Invasion e-Sports and Can’t Say Wips.
Steak Gaming roster:
Troels “syndereN” Nielsen
Adrian “Era” Kryeziu
Elias “Sealkid” Merta
Ioannis “Fogged” Loucas
Trent “sLicKz” Tucker
MamasBoys (former 4Clovers & Lepricon)
Pajkatt at ESL One Frankfurt. Credits: Patrick Strack/ ESL
In late March, after Goblak left Na’Vi, he put together a new team with some other known teamless professional players. However, multiple roster changes resulted in much instability and thus difficulty achieving major success.
4C&L did not advance beyond the first day of the TI5 Open Qualifiers and, only a few days later, the team faced its third roster change in less than two months, with the additions of Jerry “EGM” Lundkvist and Omar “w33” Aliwi.
Both EGM and w33 have walked away from the team since then, with w33 joining Team Secret and EGM returning to Alliance.
The current roster includes Per “Anders” Pajkatt Olsson, who parted ways with Alliance on August 18th, Martin “Saksa” Sazdov who has been first on the MMR leaderboards and most recently a part of Team Moriarity, and longtime member Alaan “SexyBamboe” Faraj.
Most recently, 4C&L have changed their name to MamasBoys and added Mohammad “Hook” Al-Sheikh and Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat, both former teammates on Balkan Bears.
MamasBoys roster:
Alaan “SexyBamboe” Faraj
Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat
Per Anders “Pajkatt” Olsson
Martin “Saksa” Sazdov
Mohammad “Hook” Al-Sheikh
Burden United
Originally, Burden United was formed by Alexandru “ComeWithMe” Crăciunescu, Johan “Mynuts” Andersson, Selim “Neqroman” Oynar, Alaan “SexyBamboe” Faraj, and Weh Sing “SingSing” Yuen to compete in the ESL One Frankfurt 2015 qualifiers. Titouan “Paris” Merloz replaced “SexyBamboe” in March.
BU’s presence in the European tournaments was rather strong. They competed in several tournaments last year, including the Yard Festival, the FirstGameTV Dota 2 Cup, Game Show Invitational and the DreamLeague Season 3 LAN finals. Burden United won the Hitbox EU Championship only weeks after being formed, and placed third in the D2CL Season 5 LAN finals.
Burden United also participated in the TI5 European qualifiers, but were eliminated in the group phase, after placing last in their group, with no wins.
Despite having disbanded in June, Burden United resurfaced a month later and participated in the Hitbox Challenger by Razer, with a different lineup, consisting of several core players and a variety of stand-ins. The team swept through London Conspiracy in a convincing and fitting 3:0 victory to seal their championship title.
Now, just in time for the Shanghai Major Open Qualifiers, Burden United has been reformed for a second time. The team consists of several known names in the European Dota scene.
Burden United roster:
Alexandru “ComeWithMe” Crăciunescu
Dominik “Black^” Reitmeier
Jonas “jonassomfan” Lindholm
Yousif “Solitude” Kutaiba
Ionuț “Ar1sE” Turtoi
>>> NEXT: Other notable teams from the European, American and Southeast Asian regions
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