D2CL Playoffs: four teams, two spots remaining

Dota 2 Championship League Season 5 qualifiers are winding up. Two spots remain to be filled for EU, as Burden United and ViCi Gaming have already clinched their position in the LAN playoffs.

Burden United have already grabbed their LAN spot thanks to strong performances topping the group stage, and ViCi Gaming have qualified through the group stage playoffs. Therefore, the last two remaining spots will be filled following the EU playoff stage beginning tonight.

EU Top 1 team

The EU top 1 team advances directly to the LAN playoffs.

Burden United (BU) surprised most by placing first in the group stages, above teams such as Na’Vi, Team Empire and The Alliance. BU ended the series 11-3.

China’s top 1-4 advance to the regional playoffs

ViCi Gaming, LGD, IG, and E-Home.cn were the top four teams to advance to the regional playoff phase. VG advanced to the best of five grand finals with ease, sweeping through first E-Home.cn and then LGD with no problems.

Invictus Gaming on the other hand, had a harder fight to reach the grand finals, falling to LGD in the first round, after a 2-1 loss. They then gave up a loss to E-Home.cn in the first round of the Lower Brackets and again to LGD in the second round of the Lower Brackets, before finally reaching their destination in the grand finals to face VG. ViCi Gaming continued their undefeated streak in the playoff phase and crushed IG, 3-0, securing their place in the LAN finals.

EU Top 2-4 advance to regional playoffs

As Burden United automatically qualified for the LAN by being the top team in the group stages, while Team Empire, Power Rangers, Hell Raisers and Ninjas in Pyjamas will be participating in the online regional playoff phase. The playoff format is a double elimination best-of-three bracket leading up to the best-of-five finals.

The playoffs will begin tonight at 18:00 GMT, with Team Empire vs. Power Rangers, followed by Hell Raisers vs. NiP, tomorrow night. The top two teams will be joining Burden United and Vici Gaming at the LAN finals. The LAN finals will feature a prize pool of over $50,000. Location rumors have not yet been confirmed.

The Dota 2 Champions League kicked off on February 23. The event is being held in collaboration with Natus Vincere and Virtus.Pro, with a prize pool of over $50,000. An additional $2.50 for each Dota 2 Champion’s League Bundle sold and 10% of every set sold will be added to the prize pool. In addition, all travel expenses for the attending teams will be paid by D2CL. As of April 16, 2015, the total prize pool has reached $78,508.