The Frankfurt Dota Major European Qualifiers kick off on Saturday, October 10, at 12:00 CEST. The eight invited teams, along with two qualified ones, will compete over three days to attain the coveted spots at the first Dota Major event of the year. Get up to speed with the Dota Major European Qualifiers schedule, participating teams, format, groups, and streams!
Ten teams – Team Liquid, Alliance, Natus Vincere, Team Empire, 4 Clovers & Lepricon, STARK Esports, (monkey) Business, Ninjas in Pyjamas, CIS Rejects, and No Logic Gaming – will be competing for the two spots to represent Europe at the Frankfurt Dota Major and join Evil Geniuses, CDEC, LGD, ViCi Gaming, Vega Squadron, Team Secret, Virtus.Pro, EHOME and six other qualified teams in the main event. The Frankfurt Dota Major will take place between November 16-21 at Festhalle Messe in Frankfurt, Germany. A fixed prize pool of $3,000,000 is on the line.
Frankfurt Dota Major European Qualifiers format
- The ten teams have been divided into two Round Robin groups of five.
- Top two teams will advance to a double elimination bracket.
- First place team will start in the Upper Bracket.
- Runner-up team will start in the Lower Bracket.
- The first and second place teams from the Frankfurt Dota Major European Qualifiers will advance to the main event in Frankfurt, Germany.
Frankfurt Dota Major European Qualifiers groups
Frankfurt Dota Major European Qualifiers schedule
Saturday, October 10th
- 12:00 CEST – 4C&L vs. Empire
- 12:00 CEST – Alliance vs. STARK
- 14:30 CEST – Liquid vs. 4C&L
- 14:30 CEST – Empire vs. Alliance
- 17:00 CEST – Na’Vi vs. CISR
- 17:00 CEST –NiP vs. NLG
- 19:30 CEST – Alliance vs. Liquid
- 19:30 CEST – STARK vs. Empire
- 22:00 CEST – Monkey vs. NiP
- 22:00 CEST – NLG vs. Na’Vi
Sunday, October 11th
- 12:00 CEST – 4C&L vs. Alliance
- 12:00 CEST – Liquid vs. STARK
- 14:30 CEST – CISR vs. NLG
- 14:30 CEST – Na’Vi vs. Monkey
- 17:00 CEST – STARK vs. 4C&L
- 17:00 CEST – Empire vs. Liquid
- 19:30 CEST – Monkey vs. CISR
- 19:30 CEST – NiP vs. Na’Vi
- 22:00 CEST – NLG vs. Monkey
- 22:00 CEST – CISR vs. NiP
Frankfurt Dota Major European Qualifiers streams
The Frankfurt Dota Major European Qualifiers will be broadcast in English as part of the coverage provided by The Sweden Hub, a mix of talent from ASUS ROG DreamLeague, joinDOTA and Moonduck Studios, starting at 12:00 CEST, on October 10th. Beyond the Summit will also broadcast a selection of games.
- All matches covered from the Monster Energy DreamHack Studios will be broadcast on the DreamLeague Twitch channel.
- The Beyond the Summit Twitch channel will provide coverage of select group stage matches.
The Frankfurt Dota Major European Qualifiers series will begin at 12:00 CEST, on Saturday, October 10th, and end on October 13th.
Frankfurt Dota Major European Qualifiers teams
Na’Vi
Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich
The legendary team, Natus Vincere, had a disappointing performance at TI5, where they came in 14th, after being knocked out of contention on the very first day of the main event.
Despite the sub-par year the team has had, the Ukrainian organization only replaced Ivan “ArtStyle” Antonov – who was released on August 26th – while Daniil “Dendi” Ishutin, Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich, Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich and Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev remained on the Na’Vi new roster for the upcoming season.
Na’Vi roster:
Andrew “PSM” Dunaev
Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov
Daniil “Dendi” Ishutin
Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich
Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev
(monkey)Business
Johan “BigDaddy” Sundstein
After The International 5, Johan “BigDaddy” Sundstein rejoined forces with longtime former teammate and friend, Tal “Fly” Aizik. The duo played together in Fnatic’s Heroes of Newerth team, which then made the transition to Dota 2.
(monkey)Business has had a strong presence in the Dota scene ever since their inception, The squad has recently qualifyied for the MLG World Finals.
(monkey)Business roster:
Johan “BigDaddy” Sundstein
Tal “Fly” Aizik
David “MoonMeander” Tan
Andreas “Cr1t-“ Franck Nielsen
Amer “Miracle-“ Barqawi
Alliance
Alliance struggled with a lackluster season in 2014-2015. They were able to take the second place in the MLG Pro League Finals, at X-Games. The team then finished fourth in the DreamLeague Season 3 LAN finals, at Dreamhack Summer and came in 5th at ESL One Frankfurt.
After much speculation and anticipation, Alliance released their new lineup at the end of August, welcoming back Gustav “s4” Magnusson and Johan “Mynuts” Andersson.
s4 has replaced Per “Pajkatt” Olsson Lille, who parted ways with the team on August 18th. He resumed his role as team captain. Johan “Mynuts” Andersson returned to the team in the support role.
Alliance roster:
Gustav “s4” Magnusson
Jonathan “Loda” Berg
Joakim “Akke” Akterhall
Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg
Johan “Mynuts” Andersson
Ninjas in Pyjamas
NiP did well in the TI5 European Qualifiers, finishing second in their group and advancing into the Lower Brackets of the playoffs. Vega Squadron eliminated them, 2:1, in the Lower Brackets.
Since then, Ninjas in Pyjamas claimed their first LAN championship title at MLG Pro League, X-Games. They won the championship’s gold medal and the $66,899 prize money.
Only days later, the team claimed a second championship title at Esport SM 2015. Ninjas in Pyjamas then went on to take third place in the DreamLeague Season 3 LAN finals, at Dreamhack Summer.
Most recently, NiP took fourth place in the Dota Pit League Season 3.
Ninjas in Pyjamas roster:
Adrian “Era” Kryeziu
Linus “Limmp” Blomdin
Jonas “joanssomfan” Lindholm
Simon “Handsken” Haag
Elias “Sealkid” Merta
4 Clovers & Lepricon
In late March, after Goblak left Na’Vi, he put together a new team with some other known teamless professional players. 4 Clovers & Lepricon made a strong, impressive debut, but less than one month after forming 4 Clovers & Lepricon, captain and founder Artur “Goblak” Kostenko parted ways with the team and three days later, Kai “H4nn1” Hanbückers announced his retirement from the competitive scene.
4CL did not advance beyond the first day of the TI5 open qualifiers. Following TI5, 4CL lost three players: Wagamama and Vanskor walked away on August 19th, while w33haa parted ways with the team, in order to join Team Secret, on August 21st.
Most recently, 4CL’s impressive run culminated in a 3:1 victory against Digital Chaos for the Elimination Mode tournament championship title, at the end of September.
4CL roster:
Alaan “SexyBamboe” Faraj
Jerry “EGM” Lundkvist
Per Anders “Pajkatt” Olsson
Martin “Saksa” Sazdov
Uros “Swiftending” Galic
Team Liquid
Kuroky, at ESL One Frankfurt. Credits: Patrick Strack/ ESL
In the post-TI5 shuffle, a new team has appeared on the horizon, demanding attention. 5Jungz walked away with their first victory only two weeks after their inception. 5Jungz defeated Golden Boys, 2:0, in the Alienware Summer’s End Cup Grand Finals, leaving viewers with a positive impression for the future of the squad.
Since then, 5Jungz have qualified for the Nanyang Championship, after defeating Vega Squadron, 3:2, in the European qualifiers’ finals, taking the one regional spot allocated.
One day prior to the start of the Frankfurt Dota Major Regional Qualifiers, Team Liquid announced that the organization was picking up the squad.
Team Liquid roster:
Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi
Adrian “FATA-“ Trinks
Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka
Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen
Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Borislavov
Team Empire
Team Empire announced a part of their roster changes for the new season at the end of August. The Russian organization parted ways with Maxim “yoky” Kim and Andrey “ALWAYSWANNAFLY” Bondarenko and welcomed Ivan “ubah” Kapustin and Andrey “The_apathy” Aleshkov.
Team Empire were the first to find themselves in a precarious position. When one of their new members, Andrew “The_apathy” Aleshkov, was recruited before the September 5th roster lock deadline, he was unable to register with Empire since he had already accepted his invite to represent team aSpera for the Frankfurt Dota Major. His commitment to aSpera resulted in a locked position, making him unable to be kicked or leave on his own.
With several days left in the transfer window, both Empire and aSpera approached Valve for help to rectify the incident. Valve’s response remained hard lined, reminding the teams of the rules and criteria in the new Majors system.
Already having lost the ability to participate with their chosen lineup in the Regional Qualifiers and being faced with the decision to play with their designated substitute or register for the Frankfurt Dota Major Open Qualifiers, the Team Empire chose the latter option.
Once they were already in the unfortunate situation of having to take the long road in hopes to play in the Frankfurt Major, they used the time to their advantage to try various players in order to find the perfect mix. They eventually welcomed Maxim “yoky” Kim back and added Alexander “NoFear” Churochkin as the captain.
Their efforts proved successful, as they managed to win the first round of the Open Qualifiers and secure their spot in the Frankfurt Major European Qualifiers.
Team Empire roster:
Airat “Silent” Gaziev
Roman “Resolut1on” Fominok
Maxim “yoky” Kim
Ilya “ALOHADANCE” Korobkin
Alexander “NoFear” Churochkin
No Logic Gaming
No Logic Gaming was originally founded during the post-TI5 shuffle by Giorgos “SsaSpartan” Giannakopoulos, formerly of London Conspiracy. The team registered for the Major, but has had several roster changes since then. The most recent roster change occurred right before the Open Qualifiers, when ex-Arcade.PowerRangers Dmitriy “Ditya Ra” Minenkov and Steve “Excalibur” Ye were added to the lineup.
No Logic Gaming cruised through the second round of the Open Qualifiers with ease and bested Arcade.PowerRangers in the finals, 2:1, to secure their spot in the Regionals.
No Logic Gaming roster:
Dmitriy “Ditya Ra” Minenkov
Steve “Excalibur” Ye
Niclas “Niqua” Westergård
Milan “MiLAN” Kozomara
Giorgos “SsaSpartan” Giannakopoulos
CIS Rejects
VANSKOR
CIS Rejects is a group of known CIS players who have been making strong waves in the Dota scene. After TI5, Team Empire bid farewell to Andrey “ALWAYSWANNAFLY” Bondarenko. Ivan “Gorec” Kartankov was parted ways with HellRaisers and Ivan “VANSKOR” Skorokhod left 4CL.
The team took first place in the Game Show Global Esports Cup CIS Qualifiers and won The Summit 4 Open Qualifiers.
CIS Rejects roster:
Ivan “VANSKOR” Skorokhod
Ivan “Gorec” Kartankov
Artem “ARTES” Gorobey
Bogdan “Iceberg” Vasilenko
Andrey “ALWAYSWANNAFLY” Bondarenko
STARK Esports
Trixi, 4 Anchors and Sea Captain; Credits: Andrew Bell
4 Anchors and Sea Captain started out in September 2014 as an unsponsored Finnish team consisting of Kalle “Trixi” Saarinen (formerly of Fnatic), Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen, Riku “Buugi” Fält, Mikko “Vaalix” Ristimäki and Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka (formerly of QPad). JerAx left in January 2015 to Team Tinker, before he switched to SEA team MVP.Hot6ix and moved to Korea.
The Finish team took top placements in several tournaments, such as EIZO Cup, Esportal, Hitbox EU Championship, and Yard Festival.
During the TI5 shuffle, Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen left the team to join 5Jungz and was replaced by Niklas “okcya” Koskinen.
On September 28th, STARK eSports signed the team. STARK is a German multigaming organization with players in Dota 2 and FIFA.
STARK Esports roster:
Niklas “okcya” Koskinen
Sampsa “nemphy” Kutvonen
Kalle “Trixi” Saarinen
Mikko “Vaalix” Ristimäki
Riku “Buugi” Fält
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